Pope Under Fire
The sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church began about fifteen years ago. I live in Pennsylvania where last week a Grand Jury released a 1,356 page scathing report on the tragedy.
The Pennsylvania Grand Jury:
“We subpoenaed, and reviewed, half a million pages of internal diocesan documents. They contained credible allegations against over three hundred predator priests. Over one thousand child victims were identifiable, from the church’s own records. We believe that the real number – of children whose records were lost, or who were afraid ever to come forward – is in the thousands.”
The Pope:
The Pope himself is now accused of turning a blind eye to a sexual predator.
Archbishop Carlo Viganò, the Church’s former chief diplomat in the United States, wrote a letter explaining that Pope Francis and other Vatican officials were involved in covering up sexual abuse committed by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.
An ABC World News Tonight report on the controversy infuriated me. At the end of his segment, the reporter said, “Some of these things are questions that only the Pope can answer. But who has the authority to ask him?”
Accountability:
Who has the authority to ask the Pope about unethical or immoral behavior!? Any 12 year old Catholic in the world, that’s who!
He may choose to ignore the question. Which is exactly what the Pope did.
This post concerns the dangers and responsibilities of authority, not the accusation against Pope Francis.
Enduring distance between leaders and followers always ends badly. Standing aloof is never healthy. The trappings of authority facilitate the privileges and abuses of positional authority.
The trappings of authority protect leaders from responsibility and accountability. It’s easy to make ourselves exempt from the expectations and standards of all the “regular” people around us.
Leaders must model ALL the behaviors expected of others. Personal exemption is evil.
It is much more than 15 years. It probably goes back 1500 years. The Church has always been about power. Think back to the days of the Templars.
Thanks Scott. The abuse of power and authority is age old and not limited to the Catholic Church. You make a great point.
Actually, the Pope’s Confessor has the responsibility to challenge the Pope’s ethics & morality, as I understand their systems.
Thanks Craig. Let’s hope the Confessor isn’t appointed by the Pope. 🙂
Dan, I see this yes as a Leadership failure but something that we see more and more of these days. Truth is only what those in power seem to say it is. In this case it’s IMHO twisted truth on the left side of the spectrum. Yes there is twisted truth on the right but this is purely from the leftist perspective, either way evil seems to win out.
Thanks Roger. I’m not qualified to make judgments on the recent accusation against the Pope. I did read dozen’s of pages of the Grand Jury report. It’s disgusting.
We must take care not to make the mistake that accusation is violation.
I also read that some believe the accusation is politically motivated.
The lesson I take from the news is distance is dangerous. Connection is healthy and protective.
Dan, the optics are just very bad. The Pope and the Catholic Church had an opportunity to go one direction and expose the truth at whatever cost but they have chosen otherwise. A lessen in crisis management that many organizations will study for how not to handle things.
The Pope will have to answer to his own sins. A systemic solution to this problem, end the 12th century celibacy of priests.
Thanks Jim. This post is much narrower than your suggestion and insight. As one of the comments above suggests, this has been going on for centuries. And so, for centuries we are slow to learn that an isolated authority is dangerous.
Agree Dan, this is ALL about Power and Control. Lawyers are going to make a ton of money off of these findings.
We all feel the tug of wrong in some form.
Leadership’s highest calling is moral integrity, we (sadly) live in a world that has allowed too many rationalization trades for permission of evil.
Thanks Ken. It seems obvious that modeling the way – being an example – is the foundation of leadership. Yet, it’s an idea that needs constant refreshing.
It seems to me that the world is caught up in power games! Here in Australia, we have had the Royal Commission into child sexual abuse; we now have a royal commission into the banking industry and its fraudulent behaviours, and most recently we have seen yet another Prime Minister put into power. When we look closely at all these moments of our secular world we begin to see the huge gulf between the top and the bottom of each group, and hence the abuse of power that ends up being placed in the hands of a small coterie making decisions for the greater body and not always with the ‘ good of the other’ as the primary focus.
Perhaps ? if we can find a way to bring the body corporate into meaningful dialogue, where all listen and learn from the other, then we may have a chance of changing structures and the means of governance.
I haven’t seen many with the courage to comment on this long running travesty. Many a leadership failure over the years. The damage done to individuals and the Catholic Church’s credibility is irreparable. It seems like the organization was designed to recruit and protect predators.
Having once worked in Catholic healthcare, I asked during an education session…. What vehicle exists in the church to bring the voices of the people to the powers of authority within the church. The expert teaching our session stated…there is none – The authorities in the church tell the people was must be done and what is right and just. There is no vehicle for the opposite flow, as there is no perceived need for communication upward. A true leadership lesson – given how that has worked out for those 12 year olds….
Dan, a great piece. Sadly, the UK is not exempt from this and the Catholic Church doesn’t have a monopoly on the kind of wrong behaviour being discussed. Some years back now, Norman Tebbit (a former Tory party minister, a man who I generally have little time for) spoke about a similar issue and said that fault arose because large organisations/the establishment had placed their position and reputation above the safety and rights of individuals. He was exactly right in his analysis. Once organisations decide they are more important than those that they represent or protect, that is the first step on path to this kind of situation.
These real time analogies are extremely effective when I share your articles with staff. Everyone (all walks) recognizes the stories and everyone has an opinion. You definitely nailed this one. Keep them coming.
This isn’t a total tangent 😉 it loops back in the end. It’s important to keep the conversation around child sexual abuse going, as it’s widespread. Statistics show that 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys will be sexually abused before 18 years of age. Over 90% of children know their perpetrator and 34% are family!!!! Perpetrators are master manipulators – causing the child to fear telling. However, studies on adults, who were victimized as a child, continually show they would have opened up if someone would have JUST asked… We need to educate ourselves on the signs of abuse, signs of a pedophile, signs of ‘grooming’, etc. In the same way there is hesitation around confronting leadership, there is also hesitation of ‘causing waves’, ‘what if I’m wrong’, etc. “Personal exemption is evil.” Put down your hesitation and ASK, TELL, whatever is needed to shed light on the darkness in this world. The internet is PACKED with resources on sexual abuse and organizations willing to help – start your own research. Keep the conversation going and BE BOLD in every context – inside and outside of business!
A great post, Dan – definitely one of your best! Personal exemption IS evil. Thanks for speaking so directly and forcefully.
“Everyone is accountable, let’s see how far the blame goes?
Leadership has failed in it’s ranks from top to bottom in this case over hundreds of years. Until the truth comes out for everyone we may never put this to rest.
we can only pray that good prevails over evil!
Thank you for addressing the leadership issues ( or more appropriately, the failure in leadership) of this debacle. The Catholic Church could use your guidance!
Dan, The Bible speaks very directly about those who would harm children. ” A millstone should be placed upon their neck and thrown into the great sea..”
Thanks, Blessings & Peace, Bill
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