By Liz Leydon
As the film Spotlight brings the Boston Catholic Church clerical abuse crisis back to the forefront of our minds, reopening old wounds for all involved, it draws inevitable but inaccurate comparisons between the abuse crisis and cover up in the church in the US, dating from the turn of the millennium expose, and what is happening in the Scottish Church at present.
I have had the demanding privilege of working on Church abuse stories on both sides of the Atlantic during my time with the Boston Herald group at the height of the Church abuse crisis and now as editor of The Scottish Catholic Observer (SCO), Scotland’s independent national Catholic newspaper. It is clear from survivors’ accounts in both countries, others such as in Ireland and from subsequent investigations that crimes occurred, serious mistakes were made and the Church as an institution had a steep learning curve on reporting and handling accusations of abuse, issues too repulsive to imagine. While I have respect for the Boston Globe’s Pulitzer Prize winning-team featured in Spotlight, wider mistakes were also made in the early reporting on the abuse issue – such as sensationalism of already horrific news– due to a lack of understanding about such an emotive subject and of the Catholic Church; also, because of agendas.
I do not work for the Church but my previous and current roles give me an informed perspective on the differences between the two situations: the horror and scale of the situation in Boston in circa 1999 onwards involving Paul Shanley and John Geoghan, prompting the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law, and the reality of the issue in Scotland at present that seems to have eluded Herald and, yes, Scottish Catholic Observer columnist Kevin McKenna.
There is and cannot be any excuse for clerical abuse, nor for any attempts to prevent justice being done and a comprehensive reporting and investigatory procedure involving the police must followed uniformly in all cases. We all know this as we have learned and benefited from what the world saw went wrong in Boston leading to abuse cases and cover ups.
However last year’s McLellan report on the handling of reports of abuse cases in Scotland – and the very system it recommended that is being putting in place –cannot be dismissed out of hand. Such changes are also much more than "another box-ticking exercise as the Government and the Catholic Church in Scotland seek to continue their mission to bury this out of sight," as Kevin McKenna chose to put it.
Taking responsibility for past mistakes is something the Church has to do and is making progress on, even though it is in the impossible position of judging by, and being judged on, today’s standards regarding the mistakes made in historic abuse cases. However, attempting to bring the Church to its knees, and "tarring" all clergy with the same brush is neither a constructive path nor one that appears to offer any benefits. The majority of clergy already carry the weight and stain of the few within their numbers guilty of these crimes. In Scotland, cases reported have often been within religious orders rather than within dioceses; nonetheless they require scrupulous attention.
The needs of abuse survivors must be at the centre of any abuse handling or reporting system, a key part of the McLellan recommendations and Pope Francis’s own panel (which, sadly, appears to be at odds with its survivor member). Many victims are so traumatised, however, that, understandably, no process or any amends could make reparations. The Church will keep trying.
Safeguarding standards for children and vulnerable adults being updated and rolled out in the Scottish Church shows there is a difference between confidentiality and cover-up. I hope that will encourage groups like White Flowers Alba to come forward, to participate and be heard.
While the Church in England and Wales awaits it own fate on abuse via the Justice Goddard Inquiry instituted by UK Home Secretary Teresa May, the Scottish Church is making progress; progress best measured by independent scrutiny, not solely judged in the court of public opinion or the press in Scotland. Therein lies a key difference between American "lawsuit" and Scottish culture.
Liz Leydon is editor of the Scottish Catholic Observer.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel