Ghisoni: "On your knees and in communion, the answer is solidarity and not omission"

Renato Martinez – Vatican City

"As God's people, we are challenged to badume the pain of our brothers who are broken in their flesh and their spirit." If, in the past, omission could become a form of response, we Today we want solidarity, understood in its deepest and most difficult sense, to become our way of making history present and future, "he said Friday afternoon. February 22, Dr. Linda Ghisoni, Undersecretary of the section of the lay faithful of the lay, family and life dicastery, participating in the 3rd relationship, the second day of the meeting on "The protection of minors in the church. "

"Howling wolves"

In presenting the third relationship of the meeting, the Undersecretary of the Dicastery of the Laity, Family and Life, presented the testimony of a woman victim of abuse of conscience, power and baduality from priests. "These people are, from my point of view – said Linda Ghisoni referring to the clerics – wolves roaring in the fold to further frighten the flock and disperse it, whereas it should be precisely them, the pastors of the Church, who should take care of you and protect the little ones. " Listening to testimonials like this, underscored the undersecretary, is not an exercise in commiseration; it is an encounter with the flesh of Christ in which incurable wounds were caused, wounds that, as you said, Holy Father, do not prescribe.

Kneeling in front of the victims and their families

Faced with this situation, the Under-Secretary of the Laity, Family and Life Dicastery said that our attitude and our position on these issues should be "on our knees". On their knees in front of the victims and their families, in front of the aggressors, the accomplices, the deniers, in front of all those who were accused unjustly, in front of the careless, the hide and seek, in front of those who tried to speak and to act but that have been silenced, the indifferent. On your knees before the merciful Father who sees the body of Christ torn apart, his church, and sends us to take care of wounds like his people and heal them with the balm of his love. Another attitude that Ghisoni has pointed out is that of being together, in a reciprocal and active listening, trying to work so that, in future, does not cause such an event, Encuentro. responsible and loving towards the people involved and takes care of what happened, so that prevention is not exhausted in a beautiful program, but to become an ordinary pastoral attitude.

"Responsibility" in the Church

Faced with the anomaly inherent in any type of abuse against minors, Linda Ghisoni first stressed the duty to know everything that had happened, as well as the awareness of what it meant. means; and the duty of truth, justice, reparation and prevention so that such abominations do not happen again. Since it is not possible to develop a prevention plan if you do not know what to avoid.

For this, it is necessary for the one who is invested with the appropriate "responsibility" to badume, with the resulting accountability, the duty to be accountable. This duty requires an badessment and accountability exercise in terms of decisions made and objectives set and achieved to a greater or lesser extent. But responsibility in the Church, contrary to what may seem, does not respond primarily to the demands of social and organizational order.

Towards an ecclesiology of communion

Responsibility in the Church does not even respond to the need for transparency, to which we must all pay special attention because of the truth. "It is not these social demands," said Linda Ghisoni, "which is the foundation of responsibility, rather it is in the very nature of the Church as a mystery of communion." It is only on the basis of this foundation that every action of the Church acquires all its meaning: even an action that clearly implies social demands, as seems responsibility, must be brought back to the very nature of the Church itself. itself, that is to say: to its dimension of communion.

Consecutive Ecclesiological Problems

It is only through the vision of the Church as sacrament that means and realizes the mystery of Trinitarian communion that it is possible to properly understand the diversity of charisms, gifts and ministries of the Church, the diversity of roles and functions of the people of God. . Therefore, it is important to stress Linda Ghisoni, a crucial first question that stems from what has been said so far is: in the Church, the faithful do not badume the roles and positions according to a social distribution consistent with the requirements of the institutional functioning. A second important question in the context of our discourse concerns the correct understanding of the ordained ministry, especially the relationship between bishop and priests. Another note to emphasize, which stems from the vision of "communion of the Church", people of God on the way, is the requirement of interaction between different charisms and ministries. Finally, it is necessary that the participation of all the people of God is necessarily dynamic: the laity, the consecrated are not called to be mere executors of the provisions of the clergy, but we are all the servants of the same vineyard in which everyone He brings his contribution and participates in the discernment that the Spirit suggests to the Church.

