Priests should be judged as individuals first

Friday, March 4th, 2016

The Catholic church is an easy target. A socially conservative agenda stands in broad opposition to mainstream thought in liberal Western democracies.

The church’s stance on homosexuality, contraception, abortion, transgender issues, the ordination of women and euthanasia is no longer that of the majority.

Its history is full of examples of failing to live up to the high standards of Christian behavior. You cannot easily sweep the Crusades, the Borgias or the Spanish Inquisition under the carpet.

In the 20th century, questions about how the church rose to the challenge of German Fascism can be posed.

It was on the side of Franco in Spain and there are at the very least conflicting views about its relationship with a Nazi regime, where a good portion of senior leadership claimed nominal Catholicism.

Then there is the issue of historic sexual abuse by its clergy and the systematic practice of covering these obscene crimes up and even perpetuating them by shifting offenders from one parish to another.

That the institution put the needs of its reputation above that of innocent children is now an acknowledged fact. If the church refuses to engage in a conversation about the effects of enforced celibacy on priests or the predilection of those who put themselves forward for the priesthood to offend, it can no longer deny that grave and indefensible errors were made.

To purport to believe in one thing then to do the exact opposite is bad enough. To lie about the contradiction rubs salt in the wounds. The lying is a sin in itself. There were millions of victims.

The film Spotlight, a movie about the investigative journalism that began the long process of unravelling this deception, is coming toward the end of its run in New Zealand cinemas. A contender for the top award at Monday’s Oscars, it’s a smart and muted piece of film-making that has the virtue of knowing what story it is telling and doing so in a clear and compelling manner.

Spotlight isn’t about the abuse itself, nor even about the cover-up, per se. It’s a film about working reporters who come to realise that they, too, are implicated in the crime. By failing to grasp the implications of clear evidence sooner, they played a part in perpetuating abuse. Continue reading