Welcome to your first issue of Resources a service of boston college’s church in the 21st century initiative

On behalf of the Church in the 21st Century initiative, we are Csending you this inaugural issue of C21 Resources Magazine, which will reprint articles and presentations on the current crisis in the Catholic Church and the path to renewal.

C21 Resources will be published three times per year through 212004. To receive further issues of C21 Resources at no cost, please visit our Web site at www.bc.edu/church21 or com- plete the attached form. Resourcesa service of boston college spring 2003 Why? Gary Wayne Gilbert Gary Wayne

The slippery slope that descends from an excessive urge to protect one’s own

By Andrew Greeley

illaire Belloc, an Eng- lish Catholic writer from the first half of the last century, once remarked apropos of HCatholic leadership that any organiza- tion whose leadership was guilty of such knavish imbecility must have the special protection of God. As we ride the turbulent waves of the latest reprise of the sexual abuse scandal, we A Welcome to Our Readers must wonder why. Why did some of our leaders fall victim to the current wave of knavish imbecility? ven in a Church with a this first issue of C21 Resources to ongoing events on campus, for BC Some “experts” appeal to celibate dramatic history, the pres- stimulate your own search for a re- graduates and friends far from Boston, clerical culture as an explanation, with ent crisis is by all measures sponse. and for all who want to think more no evidence to support such an argu- a Catholic moment of un- This magazine is one outcome of deeply about the issues, we offer the ment and no explanation why police, usual intensity. American The Church in the 21st Century, following 14 articles from across the physicians and sometimes even aca- CatholicsE in particular have had to Boston College’s two-year initiative spectrum of Catholic thought. demics similarly protect their own. So face the harm caused to the Body of to aid the Church in recognizing, un- The first six articles are devoted to do many church leaders of other de- Christ by actions that ranged from derstanding and moving beyond the the overarching question of how and nominations, though not with so negligence or bad judgment to malev- crisis. Inaugurated in September 2002 why the scandal took place and the much dedicated imbecility. olence and outright betrayal. It has by University President William cultures and structures in the Church Some gay-bashers blame the been painful, but it has also elicited Leahy, S.J., the initiative seeks to illu- that were responsible. Next come two church for ordaining gay men in re- moving signs of faith. minate three broad topics that have very personal reflections. The last six cent years. But most of the cases that How can, how should Catholics emerged in the crisis: the roles of articles consider proposals about have surfaced are of men who were respond to the sexual misconduct laity, priests, and bishops in the changes needed in order to move ordained long before the alleged in- scandal? We do not have one answer, Church; a contemporary understand- ahead. Future issues of C21 Resources crease in gay ordinations. but we do offer resources: the best ing of sexuality in light of Catholic will explore in greater detail the main The answer, I think, has nothing analyses, reflections and commen- beliefs; and the challenges Catholics topics of The Church in the 21st to do with celibacy or homosexuality taries on the crisis that have appeared face in living, deepening and handing Century. and much to do with the propensity over the last year in a wide range of on the faith to future generations. publications. They are reprinted in For those who cannot attend the The Editors Continued on page 2

boston college | c21 resources | spring 2003 1 to give the priest another chance or kindest and gentlest of men, to re- Why to fight back. The kind of men who move more than 20 priests from ac- Continued from page 1 are made bishops today find it diffi- tive ministry. The Chicago system C21 Resources cult simply to dump a fellow priest, does not work perfectly; no system of men to stand behind their own and, similarly, their advisers find it could. But it works better than any- executive editor kind, especially when they perceive difficult to suggest doing so (though thing that seems to have functioned J. A. Appleyard, S.J., them to be under attack. Under such in Boston, Bishop John Michael for the last 10 years in the North- Vice President for University circumstances, loyalty inclines men to D’Arcy did indeed give such advice). east. As far as I am concerned, the Mission and Ministry circle the wagons, deny the truth of This narrative might suggest statute of limitations on knavish im- the charges (however patent they may some sympathy for the decisions becility ended in 1992. That bishops editor be to others) and demonize the at- many bishops made. But I am at- could reassign abusive priests after Richard Higgins tackers. A form of group-think takes tempting to understand and explain, the early ’90s was, I’m sorry to have over. They rally round to support not to defend. The decisions made to say it, sinful. managing editor those under assault. across the country are manifestations There were three sins. First, they Hallie Sammartino Di Schino Clerical culture is different from of knavish imbecility. Yet I can un- besmirched the office of bishop and similar cultures in that the bishop is derstand how men could have come seriously weakened its credibility. advisory board under pressure to exercise paternal to make them. Second, they scandalized the Catholic Ben Birnbaum care of the priest in trouble. The Mistakes were perhaps under- laity, perhaps the worst scandal in the Patricia M. Chang bishop finds himself inclined to the standable before 1986, when at their history of our republic. Patricia De Leeuw same denials and demonization as But their gravest sin was to not Jack Dunn other priests: maybe the charges are consider the victims, not even to talk Mary Ann Hinsdale not true, maybe the so-called victims to the victims and their families, to Richard Keeley brought it on themselves, maybe blind themselves to the terrible Robert R. Newton they’re just interested in money, Many bishops, wreckage that sexual abuse causes for maybe the priest deserves another human lives. Bishops worried about Judith Wilt chance. The police have not brought perhaps most of them, their priests; they did not worry consulting editor charges; the doctors offer ambiguous about the victims. They did not John L. Mahoney advice; the lawyers think they can feel a compulsion to seem to understand that at the same fend off a suit. The media thus far time they were trying to inhibit sex- designer have left these events alone. The be kind to the priest ual satisfaction in the marital bed, Jason Wallengren priest vigorously denies that he ever they were facilitating sexual satisfac- touched the alleged victim. Just one in trouble. So they tion for abusive priests. Produced by the Office of Marketing more chance, he asks. When I argue that many of our Communications, Boston College Many bishops, perhaps a majority beat up on the victims leaders have sinned, I am not judg- of them, even the most churlish, feel a ing the state of their conscience. I do C21 Resources is published three compulsion to be kind to the priest in and their families. not have the gift of scrutatio cordi- times a year by Boston College’s trouble. (There but for the grace of um. I will leave it to God to judge Church in the 21st Century God.) So they beat up on the victims their moral responsibility. I am Initiative, in partnership with the and their families and send the man merely saying that by cooperating publications from which these articles off to an institution and then, hoping with the sexual abuse of children and have been selected. This publication is he’s cured, send him back to a parish. meeting at St. John’s Abbey the bish- young boys they were objectively a compilation of the best articles on Should a trial materialize, the ops heard for the first time a system- sinning—and it is hard to see how the current Church crisis. They are bishops—trapped between adversari- atic presentation about child abuse. they can claim invincible ignorance. published with the intent of stimulat- al lawyers (“The victims and their They became less understandable They were, in fact, according to the ing discussion and thought among families are the enemy”) and their after 1993, when the hierarchy put strict canons of the old moral theol- bishops, priests, religious, and lay own doubts about the guilt of the together a perfectly reasonable set of ogy, necessary cooperators in evil members of the Catholic community. priest (“he still denies it”)—are will- guidelines (which were systematical- and objectively as responsible for the ing (as was then-Bishop Edward ly ignored) and when Cardinal evil as those who actually did it. Subscriptions to C21 Resources are Egan in Bridgeport) to argue Joseph Bernardin distributed copies Yet they still blame the media and free of charge and may be obtained through lawyers that priests do not of his policies in Chicago to every the tort lawyers for their problems, by e-mailing [email protected] or work for the church but are inde- bishop in the country. as though The Boston Globe and calling 617-552-1234. pendent contractors. Or they argue, I remember when I was harassing money-hungry lawyers sent priests as Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua did the cardinal about the abuses in with twisted psyches back into the through his lawyers in Philadelphia, Chicago. “What should I do?” he parishes where they could rape kids. that the victims’ parents are legally asked. Cardinal Law argues bad records. responsible for not warning their “Get rid of them all,” I said. In The Wall Street Journal, Philip K. child of the dangers. “That’s exactly what we’re doing,” Lawler, his one-time editor, blames This is the slippery slope that be- he said. the cardinal but links the cardinal’s gins with loyalty to a fellow priest, “And set up a review board on mistakes to parish priests’ not en- For more information on the doubt about guilt and paternalist which the majority are not priests.” forcing the prohibition on birth con- publications featured, see page 7. duty to be kind, and ends either with He did that too, though I claim trol. reassignment or hardball litigation. no credit for it. Gimme a break! Moreover, at every step of the way, Yet I reflect on how hard it must the bishop’s advisers encourage him have been for Joseph Bernardin, the Continued on next page

