Abstract
The impact on the Roman Catholic Church of the abuse of children by priests and the perceived inadequate response of the hierarchy has been profound. Pope Francis has publicly asked for the forgiveness of ‘our own sins and the sins of others … It is essential that we, as a Church, be able to acknowledge and condemn, with sorrow and shame, the atrocities perpetrated by consecrated persons’ (Papal letter, August 2018). Many victims of the abuse have been traumatized for life. Many abusers have been named and punished. Many bishops have hung their heads in shame.
In his book The Burden of Betrayal, Barry O’Sullivan explores a less recognized consequence of the scandals: their effect on the life and work of non-offending priests, the vast majority of priests who were as shocked as the wider public by the news of the behaviour of their brother clergy. O’Sullivan is a priest himself and an experienced diocesan child protection coordinator. The book is developed from his PhD research, which was based on in-depth interviews with six non-offending priests. All the interviewees expressed very similar responses to the abuse scandal. The scandals were a ‘tectonic shift’ in their ministry (p. 57). Recurrent themes in the interviews included ‘existential crisis’, ‘grief and loss’, ‘fear’, ‘betrayal’, ‘shame and isolation’ and a ‘lack of confidence in the institution of the Church’.
There are weaknesses in O’Sullivan’s methodology in that so few priests were interviewed and that no attempt was made to ensure that they were representative of the whole body of the clergy. Indeed, the six were to an extent self-selecting in that they were chosen, albeit randomly, from delegates from the Catholic dioceses of England and Wales who had attended a national conference on ‘Safeguarding as ministry’. However, the strength of the approach lies in the candidness of the six respondents in speaking to a fellow priest. The quotes are more revealing than the analysis. Someone came to the door looking for money. When I refused he said, ‘You’re all a load of bloody child abusers.’ (p. 74) I had a fear of being accused because of what others did. I was frightened to be alone with a child in any circumstance. (p. 69) When I was first ordained it was good practice to pick children up and hold them. I wouldn’t do it now. It would be inappropriate. (p. 69) We are all being labelled … Friends think Catholic priest equals paedophile. (p. 74)
Some of the interviewees had known offenders or were picking up the pieces in a parish where a previous priest had offended. On hearing the news of a case known to him personally, the reaction of one interviewee was, for the first time ever, to feel ashamed of being a priest. ‘I didn’t want to wear clerical dress ever again.’
O’Sullivan makes a valid and sound point when he says that the consequences of the abuse scandal reach wider than the child victims themselves. The perspectives of the non-offending priests must be added to the overall picture.