Irish PM Blast Vatican… but we Presbyterians shouldn't be too smug!
"Taoiseach Enda Kenny who told the Dail yesterday that the culture of the Vatican was dominated by 'dysfunction, disconnection, elitism, the narcissism'. Photo: Dara Mac Donaillaoiseach Enda Kenny (file). Photo: Dara Mac Donaill"
Recently in the blog I've been highlighting the corruption in all our major Institutions, police, banking, journalism and parliament. To find it in the institution of the church should be no surprise. To have it highlighted this week, by the Prime Minister of Ireland, challenging the authority and the integrity of the Vatican, with reference to the continued cover up of child abuse allegations, is indeed a first and has been welcomed by most people including senior Roman Catholic leaders in Ireland.
The Government Report which caused the PM to speak out, said the Vatican's actions: Can only be described as unsupportive in relation to the civil authorities. An Irish newspaper reported on the topic as follows, "The 431-page report, launched this week by the ministers for justice and children, examined allegations made against 19 priests in the diocese between 1996 and 2000. Bishop Magee, who resigned last year, was an extremely powerful figure not only in the Irish church but also in Rome, where he had been a private secretary to three popes, including John Paul I and John Paul II. The report follows other damning reports in other dioceses that found a culture of cover-up and denial in the church hierarchy. The inquiry, led by judge Yvonne Murphy, said the fact that some child sexual abuse allegations were not reported to police was the diocese's "greatest failure". There were 15 cases between 1996 and 2005 which "very clearly" should have been reported. Yet police were not told about nine cases."
How this will play out for the Roman Church will be interesting to see. The challenge of living godly and circumspect lives seems to be a challenge for ministers and leaders regardless of their denomination. You have the Roman Catholics at one end of the spectrum then you have the tele-evangelist at the other, and many shades in between.
In many ways the church is a microcosm of society. It is for this very reason that the Reformation took place in Europe in the 16th century. However the legacy of the Reformation is the idea that the church always needs to see itself in transition. We are a people on a journey being changed and honed by the Spirit of God. If we remain static we become stagnant and open to corruptive ideas and practices.
"Ecclesia Reformata Semper Reformanda Secundum Verbum Dei, was the motto of the reformers, meaning this: "The Church Reformed, and Always Reforming According to the Word of God." In other words the church as an institution can never be allowed to become complacent.
All institution be they Presbyterian or Roman Catholic need to be open to scrutiny and be accountable.
This is the reason why many of us in the Church of Scotland believe that we need to always have a yearly General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. It allows us to bring the church to account. It is also the reason why the Church of Scotland has a Moderator for one year. This is also part of the checks and balances of power. It is believed that no one person should hold power and retain power for any length of time. This of course doesn't sit well with the media and media advisors who seek to influence those who want the church to have a good public image. They argue that the church needs a figure or a face that is recognised and is able to communicate well with the various media formats that are around in todays world. Many others think that a well organised local church connecting with people at grassroots is the most effective and biblical model. When power is centralised too much the seeds of corruption start to grow. I believe this is what a decentralised local media is the greatest defender of democracy, be it internet blogging or the local free paper.
Going back to the Church of Scotland and the role of a yearly moderator. The danger is that the permanent secretaries of the Church Councils can end up with this power. It is for this reason that Conveners of Councils need to be the ones who lead the Councils in their strategy. It is not the role of the staff to set policy or strategy and council secretaries need to be aware of not over stepping the mark. Council members also need to be more attune to their responsibilities. A weak convener and an ill informed Council can lead the church into all kinds of problematic areas. In the past we have many examples of such behaviour. So while the presbyterian system has its merits in practice it has its great pitfalls. It is within Councils that cover ups in the church of Scotland can happen. The Irish criticism of the Vatican surely is a wake up call to all religious institutions to take seriously the need to be continually reforming.
Posted By: italker On: 24 Jul 2011 At: 4:37pm
Danny. I’m no expert on the JWs but I notice that the BBC did an expose on the sect in 2002 with regards to policies and attitudes to Child Abuse. Another documentary was made in April 2011 BBC Panorama have a look on Youtube It seems to me it all revolves around a similar attitude to power. It is a dangerous kind of teaching that seeks to stand above the law of the land. It assumes that the law makers in secular kingdoms are ungodly and therefore the so called believer has his or her loyalty not the the secular power but to those who are in authority within the religious community.