We all need to take responsibility for the future renewal of the Church, writes John Morgan

The atrocities perpetrated on children by those commissioned to serve God's people as his ordained ministers have cried out to heaven. They also call for a necessary and profound renewal in the Irish Church imprisoned and paralysed as it is.

While I am the Chairman of the National Board for the Safeguarding of Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCC), I am writing here purely as a member of the Catholic Church. But my position has allowed me to learn a little about the damage done and to offer some real proposals for how we might start undoing some of it.

In supporting those who have been abused what we have learned is similar to the experience in our Church in the United States;

• We have learned that it takes great courage to come forward with their story after years, sometimes many years, of pain, of silence and feelings of shame;
• We have learned that for the abused person it is so important to finally simply be believed;
• We have learned that such abuse has robbed some of their faith, their most precious possession. And not just their Catholic Faith. For some, it means loss of any faith in God;
• We have learned that while each person's story is different and the effects of abuse can be different, what is common is the violation of trust. Some still trust nobody. Others have been able to work through this suffering and anguish with help and support;

In spite of their own suffering many abused are just as concerned that the Church prevents this abuse from happening to other children as they are about their own needs;

• We have learned that we still have much to learn.

Spiritual support

Survivors of abuse repeatedly request that their Church would willingly offer spiritual support for those who wish it. We urgently need a more structured response to ensure that everyone abused - who wishes it - is listened to with love and care.

I believe we need an annual day of Reparation in the Irish Church - a Reparation Sunday - primarily to help bind the wounds of all who suffered child abuse perpetrated within the Church - they are Christ's wounds and therefore they are our wounds too. Such a day of Reparation must also lead to embracing the spiritual needs of all in our society who have been abused in childhood, and their families.

All of us need to address what it means to be the People of God, to what vision the Holy Spirit is calling us to, now, in our generation to organise our Christian lives together.

Pope's letter

A number of ''listening sessions'' have been held in some dioceses and parishes since the arrival of the Pope's letter to us, to consider what steps we need to take to effect a real renewal. A common thread seems to be a deep desire for a new model of Church, closer to her roots, a Church explicitly recognised as a fellowship, a communion, a family of believers, a visibly more humble Church in its actions.

In Ireland many still identify the Church unilaterally with the hierarchy, forgetting the common responsibility, the common mission of the People of God which all of us share in Christ. Vatican II makes it clear that we are a communion of people, responding to God's call through history, to communion and friendship with Him and trust in Him.

Our failures in the Irish Church lie precisely in not building on these foundations. All of us have to redress that because, in our time, it is the model of Church the Holy Spirit calls us to.

Two key issues obstruct the new vision needed and hold back the profound renewal we require. They are like two enormous locked doors we must open. One is cultural and the second is structural. Let me address the cultural issue first. Any crisis in the Church calls for a return to the standards given us by Christ. The particular standard this particular crisis calls for is the rediscovery of our common identity as People of God.

Acquiring

This is not so much a matter of doing something as acquiring a new set of attitudes. The hierarchy and ordained will be challenged to relate to the lay faithful differently and vice versa. The relationships between them need to change - a change to a tangible shared responsibility for the Mission of the Church. This will take time. Above all it will take prayer and hard work. We know that a shared identity binds. It is only a unifying identity and mission that will sustain us. Our common identity through baptism and our sharing in a common priesthood will remain just attractive and empty words unless we all work to change deep-seated images and attitudes that perpetuate a first and second class citizenship in the Church. Clearly I'm talking about clericalism, about distinctions which turn into superiority - like clergy and laity.

It was a virulent strand of clericalism, manifested in the abuse of power, that primarily led us into this crisis. Its vestiges remain. We have all created this culture. We have all played superior - inferior. Together, we have to address what one author calls ''the sinful dynamics'' at work in continuing it. How? There is no solution outside of us - all of us together - by that I mean no solution outside our availability to change the way we live our lives.

The second issue which blocks the new vision is structural. We must overcome the communications gap between bishops and their people. There are a variety of reasons for the gap.

A gap

In some cases there is also a gap between bishops and the ordained priesthood. Trust levels here have taken a battering since the onset of the abuse scandals. These communication gaps can best be addressed by new organisational structures created for spiritual reasons. These should create dialogue, foster listening to each other, induce prayer and nourish a shared responsibility for the Mission of the Church.

I would call on every bishop to gather his people, in an annual and broadly-based ecclesial convention of his diocese. It should be held in the Cathedral Church. It should fill the Cathedral Church with both lay and ordained delegates from parishes and those involved in all diocesan ministry work. It should involve the local Church in becoming more and more a living and active community in planning pastoral initiatives from one convention to the next and reviewing the results of initiatives undertaken.

Consciousness

It should help develop in parishes a consciousness of belonging to the People of God. It should encourage and assist parishes to become ''listening centres of the Word''. It must also, critically, address adequate formation in the Faith.

All this will demand a change in mind-set particularly concerning lay people - no longer just collaborators of the clergy but truly recognised and accepting their role as co-responsible for the Church's being and action. Indeed we should remember the true meaning of hierarchy. It does not mean dominion, even sacred dominion, but rather sacred origin. It is a new bond of obedience to Christ, one of self-emptying service. It is service that authenticates leadership's authority. Hierarchy in action should be power in reverse gear.

John Morgan is Chairman of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCC).