On October 3, 1992 Irish rock/pop singer Sinead O'Connor almost wrecked her career during a live performance on NBC's Saturday Night Live. Instead of the typical SNL musical performance--instrumental energy coupled with obtuse and/or bland lyrics--O'Connor belted out an impassioned a cappella version of Bob Marley's "War" reworked to draw attention to child abuse:
Until the ignoble and unhappy regime
Which holds all of us through
Child abuse, yeah, child abuse yeah
Sub human bondage has been toppled
Utterly destroyed
Everywhere is war . . . .
Children, children
Fight!
We find it necessary.
We know we will win.
We have confidence in the victory of
Of good over evil.
Fight the real enemy!
If she had just stopped there, the performance probably would have been pored over by pundits wondering who or what O'Connor was blaming for child abuse and who was the "real" enemy. Instead she left no doubt: in one of the most spectacular moments ever to enliven live TV, she tore apart a picture of Pope John Paul II. In just a few years she went from covering Prince to (symbolically) cutting the Pope.
To understand how truly radical this act of papal picture mutilation really was, you have to remember a few things about America in 1992: (1) the issue of child abuse in the Catholic Church had barely registered a blip on the mainstream media radar; (2) Pope John Paul II possessed icon status in the United States at the time (not so much for his representation of Christ on Earth as for his enmity toward Communism); (3) in that pre #metoo era outspoken women were much more likely to face condemnation when demonstrating that they did not "know their place." The fact that actor Joe Pesci, hosting SNL the next week, received loud applause when he showed up with a taped up picture of the Pope and announced he would have given O'Connor a "smack" says about all we need to know about the state of the country circa '92. Sinead's act of icon defiance sparked what could be called the first social media shit storm--a few decades before anyone even knew what social media was.
To understand how truly radical this act of papal picture mutilation really was, you have to remember a few things about America in 1992: (1) the issue of child abuse in the Catholic Church had barely registered a blip on the mainstream media radar; (2) Pope John Paul II possessed icon status in the United States at the time (not so much for his representation of Christ on Earth as for his enmity toward Communism); (3) in that pre #metoo era outspoken women were much more likely to face condemnation when demonstrating that they did not "know their place." The fact that actor Joe Pesci, hosting SNL the next week, received loud applause when he showed up with a taped up picture of the Pope and announced he would have given O'Connor a "smack" says about all we need to know about the state of the country circa '92. Sinead's act of icon defiance sparked what could be called the first social media shit storm--a few decades before anyone even knew what social media was.
There's a rhetorical trope called "anthimeria" in which one part of speech is used to substitute for another. For example, if I say "they were sad and needed a good cry" I am using the verb "cry" as a noun. When Clint Eastwood famously addressed an empty chair at the 2012 Republican National Convention, it became known as "Eastwooding" (in anthimeria terms, it is a noun being used as a verb).
What O'Connor did on the SNL stage is what I call "Sineading": the calling out of child abuse, child abusers, and child abuse enablers on the global stage.
Under increasing pressure to make clear that abuse in the Church is seen by the Vatican hierarchy as an issue of social justice as opposed to a mere public relations crisis, Pope Francis recently hosted a historic summit on the "Protection of Minors in the Church." The event was held many decades too late and--from the perspective of every major survivor advocate organization--woefully inadequate in terms of righting past wrongs, rooting out current ones, and guaranteeing an abuse-free future. Yet the summit was not merely an exercise in papal propaganda, in large part because victims were allowed to speak and the summit attendees witnessed two courageous acts of Sineading: speeches by Nigerian Sister Veronica Openibo and Mexican TV journalist Valentina Alezraki.
On the third day of the summit, Sister Veronica Sineaded the patriarchs in the audience:
"We must acknowledge that our mediocrity, hypocrisy, and complacency have brought us to this disgraceful and scandalous place we find ourselves as a Church. We pause to pray, Lord have mercy on us!"
She called out the Vatican hierarchy for not acting on a range of abuses due to obsession with public relations:
"Why have other issues around sexuality not been addressed sufficiently. e.g. misuse of power, money, clericalism, gender discrimination, the role of women and the laity in general? Is it that the hierarchical structures and long protocols that negatively affected swift actions focused more on media reactions?"
She closed with a clarion call for change moving forward:
"I hope and pray that at the end of this conference we will choose deliberately to break any culture of silence and secrecy among us, to allow more light into our church. Let us acknowledge our vulnerability; be proactive not reactive in combating the challenges facing the world of the young and the vulnerable, and look fearlessly into other issues of abuse in the church and society."
Valentina Alezraki's speech is one that ought to be required reading in all journalism schools. Her remarks can be read as a rallying cry for a journalism of integrity that puts the profession squarely on the side of truth and justice. Speaking directly to the Pope, Bishops, and other Vatican bureaucrats, she sent out this warning:
"If you do not decide in a radical way to be on the side of the children, mothers, families, civil society, you are right to be afraid of us, because we journalists, who seek the common good, will be your worst enemies . . ."
"We journalists know that abuse is not limited to the Catholic Church, but you must understand that we have to be more rigorous with you than with others, by virtue of your moral role. Stealing, for example, is wrong, but if the one stealing is a police officer it seems more serious to us, because it is the opposite of what he or she should do, which is to protect the community from thieves. If doctors or nurses poison their patients rather than take care of them, the act draws even more of our attention because it goes against their ethics, their professional code."
The idea of a journalism that on principle holds power accountable and sides with decency in the manner argued by Alazraki is so far removed from what is typically practiced in the mainstream United States press as to be depressing. One could imagine an American journalist speaking at the papal summit and saying something like this to the assembled pope-arazzi: "as portrayed in the movie 'Spotlight,' the Boston Globe did some great work exposing child abuse in the Church. But I want to assure you that we do not set out to look for abuse, and while we sympathize with victims we never, ever take sides. As long as you provide us with your side of the story in a timely manner, we will never be your worst enemies.That's not our role." One can imagine those remarks getting a standing ovation from the 'razzi.
Will the stirring testimony of victims and the speeches of Sister Veronica Openibo and Valentina Alezraki, along with other acts of Sineading, be enough to provoke real change in the Church? The true test will be how long it takes the hierarchy to adopt the five very reasonable reform policies advocated by the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP):
- Fire any and all bishops or cardinals who have had a hand in clergy sex abuse cover-ups,
- Impose “dramatic and punitive consequences” to deter any future cover-ups,
- Eliminate any directive for church staff to report abuse to bishops and instead direct all church staff and officials to make reports to law enforcement, and
- Compel bishops around the world to turn their files over to law enforcement for independent investigations into their handling of clergy sex abuse cases, and
- Order bishops and other hierarchs to cease lobbying efforts against legislative reform that would benefit survivors.
If the Church is seriously interested in justice for victims and a just future, one would think these reform policies would be "no brainers." The fact that the Vatican hierarchy, after now decades of proven abuses and coverups, is still taking baby steps is not a good sign. Watch Judy Woodruff's PBS News Hour interview with SNAP's Becky Ianni for more insight as to why the summit was mostly disheartening.
After her daring act in 1992, Sinead O'Connor said "I knew my action would cause trouble, but I wanted to force a conversation where there was a need for one." How tragic that after so many years and acts of Sineading the issue of child abuse in the Catholic Church and other institutions of power still does not carry the sense of urgency necessary to end it. Shame on all people with public platforms who spend more time shucking responsibility than Sineading.