2 boston college | c21 resources | spring 2003 Why Catholicism and Courage Continued from page 2 Denial continues, now no longer about the guilt of their priests but about their own sinfulness. More- In interview, Weigel sees ‘culture of dissent’ as one cause of the crisis over, the denial persists not only among bishops but also among priests, who complain about how they are suffering because of the scandal. If the pathetic letters Zenit, an international Catholic news ing authority of the Church is teach- and timid or malfeasant bishops are, emerging from the office of the Na- agency, spoke with the theologian George ing falsehoods and is leading the first and foremost, inadequately con- tional Federation of Priests Councils Weigel, a senior fellow of Washington’s Church into error—you’re not in full verted Christian disciples. That’s why are any indication of the sentiment Ethics and Public Policy Center, at his communion with the Church. And the crisis is a call to everyone in the of the ordinary priest, self-pity is home in Maryland. Weigel, 51, is the that has consequences, including be- Church to live lives of more radical more important than the considera- author, most recently, of The Courage havioral consequences. discipleship. As Father Richard tion of their own personal responsi- to be Catholic: Crisis, Reform, and Neuhaus and others have pointed out bility for not reporting abuse about the Future of the Church Are you suggesting that the “culture of for months, the primary answer to a which they knew. dissent” is primarily responsible for the crisis of infidelity is fidelity. Period. Reparation has not even begun. Does it take courage to be a current crisis in the United States? Until that happens, the re-establish- Catholic today? The “culture of dissent” doesn’t ex- The Courage to Be Catholic also describes ment of even a semblance of hierar- I chose the title The Courage to Be plain everything about the Catholic what the crisis is not. Why did you do chal credibility cannot begin. Catholic because that’s the way gen- crisis of 2002. It’s a very important that? As the late Bishop William E. uine reform always works in the part of the puzzle, though, because Because confusions about what the McManus argued back in the last Church—through men and women what people think has a lot to do crisis is and isn’t get in the way of turn of the abuse news cycle, the with the conviction and the courage with how they behave. genuinely Catholic reform. This is bishops must do public penance. to be countercultural, to be genuine- not a crisis of celibacy; it’s a crisis of They didn’t then. If they do it now, ly, fully, joyfully Catholic. The Is it surprising that some men who men failing to live the celibate vows it would have to be much more im- Church has never been reformed by learned to live lives of intellectual decep- they pledged to Christ and the pressive than just a collective service “Catholic Lite.” Reform always tion and deceit in the seminary—men who Church. It’s not a crisis caused by the in some cathedral. Those bishops means a deeper, more thorough ap- were told that they could take a pass on Church’s sexual ethic, which flatly who have become notorious and propriation of the truths that Christ authoritative teaching—eventually led lives condemns all forms of sexual abuse. public sinners must admit their guilt bequeathed the Church—the truths of behavioral deceit, becoming sexually It’s not a crisis caused by “authoritari- and undertake personal penance. that are its constitution, if you will. abusive? anism,” because the Church isn’t an Resign? I doubt that the Vatican, One of the things Catholics need to It shouldn’t have been surprising, authoritarian institution—it’s a com- which does not seem to have a clue recover is a sense of the great adven- given our sex-saturated culture. Is it a munity formed by an authoritative about the current crisis in the Unit- ture of orthodoxy. Christian ortho- surprise that bishops who were un- tradition, which is something very ed States, would accept resignations. doxy is the most exciting proposal on willing to fix what was manifestly different. And it’s not a media-created (Besides, better the devil you know offer in the world today. It’s far, far broken in seminaries and Catholic crisis. Yes, the media have distorted than the devil you don’t know.) It more exciting than “Catholic Lite.” universities in the 1970s and 1980s— things on occasion, and yes, there’s would be much better if the offend- in part, because they were unwilling been something of a feeding frenzy ing bishops would go off to a “Catholic Lite” is an image that recurs to confront the culture of dissent, atmosphere; but a feeding frenzy monastery for a long period of through The Courage to Be Catholic. often for fear of fracturing the unity needs something to feed on. It's a se- prayer, reflection and fasting. This What does it mean? of a local Church—also failed to rious mistake not to realize that this kind of gesture might just possibly We can’t understand the crisis of come to grips with the scandal of is a crisis that Catholics created and calm some of the stormy waves. clergy sexual abuse and episcopal clergy sexual abuse? It shouldn’t have that only Catholics can fix. They wouldn’t necessarily have to leadership failure outside the context been. The U.S. Church has to learn don sackcloth and ashes, though of the past three and a half decades. to connect the dots, historically, if it’s How? there is something to be said for that During that time, a culture of dissent going to come to grips effectively The first step toward fixing what’s ancient custom. took root in the Church in the Unit- with this crisis—and if the crisis is to broken is to recognize the spiritual Will something like that happen? ed States. And by “culture of dis- become an opportunity for genuinely roots of the crisis. Like every other Again I say, gimme a break! Cardi- sent,” I don’t mean simply men and Catholic reform. crisis in 2,000 years of Catholic his- nals don’t have to admit that they women who were confused, or who tory, the current crisis is caused by have sinned. Much less do they have thought that the Church should ex- How would you describe the crisis itself? an insufficiency of saints. That’s a to engage in public contrition. press its teaching more clearly. By There are three parts of the crisis. call to everyone to lead holier, more “culture of dissent” I mean men and There is the crisis of clergy sexual thoroughly Catholic lives. Whenever Rev. Andrew Greeley, a priest of the women—including priests, women abuse, of which the most prevalent the Church is bottoming out, the re- Archdiocese of Chicago, teaches at the religious, bishops, theologians, cate- form is the homosexual abuse of sponse adequate to the crisis of the University of Chicago and the University chists, Church bureaucrats, and ac- teenage boys and young men. There moment is always the same—every- of Arizona. tivists—who believed that what the is the crisis of failed episcopal leader- one in the Church has to live the Church proposed as true was actually ship. And, at the bottom of the bot- call to holiness more radically. Reprinted with permission from America, May false. If you really think that—if you tom line, there is the crisis of 13, 2002. ©2002 by America Press, Inc. really believe that the highest teach- discipleship. Sexually abusive priests Continued on page 5

