In Other Words: The Church’s Cycle of Scandal
Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church
By Geoffrey Robinson
307 pages, Melbourne: John Garratt Publishing, 2007
Bishops named Robinson are causing considerable heartburn in Christianity these days. The Episcopalians famously have Bishop Gene Robinson, the openly gay prelate in New Hampshire whose 2004 ordination is threatening to split the worldwide Anglican Communion. Now, the Catholic Church has Geoffrey Robinson, an Australian bishop whose incendiary new book, Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church, calls for sweeping reforms in the wake of the church’s sexual abuse scandals.
Christianity is a complex global family of faith, and the issues of power and sex are not necessarily of universal interest. More than two thirds of the world’s 2.3 billion Christians live in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, where battles over sexual ethics or the authority of the Vatican are not generally top-shelf concerns. Yet in “the West”—and for the purposes of Robinson’s book, Australia may be counted as part of the West—sex and power form the front lines of Christianity’s most agonizing debates. Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church is therefore an important book, because it opens these debates to full public view.
More precisely, Robinson gives voice to one side of the… [source]
Talking Sex and Power in the Catholic Church
[Source]:
What might drive a committed Roman Catholic bishop to resign his office after almost 25 years and denounce his church? In the case of Geoffrey Robinson of Sydney, it was the church’s meltdown during the recent sexual abuse scandals. In the September/October issue of FOREIGN POLICY, John Allen says Robinson’s recent book about his ordeal “will keep an important conversation alive.” Now, Robinson discusses his journey from consummate insider to persona non grata.Foreign Policy: Without fundamental changes, what do you believe is the future of the Catholic Church?
Geoffrey Robinson: I see this whole question of sexual abuse and the response to it as crippling much of the work of the church. When the local church speaks out on some other question, I’m afraid nobody is listening. Until this is confronted, I’m afraid that loss of credibility will continue and get worse. The same problem exists internally. Authorities within the church have lost credibility with their own members. One similarity between [the United States and Australia] is that what’s keeping the church strong, numerically speaking, is the great migrant factor. Take that away, and you have a quite steep decline.
FP: What’s the first thing the pope should do to resolve the sexual abuse crisis?
GR: I will know the Catholic Church is truly serious when it places obligatory celibacy on the table for discussion. I don’t believe the celibacy requirement is the sole cause of abuse, but it has become a litmus test.
The problem is not celibacy, but obligatory celibacy. Mother Teresa freely chose a celibate life because it was the only way she could do what she felt called to do, what she wanted to do. By making it obligatory, you create numerous priests, who want to be good priests, but who are living an unwanted and unaccepted celibacy. Unwanted celibacy can contribute to unhealthy psychology, such as severe depression. It can contribute to unhealthy ideas—for example, misogyny. It can contribute to unhealthy living conditions, including loneliness and lack of support. When these three things come together, you have the circumstances in which sexual abuse can arise.
FP: Have you learned anything about the Catholic Church from the reaction to your book that you didn’t already know?
GR: It’s brought home just how many people are looking for change, and this includes people in their 80s who have told me that what I’ve said is what they’ve believed for the last 40 years, since the Second Vatican Council. The questions I’m asking are their questions. I’ve received a large volume of correspondence, and many of these letters are moving. They come from people, including some who are quite elderly, who love the church but who believe there is a real need for change.
Before I left for a speaking tour in the United States, I received a letter from the Vatican telling me not to go. It asserted that the people who invited me are not in communion with the church. But in my experience, it’s the exact opposite. I met people who were profoundly Catholic, who have spent all their lives in the church. Some who turned up were priests and former priests, but there were also lots of retired people who had raised families and served the church in every possible way. If these people are not in communion with the church, then we have a massive, massive problem.
FP: You wrote the book before Pope Benedict XVI’s trips to the United States and Australia, where he spoke candidly on the sexual abuse crisis and met with victims. Is this the kind of strong leadership that has been lacking?
GR: He has certainly gone further than his predecessor, and I welcome what he’s done. But it doesn’t go far enough.
FP: What else should he do?
GR: You may be aware that in February of this year, the prime minister of Australia apologized to the “Stolen Generation” of Aboriginal people. These are indigenous persons who were taken from their families and entrusted to white families in the mistaken belief that it would be better for them. It was a superb apology. He apologized without conditions. He promptly acknowledged that an apology in itself is just words, so it must be put into action. He spoke about what he would do and said that he would be accountable through regular reports to parliament. He also had the symbolism right, speaking with a significant number of members of the Stolen Generation in front of him. That’s what I would hope to see from the pope. He should apologize, but then say this is what we’re going to do, when we’re going to do it, and how we’ll be accountable. I haven’t yet seen that.
