Over the past number of weeks, we have seen a number of enraged comments from Church officials relating to the role of the media in the sex abuse crisis. And sure, much of the reporting is motivated by anti-Catholicism, and much of it is simply unfair and inaccurate. But the venom directed against the media will surely backfire, and give the impression that the Church can get more passionate defending its institutional structure than the victims of abuse. But in his Easter Vigil homily (which I heard in person), archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin struck exactly the right note:
“In our days there is so much scrutiny and examination of the Church here in Ireland. There are exposés of the failings of the Church; there is questioning of the role of the Church in Irish society in the past and in whatever our future may be. The role of the Church in Ireland is being examined under a microscope and from every possible direction. The spotlight of media and public opinion is focused on the failures and the betrayals of Church leaders and a damaging culture which has grown up in the Church.
I am not criticising the media for that. That is their job. In doing their job some will feel the media have been unfriendly to the Church, even unfair; others will welcome and recognise valid criticism, from whatever angle it comes, even if it comes from people patently unfavourable to the Church. We have to remember that the truth will set the Church free, even if the truth is hard to digest.
Identifying the failures of the Church may however be the easier task. There will be some who will hope that such exposure will mortally would an organization which they consider has gone irreparably astray. But what of those who love the Church? How do we overcome our disgust and shame for the sins of Christians?
The sins of the Church can well be exposed by the spotlight of the media; but the Church will be converted, renewed and reformed only when it allows the light of Christ to inspire it and guide it. It is the light of Christ which will show the real significance of the darkness that has slipped into our lives. The light of Christ will expose the sins of Christians but the light of Christ does not abandon us naked and alone in the exposure of our shame and sin. The light of Christ heals, it leads; there is no way we can switch off or dim that part of the light that exposes the sad realities of the past; there is no way we should switch off or dim the light that can open the path to a new future. No generation is too sophisticated not to need the light of Christ; no generation is too sophisticated not to be able to comprehend that light and what it can bring to society.”
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