boston college | c21 resources | spring 2003 3 the idea that a man once ordained may be laicized later because of moral What Kind of Church Is This? misdeeds, however abhorrent. Thus there is a forced recourse to a techni- cal distinction between the canonical priesthood and the sacramental The sexual misconduct scandal highlights the priesthood. But what kind of a priesthood ex- Church’s human and imperfect nature ists apart from any concrete commu- nity or explicit communion with a bishop? Such a notion of ministry is a thoroughly spiritualized concept that the past few months. conversations over mandatory clerical cannot account for the relationships By J. Michael Byron 1. The church is not Jesus Christ. celibacy, homosexuality and the ordi- present (or now absent) in the parish- This apparently obvious axiom in ec- nation of women are exchanges in es where Catholics gather. This kind e have struggled clesiology has received scant ac- which every member of the church of so-called sacramental priesthood this season with a knowledgment in pastoral praxis, in has a legitimate standing. For that permits the church to remedy con- number of deeply the documents that emanate from reason, the conversations must be crete crises of ministry, but only at troubling issues re- teaching authorities and in sermons grounded in properly theological the expense of removing every facet lated to the preached on Sunday mornings. Sev- principles. These questions cannot be of relationality from the definition of Wtragedies of sexual abuse of minors by eral implications flow from this sim- decided on the basis of which person what ministry is. We ought not to be priests in this country. The first wave ple principle. One is that nothing is has greater coercive power, or who consoled easily by such a response to of responses, rightly enough, has self-evidently God’s will simply be- has access to power in the first place. this concrete tragedy. been to put a stop to systems and be- cause some cleric, council or Roman 3. The church is servant to the If a theology of ministry that we havior patterns that pose immediate dicastery has said so. While Jesus world. Human welfare is never to be profess to be adequate cannot ac- risks to potential victims. The next Christ can be afforded that kind of subordinated to the image, or even to count for the church as it really is and wave has devoted attention to fixing respect, the church is a more ambigu- the good order, of the church. This is cannot be of service to it at a time of flawed structures and to matters of ous reality. However intimately and merely to acknowledge that the crisis, might this point to the need legal and moral justice. That so many beautifully interrelated are Jesus and church is always in the service of an for correction in our prevalent ab- of these initiatives have been forced church, they are not coterminous. end greater than itself, namely the stract theological projects? upon the Catholic Church by con- A related implication is that the kingdom of God. While these two 5. The church is one and many. cerned outside parties ought to be, reverence owed to the church, while are not utterly separable, the practical Recently the attorney for an alleged and is, a source of significant disquiet real, is not the same as the deference consequence of making this priority abuse victim proposed a civil lawsuit for many of the baptized. due to Jesus Christ. That is because real is to change many of the relative that threatened to name the Vatican Among the painful lessons is the the quality of “holiness” attributable values of pastoral praxis. Under the as a codefendant. After all, reasoned profound danger that comes when to each is not the same. The holiness control of such a model, concern for the complaint, the church is one and one separates theology from concrete of Jesus is such as to push aside all sin public scandal or for a pastor’s repu- universal. It would seem to follow life. This danger is posed not only to and darkness. The holiness of the tation is relativized in light of the that those in Rome stand in a direct right thinking but, more important, to church still allows for the possibility physical and emotional harm inflicted line of moral and fiscal responsibility the well-being of innocent persons. In of harboring pedophiles. One who upon young parishioners. Here when harm is perpetrated by clergy. many academic discussions it has be- points out this fact in public is not Catholic orthodoxy is to be evaluated The proposal, however, was swiftly come so commonplace to separate ec- thereby unfaithful with greater appeal to the theological rebuked in at least one curial state- clesiological theory from experience 2. The church is the people of virtues than to the prescriptions of ment that reiterated that each Roman that it may seem incongruous to com- God. That this, one of the most fun- law and doctrine, let alone the rules Catholic diocese is an integral bine ecclesiology and sexual abuse in damental images of Vatican II ecclesi- of ecclesiastical decorum. Where was church. Financial and legal affairs are the same sentence. Yet the exigencies ology, labors so mightily in practice the kingdom in the chancery offices to be negotiated at the level of the of real life have a way of intruding after two generations is a scandal of now embattled in lawsuits? local church, said the statement. upon the seminar rooms and pulpits. its own. All the charisms bestowed by 4. Church ministry is essentially That is not bad communio ecclesi- What kind of a church is it that Christ upon his community of disci- relational. When trust is violated by ology, but it is difficult to reconcile perpetuates moral sickness and the vi- ples are enjoyed by virtue of baptism, priests who abuse, it disrupts an en- with the preponderance of teaching olation of children but does not seem albeit not in identical ways. The tire network of persons and groups. and church praxis during less frac- capable of recognizing it? What kind council was clear on this concept. Ministry is not established by the tious times. This is, after all, the same of ecclesiology is this that manifests This means that it is never the case conferring of title or status. Rather it Curia that has asserted in magisterial itself in institutions and leadership that some of the baptized have great is a summons from the body of documents the “ontological priority” patterns that are so obviously defec- moral standing and others have none, Christ for the purpose of service of the universal church over the local tive? What models of church are so even in deliberations over ecclesial within it. Hence it is little consola- churches. Such express communio ec- disconnected from the lives of actual identity and practice. When con- tion to hear of the “defrocking” of clesiology will perhaps come as some- people that, left to themselves, they cerned relatives and friends point out abusive priests, as if this were an ade- thing of a surprise to readers of remain unmoved and untroubled by to church leaders the possibility of se- quate or even appropriate response. Liturgicam Authenticam, to the board such “dangerous memories”? What rious sin in the clergy, it is not merely While forced laicization, a juridical members of I.C.E.L. and to the follow are several insights for a chas- good organizational and communica- response, may be deemed necessary parishioners of the Cathedral of St. tened theology of church, correctives tion strategy; it is good ecclesiology. in certain cases, as an ecclesiological John the Evangelist in Milwaukee. that have been thrust upon the col- It is taking co-responsibility seriously. reality it is without coherence. There lective Catholic consciousness during Likewise, the present warmed-over is no theology that can make sense of Continued on next page

