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COMMENTARY and More
SOL Reforms Are Not Enough
Mary Collingwood, NRC, Region 6 MI/OH
By supporting legislation that will extend criminal and civil
statutes of limitation and advocating for look-back windows,
things may appear hopeful for the victims of clergy sexual
abuse. But things won’t change for the Church. The Church will
continue to act and react the same way it has for centuries;
the reason being that the governing structure of the Church
remains the same. The same structure that protected priest
predators has been and will continue to protect other such
scandalous behavior. Unless the structure is changed, Church
governance as we know it will not.
In Fr. Tom Doyle’s commentary (Vineyard, Dec. 15, 2005),
he states that the Church’s governing structure will not change.
He implies that we are spinning our wheels in keeping this
hope as part of our mission statement. In fact, Tom Doyle goes
so far as to say we can do nothing about it, so let’s just
focus our attention on advocating for the abuse victims. And
I say if there were even one God-fearing layperson in a governing
position within a diocese, this abuse would have been uncovered
a long time ago. It would never have reached these proportions
nor have gone on this long.
It is time to think outside the box. We need to create new
opportunities to express ourselves. Our creative imaginations
must work overtime alongside the spiritual promptings of our
hearts. The campaign proposed is but a small part of our mission
and must not be construed as the only avenue for reform. All
our effort must not be focused on one issue. We must allow
ourselves the perspective of seeing the foundational imperfections
so that we can repair them before rebuilding the house. Immediate
measures may be advocated, but long-term perspectives must
be generated. Our mission statement provides such a perspective.
We must keep our wide-lensed focus and not be deterred no matter
what influential voice tries to redirect our efforts.
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