FP: You complain the pope is too powerful, yet you want him to exercise even greater power on the sexual abuse issue. Isn’t that a contradiction?
GR: What I would have liked the pope to have done was to recognize the massive importance of the subject of sexual abuse and its impact on the church, and then to consult with others about how to respond. What I object to is that the entire response of the church depended to the extent it did on the personal response of one individual. Had he consulted with others, including Catholic parents who would have had strong views, he could have made a highly effective speech in St. Peter’s Square calling the whole church to respond together. I don’t want to take authority away, but I want it to be exercised in a more collegial manner.
For example, I would like to see the pope make use of modern communications technologies to foster wider consultation in the church, something that could be very easily done. The Vatican has the technology, but at the moment [it uses] it to control rather than to consult.
FP: Looking back, is there anything in the book you now question in light of the reactions you’ve received?
GR: Some people have suggested I should have left out one or two parts because of the controversy they can arouse, such as papal infallibility or homosexuality. But I put them both in because I believe it was more honest.
The surprising thing is that no one has yet said to me, ‘You are wrong on such and such a page for the following reasons.’ I thought that might come, but no one has made that kind of attack on the book. Instead, they’ve attempted simply to brush the book aside, or to brush the author aside. You don’t learn much from that sort of reaction. To tell you the truth, most of the reactions I’ve seen have told me more about the person making the comment than about the book itself.
FP: The Vatican called you on the carpet in 1996 for complaining that Rome was not showing leadership on the sexual abuse crisis. You resigned in July 2004. Between those two dates, can you pinpoint a moment when your attitude toward the church changed?
GR: It’s hard to select a particular moment. In a sense, I could say it was that moment in 1996, when those letters started arriving. I felt alone, trying to respond to abuse without the support which I believe was essential. There was the ongoing silence from Pope John Paul II.
FP: How did the Vatican react when you told them you planned to quit?
GR: The acceptance came back within a couple of weeks. It was far from complicated!
FP: Before you traveled to the United States to promote your book, 13 American bishops wrote asking you—in fact, ordering you—not to come to their dioceses. Were you surprised?
GR: I concluded that this had all been organized from Rome. I couldn’t otherwise have believed that so many letters would all arrive at the same time. It was disappointing, but I can’t really say it was unexpected. I wrote to each of them to say that I would meet with them if they so wished, but there was no contact at all.
FP: After your American swing, you wrote that you “came away with the clear conviction that the American church has some massive problems before it.” Can you explain what you meant?
GR: I sensed that the American church was more different from Australia than I ever anticipated. I met a significant number of people who seem to have lost all faith in their bishops over this issue of abuse, with all the legal cases and so on … I found it hard to find anyone who trusted a bishop.
FP: In the book, you call for revisions to fundamental doctrines such as original sin, and you even say that you would revise the Nicene Creed recited every Sunday at Mass. How do you respond to critics who say you can’t hold those views and still call yourself Catholic?
GR: Part of the thesis of the book is the danger of setting things in stone, becoming a victim of our own past. What I’ve said is that only an equal power, meaning an ecumenical council [a gathering of bishops from around the world], would have the authority to look at and change statements of an earlier council. I see that as healthy, that the same body can look at its earlier statements and consider changes. I’m not advocating changes in fundamental doctrines, but I do believe it’s dangerous when human words are put up in such a way that you can’t even look at them again. We’re talking about the divine, and all our expressions will always be inadequate. For the most part, this is a question of language, not beliefs.
FP: Where do you go from here? What are your future plans?
GR: I’m 71 and my health is good. I don’t exclude the possibility of writing another book, but right now I’m still heavily involved in the response to the book I have published. I’ll continue to write, to selectively accept speaking invitations, to keep asking questions.
Geoffrey Robinson is auxiliary bishop of Sydney. His book, Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church (Melbourne: John Garratt Publishing, 2007), was recently published in the United States.
Interview: John L. Allen Jr., senior correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter and senior Vatican analyst for CNN
Catholic Priest Abuse Case – How Many More Victims?
[Source]:
A top Manchester solicitor acting for former children abused by Catholic Priest, Father William Green, says there may be more victims yet to come forward to testify against the priest who was charged at Manchester Crown Court with 33 counts of indecent assault on boys in an around the Manchester area from the 1960’s to the mid 1980’s. He pleaded guilty to 27 counts.
