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Forgiveness As Salve for Sin Collective mea culpas becoming popular throughout the world Don Lattin, Chronicle Religion Writer |
Friday, March 24, 2000
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OAKLAND -- From South Africa to the White House, from the Vatican to the Diocese of Oakland, everyone seems to be talking about forgiveness. Tomorrow, Roman Catholic Bishop John Cummins of Oakland will lead priests and nuns in an unprecedented liturgy in which they will stand before the victims of priestly sex abuse and seek God's forgiveness for their sins of church leaders. That ceremony comes two weeks after Pope John Paul II presided over a historic prayer service in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, where the pontiff apologized for almost 2,000 years of church wrongdoing against Jews, women and other groups. But this tidal wave of repentance goes far beyond the Catholic Church. Nearly everywhere you look -- in courtrooms, the corridors of political power and the halls of academia -- forgiveness is hot. ``This decade we are entering is going to be an age of reconciliation,'' said psychologist Everett Worthington, executive director of the Campaign for Forgiveness Research. Forgiveness, Worthington said, can do more than save your soul. It can save your life. ``We know that feeling hostile over a long period of time can contribute to heart disease,'' he said. ``Not forgiving is stressful, and our immune systems do not work as well when we are under stress.'' The campaign, financed primarily by the John Templeton Foundation, has handed out $6 million for 32 studies on the psychological, spiritual and physical benefits of forgiving. Two of its research projects are under way at Stanford University. Worthington, a professor of psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University, traces the academic and popular interest in forgiveness back to a 1984 book by theologian Lewis Smedes, ``Forgive and Forget.'' SOUTH AFRICA'S EXAMPLEDuring the 1990s, the world watched the power of forgiveness working through the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which examined injustices committed during that nation's apartheid era. Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, along with former President Jimmy Carter, are among the five co-chairs of the forgiveness campaign. Worthington said another U.S. president has helped put forgiveness in the public spotlight. ``Bill Clinton has done more for forgiveness research than anyone else in America,'' he quipped. Forgiveness is also at the center of ``Jubilee 2000,'' a broad interfaith campaign that includes calling on international bankers and wealthier nations to forgive the crushing debts of Third World countries. Meanwhile, legal scholars are looking at what effect forgiveness -- or the reluctance of people to apologize -- has on the mountain of civil lawsuits burying the courts. Worthington said a task force in Washington, D.C., is studying whether a doctor's apology could be excluded as inadmissible evidence in medical liability cases. ``Doctors who make medical mistakes say they can't apologize because of liability problems,'' Worthington said, ``But one study showed that two-thirds of patients said they wouldn't sue if doctors weren't so arrogant and would just apologize.'' Much of the research on forgiveness confirms what many of the world's religious traditions have been saying for centuries: Confession, forgiveness and repentance are good for the soul. ST. PETER'S CEREMONYEarlier this month, Pope John Paul II made headlines around the world with a mea culpa proclaimed at Sunday Mass at St. Peter's Basilica. Yesterday, during a visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, the pope said the Roman Catholic Church is ``deeply saddened'' by Christian persecution of Jews throughout history. San Francisco Archbishop William Levada said the pope is leading a worldwide Catholic initiative that seeks ``atonement for sins and of reparation for past faults . . . committed in the name of the church through these past two millennia of Christianity.'' ``Only by asking pardon for our own sins do we dare to beg pardon for another's,'' said Levada, writing in today's issue of the weekly Catholic San Francisco newspaper. Not everyone is happy with the papal confession or his regrets uttered yesterday at the Holocaust memorial. Many Jewish leaders had hoped the pope would have specifically apologized for the public silence of Pope Pius XII during the Nazi slaughter of 6 million Jews during World War II. In his column today, Levada said the critics ``in the religious community and the media'' are trying to ``demonize'' Pius XII. ``It would be interesting to apply the criteria which some now suggest in regard to Pius to the activities -- or `silence' -- of American government officials and policies, or of Jewish agencies and leaders in the United States during the same period,'' the archbishop writes. VICTIMS OF SEXUAL ABUSEAnother group that has sought a more specific apology from church leaders are the victims of sexual abuse by priests. They will get just that in an extraordinary reconciliation service to be held at 1 p.m. tomorrow at Leona Lodge, 4444 Mountain Blvd., in Oakland. Victims of sexual abuse are invited to attend the service, which will be presided over by Cummins, the spiritual leader of Catholics in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. ``We, as a church, were often negligent and did not respond to victims of sexual abuse appropriately,'' Cummins said. ``The Diocese of Oakland has resolved not to repeat the evils of the past.'' In recent years, the Archdiocese of San Francisco, the Diocese of Santa Rosa and other church jurisdictions around the world have been scandalized by continuing revelations about the sexual abuse of children and teenagers by Catholic clergy. Terri Light, West Coast director of SNAP, the Survivors Network for Those Abused by Priests, praised Cummins and Sister Barbara Flannery, the chancellor of the Oakland Diocese, for ``taking care of victims and being sure perpetrators are held accountable.'' ``This will help us heal,'' Light said of tomorrow's service. The ceremony will include responsive readings. For example, victims of sexual abuse will read, ``We were treated as if we were the ones who had brought shame and embarrassment on the church.'' Church leaders will respond, ``We were ashamed and afraid to know the horrible truth. . . . Even though the signs were right there before us, we did not recognize them.'' EAST BAY'S LEADERSHIPLight said she hopes the church in San Francisco and Santa Rosa will learn a lesson from their East Bay brethren. ``We have a huge contingent coming over from San Francisco and Santa Rosa,'' Light said. ``There is particular sensitivity in the Oakland Diocese. In San Francisco, they feel so dark. The church needs to be guided by its mission, not by its lawyers and insurance agents.'' Levada will lead a penance service at 10 a.m. April 8 at St. Mary's Cathedral, timed to coincide with a National Day of Atonement called by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. Two days earlier, the archbishop will gather his clergy at the National Shrine of St. Francis in North Beach and ``pray for atonement for the past sins of priests.'' Maurice Healy, spokesman for the San Francisco Archdiocese, said people should not expect the pope or the archbishop to make specific apologies. ``People are missing the point. This is a prayer, and its offered on behalf of all the members of the church,'' Healy said. ``We don't want to get into an argument over why this is on the list and why that's not on the list. It's not a recitation of specific offenses, but that doesn't mean its any less sincere.''
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