Posted On:
May 5, 2011
Catholics Must Discuss Sexual Abuse Openly and Honestly: Kenny
Last weekend Summerside Prince Edward Island hosted the annual convention of the Catholic Women’s League.
The keynote speaker was Sister Nuala Kenny, a Professor Eeritus at Dalhousie University and a policy advisor to the Catholic Health Alliance of Canada. Sister Kenny has dedicated much of her life to addressing the tragedy of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church.
In her address to the CWL, Sister Kenny urged all Catholics to work together with their Bishops and Clergy to renew and revitalize the church. However, to do so, she said that the church has to talk openly about how the sexual abuse of children has been allowed to happen and find a way to ensure that it never happens again.
Comments
Dear Bishop Dunn
I waited until after Raymond Lahey's trial and your statement to the press before sending you this message. In your press release on May 5, you say,"I would like to express my solidarity with those who are hurting and promise that I will continue to work toward healing, reconciliation and reform."
However, there are spokespersons within the Catholic Church who are undermining your efforts by blaming the lay members of the Church. An article in the B.C. Catholic, makes it very clear that Sister Kenny believes that "the laity has been complicit."
Artist Michael D. O’Brien agrees with Kenny and asks, “Do we lay people pray for our shepherds? Do we offer sacrifice? Do we fast? Have we loved the truth?”
Sister Kenny is an educated woman, yet she can say, in a speech to the annual convention of the Catholic Women's League in Summerside,"Blaming the bishops and the clergy as the reason that this happened the way it did is in itself unfair and unjust. We are far more in numbers than our bishops and priests and we should be working with them."
By making this statement, Kenny has betrayed the most powerless members of the Catholic Church, Catholic women and children. When has the Catholic laity, especially women, ever had a voice in the running of the church and the disciplining of priests?
Your "wish to re-commit the entire Diocese of Antigonish to a journey where we continue to be a church which stands as a witness to truth, service and love" will only be fulfilled when apologists for the Catholic Church stop blaming the victims.
Posted by: Veronica | May 10, 2011 10:55 AM