Dysfunctional church stares into the abuse abyss

You don't have to be a business consultant to know that the Church internationally and locally leads a confused life with an incoherent sense of identity and purpose, poorly led and frequently mismanaged. Rome is regularly told by the rank and file across the Western world that it is out of touch with the membership, and local bishops are seen and often behave as branch managers of a poorly administered, centralised multinational corporation.

Just look at the most outstanding instance of 'disconnect' in Church governance in the last year - the sacking of Bill Morris as bishop of Toowoomba. Morris was sacked on evidence that amounted, in the Opinion of a retired Queensland Supreme Court Judge, to 'hearsay and gossip'. The Australian bishops promised to engage robustly with the relevant Vatican officials about the matter, but found that the officials weren't open to discussion.

Such parlour games are seen for what they are, and show that incoherence, mismanagement and incompetence are right through the organisation. There won't be healing of the community of faith until there is systemic change that fixes the culture in which mismanagement thrives and transparency is lacking.

It is about time for the Australian Church's own Truth and Reconciliation Commission. As sure as the sun rises in the east, it will bring as much of 'the Cross' as the Royal Commission will. But then, as St Paul told us, that is the way we grow in faith.