As a Catholic priest ordained over 30 years ago, I welcome Georgina Lawton’s article (Catholicism held my family in its sway for decades – but it hid from me a vital truth, 14 August) as a valid, helpful, erudite and challenging contribution to the conversation on contemporary Catholicism. Like others ill-served by unfettered clericalism, she has every right to voice her experiences, a right enshrined in canon law. For too long, most Catholics – pastorally minded clergy and theologians among them – have been expected to keep silent. Meanwhile, those with power (almost exclusively celibate, ordained men) have brought shame and guilt on themselves by remaining mute and complicit in the face of heinous acts.
Silence is no longer a valid option. Paul Simon reminds us that “silence like a cancer grows” – and these silences have inflicted untold damage on the authentic mission of the church.
