The hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church should examine its conscience as it tries to figure out

The hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church should examine its conscience as it tries to figure out why the people of predominantly Catholic Ireland voted overwhelmingly in favor of same-sex marriage. When 60-plus percent of the voters said the nation’s constitution should be changed to define marriage as a union between two people regardless of their sex, it was a shot heard ’round the world. And, it was a repudiation of the church’s leadership in Ireland and in Rome.

So, when Catholic primate Archbishop Eamon Martin told the Irish Times that the Catholic Church felt a sense of “bereavement” following the result of the same-sex marriage referendum, the public was left to wonder whether the cardinal was truly surprised by the outcome or was playing to the faithful.

Bereavement? Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the word as “the state of being sad because a family member or friend has recently died.”

Was Martin suggesting that Irish Catholics who voted for same-sex marriage had died spiritually? We would hope not.

Likewise, we trust that the Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, was indulging in rhetorical excess when he characterized the popular vote in Ireland, the first of its kind in the world, as a “defeat for humanity.”

Archbishop Martin said during a radio interview with Sean O’Rourke of Radio One that the Vatican secretary of state expressed “our deeply held conviction about the meaning of marriage.”

“One of the difficulties of the debate was that we had two parallel discussions going on,” he said. “One was about the meaning of marriage and the other was about respecting gay people and showing tolerance.”

CHURCH CREDIBILITY FALLS

Here’s the problem with the reactions from Archbishop Martin, Cardinal Parolin and other leaders of the Roman Catholic Church: They ignore the core problem the church faces, not only in Ireland but around the world.

It’s a lack of credibility stemming from the clergy pedophile scandal. This still unfolding story about priests sexually abusing children and then being protected by bishops and archbishops through reassignment to other parishes where they were able to continue the abuse has caused a huge crack in the foundation of the church.

Indeed, Pope Francis has publicly acknowledged the church’s sins of commission in dealing with abusive, criminal members of the clergy.

A month after becoming the leader in March 2013 of the 1.2 billion Catholics in the world, Francis appointed an advisory board of cardinals to study the giant bureaucracy that is the Vatican and to recommend changes to streamline it and make it more responsive to the faithful.

Francis was acutely aware of the growing dissension among Catholics over the child-abuse scandal and the subsequent cover-up by bishops.

The scandal has rocked the American Catholic Church, in particular, and has contributed to a decline in church attendance and membership in the U.S. and throughout Europe.

The credibility of the leaders of the church has been greatly damaged, so when they urged the people of Ireland to vote “no” in the same-sex marriage referendum, 1.2 million voters ignored them.

By speaking so definitively about an issue — marriage — that goes to the heart of Catholic Church teaching, the Irish have delivered a clear message to Rome: Get your house in order before you tell us how to live our lives. The days when church leaders would speak and congregations would meekly listen are gone.

The embrace of same-sex marriage in Ireland must be a teachable moment for the Roman Catholic Church.

There should be no doubt that people in other countries around the world who believe in equality and justice will be inspired by the Irish and launch similar initiatives.

Meanwhile, church leaders should have an honest discussion about why Sunday mass attendance, especially in the developed world, keeps declining, and why their teachings on such controversial subjects as the role of women in the church, abortion, contraception and divorce continue to widen the gulf between the people and their priests.

Unfortunately, Cardinal Parolin of the Vatican, with his use of the words “defeat for humanity” in describing the Irish vote, seems to be the rule rather than the exception when it comes to passing judgment on Catholics who are perceived as unfaithful.