Sir, – The Catholic Redemptorist Order seems to be in the firing line of the Vatican . After the silencing of two Redemptorist priests, Gerry Moloney and Tony Flannery in Ireland, now Archbishop Bezak, a 52-year-old Redemptorist Archbishop of Trnnava, in Slovakia has been personally dismissed by Pope Benedict after refusing to go quietly. He had been in the job for only three years and appears to have upset his very conservative predecessor Archbishop Sokol by investigating alleged financial irregularities in the running of the archdiocese over the past 20 years of Sokol’s reign.
The dismissed Bezak spoke at his last Mass, saying only that the Vatican had ordered him “not to speak to the media about the circumstances surrounding his dismissal”.
The culture of silence both on the part of those unjustly punished and those who use such silencing means, backed up by a abusive use of priestly obedience, is a grave stain on the Catholic Church. Priests and bishops are silenced and dismissed through processes that are shrouded in mystery and intrigue.
When can we ever expect a whistleblowers charter in the Catholic Church? I’m afraid we will have to await the “final judgment”. – Yours, etc,