Richard Scorer, a Partner with Manchester law firm, Pannone LLP and an acknowledged expert in abuse cases, said, “The judge indicated that there was an overwhelming likelihood that Green will face an immediate and significant sentence of imprisonment when he is sentenced next month. This can only be right and proper, given the dreadful abuse he subjected a succession of young boys to.”
He continued, “It is highly probable that there are a number of men still living in Manchester who are either too frightened or ashamed to come forward. I would however urge them to either contact the police or speak to me in confidence in order to bring closure to their ordeal.”
Take these steps to protect children
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Nothing ever will heal the scars of those who were raped and molested by their Catholic priests when they were children.
No apology, no amount of money, ever will be enough.
Robert Brancato was violated by both a priest and a principal at St. Joseph the Worker Church and school in Wheeling when he was 13 years old. As he put it last week, “It’s become part of my DNA. You never get over it.”
Brancato spoke as Cardinal Francis George gathered the media together to announce the Archdiocese of Chicago had agreed to pay $12.7 million to Brancato and 15 other men and women who were sexually abused by their spiritual counselors when they were children. George also apologized. And he took the rare step of releasing to the public a 307-page deposition describing the steps the church hierarchy has taken to try to respond to complaints of sexual abuse. Lawyers say the publishing of the deposition was only the second of its kind. Another such document was released during a clergy abuse trial in California.
The compensation, the genuine-sounding apology and the release of the deposition are positive,
significant steps taken by George toward trying to make amends as much as is possible.
Still, there are many more steps George and other cardinals across the country must take.
This latest settlement in the Chicago archdiocese means it now has spent $65 million over 30 years resolving 250 claims of sexual abuse. Archdiocese officials said mediation continues in about two dozen more cases.
After all the reports of abuse and the breadth and depth of this scandal nationwide, if there is any credible evidence of a priest still working in a parish or living near children, George and his peers should remove the suspects and get them, and those already found to have abused, away from any and all children. George should release the names and addresses of those priests who have been found to have been pedophiles. There’s enough evidence that child sex abusers are difficult to cure that church officials should be forthcoming with this information for the sake of the children and their parents living near these offenders. Their safety is paramount.
George should continue to be as transparent as possible throughout the process of resolving these other claims.
And he and his peers need to listen and act upon the recommendations of the people who serve on their review boards. George admitted this week he did not remove a pedophile priest, contrary to the advice and urging of his panelists. “I wish that I had followed it with all my heart,” The Associated Press quoted George as saying.
Follow your heart, Cardinal George. Be open. Do all you can think of to try to help the victims of this tragedy. Protect the children.
The Evangelical Cure For Blackness
[Source]:
After a couple of slave rebellions in the early 19th century, American Christianity shifted irrevocably from a catalyst for slave liberation, to an additional shackle securing black men in bondage to white ones. After the Vesey and Prosser rebellions, whites largely oversaw slave worship to ensure that blacks were taught the value of submission and docility, the heavenly reward for those who suffered well, and the superiority of white men and women via fantastical biblical interpretations insisting that black skin was a curse from God.
The Jesus whom slaves were taught to worship was unquestionably white, as was God the Father who begat him. Black slaves worshipped white Gods–Gods who looked like their masters.
Of course, in the popular modern American fantasy, American racial history began and ended with Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. But down here in the reality-based community, history’s siren song still sounds strong and sickly sweet–if you’re willing to listen.
To swat at rumors that he’s a Muslim and alleviate fears of–and perhaps grab a vote or two from–white evangelicals, Barack Obama sat down with Megarich pastor, author and homophobe Rick Warren to woo evangelicals by saying things like, “I believe that Jesus Christ died for my sins and I am redeemed through him.”
This may be true. But the man is a skilled politician, which means that the statement was also calculated to appeal to the chosen audience. He’s trying to slaughter several birds with one stone here.
He wants to assure white evangelicals and the 80% of white Americans who call themselves Christians that he is like them, that he believes in their Jesus… that he obeys the rules of their Christianity. And in doing so via standard Christian verbiage, he gets the bonus of implying that he is appropriately docile, humble, racially neutered, if you will–something very comforting to what I will euphemistically call “racially conservative” evangelicals.
Let’s get down to cases here: The Godly figure most American Christians see when they invoke the name “Jesus” is a white man. God’s son is white. Thus, God is white. God created man–white men–in his own image. When a black man delivers his soul to the popular Jesus, he is also, in the popular mind, nodding a subtle assent to a central tenet of white supremacy–a white God.
Jeremiah Wright was so reviled in part because if his “black liberation theology,” which worships a black Jesus. In America, this is considered “radical.” However, African Christians have long worshipped black images of Jesus, just as Asians have worshipped Asian images, etc. Only here in America, where blacks live among a white majority and learned their catechism with a cleansing dose of white supremacy, is it considered “radical” for blacks to worship Gods that look like them.