4 boston college | c21 resources | spring 2003 Among such constituencies, local in- they mimic the rhetoric from Rome. The proper ecclesiological response nify an act of cleansing and life; and tegrity has seemed for a long time to The bishops themselves seem is not to reiterate an abstract defini- it has been often repeated that or- count for little indeed in the actual painfully aware of this. tion of what the bishop is and how he dained priests must bear a certain life of the church. Why should one wait for the pope functions. In response to calls for physical resemblance to Jesus of 6. The pope is head of the college to pronounce on sexual exploitation Cardinal Bernard F. Law’s resigna- Nazareth. of bishops, and is not distinct from it. when the U.S.C.C.B. and many other tion, it has been rightly noted in But what about sacramental eccle- Noteworthy in the media coverage of bishops have already come forward Boston that the diocesan bishop siology? If the church is sacramental the scandals has been the clamor for with their own statements? What is ought to be regarded as a father fig- of salvation, then there is a corre- Pope John Paul II to render a deci- imagined to be lacking when a bishop ure in a loving family. As an ideal no- sponding requirement for some co- sive and unambiguous statement re- denounces the exploitation of priestly tion this would be adequate, but ideal herence between its concrete praxis garding the crisis. This is not an power? When only one person speaks fathers do not behave in the manner and the values of God’s reign. Sacra- instinct of the secular press alone. for “the church,” an intolerable alleged in actual court documents in ments cannot be brought into exis- But why should Rome be the place weight is loaded upon that single per- Massachusetts. To pass over this dis- tence by fiat. They must either exist from which direction for this North son, and the concrete churches are sonance threatens to turn any theolo- in some fragmentary but real forms American crisis ought to come? It is deprived of available moral leadership gy of ministry into mythology. Is or else they are only ideas. We rightly no diminishment of the papacy as the in a time of scandal. there any way that our current the- declare sacramentally invalid Eu- center of ecclesial unity to question 7. The church and its ministers ologies of the episcopate can account charists without food, confirmations this instinct. In fact, it is at the heart are contextually situated in history. It for a bishop capable of committing without oil and marriages without of our ecclesiology to question it. Is it has become commonplace in contem- grievous sin against his own flock? If consent. But where are the safeguards not telling that so many automatically porary ecclesiology to speak of the not, why not? Are the only options to prevent the church as sacrament turn to St. Peter’s Square for guid- gift of culture and the imperative that either to maintain an appearance of from becoming a myth? Under what ance about almost any matter? the church sink roots in every partic- absolute moral impeccability or to re- conditions is it no longer valid to There are diocesan bishops in ular context. Stated in more philo- move the bishop from office? speak of a sacramental quality of the every place where sexual abuse scan- sophical terms, it is increasingly 8. The church is a sacrament of church? Is a church that protects dals have occurred, and they have recognized that there is no visible salvation. Another instinct of the Sec- criminal behavior, obfuscates truth rendered, in response, numerous church that can be contemplated ond Vatican Council was to propose and ignores victims at least suspect as statements and directives. But these from a singular and objectively neu- an image of the church as an effica- a legitimate sacrament? Isn’t even this seem incidental in the Catholic imag- tral cultural perspective. This means cious sign and instrument for mediat- enough to chasten our ecclesiology? ination of most people. More firmly that ecclesiology must concern itself ing salvation to the world. Sacraments These insights do not exhaust the in place in the minds of more of the with the existential situations of the are physical, material, sensible reali- ecclesiological challenges imposed baptized is a pyramid-shaped church, people in the pews, without reducing ties that depend heavily for their me- upon us by the scandals, but they do in which the pope and Curia act as its concerns to those alone. diating ability upon their coherence indicate that our theorizing about the the arbiters of truth and discipline on At the moment, the faithful in with the spiritual realities they signi- nature of the church must be teth- every subject. In some quarters this Boston, New York, Palm Beach and fy. The eucharistic celebration, for ered to its concrete life. Eruptions of instinct has been both systematically elsewhere are reeling from allegations example, must have a minimal resem- historical sin, mess and ambiguity instilled and actively cultivated. The of abused trust on the part of their blance to a human experience of din- threaten the integrity and credibility result is that local bishops are viewed bishops. There are real injuries, real ing; baptism must involve at least a as credible only to the extent that angers, real sorrows and real victims. few droplets of water that might sig- Continued on page 7

