Jason Berry wins journalism award; decries Pope Benedict’s “passivity”

by Carolyn Disco

Mark Silk, director of the Leonard Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life, cited Berry for his “integrity, insight, journalistic excellence, and serious moral purpose”  in covering the biggest religion story ever in this country.

Jason Berry was the recipient a year ago of Voice of the Faithful’s St. Catherine of Siena Distinguished Lay Person Award at our conference on Long Island. Read more… about his 26 years of research and writing, in the most comprehensive coverage on record.

In his acceptance remarks, Berry offered a direct analysis of Pope Benedict’s tenure as one marked by a “sad drama of passivity.” The prevailing response has been to “stand back and wait and hope that it will pass.” Despite apologies to victims, Benedict and the church have yet to come to terms with the tremendous damage caused by their failed leadership.

The fallout is evident in lawsuits and settlements that have drained resources, Berry said. The hierarchy brought this on themselves, however. Berry drew a careful distinction between Cardinal Ratzinger's long career as a theologian and, as Pope Benedict, his “disaster” as an administrator.

Berry is completing a new book on church finances, due out this spring from Doubleday. Render Unto Rome: The Secret Life of Money in the Catholic Church explores the financial inner workings of several American dioceses amidst a national wave of church closures, the pivotal importance of Congregation for the Clergy in Rome, and how the fundraising of Legion of Christ founder Marcial Maciel compromised the Vatican legal system.

The tone of Berry’s remarks, while critical, does not come out of hostility and cynicism, he emphasized. The realities he encountered over the decades from investigative reporting have left him a realist about church governance, which he carefully delineates from Catholic spirituality. 

Still, his goal has never been to tear down the church, but to reform its practices. To that end, he stated unequivocally that the path to renewal must come from structural change in the institution, echoing a major goal of VOTF. The larger context of the crisis, he insisted, is one of moral authority, as reformers press bishops to embrace a culture of honesty.

Berry’s candor about the shameful record of the hierarchy was refreshing. No euphemisms for the denials and obfuscation, but also no rash polemics or anti-Catholicism. A journalist of his skill calling out the reality he sees is helpful beyond measure.
In addition, Berry’s compassion for survivors, his willingness to take time, listen, and help when he could, led SNAP’s founder Barbara Blaine to call him a “dear friend and treasured colleague.” VOTF obviously shares that assessment, and it was heartening to find Trinity College recognizing his remarkable achievements and integrity.

By way of a personal addendum: Jason Berry’s example of how a Catholic committed to the faith copes with exposure to the evil of the scandal is a powerful witness in navigating those waters. “As my sense of church changed,” he wrote previously, “so did my own spiritual interior. The altars, icons, mosaics, narratives and rites of Catholicism have a grace in the mind of faith. I was excavating a second church, a shadow-church that most Catholics rarely encounter, an ecclesiastical culture honeycombed with sexual secrecy, dripping lies, lies and more lies.” This is utterly familiar.

But keeping that connection to the mind of faith through “a spirit that upsets all one’s reading and embattled purpose” is his gift to grateful readers.