There is a reason that Evangelical Christianity and race hatred are so often joined at the hip. In order to woo his large evangelical audience, Mike Huckabee rallied around the Confederate flag in his 2008 Republican primary run. In their book “Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America,” Michael Emerson and Christian Smith wrote:
Our argument is that evangelicals desire to end racial division and inequality, and attempt to think and act accordingly. But, in the process, they likely do more to perpetuate the racial divide than they do to tear it down.
In the post-civil rights era, the heavily evangelical south also became the solidly Republican south. The Republican party has acknowledged its exploitation of race hatred to win political races and solidify its southern base. Racist appeals won them votes, and it won them the longtime fealty of Evangelical Christians.
As Obama woos white evangelicals, he must prove to them that he shares their faith. Part of their faith is a belief in a white Jesus and his white Father. Obviously, Obama’s own religious conversion under Jeremiah Wright emerged from an entirely different image of Christ. But with Wright conveniently out of the way, it’s a process of don’t ask, don’t tell. If white evangelicals are stupid enough to believe that Obama prays to a white man, he’s smart enough to let them. He may also be white enough to avoid a really bad taste in his mouth for having done so.
Priest admits molesting schoolboys
[Source]: 18/ 8/2008
A PRIEST who sexually abused a string of boys at a top Catholic school more than 20 years ago has finally been brought to justice.
Father William Green, 67, who took physical education classes at St Bede’s College in Alexandra Park, Manchester, has admitted 27 assaults on children who were aged between eight and 16. He faces a `significant’ jail sentence.
Green, who was a priest at the Holy Family Roman Catholic Church, Wigan, made excuses to see boys on their own, taking them to a room where he indecently assaulted them.
A lawyer acting for five victims said it was “highly probable” there were other victims who are reluctant to speak of what happened to them during the 1970s and 80s.
Police launched an investigation after they were contacted by one of Green’s victims. Green, from Cale Lane, Aspull, was charged with 33 counts of indecent assault against nine boys under 16. He pleaded guilty to 27 of the charges relating to seven victims. The remaining six charges were ordered to lie on the file. He is due to be sentenced on September 30 at Manchester Crown Court.
Richard Scorer, partner with Manchester law firm, Pannone, is now preparing to take civil action against the Catholic church on behalf of the victims.
He said: “In my experience, people who are victim to sexual abuse as a child rarely get over it. It can mean flash backs and memories triggered by something as simple as a smell.
“It impacts on people throughout their adult lives and can cause problems with relationships. It can also cause difficulties in holding down a job because it can result in people having a mistrust of those in authority.”
He added: “The judge indicated that there was an overwhelming likelihood Green will face an immediate and significant sentence of imprisonment when he is sentenced next month. This can only be right and proper, given the dreadful abuse he subjected a succession of young boys to.
It is highly probable that there are a number of men still living in Manchester who are either too frightened or ashamed to come forward.
“I would however urge them to either contact the police or speak to me in confidence in order to bring closure to their ordeal.”
A spokesman for the Catholic Church in Greater Manchester said: “We have co-operated with the authorities since the beginning of the investigation.
“It is regrettable when something like this happens. Our priority and concern is always for the victims.”
He said the case was a historical one and that safeguards had been put in place in recent years to prevent something similar happening again.
Cowboying up for Jesus
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More Christians are praying on horseback at more than 600 such churches in the U.S.
MOUNT VERNON, ILL. — Wearing a white cowboy hat and preaching atop his horse Coby, Pastor Steve Hamson gives a modern-day meaning to “sermon on the mount.” With a Bible in one hand and reins in the other, Hamson strikes the fear of God in his parishioners — more than a dozen of them listening on horseback in a humid riding arena.
The cowboys put their hats over their hearts when Hamson prays for those who are missing because they “had to do hay.”
Men chew tobacco and the horses kick at the ground. And no one minds. This, after all, is cowboy church.
Across rural America, thousands of evangelical Protestant worshipers gather in barns, buildings and beneath the stars to worship western-style. As the beach is to born-again surfers, and the road is to Holy Ghost bikers, the range is the mission field to Christian cowboys and ranchers.
At least 600 cowboy churches are scattered across the U.S., according to leaders involved in the movement and published accounts. In central and southern Illinois, an estimated two dozen congregations meet in barns and arenas, on the dusty trails and in churches — some decorated with western memorabilia.
Some evangelical Christians have questioned whether the churches offer gimmicks at the expense of a meaningful spiritual experience.