asking that question itself testifies to Church teaches he is—an icon, a liv- intellectually sterile champions of Weigel the central place that bishops have in ing representation of the eternal “Catholic Lite,” who can’t even de- Continued from page 3 the life of the Church. Contrary to priesthood of Jesus Christ. And if he scribe accurately the crisis they the claims made by the advocates of doesn’t think of himself as an icon of helped create. And finally, I’m hope- Everyone. The Courage to be Catholic “Catholic Lite,” most Catholics Christ, he’s going to be tempted to ful because that’s what Christians are: includes three chapters of recom- aren’t interested in bishops who act in ways that contradict the com- men and women of hope, who know mendations on specific reforms: in mortgage even more of their author- mitment he’s made to Christ and the that God’s purposes are being worked vocation recruitment, in seminar- ity to various committees and Church. out in history, in what often strike us ies, in the priesthood, in the way boards. Most Catholics want bishops as strange ways. That’s why I believe, bishops are chosen, in the exercise who will effectively exercise the au- Yours is, finally, a hopeful book. Why? with Dorothy Day, the truth of what of the episcopal office, and in the thority that is theirs, and do so in a I can think of three reasons. First, be- Pope Pius XI meant when he said, way the Vatican gathers its infor- way that challenges everyone in the cause “crisis,” in the Bible, has two “Let us thank God that he makes us mation and relates to local Church- Church to a holier way of life. I meanings: catastrophe, and opportu- live among the present problems; it is es in crisis. think the episcopal failures of recent nity—and the opportunity the cur- no longer permitted to anyone to be decades have been similar to the fail- rent catastrophe offers us is the mediocre.” The Courage to Be Catholic has a chapter ures of priests: It’s fundamentally a opportunity to complete the reforms entitled “Why Bishops Failed.” Many peo- failure in self-understanding. If a of Vatican II as they’ve been authen- Zenit is an international Catholic news ple, Catholics and non-Catholics alike, priest thinks of himself as simply an- tically interpreted by the pontificate agency headquartered in Rome. have been asking: How could they let this other “minister,” facilitating the of John Paul II. The second reason happen? What's your answer? “ministry” of others, he isn’t going I’m hopeful is because this crisis ©2002 by Zenit. Reprinted with permission from The fact that so many people are to think of himself as what the marks the last hurrah of the aging, Zenit, which can be found at www.zenit.org.

