During his meeting with bishops in Rome this week Pope Benedict XVI issued the senior Churchmen with the challenge ''to address the problems of the past with determination and resolve, and to face the present crisis with honesty and courage''. The implication is that these virtues have been lacking in the past and to be fair the bishops at their press conference in Rome on Tuesday admitted as much. This is why Cardinal Brady announced that the bishops will be performing an act of penance, and he said they had discussed the possibility of walking Croagh Patrick or going to Lough Derg or doing private penance. It would be the equivalent he told this paper of ''sackcloth and ashes''.
The Pope also hoped the meeting would ''unify the bishops and enable them to speak with one voice in identifying concrete steps aimed at bringing healing to those who had been abused, encouraging a renewal of faith in Christ and restoring the Church's spiritual and moral credibility''. Again, it was no secret that there was disunity but Cardinal Brady told the press conference that the bishops had learnt things about each other that they didn't know before when they had to listen to each of the 24 of them speak for five minutes about their own experience of dealing with abuse in their diocese. It was, Cardinal Brady said, essentially a mini-synod and as a result ''our unity was never greater''.
Inevitably some people will be disappointed that the Pope did not use this opportunity to accept the resignations on his desk or make a direct apology to survivors. The bishops say in their defence that this is a process and these things will come in time; the Vatican's spokesman said as much - ''Today is not the end of history,'' he said.
For their part, Irish bishops underlined their commitment to continue their co-operation with the statutory authorities North and South and with the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church ''to guarantee that the Church's standards, policies and procedures represent best practice in this area''.
To be fair, the Church in Ireland has dramatically improved its child protection policies and procedures as a result of the dreadful abuse scandals and credible oversight is now par for the course. This oversight was in evidence when the National Board effectively forced the resignation of Bishop John Magee because he was not properly implementing policies in his diocese.
The Rome meeting, important as it undoubtedly is, should be seen as a further stage in a process of healing and renewal rather than a culmination. That process, in the first instance, must be about healing for those so dreadfully affected by abuse and for the many faithful Irish Catholics who have been scandalised by what the Pope described as ''the failure of Irish Church authorities for many years to act effectively in dealing with cases involving the sexual abuse of young people by some Irish clergy and religious.''
To do full justice to that healing, however, it will be necessary to renew and recreate the Church in Ireland. If this process of renewal is to be credible it will have to flow from an honest, respectful and meaningful dialogue where all members of the Church, the pilgrim People of God, are engaged. Anything less would represent a failure to see beyond crisis to a bright new opportunity to be a Church more humble and attuned to the Gospel.
