VATICAN OR MADHOUSE?

 

What would be the reaction if the Vatican were to support and take part in  a conference on safeguarding minors presided over by paedophile priests?  Last week, they did the exact equivalent by supporting and participating in a conference on 'spiritual accompaniment' held by those confirmed guilty of spiritual abuse - Opus Dei, with participation of one of the founders of Comunion and Liberation, a movement which was recently under direct examination by the Vatican for this very problem.  The evidence of spiritual abuse is overwhelming in the case of these organisations, and others such the Focolare Movement, and, in some cases has even been reprimanded directly by Pope Francis.  It is madness to think that movements accused by Pope Francis of being 'self-absorbed' can reform themselves.  And it is a scandal that the Dicastery of the Laity could support an event like this and deeply disturbing that they could appear to be taking part in a cover up.  The place of the guilty is in  the dock not in the judge's seat or on the jury.

PRESS RELEASE SENT OUT JOINTLY BY #ItalyChurchToo, OREF (ORganisation Ex Focolare) and other organisations challenging abuse in the Catholic Church:

On the 'Study Week on Spiritual Accompaniment in Movements and New Communities - Helping Human and Supernatural Growth' Organised by the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross

A FRONT OPERATION AGAINST ABUSE

PROMOTED BY AN ABUSIVE STRUCTURE

INTRODUCTION

The Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, the organiser of the "Study Week on Spiritual Accompaniment in Movements and New Communities", scheduled from 30 January to 3 February, is promoted and governed by the Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei, to which is entrusted the direction and planning of academic formation activities (Art. 2 and Art. 4 PUSC Statutes);

GIVEN THAT:

there are numerous cases of abuse of power, abuse of conscience and spiritual abuse that have emerged within the Prelature, against clerics and celibate lay people with formation and governance positions (numeraries and associates), and that, from the testimonies of the survivors, it emerges that it is the very structural organisation and content of formation, together with a established praxis, that are the vehicle of an abusive culture, which takes the form of principles and conduct that violate the dignity of the person;

that, of the aforementioned cases of abuse, many have already been reported to the ecclesiastical and/or civil authorities, and the relevant proceedings have ended in a conviction or are still pending (cf. denunciation of the prelature of Opus Dei by 43 auxiliary numeraries before the Vatican and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, September 2021), while many others have been the subject of an 'internal' denunciation, before the internal authorities of the prelature, such as the regional or territorial vicars, if not directly before the prelate or his auxiliary vicar; 

that those who have been the victims of these abuses have remained substantially unheard or, after being heard only formally, have received no response, abandoned and rejected by the institution to the point of being induced to leave it, often losing their faith, their livelihoods and in many cases reaching the point of mental illness and suicide; 

that the very authorities to whom the victims turned, exercised a further abuse of power and conscience, forcing an interpretation of events in question that was always aimed at exonerating the perpetrators of the abusive acts and, ultimately, the institution itself;

that these cannot be considered to be individual and isolated or sporadic cases, but systematic and systemic abuse;

IT IS OBSERVED THAT:

Opus Dei has always referred to the relationship between cleric and layperson, or between layperson in a position of authority and ordinary layperson, not by the term "accompaniment" but "spiritual direction", considering the latter to be its own particular charism. In this, the asymmetrical nature of the relationship and the authority in the head of the person who directs it is evident, resulting in the subjection of the recipient - who cannot even choose his own 'spiritual director', but only submit to the choice imposed by the government as an expression of God's will - in an area where the freedom of the individual should be sacred; 

even within the movements and communities that speak of 'accompaniment', there have been equally serious abuses because the quoted expression has been in practice completely emptied of meaning. This is the case of the Focolare Movement, where the accompaniment designed by Chiara Lubich involves the violation of the conscience and freedom of the person through the control of the lay spiritual authority in the 'private conversation';

in this regard, one of the topics under discussion at the event concerns the 'distinction of roles between authority and spiritual accompaniment'. It is well known, for those who have experience of the practice of the Prelature and similar communities, that the distinction does not exist in the concrete life of the members of these organisations. A cleric (or appointed lay person) has simultaneously a governing role within a circumscription and a spiritual director role towards the faithful of the same circumscription. What normally happens is that each member is required to share his or her intimacy with the spiritual director and that the information he or she gives is used by the government to exercise control over the faithful;

that representatives of movements recently subjected to commissioning by the Vatican because of the confusion between the internal and external forums have been invited as experts on 'spiritual accompaniment', and are still under observation.  It is clear that a third body is needed to resolve cases of abuse in the Church. Instead, the current picture presents abuse initiatives organised by the abusers themselves. Yet another scandal is being added to those that have already occurred;

all this is taking place in the presence and with the applause of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, in the person of Card. Kevin Joseph Farrell. This unequivocally means that the Dicastery, and hence the Church, justifies the abuse of power and those who exercised it.

In light of these facts, the #ItalyChurchToo Coordination intends to highlight and bring to the attention of public opinion that the study week in question is a mere window-dressing operation for the benefit of the external image of the prelature and comparable organisations, with the complicity of the ecclesiastical authorities taking part in it, already unsuccessfully urged by the victims to intervene for justice, and therefore well aware of the abuses perpetrated internally.

#ItalyChurchToo is the spokesperson for the indignation and further pain caused to the victims by operations of this kind, which do nothing but aggravate very serious abuses of conscience.

Rome, 30/1/2023