boston college | c21 resources | spring 2003 5 The Faith Will Survive

The institutional church, on the other hand, is in serious trouble: Here’s why

By Joan Chittister and privilege, trust and authority that Now, years later, church atten- ments of a clerical world, lead to the priesthood had managed to garner dance is down in Ireland, the most very fiasco that brings good people— he question everywhere is over centuries, and not a word said religious, least secular, country in priests, bishops, and cardinals among the same these days: about it by the hierarchy, not a single Western Europe. The government no them—to make choices geared more What, in the long run, man defrocked. Indeed, pedophilia longer looks for a nod from the to saving the system than to saving will be the effect of the went beyond individual criminality to church before introducing new legis- the people. Though the church pedophilia scandal on the the heart of the system. At pedophil- lation. Court cases on clerical abuse prides itself on the fact that it is not a TCatholic Church? Speculation ranges ia, the Irish drew a line. abound. Seminaries are closed. The democracy, it forgets at its peril that from predictions of total collapse to RTE, Radio Television Erin, the voice of the church on social issues is even monarchies are these days sub- speculation about total reconfigura- national broadcasting company of every day less impacting. ject to both public scrutiny and legal tion. Given the long lessons of histo- Ireland, launched a national survey to Today the Catholic Church in the accountability. ry, neither hypothesis is likely, determine the emotional response of United States, rocked by scandals of The culture of silence requires perhaps, but we may have already a people almost 98-percent Catholic long-standing clerical pedophilia and that the business and decisions, agen- been given a mirror into the future of to a scandal that darkened their most its accompanying episcopal cover- das and processes, struggles and con- change. Let me tell you what I’ve sacred institution. Question number ups, stands at the margins of a simi- flicts of a closed system be hidden seen already. one, the announcer said, asked, “Has lar watershed. The question is entirely from public view. The inten- It was 1996. I was in Dublin at the this scandal affected your faith?” I re- whether or not a new set of rules tion, some argue, is a good one: the time writing a book. To do concen- member groaning out loud in the about celibacy, another kind of people must be saved from scandal. trated work I had gone away to live chair. “97 percent,” the reporter an- process for dealing with complaints, Perhaps, but the scandal of silence alone in a small townhouse on the nounced, “say no.” I snapped to full a better way of communicating with can itself at times be far more dam- canal. For a while, there were no dis- attention. “Impossible!” I thought. “I victims, can possibly restore the trust aging than the scandal of fallibility. tractions at all. But then the first pe- can't believe it. How could this not in the church that every survey of The results can be disastrous. Silence dophilia scandal erupted in Ireland. I affect the faith of a country so com- American Catholics shows to have is what enabled the system to move found myself as immersed in the pletely identified with it on every been eroded. The answer to that pedophile priests from place to place. story as the rest of the country but, as level?!” Question number two, the one, if the Irish situation is any kind Silence covers up. Silence hides an outside observer, more concerned announcer went on, asked, “Has this of model for us at all, is that the problems in order to deny them. And about the overall effects of the situa- scandal affected your relationship question itself is worse than useless. it buys silence from others so that tion than by the cast of characters. I with the church?” “97 percent,” the The basic problem isn’t how this the rest of the society can never began to understand that the Irish, reporter announced, “say yes.” My particular and immediate issue was know that they are also in danger. too, were dealing with this situation head began to reel. handled. It is why the problem could In the end silence makes it im- differently than they had in the past. Given such an overwhelmingly possibly be handled this way at all. possible for a system to face and ac- The Irish had already dealt with unanimous response, the reporter The question that must be asked is knowledge the problems that are the case of a bishop who had fathered began to interview passers-by on the what in the clerical culture itself leads destroying it—the difficulties of a son years before, supported him fi- street to determine the reasons be- to this kind of debacle in the first priesthood, the ruptures in theology nancially all his life, but never ac- hind the answers. “Jesus and the place. Otherwise, whatever rules they from one era to the next, the dis- knowledged him. They had read sacraments mean everything to me. apply to this problem won’t mean a content of the masses whose ques- themselves weary about the young There’s nothing wrong with them,” thing toward the resolution of the tions are ignored or dismissed or pastor who dropped dead leaving a Irish after Irish asserted. But, in re- next one. And there will be a next ridiculed or labeled heresy. It car- mistress housekeeper and their chil- sponse to question two, the effect of one if the culture of the “Princes of ries, in classic fashion, a fox under dren who were now suing the diocese this latest of clergy sexual problems the Church” (and everything that its toga that is eating it up from the for his estate. They had watched the on their relationship to the church it- kind of systemic fealty implies) is per- inside out. church battle the government over self, one man put it bluntly for them mitted to continue in the modern The culture of exclusion denies to the legalization of contraception. The all. “We mean,” he said, “that they’re world. a system the expertise it needs to re- Irish, it seemed, were well battle- not going to tell us again what’s right There are three dimensions of ec- solve its difficulties. When a system tested on sexual scandals. and what’s wrong anymore. From clesiastical medievalism that are still defines itself outside of the rest of Pedophilia, however, was a very now on, we’ll be figuring those things part and parcel of the church today. the human race, it reduces its re- different thing. Pedophilia galvanized out for ourselves.” I sat back and These were once effective and per- sources at exactly the moments it the society in a way no clerical sexual watched the world change in front of haps even necessary to the security of may need them most. When the issues had ever been able to do so in my eyes. I saw a whole people distin- the state, but they’re now long gone most-needed consultants are kept out the past. Pedophile priests went on guish a spiritual tradition from the in the politics and processes of the of a conversation because a system being priests, went from parish to institution that was its storehouse. I rest of the world. The culture of si- has become a world unto itself, it parish, went on preying on children, saw the moral authority of that same lence, the culture of exclusion, and went on reaping the harvest of status institution brought to a tragic low. the culture of domination, all ele- Continued on next page

6 boston college | c21 resources | spring 2003 can, at best, only hope to replicate its tioned. It hoards one kind of power— the power of a system whose effec- Benetvision and the author most recently past self and old, tired ideas. With appointed power—and so in the end tiveness rests largely on power alone. of Seeing With Our Souls: Monastic few new ideas coming into the sys- diminishes the very power it seeks to When the culture in question is Wisdom for Every Day (Sheed and tem, with little in the way of fresh protect by trying to exercise it in the church, then the institution and Ward, 2002). creativity to reenergize the system, areas beyond either its experience or the faith, the system and the gospel, with no inroads into other systems— its competence. Failing to multiply the theology of the Holy Spirit and Reprinted with permission from the all of which may be far more compe- power by sharing it openly with those the theology of the priesthood, sepa- July/August issue of Sojourners magazine. tent to deal with new questions than who have earned another kind of rate like oil and water. The Irish have Copyright 2003 by Sojourners magazine. the system involved—the system power—achieved power—only already figured that out. The faith dooms itself to stagnation. New threatens their own. As a result, those will survive. The system as it is will questions go begging for new an- appointed to power are denied the not. If not felled by this problem, it swers, become unappeasable in the support of those who have an even will surely be struck down by the next face of old answers, and the system more convincing power of expertise one that will undoubtedly be spawned Byron doesn’t explode, it implodes. or natural gift. out of the same mentality. The culture of domination runs A culture of creeping infallibility, There is no doubt that unless this Continued from page 5 the risk of both assuming a power it distributed in varying degrees church addresses the questions be- does not have and abusing the power throughout an infallible system that hind the present issue—the ques- of the Christian community unless it does have. It ties power up in a few sees itself as the final, privileged word tions of silence, exclusion, and they are addressed in theology with people who use it to keep it. Since wherever it is and simply because it domination—the long-term effect of honesty and courage. If the current those who subscribe to a culture of is, is almost bound to run roughshod this situation, itself only a terrible sad season can serve to further this domination live an insular existence over the powerlessness of others. symptom of a far more sinister sick- endeavor, then there is an opportuni- in a society of self-defined elites, Abuse of power becomes its mainstay, ness, will be that members of the ty for the darkness of sin to give way their power is seldom or ever tested. even at its healthiest levels. At its American church, like the Irish, will to newness and life. A culture of domination puts lowest levels—when it imposes itself begin to make a distinction between drawbridges and moats around the on women, on children, on its the faith they hold and the authori- Rev. J. Michael Byron is an assistant minds of its own members. To think heretics and outsiders in general—it ties they follow. In that case, it is professor of systematic theology at the St. outside an acceptable orthodoxy dis- flirts with the demonic. The power of clear that it will be the authorities Paul Seminary School of Divinity of the qualifies a person to contribute to it. the insights, experience, ideas, and who stand to lose. University of St. Thomas, Minnesota. The culture of domination creates persons of others are simply dis- the image of a special world with missed—for the image of the system, Joan Chittister, OSB, a Sojourners con- Reprinted with permission from America, power so special it can never be ques- for the “integrity” of the system, for tributing editor, is executive director of May 27, 2002. ©2002 by America Press, Inc.

