Pope Benedict has named the members of the “visitation” that he promised for Ireland back in March. Initial reaction has been mixed. On the positive side, the seniority of the team members is impressive, showing that the Vatican is taking this very seriously.
Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, who heads the team
Some people in Ireland welcomed the news. Garry O’Sullivan, the editor of The Irish Catholic, Ireland’s leading Catholic weekly newspaper, said the visitation appeared to be more significant than he expected. “This shows Rome means business,” he said. “The fact that there are two cardinals and three archbishops is a sign of intent. It is a high-powered group and the scope appears to have widened.”
On the other hand, some people are asking questions about three of the team members on the grounds that their own records in dealing with allegations of abuse has come under earlier scrutiny - retired Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor (formerly of Westminster, who will head the team), Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston. and Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York. Archbishops Timothy Collins of Toronto and Terence Prendergast of Ottawa complete the team of visitators for the dioceses and seminaries being investigated, with some additional members taking on the task for the religious orders.
The dioceses selected for initial examination are Armagh (seat of the Primate of All Ireland, Cardinal Brady), Dublin, Cashel and Emly, and Tuam. Other dioceses will be added later.
In its statement, the Vatican said the visitators would “explore more deeply questions concerning the handling of cases of abuse and the assistance owed to the victims; they will monitor the effectiveness of and seek possible improvements to the current procedures for preventing abuse.”
The goal of the visitation, the statement said, was “to contribute to the desired spiritual and moral renewal that is already being vigorously pursued by the Church in Ireland.”
Will it be constructive? Will it contribute significantly to further elimating the potential for further abuse?
Or will it simply be an excuse for whipping the Irish back into line, cracking the whip for doctrinal orthodoxy and unswerving obedience? Only time will tell.
Your analysis ignores a crucial question: are any of these guys AT ALL open to looking at the deeper questions? To clean up the “abuse crisis” is futile without this openness.
You’re right. I wasn’t attempting an analysis, just a simple report that the process has been launched. A bigger question for me, is why a visitation for Ireland, when the problem is worldwide? When will we see a visitation for Germany? Or the CDF? The answer of course is that this is primarily a PR exercise, which was announced to convince the Irish that he was really “doing something”, before the news stories from everywhere else caught fire.
What is really needed is a change is Church rules and culture. Part of culture change is already happening with a greater willingness on the part of senior clergy to challenge and criticise, a greater reluctance by all to simply swallow what they are told., and a continuing toll of episcopal resignations suggesting heightened expectations of episcopal accountability. If this shift endures, it could result in forcing some rules changes. If not, who knows?
I find it hard though to imagine that even after the news cycle has finally moved on to other topics, we will ever get back to quite “as we were.” At the very least, the next conclave is likely to want an entirely new style of papacy.
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The Vatican would have to appoint Cardinals to investigate a Cardinal. This is more or less what I expected, except I kind of thought Cardinal Pell of Australia would be appointed.
Oh well, there’s enough ‘yes men’ on this board to suffice without Pell. The somewhat surprising thing to me is they are all English speakers and none are affiliated with the assigned to Rome Vatican beauracracy. Now the question is are they investigating to an already determined outcome, or will it be honest?
I would think that they are all English speaking simply because it’s an English speaking country. What I haven’t seen, is any report on the terms of reference: what, precisely, is to be investigated?