Venting Rage

The sexual abuse stuff that is being played out in inquiries across the land is gob smacking. There is now a virtual inquiry industry happening after decades of neglect and indifference. We are seeing a fundamental shift in social power.  Once a potent religious institution was above the law.  This has mercifully been reversed.  The mighty are falling.  The stories are shocking. My rage is simmering.  The rage of innocent Catholics must be wild. How about yours?

Let us first document this new inquiry map.  In addition to the many belated individual committals and trials there are three main inquiries going on concurrently. 

In NSW there is the Special Commission of Inquiry concerning child sexual abuse allegations in the Hunter region raised by Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox in an ABC Lateline interview. This is an interesting tale for it is examining how another institution, the police, may be culpable.  The police and the Church, partners in imposing moral order now stand accused of collaborating to subvert that order. Complementary institutions sometimes have a habit of supporting each other.  This can be a great thing.  It could be evidence of social harmony.  Or it can be selfish incumbents protecting their rear ends.  Time will tell. 

In Victoria, there is a Parliamentary Inquiry.  This Inquiry probably only saw the light of day because of the mass suicide of victims in the Ballarat  area of between 35 and 50 young men damaged by the Catholic school they attended.  These suicides numbers are appalling.  The not only demonstrate the frequency of abuse suggesting utter organizational cruelty but also dramatically exemplify the pain of abuse. Victims sometimes would rather die.

Nationally, the Queen issued Letters Patent for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse.  This was mirrored with the issue of 6 State Letters Patent. So if you include the 6 States, there could be said to be 9 inquiries of various different flavours. 

Don’t think however that they 9 inquiries are overkill. They are belated response to bipartisan indifference. Governments of every hue have turned a Nelsonian blind eye to the widespread ruination of children’s’ lives. 

Several overwhelming issues strike me. 

The Ballarat mass suicide is so significant one must ask whether there is a case to be made for seeing whether anyone who failed to act should be charged with manslaughter.  The slaughter is there, but are there the elements for criminally negligent manslaughter? Time will tell. It is a shocking event. Unlike other sorts of disasters where the death toll occurs at one moment in time, this was played out over years of abuse and subsequent silent suffering.  So as an event of alleged mass manslaughter it is invisible.  But it is a disaster nonetheless with more  suffering and death than say the Port Arthur massacre of 1996 or the West Gate Bridge collapse of 1970 where 35 people died in each.  But not many of us would see it that way.  I hope that this perception will change and that the group killing is recognized for the serious (and avoidable) disaster that it has been.

Another issue is nature of the Catholic expression of contrition.  Upon the announcement of the Royal Commission, Cardinal Pell, whilst welcoming the Commission, blamed a smear campaign against the Catholic Church and a persistent press campaign. Since then, the leadership of the Church have put on their professional sad faces, clasping their hands in front of them in their magnificent robes at healing ceremonies. I feel anger that these hypocrites have never, I repeat never, dobbed in an offender to the police. They have never called for assistance in weeding out abusers. They set up programs populated by good people (an uncle of mine included) but no one I know of gets sent to the independent criminal justice system.

The final issue for today is the role of the kinky anti sex rules of Catholicism.  The promotion of abstinence never gets a mention in the Letters Patent.  We respect faith no matter how bizarre.  The overwhelming issue appears to be the hierarchical nature of those faiths where miscreants can flower.   Obedient hierarchies suppress complaint and give the leaders a sense of being untouchable. But no one is investigating the role of sex and faith.  Sexual dysfunction in the form of no sex for the leadership is mandated by Catholicism. This kinky rule needs to be addressed but is not.

I need to acknowledge that the Catholics are not the only ones involved – Jews and Anglicans get a mention too.  But they are only mentions by comparison. I am a Facebook friend of Manny Waks who is a crusader on the Jewish abuse issue. At least Manny is a voice from within.

I could go on and on and indeed will.  I will try to avoid being a self-righteous atheist. Such complacency is tempting but must be resisted.

We are all angry I am sure.  For those of the faith, they must be appalled and embarrassed.  For those of no faith, we must guard against smugness and make sure we do not opportunistically delight in the suffering and death of others.  Several issues need your contribution:

•  Are you as angry as I am? Are you Catholic and angry?
•  Am I merely a sleazy opportunist?
•  Will this taint Catholicism forever or will the Church recover quickly as I suspect it will?
•   What do you think of the Church’s repentance?
• What do think of the 35 to 50 Ballarat suicides? Mass manslaughter or a tiny problem easily ignored?

Over to you guys…