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boston college | c21 resources | spring 2003 7 a decade ago. Of course the Church will survive, and more than survive, Scandal Time but I expect this storm is not going to pass any time soon. I expect we have not yet seen its full fury. I very much wish that I were more confident than I The penalty for past laxity and malfeasance is coming due am that every bishop understands that there can now be no returning to busi- ness as usual. The word crisis is much overused, but this is a crisis. Despite all the talk about the per- By Richard John Neuhaus there is no avoiding the conclusion were cast into the depths of the sea.” vasive “nonjudgmentalism” in our that, in Boston and elsewhere, some The current scandals constitute a culture, about some things judgments he timing, it seems, could bishops bear a heavy burden of re- painful moment of truth for bishops, are much harsher today. In anything not have been worse. In sponsibility. heads of religious orders, and others having to do with children, for in- last month’s issue I offered Children have been hurt, solemn responsible for the moral integrity of stance, what some viewed as embar- my considered and heart- vows have been betrayed, and a false the Church’s ministry. More often rassing misbehavior in the 1970s was, felt defense of Father Ma- sense of compassion—joined to a than not, the priests allegedly in- by the 1990s, viewed as a heinous Tciel, founder of the Legionnaires of protective clericalism—has apparently volved in these scandals are now in crime. Psychological theory, law, and Christ, against unfounded charges of permitted some priests to do terrible their sixties and seventies or even public attitudes have all changed dra- sexual abuse. I meant and I mean things again and again. For some older. They received their formation matically. The very subject of homo- every word of what I said there. Just Catholics, this is a time that will test and were ordained in the 1960s and sexuality was, not so very long ago, after the issue had gone to press, how- their faith in Christ and his Church, 1970s when, in addition to false com- pretty much in the closet. Like most ever, scandals involving sexual abuse as distinct from their faith in the ho- passion and clerical protectiveness, people, bishops did not know, or did by priests in Boston exploded, creating there was in sectors of the Church a not want to know, about rude things a level of public outrage and suspicion wink-and-a-nudge attitude toward that men did together, and sometimes that may be unparalleled in recent his- what were viewed as sexual peccadil- did with little boys. Today’s scandals tory. The climate is not conducive to loes. Anyone who was around during notwithstanding, there was some- calm or careful thought about priests those years, and had eyes to see, thing to be said for such reticence and sexual molestation. Outrage and The result of priestly knows that was the case. Ecumenical- and naiveté, even if the naiveté was suspicion readily lead to excess, but, ly, and especially among clergy in- sometimes feigned. When it comes to with respect to developments in formation in an era volved in social activism, both priestly adherence to the Church’s Boston, it is not easy to say how much Protestant and Catholic, there was teaching, zero tolerance must now be outrage and suspicion is too much. of wink-and-nod frequent confusion and laxity with re- the order of the day. The enforce- Professor Philip Jenkins of Penn spect to sexual morality—heterosexu- ment of zero tolerance, in this con- State University has written exten- permissiveness. al, homosexual, and unspecified. That nection and others, can lead to sively on sexual abuse by priests, also is deplorable but should not surprise. ridiculous extremes and can inhibit in these pages. He is an acute student In this way, too, the institutions of re- natural and healthy interactions, es- of the ways in which the media, ligion are too often conformed to the pecially in working with young peo- lawyers, and insurance companies— liness, or even competence, of some culture of which they are part. ple, but that, too, is probably part of along with angry Catholics, both lib- of the Church’s leaders. Catholics the price to be paid. eral and conservative—are practiced used to be good at that sort of thing, A NEW SITUATION NOW There was a similar sense of crisis at exploiting scandal in the service of pointing to figures such as Alexander Among Catholics, the situation is gen- following the first public revelations their several interests. Scholars point VI (Pope from 1492 to 1503) whose erally very different with today’s semi- of sexual abuse by priests in the mid- out that the incidence of abusing thorough corruption—he gained the narians and younger priests. It is not eighties, but then the issue receded children or minors is no greater, and papacy by bribery and used it to ben- unusual to encounter priests who after CNN notoriously sensational- may be less, among priests than efit his illegitimate children—was claim they were ordained in, say, the ized charges against the late Joseph among Protestant clergy, teachers, thought to prove that the truth of the 1970s with the expectation that the Cardinal Bernardin of Chicago in social workers, and similar profes- Church and the validity of her sacra- celibacy requirement would be aban- 1993 and the charges turned out to be sions. But, it is noted, Catholic clergy ments were not dependent upon the doned within a few years. Many of false. That incident helped remind are more attractive targets for law- holiness of her leaders. In the fourth them have since left the active priest- people that priests, too, are to be suits because the entire diocese or century, the Donatist heretics took hood. For others, the “acceptance” of deemed innocent until proven guilty. archdiocese can be sued. That is a the opposite position, and Catholics homosexuality and the rejection of In the current climate of outrage, we legal liability of the Church’s hierar- have been exuberant in their condem- every form of “homophobia” was need to be reminded of that truth chical structure. Moreover, the ex- nation of Donatism. We all have a clearly the approved attitude. Today, I again. Unbridled outrage can too eas- pressions of outrage by many in the steep stake in the rightness of that think it fair to say that seminarians ily become hysteria. One recalls that media are attended by an ulterior condemnation. At the same time, the and younger priests know beyond during the same period, there was a agenda, namely, discrediting the orthodoxy of anti-Donatism is not to doubt what is expected of them in blizzard of criminal charges and law- Catholic teaching on human sexuali- be confused with moral indifference. terms of faithfulness to the Church’s suits over alleged abuses, including sa- ty, about which they are genuinely All three synoptic gospels report the teaching. But the penalty for past laxi- tanic rituals and other grotesqueries, outraged. These and other considera- warning of Jesus about those who ty and malfeasance is now coming due, perpetrated by people working in day tions can and should be taken into ac- corrupt the innocence of children. “It and has been coming due since the re- care centers. Whole communities count, but the tragic fact remains that would be better for him if a millstone ality of sexual abuse by priests was great wrongs have been done, and were tied around his neck and he brought to public attention more than Continued on next page

