Either/Or, Both/And: Déjà Vu!! (continued)
An Opinion Piece by Bill Casey
With a mission that seeks to “provide a prayerful voice, attentive to the Spirit, by which the Faithful can actively participate in the governance and guidance of the Catholic Church,” I believe that we must unambiguously stand in solidarity with the women religious whose long history of Gospel witness and service is unparalled in the life of our country and our Church. For centuries, religious women have served the needs of Catholic life (and beyond) with unassuming dignity and courage, too often at the whim of male hierarchical leaders that exercised excessive control over their charisms and lifestyles. Ironically, it was religious women in our country that accepted the “aggiornamento” unleashed by the Second Vatican Council and transformed religious life and practice far more than their clerical counterparts.
At the same time, with one of the goals of VOTF’s mission focused on supporting survivors and protecting children, I believe we need to name the dark stain within congregations of religious women and call them to account. Like their brothers in dioceses and religious orders and congregations, some religious women have sexually abused children entrusted to their care. In doing so, they committed crimes and shattered the lives of children who carry the life-long debilitating effects long into adulthood. Sadly, religious women too have kept this inglorious record secret. They have aped the clericalism culture and elevated their reputation over the needs of those abused, sexually or in other ways. They have failed to show the same fidelity to Gospel teaching with respect to abused children that their record reveals in so many other ways.
It might be more comfortable either to affirm religious women or to condemn them depending upon how one views these realities. With the Vatican-controlled visitation, they suffer an injustice that demeans their extraordinary service to our Church. With the continued failure to acknowledge and address those who have abused in their ranks and those who have been abused, they continue an injustice on survivors and their families, and they fail any expectations of transparency and accountability. Yet, to affirm one of these realities at the expense of the other does not serve the truth. Both are true, uncomfortable as that might leave us, and both warrant our action.
