Lay people in one church have set up a forum to discuss the Ryan and Murphy reports, writes BREDA O'BRIEN
SOMETIMES YOU have to love the internet. After Nick Clegg's perceived victory in the first debate among British political leaders, the attack dogs were let loose on him. The Daily Mailled with a story about an alleged Nazi slur by Clegg. The Daily Telegraphtried to make something sinister out of a perfectly normal declaration of expenses.
The internet reacted to the (mostly) non-stories with a pleasant dose of irony. You can search Twitter comments by hashtags, and by Thursday, #nickcleggsfault, was the third biggest “trending topic”, that is, the third most popular topic.
Sorry if I’ve lost you, and I’m sorry too that the Clegg hashtag doesn’t have an apostrophe, but that’s modern communication for you. What has happened is that people are tweeting (140 character messages) about everything from running out of hummus, to getting their debit cards stolen, using the hashtag #nickcleggsfault.
My current favourite is “Nick Clegg was seen two weeks ago poking Eyjafjallajokull with a stick. #nickcleggsfault”. In other words, by attributing every minor and major disaster to Clegg, people are playfully pointing out their awareness of the attempts to vilify him.
However, there would probably be nothing playful about it if someone started using #catholicchurchsfault. (Just try searching #pope on Twitter.)
Aside from those who hate Lib Dem policies, Clegg has done little to earn opprobrium, other than a tongue-in-cheek promise that he has not slept with more than 30 women, and trying to pretend that he is not as posh as David Cameron.
In contrast, the Catholic Church’s inaction and culture of secrecy destroyed the childhoods of countless people.
Many of those whom I recently dubbed “ordinary decent Catholics” (ODCs) are suffering from a sense of profound shame that people supposed to be living by Gospel values could cause such harm.
There is also a fear that anger at crimes of the church has escalated into a debate about whether the church has the right to exist at all.
Interestingly, Clegg is an atheist, but in the second leaders’ debate, when asked about the pope’s proposed visit to Britain, he was the only one to advert to “the extreme anguish of Catholics”. His wife is Catholic, and his children are being raised as Catholics, which may explain the insight into ODCs. Extreme anguish sums it up pretty well.
There is also a great sense of helplessness, and of not having a forum to express what it is like to be an ODC at this awful point in our church’s history. Every other day there is another story that causes shame or embarrassment.
One parish decided to give people space to talk to and support each other. The parish council of Our Lady of Good Counsel, Ballyboden, in Dublin, asked parishioners at weekend Masses whether they would like an opportunity to discuss the Ryan and Murphy reports.
Some 75 per cent of the parishioners raised their hands. Dr Mary Redmond, who played a leading role in the establishment of The Wheel, a support and representative body for community, voluntary and charitable organisations across Ireland, is a parishioner. As a result, it was decided to use a format for discussion that worked very well with The Wheel.
The aims were to hear how parishioners feel, to determine an appropriate response for the parish to support spiritual healing, and to determine what action should be taken to support victims of clerical child abuse.
The emphasis on spiritual healing came from a recognition that while this is a psychological and moral crisis for the church, it is also a spiritual one.
After an initial input, small groups moved to “round table rooms”, where the central principles were that there were no good or bad responses, but that all ideas would be listened to. Everyone should have a chance to contribute, and the overall aim was to be constructive and move towards action.
Unsurprisingly, the overall reaction to the Murphy report was one of devastation. People reported feeling a “sense of anger, extreme sadness, helplessness, hurt and shame”. They felt “let down, worn down and at a loss for words”. People expressed “great sorrow” for the children.
When it came to spiritual healing, there was a wealth of practical suggestions, ranging from prayer services, to formal education about the child protection guidelines, to the importance of building a strong, lay, community spirit.
It was seen as important that the parish would connect with already existing support groups, and be guided by their expertise. There was a need to let victims know that they are listened to, believed and supported by the community, the parish council and the clergy, and to “admit that as a community we were insensitive to the plight of victims and their families”.
This was an initiative very much led by lay people, although the parish clergy (who are Augustinians) were invited to be present and were very supportive. Even though it is just a tentative first step, and there are other meetings to follow, it provides a possible model for many other parishes.
If Catholicism is to survive in Ireland it will only be through the actions of lay people.
Ballyboden parish has taken an important step towards change. People interested in the process can e-mail ballybodenparish@eircom.net