Over the past decade and a half, Roman Catholic congregants in Northampton have had to endure a number of shocks, beginning with the reduction of five neighborhood parishes into one. Nothing, however, represents a bigger challenge to us than the ongoing revelations of clergy sexual abuse, revelations that have grown particularly troubling in recent months.
For many of us — those who have stayed in the Church rather than leaving in disappointment and disgust — this has been a period of waiting. What would the Catholic hierarchy do to address a problem that seems only to grow, as its true dimensions come more and more to light? The waiting has not been fruitful. Time and again, we have been met with silence from our bishops and parish priests. The silence has done nothing to still or diminish the larger noise coming from without: reports of widespread abuse, the resignation of prominent Catholic bishops and archbishops, foot-dragging at every level, all the way up to Rome.
At a recent meeting of the joint Social Justice Commission of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Northampton and Our Lady of the Hills Parish in Haydenville, our ongoing business was tabled so that we could discuss our feelings of outrage, disillusionment and grief in response to clergy sexual abuse, the ever-growing elephant in the room at any Catholic gathering. There were a dozen or so of us, all attempting to find a response that might take us beyond our accustomed position of passive waiting for the hierarchy to do something. Finally, one of us came up with a statement we could all get behind: “Change, if it’s going to come, is going to come from the bottom up.”
What that means is not simply waiting for change but demanding it. While we are saddened by the mud that is splashed on all good priests who become smeared with doubt and anxiety by their parishioners; it does seem that one of the ways to begin climbing out of this is to demand greater transparency. Demanding that our priests speak up at Mass about the issue that is never far from their congregants’ minds. And demanding of ourselves that, rather than meekly attending Mass and saying nothing, we make a strong showing of our solidarity with the victims of abuse.
To that end, we are planning a candlelight vigil on Oct. 9, at 6 p.m., at Pope Francis Preparatory High School in Springfield, on a night when priests and deacons of the Diocese will be meeting there to address the sexual abuse issue. We will be standing together in solidarity with the victims of sexual abuse, for transparency and justice for perpetrators, and for support of our clergy as we move on. Anyone interested is invited to join.
The great Irish writer John McGahern wrote eloquently about “the two dividing movements” in the Church as he knew it: “the fortress churches with their edicts, threats and punishments, and the churches of the spires and brilliant windows that go toward love and light.” It is to move away from the Church as fortress, to allow it to reclaim the love and light that are still at the heart of it, that we wish to dedicate this simple action.
Tony Giardina
Submitted on behalf of the Social Justice Commission of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish (Northampton) and Our Lady of the Hills Parish (Haydenville)