Rite and Reason: Catholicism does not make society better if someone's life is worse because of Catholicism, writes Father David Keating.
"I've lost the will to be a Catholic anymore" - words of loss and despair spoken now by an increasing percentage of people in Ireland, genuine people for whom religion once held a close and meaningful significance but which has become a source of hurt, betrayal and profound sadness. Who would have ever thought that the source of this hurt, now the greatest damage done to the credibility of the church, would come from within its own ranks.
Earlier this year I sat in a room and listened to two victims of clerical sexual abuse describe their ordeals. Not just the devastating impact of the abuse itself but also the ongoing and lingering impact of the church's ineptitude in properly responding to their ordeal. There are no excuses, no damage limitations, no clamouring for perspectives - this evil stands alone, chillingly exposed with each new revelation.
People are angry and are entitled to be so. They have much to say about their beliefs and personal faith but also about their anger. It is good to listen and really hear the anger - it is where understanding begins. Angry people don't forget. Looking back, they remember the pedestals priests and bishops were on - pedestals they had no business being on in the first place.
Many still remember the outrageous decadence of "churching" women after childbirth, of burying in unconsecrated ground those who died unbaptized or through suicide, while others can clearly describe their public humiliation from the pulpit when the financial contributions of parishioners were announced. This was undertaken with a mandate not found in scripture but one crafted with a delusion made possible by breathtaking arrogance and a profound abuse of privilege.
With darkness, however, there is also light. Looking back, the church also had spirit. It gave meaning to loss, to struggle and to the broken life. It lobbied for the powerless while real strength was found in its social teaching and missionary work - strength gained not from authority but from its street credibility, its work with the poor, the oppressed and those on the margins.
However, the temptation to control was hard to resist and a church that should have been known for its kindness and compassion became more concerned with its own survival. Concern for the system took precedence over people and what was right.
As with civil society, people deserved better. With regard to leadership, it was a mistake to equate rank with ability and to have forgotten that something left in untalented hands often ends up with the wrong outcome.
I do not agree with the view that the passing of time makes right a wrong of the past because it is a luxury to which we are not entitled. It allows for an abdication of responsibility and to blame somebody else. Instead, the past is the constant prologue to the present.
It is the active reminder on how to speak and behave before any attempt is made to influence a future. A defensive church encourages the media to be cynical and intrusive and too ready to assume the worst. An arrogant church creates a media so eager for its vices that it forgets its virtues.
At this time of zero credibility in the institutional church in Ireland, the wrong question to ask is whether or not the church will survive. The more significant question is whether or not the church will continue to be relevant in the lives of those who profess to believe in it.
To gain some consolation from the present state the church is in, some believe that faith grows and dies in cycles so that the future will present a new time of belief and faith among its faithful. I do not share the same optimism.
The church needs to take a long hard look at the way it relates to society. It needs to contribute more to tolerance and to the different lifestyles people choose. Catholicism does not make society better if someone's life is worse because of Catholicism.
A confident church is one that respects difference, that does not seek a monopoly on truth and faith but which travels in part with everyone else. Ireland is now a multi-ethnic society with a more transient people without roots who are more open-minded and accommodating of difference. A coherent and wholehearted church will recognise the benediction of that reality, and will dignify it and make it special.
It may be a long time before we have any answers as to what the future holds for the church in Ireland but, in the meantime, we need to behave in such a way that allows a new future to open up and emerge. We need to embrace protest. The church needs to be more open to the experience and creativity of women. Above all, it needs to be cured of its blindness to its truest friends.
Father David Keating is chaplain to Waterford Institute of Technology (dkeating@wit.ie)