Bureaucracies are made by man. The pathology of irresponsible authority is to hide behind these bureaucracies to avoid responsibility for actions based upon them.
Within any complex organization, there is need for bureaus to process and handle the many demands which are part of day to day administration in the effort to fulfill the organization’s purpose or mission.
That mission demands the full attention of the organization and not internal squabbles over department competencies or responsibilities.
The bureaucracy must serve the true agenda of the organization.
In the context of the Church, that agenda is always the care and salvation of souls.
And so, it is with no a little curiosity and much astonishment that I note the remarks by Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston who called for Bishops to be held accountable for abuse or cover up.
“These cases and others require more than apologies. They raise up the fact that when charges are brought regarding a Bishop or a Cardinal, a major gap still exists in the Church’s policies on sexual conduct and sexual abuse,” Cardinal O'Malley wrote on Tuesday of this week.
“While the Church in the United States has adopted a zero tolerance policy regarding the sexual abuse of minors by Priests we must have clearer procedures for cases involving Bishops. Transparent and consistent protocols are needed to provide justice for the victims and to adequately respond to the legitimate indignation of the community. The Church needs a strong and comprehensive policy to address Bishops’ violations of the vows of celibacy in cases of the criminal abuse of minors and in cases involving adults.”
Cardinal O’Malley stated he had reached this conclusion through his experience in several dioceses and with the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.
I fully concur with the remarks of His Eminence.
But, in the same statement, O'Malley addressed reports that he he was contacted in 2015 by Father Boniface Ramsey, who was reported allegations of McCarrick's misconduct with seminarians.
And here precisely is where O’Malley showed how inept he is at the art of misdirection.
Cardinal O’Malley stated that he did not “personally receive” the letter from Father Ramsey: “In keeping with the practice for matters concerning the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, at the staff level the letter was reviewed and determined that the matters presented did not fall under the purview of the Commission or the Archdiocese of Boston, which was shared with Father Ramsey in reply.”
And so, the Cardinal wishes to leave it at that, as though the fact that a report of McCarrick’s sexual assault upon seminarians was somehow misdirected in the myriad departments of the Roman Curia somehow absolves him of any personal responsibility.
O’Malley is President of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. In that post, he is responsible for what does or does not come to the attention of the Commission for investigation and recommendation to the Holy See.
The proverbial "buck stops at your desk", Your Eminence.
And if such a critical and sensitive communication from the rector of a seminary regarding a Cardinal’s sexual abuse of seminarians doesn’t appear on your desk, Your Eminence, then some answers are in order to a whole host of questions about your ability and competence to head a Pontifical Commission specifically formed to address such horrific crimes, especially when they are alleged to have been perpetrated by a fellow-member of the College of Cardinals.
If there is any “misdirection” happening in this story, it is that which Cardinal O’Malley is trying to accomplish.
It’s the old strategy customarily employed by government officials, in America we call it the “Washington two-step”.
In this “dance”, you avoid responsibility by getting a “step ahead” of an embarrassing or scandalous story by decrying the actual misconduct or negligence you yourself are responsible for committing.
So O’Malley blasts the Church for not taking Bishops to task for their sexual abuse, while the very office he heads to do that shuffled Father Ramsey’s incriminating letter concerning Cardinal McCarrick through bureaucratic channels until it was utterly ignored.
It doesn’t play, Your Eminence.
First, an apology from you is warranted.
Common decency and respect for the office you hold would suggest that you step down because you bumbled what very well may become the scandal of the decade.
No comments:
Post a Comment