The way and the method

The foundation of the communion of the Church is always the one that indicates the way and the method, in this case a dynamism of participation of the whole People of God which implies to live the synodality, to walk together, as a shared process in which everyone has a different part, different responsibilities, but they all constitute the one church. In fact – as can be read in the Apostolic Constitution Episcopalis Communio of September 15, 2018 – "the totality of the faithful, who have the anointing of the Holy (see 1 John 2, 20 and 27), can not be wrong when they believe, and this particular prerogative of him manifests itself through the supernatural sense of the faith of all peoples when, "bishops to the last faithful lay", he gives his universal consent to things of faith and customs (LG 12).

Avoid two wrong positions.

Linda Ghisoni urged to avoid two erroneous positions in this regard. A bishop can not resolve church issues by acting alone or exclusively with other bishops, according to the idea that "only a bishop can know what is good for bishops"; similarly, it could be said that "only a priest knows what is good for priests, only a layman for the laity, that a woman for women," and so on. In the same way, we can say that it is wrong, from my point of view, to argue that the participation of the laity as such in cases referring to ordained ministers guarantees greater correction since they are "third parties" in the light of events.

Returning to the nature of Church fellowship, where different charisms and ministries are exercised, does not mean leveling, but rather involves wealth and strength, helps to find the reasons to avoid these extreme and unproductive slogans .

Some practical actions

Taking into account the basics and briefly stated questions, this meeting offers us the opportunity to know what is happening in the Church and what needs to be done, knowing that this meeting convened by the Pope does not constitute goal of a completed trip. validated and perfect; but this is not the starting point either.

The first suggestion, therefore, is to know and to study already tested practices that have proved effective in other ecclesial contexts, in other episcopates. The second suggestion concerns national guidelines that a specific chapter must be inserted to determine the reasons and the accountability procedures, so that bishops and religious superiors establish an ordinary system of verification of compliance with what is planned. and motivation of the actions taken or not, so that the reasons for a given behavior need not be justified later, subjecting it to the requirements of the moment, possibly related to a defensive action.

The third suggestion of Linda Ghisoni is to recommend the establishment of independent advisory boards in the territory of each episcopal conference to advise and badist bishops and religious superiors and to promote a uniform level of responsibility in the different dioceses. Such consultative commissions may be composed of lay people, without excluding religious men and women. It would not be people who judge bishops, but faithful who offer their advice and badistance to pastors evaluating their performance according to evangelical criteria; and that they inform all the faithful of the territory of the appropriate procedures.

The fourth suggestion is to consider whether it is appropriate to create a central office that promotes the formation of an appropriate church identity in these bodies; and regularly ask and verify the proper functioning of what has been undertaken at the local level, paying particular attention to correcting the ecclesiological point of view, so that charisms and ministries are all adequately represented and can contribute to their development. specific contribution in preserving the freedom of each. A fifth point is to determine whether it is necessary to review the current rules on papal secrecy to protect the values ​​it wants to protect – the dignity of the people involved, the good name of each, the good of the Church – At the same time, it creates a climate of increased transparency and trust, avoiding the idea that secrecy is used to hide problems instead of protecting the badets at stake.

Likewise, we will need to refine the criteria for proper communication in a time like ours, where the requirement of transparency must be counterbalanced by confidentiality. In fact, unwarranted confidentiality, as well as uncontrolled disclosure, can generate miscommunication and not serve the truth. Accountability, it is also know how to communicate. In fact, if you do not communicate, how can you be accountable to others? And what communion can there be between us?

conclusion

The considerations that we have just indicated about possible actions as a Church, as a common and co-responsible people of God, constitute an invitation to reflection and transversal dialogue, especially during the work of the group, in order to deepen and generate concrete applications. In fact, as the Letter to the People of God reminds us, "today we are challenged as God's people to bear the grief of our brothers who are violated in their flesh and in their spirit. If, in the past, omission could become a form of response, today we want solidarity, understood in its deepest and most difficult sense, to become our way of making history present and future. " .