Irish synod delegates address 'open wound' of abuse
Julieann Moran and Fr Éamonn Fitzgibbon delivered a speech in the second working session of the assembly in Prague.
Abuse scandals remain a barrier to the mission of the Irish Church, its delegation to the European Continental Assembly of the Synod on Synodality has said.
In their address to the assembly in Prague, the Irish delegation said: “Abuse is an open wound and will remain a barrier to communion, participation, and mission until it is comprehensively addressed.”
Julieann Moran and Fr Éamonn Fitzgibbon delivered the speech in the second working session of the assembly, relating how the diocesan phase of the synod in Ireland had heard many testimonies from men and women who had been wounded through sexual, institutional, emotional, psychological, physical and spiritual abuse by members of the Church.
“Their voice went to the very heart of what is needed for our Church: conversion,” the two Irish representatives said.
Julieann Moran is the general secretary of the Irish Synodal Pathway and Fr Éamonn Fitzgibbon is convener of the task group for the Irish Synodal Pathway.
They were part of the four-person delegation attending the assembly in-person. The others were the Archbishop of Armagh, Eamon Martin, and Dr Nicola Brady, chair of the steering committee of the Irish Synodal Pathway.
A further ten delegates from Ireland attended online.
The gathering in Prague was one of seven continental assemblies convening across five continents in a new stage of the universal synodal process.
Contextualising the situation on the island of Ireland, Ms Moran and Fr Fitzgibbon explained how both Northern Ireland and the Republic had seen divisive conflict in recent decades including suspicion and sectarianism within the Christian family, together with a radical demographic, economic, and social transformation.
“This new social reality, together with the painful legacy of clerical and institutional abuse and involvement of Church bodies in the harsh institutionalisation of women and children, have had a profound effect on the Church in Ireland,” they said.
Highlighting the anger, sadness, sense of loss – including, in some cases a loss of faith – which has been felt most acutely by those who were abused, they said it was also felt by the lay faithful, by priests, bishops, religious.
They said it was felt both by those who have remained, and by those who left because they no longer hear the Good News in a Church “that failed so many”.
Underlining the need to “enlarge the space of our tent”, they asked: “Can we truly be an evangelising Church if we do not heed Isaiah’s prophetic image to hear the voices of our brothers and sisters who have become disaffected and discouraged?”
They continued: “Isaiah’s image of ‘enlarging the tent’ speaks to the heart of what we have identified in our synodal listening: the theme of inclusion and exclusion.”
The Irish delegates said they were aware of the trust that has been placed in them to carry the voices of those who have spoken in truth and in love.
This included many women, they said, who communicated their pain at being denied their agency in the life of the Church and spoke of feelings of exclusion and discrimination.
“Women play a critical role in the life of the Church but so many men and women have spoken of the Church ‘excluding’ the fullness of the gifts of women.
“Many submissions during the diocesan phase called for women to be admitted to the diaconate and priesthood,” Ms Moran and Fr Fitzgibbon said.
They also highlighted that those who are in loving relationships that don’t accord with Church teaching, including people identifying as LGBTQI+, and those in second unions, also spoke of their hurt, particularly around harmful and offensive language used in Church circles and documents.
There was also a call for greater inclusion of migrants and refugees, of people living with disabilities, of young people and of single parents. Some of those who love the pre-Vatican II liturgy had also spoken of their sense of exclusion.
“Indeed, the earth itself, which Pope Francis reminds us is ‘among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor’ has also been wounded by exploitation and a lack of due care,” the delegates added.
They said that if there is clear action, with the courage to go deeper and to fully understand the causes, the Church in Ireland – and universally – can become the “field hospital” that Pope Francis desires the whole Church to be.
“God is calling us to be humble and prophetic on behalf of those we have hurt.
“Reform and renewal is difficult because sometimes we have to unbind our wounds, delicately re-opening them in order to establish the truth of what happened, and why it happened, and learn from it.
“Only in this way can we fully heal, be reconciled and find renewal.”
They continued: “A synodal Church can help to redress and bind these wounds. It can help us to be reconciled with ourselves, with God, with one another, and with creation.”
They said the joy expressed by so many who took part in the synodal process, and their hope that it will continue and become embedded in Church structures, is real.
“There is a deep longing for a more inclusive and welcoming Church. People wish for this enlarged tent to be experienced in liturgy, language, structures, practices, and decision-making.
“The co-responsibility of all the baptised must therefore be recognised and practised, to overcome clericalism and to ensure full and equal participation of women in all aspects of Church life and ministry and decision-making.”
In his contribution on “Synodality and Hierarchy in Communion” during a free discussion session at the assembly, Archbishop Martin explored the creative tension between synodality and hierarchy in the communion of the Church.
“Synodality should seek to affirm and enhance the teaching authority of the Pope and the bishops, not diminish it,” the Irish primate said.
He said he believed the synodal process would yield a rich harvest if “all of us together – as pastors and lay people – ‘are mutually respectful of one another’s charisms’”.
“And if we consider more precisely how canonically a synodal process, such as this, acts as an authentic instrument in helping to determine the sensus fidei fidelium. It can be done.”
But he added: “This is Christ’s Church – not ours to create at will to our specifications.” He recalled Pope Benedict XVI’s remark that Jesus did not say, “You are the vine”, but, “I am the vine, you are the branches.”
“Jesus refers to His Father as ‘vinedresser’ who sometimes must reach for the secateurs – to prune those branches that are bearing fruit and to remove and throw away the withered branches.
“We all know that pruning is an art: done well the vine will flourish with new growth and abundant fruit, done badly it can grievously wound or even kill the plant.”
Speaking to The Tablet, one of the online delegates, Ursula Halligan, who is joint co-ordinator of the lay reform group We Are Church Ireland, described the Irish presentation as “one of the most enlightened to be made at the Prague assembly”.
She paid tribute to the integrity of the synodal task force and said it “shone through in the way they honoured the voices of those who took part in the synodal listening sessions in Ireland”.
“Their statement was strong on abuse, and significantly it was strong on women. It spoke of the pain that many women feel about being denied agency in their own Church and that many submissions called for women to be admitted to the diaconate and the priesthood.”
However, the former journalist had reservations.
“It didn’t go as far as I would have liked on LGBTQI concerns but at least it acknowledged the pain caused to LGBTQI people by the ‘harmful and offensive’ language that the church uses about LGBTQI people.
“And that is positive start but a lot more needs to be done.”
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