Violence by Commission and Omission
Jan 15, 2009
When we Catholics go to confession, we ordinarily pray the CONFITEOR (I confess) or the Act of Contrition. We ask for forgiveness for what we have done and what we have failed to do, i.e. sins of commission and omission. A similar practice is included in the introductory portion of the Mass Liturgy. In the society at large we often identify acts of violence by commission--assassinations, thefts, kidnappings, unjust imprisonment. If we stop to reflect we can also identify acts of violence by omission--the starvation of thousands who are forgotten by "the system"; standing by in the face of genocide; the futureless lives of children born with some form of brain damage because of a high degree of pollution (e.g. lead or cancerous poisons in their environment; and, perhaps, a kind of spiritual famine that affects millions of the members of the society we know as the Catholic Church. Violence is all around us--by commission and omission. The Catholic Church as a hierarchical social entity offers examples of both types of violence. ARCC was founded to respond to violence brought at the level of the magisterium (the teaching mission) in punishing Fr. Hans Kung, a recognized scholar and writer, member of the teaching arm of the Church, for having dared to question a Church teaching. His permission to teach as a Catholic theologian was revoked. He was no longer a resource on which the system could rely. He threatened its authority. Catholics are also currently the victims of Church violence by omission. As F. Donald Cozzens points out: "our first challenge is to break through the wall of denial and silence guarding the present ecclesial order" (SACRED SILENCE, 2002, P. 6). (secrecy, misuse of power, cover-up, sexual and homosexual discrimination, threats and punishment for dissent in conscience, misuse of authority, etc.) The current response in some areas to withhold Sunday contributions is an example of a nonviolent action aimed at weakening one of the institution's sources of power, i.e. material resources, and thus gaining the attention of the hierarchy.
To understand the power of nonviolent action, a fine source is the writings of Gene Sharp. It is obvious, says Sharp,* that the power wielded by rulers is not intrinsic to themselves, but comes from the society they govern. With that bestowed power they are able to direct the behavior of other people, draw on large human and material resources, wield an apparatus of sanctions and direct a bureaucracy in the administration of their policies. We can easily substitute hierarchy for rulers, curia and college of cardinals for bureaucracy, bishops, priests, religious, lay workers and Catholics in general for human resources, collections, gifts, parish contributions to dioceses, diocesan contributions to the Vatican, etc. for material resources, and interdicts, excommunications, etc. for sanctions. It then becomes obvious that the power of the hierarchical church structure equals, as Sharp points out regarding societal structures in general, the totality of all influences and pressures, including sanctions, available to a group or society for use in maintaining itself, implementing its policies and resolving internal and external conflicts. Should we not attempt to expose these influences and pressures so we can resist them intelligently and effectively? By failing to act intelligently and strongly we may omit a duty to "speak truth to power," and thus sin by omission.
*Dr. Gene Sharp, The Albert Einstein Institution. www.aeinstein.org. e-mail einstein@igc.org .
phone 617- 247 4882, fax 617 247 4035.
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