|
The Dominican Family gathered on February 4th to explore
members’ reactions to the clergy sex abuse crisis and the Church
hierarchy’s response. The meeting took place just four days after the
Galveston-Houston Diocese’s release of 42 priests’ names who have been
credibly accused of sexual abuse over the last ~70 years. The other
dioceses in Texas also made similar announcements on January 31st.
Maureen Bacchi, a psychologist and consultant in Houston, facilitated
the discussion titled "Spiritual
Body, Human Institution: Discerning our Response to our Institutional
Crisis.” The
excellent handout she provided is attached below. The handout includes
several references that could be used for further study and prayerful
discernment. Family member turnout was high – filling the room – the
range of emotions broad, and energy level high. Special thanks to
Maureen, who did an outstanding job setting the stage and
providing thought-provoking questions for productive table
discussion.
Maureen suggested that discerning our call in response
to the crisis involves three steps starting with working through our
own experience of grief and grieving with the community. It’s important
to understand how the crisis makes us feel, recognizing that these
feeling may evolve, to help us choose our role in a response.
The second step is to study and learn about root causes of the crisis.
It is much more complex than it appears. Understanding what’s at the
root will help identify more effective solutions. The third step is to
imagine and choose a path for responding to the opportunities this
crisis provides. What can I do, what can the DF do, what can our
parishes do? Much of this discernment will be most effective if done in
dialogue with others. Changes to the institution and the hierarchy are
possible if the people demand it. We should not assume others will fix
it.
The most important thing that Maureen suggested we take
away from the evening is that Christ’s Church is the community of
believers – “the people” – not the clergy and hierarchy. This is a
particularly useful perspective when discussing the sexual abuse crisis
with others. The situation does not reflect a failure of the Church,
rather a failure of some clergy and the hierarchy.
Several people spoke to summarize the discussions at
their tables. It was very clear that our time at table only scratched
the surface of the topic. Many expressed a need to learn more and
emotions flowed including betrayal, anger, helplessness, concern for
the future, among others. To help us continue the dialogue
and understand how the DFLT can organize next steps in our
discernment, we would greatly appreciate if you would share your
thoughts and any feedback (even if you did not attend) via this link.
|
Study 
