Bishop W. Shawn McKnight of Jefferson City, Mo., speaks to members of the media and chancery staff during a news conference Aug. 24 in Jefferson City. (CNS photo/Jay Nies, The Catholic Missourian)
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (CNS) — Laypeople need to help the U.S. bishops get out from under the clerical sex abuse scandal that is plaguing the church, said Bishop W. Shawn McKnight of Jefferson City in a message to Catholics of his diocese posted Nov. 16 on the diocesan website.
Beyond just the abuse crisis, laity need to be involved “at all levels of the church,” Bishop McKnight said.
“Why can’t we have well-qualified, nationally known and trusted lay experts named to the special task force announced by the president of the USCCB (U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops)?” he asked. “The Second Vatican Council gave us not only the freedom but the obligation to utilize and engage the gifts and talents of the laity in the life and mission of the church.”
After the substantiated abuse allegation that prompted retired Archbishop Theodore E. McCarrick’s resignation in July from the College of Cardinals, “an internal investigation of the McCarrick scandal without the use of competent and qualified lay investigators will hardly be considered transparent and credible,” Bishop McKnight said.
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“Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta is the most qualified Catholic clergy to lead such an investigation, but without knowing that his collaborators include competent laity, the public may not perceive his eventual report as independent and complete enough to be believed,” he continued.
“History proves that we bishops are not capable of policing ourselves adequately on the issue of clergy sexual abuse. Why not include the laity to assist us with this problem?”
Bishop McKnight also took issue with other aspects relating to the scandal.
“At the time of this writing, there has not been one bishop, archbishop or cardinal in either the Holy See or the United States who has come forward on his own to repent publicly of his sins of omission or commission with regard to Archbishop McCarrick’s series of promotions over decades,” he said.
“Please, be men, not cowards, and come clean on your own! There doesn’t have to be a formal and long, drawn out investigation for a bishop to exercise a little compunction and concern for the well-being of the whole church. An independent and transparent investigation is all the more necessary when culpable hierarchs exhibit an incapacity to do the right thing on their own.”
Bishop McKnight said, “I was disappointed that even the mild proposals up for consideration at the (USCCB’s Nov. 12-14) Baltimore meeting had to be pulled from a vote. It was a rather harsh reminder to me of what many laypeople have been saying throughout our diocese: We bishops are ineffectual in our attempts to address the problem of abuse of power by the hierarchy.”
Without naming names, he also blasted prelates who covered up clergy abuses.
“Seeing certain retired bishops who were notoriously responsible for covering up clergy sexual abuse at this year’s general assembly in Baltimore as welcome guests was a slap in the face to all who have been wounded by the clergy,” Bishop McKnight said. “This example of episcopal arrogance and clericalism evidences the fact that we still don’t get the problem.”
He added that the “whole church is needed to solve our problem which the whole world knows about. What more do we have to hide?”
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Editor’s Note: The full text of Bishop McKnight’s statement can be found here.
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The role of the laity has already been explained by Vatican II. The laity contributes to both infallibility and tradition.
Lumen Gentium 12 says: “The entire body of the faithful, anointed as they are by the Holy One,(111) [cf. 1 Jn 2:20, 27] cannot err in matters of belief. They manifest this special property by means of the whole peoples’ supernatural discernment in matters of faith when “from the Bishops down to the last of the lay faithful” (8*) [Cf. 1 Cor. 10: 17] they show universal agreement in matters of faith and morals. That discernment in matters of faith is aroused and sustained by the Spirit of truth.”
Dei Verbum 8 says: “This tradition which comes from the Apostles develop in the Church with the help of the Holy Spirit. (5) For there is a growth in the understanding of the realities and the words which have been handed down. This happens through the contemplation and study made by believers, who treasure these things in their hearts (see Luke, 2:19, 51) through a penetrating understanding of the spiritual realities which they experience, and through the preaching of those who have received through episcopal succession the sure gift of truth.”
May God continue to bless Bishop McKnight and all other courageous men and women of our Church in their fight for addressing and correcting past and present wrongs.