But pastors and churchgoers say their services are divinely inspired. Like the suburban mega-churches that beckon teenagers with gospel rap and rock music, cowboy sanctuaries promote country-western worship while seeking to attract those who find traditional rural church settings unattractive.
In a cowboy church, the music has a twang, the lyrics beckon men to mosey on home to Jesus, and 10-gallon hats are passed around for offerings.
Preachers tell corny jokes. Worshipers whoop, holler and clap. The bands jam with banjos, mandolins, guitars, drums and sometimes a worn washboard. It’s not unusual to be baptized in a horse trough. And the sermons usually last just a few minutes so as not to make the audience restless.
“You don’t want to scare ‘em off,” said Pastor Susie Deeters, who along with her husband, John, runs the Ranch House Cowboy Church in a converted Baptist church building in De Land, Ill., near Champaign. “You want to give ‘em just enough to hook ‘em.”
Far from the big cities and suburbs, cowboy churches are apparently a uniquely modern American phenomenon. In the Wild West days, most cowboys were Catholics from Mexico and Baptists from the Confederacy, historians say, but there is little historical evidence of traditional church gatherings. Cowboys usually were not atheists; they saw God in nature. But they were indifferent when it came to evangelical Christianity.
“They were less Christ-centric and more aware of God’s providence in their surroundings,” said Ferenc M. Szasz, author of “Religion in the Modern American West.” The modern-day cowboy church movement seems rooted more in entertainment than cowboy lore.
Today, crowds flock to tourist areas like Branson, Mo., for foot-stomping worship from cowboy bands. Many in the audience have never saddled up but love country gospel and wearing western garb.
Another movement grew out of a Baptist outreach to ranchers in Texas that spread like a wildfire, spawned mega-churches and now even sends cowboy missionaries to Africa. Texas cowboy Baptists claim some 7,000 converts to Christ this decade.
But as cowboy churches gain publicity, some wonder about their Christian authenticity. The evangelical magazine Christian Today asked in a blog in May: “Clearly something is going here, but what?” Blog moderator Derek Keefe questioned whether the movement expanded or collapsed the Christian gospel message.
It’s not a question for Pastor Steve Hamson’s congregants.
“The cowboy church works because we are people who like to ride and also worship the Lord,” said Jonathan Schnautz, a farmer and rider who attends weekly. “But I’m sure people up in the city sure must think it’s weird.”
As services began recently, riders circled behind Hamson in a dusty arena and other worshipers sat in front of him on bleachers. Hamson asked for prayer requests and singers performed from the bleachers and on horseback.
And Hamson delivered his sermon, all memorized. “You have to pay attention to the horse, and you can’t hold notes,” he explained.
After a closing prayer from the saddle, the congregation rode off to the old cowboy ditty: “Happy trails to you. Until we meet again.”
Victim criticises diocese’s sex abuse therapies
[Source]:
A Catholic diocese in New South Wales has been criticised for offering inappropriate therapies at its unit set up to help victims of sexual abuse by members of the clergy.
Zimmerman House was established by the Maitland/Newcastle Catholic Diocese last year.
Earlier this month, the diocese’s Bishop Michael Malone apologised to abuse survivors. He was the only Australian bishop publicly calling for the Pope’s World Youth Day apology to abuse victims.
Victims such as Peter Gogarty applauded the bishop for dealing with the issue.
But Mr Gogarty has raised concerns about Zimmerman House, saying it has a mostly female staff and the meditation, art and gardening therapies are not beneficial.
“For a lot of male victims there’s not a lot of direct services that would be any good to them,” he said.
Another victim, ‘Anne’, is more positive.
“They support you on your journey and you know they listen to you,” she said.
Zimmerman House manager Helen Keevers says the diocese has done its best to ensure the therapies are relevant, but admits they will not suit everyone.
“Those services – the ones that probably fall in to what people would think are the light and fluffy services, like meditation and gardening and some of the music therapies – have all been suggested by survivors,” she said.
“The aim of the service is to respond to the wishes of survivors.”
Hosanna Church pastor goes on trial Monday
[Source]:
BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) – The pastor at the center of the scandals surrounding the now defunct Hosanna Church in Ponchatoula goes on trial in Amite on Monday.
Louis Lamonica, 49, is among the seven members of the defunct Hosanna Church indicted in the 2005 sexual abuse case involving Lamonica’s minor sons and a 2-year-old girl related to another church member.
Lamonica is charged with four counts of aggravated rape dealing with his two boys in this case.
Former church member Trey Bernard is currently serving three life sentences in Angola for his role in the scandal.
