Protection of Minors: Card.
Cupich focuses on dual realities to be pursued
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| Cardinal Blase Cupich delivers his presentation at the meeting on Protection of Minors in the Church. |
Cardinal Blase Cupich delivered his address on the morning
of the 2nd day of the Meeting on the Protection of Minors in the Church calling
for the commitment, on the part of the Church, to engage in dual of realities.
By Linda Bordoni
The 3-day “Protection of Minors in the Church” Meeting,
called by Pope Francis to examine procedures to be put in
place to enforce responsibility, accountability and transparency in the Church,
is in its second day in the Vatican.
Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago,
delivered his presentation entitled “Synodality: Jointly Responsible” on the
day dedicated to the theme of “Accountability.”
Reflecting on the current exercise in collegiality
highlighted by the meeting, he said the bishops must also consider the
challenge in the light of synodality, “especially as we explore with the entire
Church the structural, legal and institutional aspects of accountability”.
Synodality
Synodality, Cardinal Cupich explained, “represents the
participation of all the baptized at every level - in parishes, dioceses,
national and regional ecclesial bodies - in a discernment and reform that
penetrates throughout the Church”.
He said this is vital to the Church in this moment, and it’s
what will “give rise to the elements of truth, penitence and renewal of
cultures that are essential to fulfilling the mandate of protecting the young
within the Church, and in turn within the larger society”.
Cardinal Cupich said that a process that merely changes
policies, “even if it is the fruit of the finest acts of collegiality, is not
enough”.
He called for the conversion of men and women throughout the
entire Church, and for the conversion of ecclesial cultures on every continent,
saying that “Only a synodal vision, rooted in discernment, conversion and
reform at every level can bring to the Church the comprehensive action in the
defense of the most vulnerable in our midst to which God’s grace is calling
us”.
Sacred bond
Cardinal Cupich proceeded to reflect on a number of points
including the need for a structural legal and institutional reform. He spoke of
the role of the laity, the need for listening and accompaniment, but he also
highlighted the role of the Church as that of a loving mother and compared the
“sacred bond” between a parent with a child to that of the Church with its
flock.
“Mothers and fathers have called us to account, for they
simply cannot comprehend how we as bishops and
religious superiors have often been blinded
to the scope and damage of sexual abuse of
minors. They are witnessing to dual realities that must be
pursued in our church today: an unceasing effort
to eradicate clergy sexual abuse in the
church, and a rejection of the clerical culture which so often bred
that abuse”, he said.
Task ahead
The Cardinal did not shy away from looking to the task ahead
and he presented a framework for Institutional and Legal Structures for
Accountability focusing on three different aspects: “Setting Standards for
Investigation of Bishops”, “Reporting Allegations” and “Concrete Procedural
Steps”.
Cardinal Cupich concluded observing that “What remains to be
enacted are clear procedures in cases which for “grave reasons” could justify
the removal from office of a bishop, eparch or religious superior as defined in
the motu proprio “Sacramentorum sanctitatis tutela” and the
motu proprio, “Come una madre amorevole” (“As a loving mother”) and he
urged his brother bishops to move to establish robust laws and structures
regarding the accountability of bishops precisely to supply with a new soul the
institutional reality of the Church’s discipline on sexual abuse.
For more information on the Meeting on the Protection of
Minors in the Church and for Cardinal Cupich’s full presentation www.pbc2019.org
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