Bitter Fruit in the Hand of God
“The nightingales are sobbing
In the orchards of our mothers.
And hearts that we broke long ago
Have long been breaking others.” -W.H. Auden (with thanks to G.B.)
Sadly, the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church continues to yield broken hearts and bitter fruit. There’s an interesting post and commentary over at Amy Wellborn’s OpenBook regarding last evening’s Frontline documentary, Hand of God, in which filmmaker Joe Cultrera examines the sexual abuse of his brother Paul by Fr. Joseph Birmingham, a serial molester and priest of the Archdiocese of Boston. As usual, while the description of sex acts is disgusting, the greatest outrage and disappointment is served up by those diocesan officials who stonewalled the victims’ cries for justice. As one of Amy’s comboxers says, the reaction of the Church was often “more DMV than BVM.” And how.
In Hand of God, the most offensive figure - after the execrable Birmingham - is Bishop John B. McCormack, the very image of the clerical bureaucrat, a company man caught up in a web of his own lies and personal culpability. He served as director of ministerial formation during the years when accusations against Birmingham and others were first beginning to surface. Though he had graduated from seminary with Birmingham and known of his depredations as early as 1970, McCormack did nothing to prevent Birmingham from being made a pastor in 1985. In fact, that very year he vacationed with Birmingham and other priests to “celebrate” the 25th anniversary of their ordinations. McCormack was elevated to bishop in 1995 and in 1998 he was assigned as bishop of Manchester, New Hampshire, where he continues to serve to this day.
Meanwhile, Paul Cultrera’s life has been a shipwreck of self-loathing, shame and the loss of faith. Still, in watching the film it’s clear that there was a moment when things could have turned around, a moment when the Church could have redeemed itself in the heart and life of this precious man treated so poorly as a mere boy. That moment occured in 1992, when Cultrera first brought his tale of abuse to the Archdiocese. If he had been treated with true compassion, if the diocesan officials he encountered had met his outrage with their own and committed themselves to justice for Paul Cultrera, his own heart may have softened. He may have recovered the faith that had once created joy in the life of a sunny young boy, a boy soon to be despoiled by a predator.
Instead, it was Paul Cultrera’s misfortune - indeed, the misfortune of every Catholic - that the diocesan official he encountered was John B. McCormack, whose indifference and dishonesty inflicted abuse every bit as soul-scarring as Joseph Birmingham’s perversions. Hand of God is difficult to watch for those of us who truly love the Church. But I believe it is essential to listen to the voices of those who have suffered at the hands of men like Birmingham and McCormack, if only to be reminded of the indelible consequences of sin.
(Mark Gordon)
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