8 boston college | c21 resources | spring 2003 around the country were caught up in remain forever confidential. In a frenzy of mutual recriminations, and Boston, that guarantee has now been many people went to jail, until the broken by court order. This can be Farewell to “the Club” heroic and almost single-handed work seen as an ominous encroachment by of Dorothy Rabinowitz of The Wall the state on the Church’s right to Street Journal exposed the madness self-governance. It can also be argued for what it was. that the Church forfeited that right Is the residue of a repressive clerical culture the by failing to govern itself, and by sur- OTHER CASUALTIES rendering episcopal governance to heart of our problems? Among the potential casualties of lawyers and insurance companies. the present scandal is severe damage At least in some cases, there can be to what has historically been called no question of the state’s legitimate the “liberty of the Church” to govern interest. To cite the most notorious By Michael L. Papesh bishop, remote though he seemed, her own affairs. Catholics have a dis- instance, that of the defrocked John not only shared this life with his tinct tradition of canon law that goes Geoghan, he is already convicted of “Welcome to the club!” The bish- priests; he participated in more of the back to the Council of Nicaea in 325 one criminal act, and is charged with op in a Midwestern diocese offered same nationally and internationally and took lasting form with Gratian’s many more. Sin is the business of the these words of greeting as he ex- with other prelates. Decretum in the twelfth century. Church, and crime is the business of changed the sign of peace with each I also met the underside of clerical This history of ecclesiastical liberty is the state. There was once a time, cen- new priest during the ordination cere- culture in a college seminary. Living basic to the various exemptions and turies ago, when there were ecclesias- mony. The year was 1965. The story in a rectory on weekends, I watched immunities in current law and prac- tical courts to deal with clerics who was told among a group of newly or- helplessly as a good priest drank too tice that protect religious freedom committed sins that were also crimes. dained priests, who struck me as both much on Saturday nights. I listened to not just for Catholics but for every- Although it had no standing in law, embarrassed and tickled by it. As a bawdy stories, was once shown one. The right of religious institu- that way of handling things continued 14-year-old seminarian at the time, I pornography (he said he had confis- tions to govern themselves may be in a vestigial and informal way up to was alerted, in the hearing, to the cated it) and saw him become erratic gravely eroded under pressure from our day. If the cops suspected Father clerical culture. Back when seminaries in carrying out his duties. Fellow lawyers, insurance companies, and of criminal activity, it was reported to and rectories were packed, the clerical seminarians who also witnessed these the state. The ruthlessness of many the bishop in the confidence that he culture was, for some of us, a factor in things with me winked at the behav- in the legal profession should not be would take care of it. No more. the enormous appeal of ordained ior. I winked, too. After all, he was a underestimated. As Peter Steinfels Another potential casualty is an ministry. It is time, I think, to bid good priest. But our winking took us writes in the New York Times, it has erosion of confidence in the possibili- farewell to “the club.” in deeper. We heard stories about now been “discovered that lawyers ty of repentance and amendment of The local rectory was the residence other priests; we winked. When a for plaintiffs could play hardball, too, life. Such confidence is dismissed as of the cathedral clergy. It boasted friend was propositioned by a priest inflating charges and using the news “naive” when it comes to priests commodious living quarters, a cook one evening, my friend winked and media to play on public fears and being given another chance. But the and housekeeper, fine linen and silver we winked. Even when, after being prejudices in hopes of embarrassing belief in the power of the grace of on the dining room table (a footstool plied with alcohol, I was sexually as- the Church into settlements.” With God to transform lives is at the heart was stored underneath it for the bish- saulted, I winked. My seminarian respect to self-governance, “confi- of Christian faith, and is overwhelm- op) and a consistently first-class friends winked. The priests with dentiality” is now commonly translat- ingly supported by Scripture and the menu. I saw French cuffs, dressing for whom I shared the story, though they ed as “secrecy” and “discretion” as experience of innumerable Chris- dinner, a smoking jacket for the pas- were aghast and urged me to ap- “evasion.” The cultural revolution tians. Belief in the gift of grace, how- tor and ceremonial trappings of silk proach the bishop, still, essentially, popularized the slogan that the per- ever, is perfectly consistent with and fine embroidery. Priests were winked. Before I was 19, I learned sonal is the political. So also, it now knowing that the gift is not always ef- welcomed freely into all manner of that when it came to sexual matters, seems, the religious is the political, fectively received. When a priest re- homes, favored with cut rates on the clerical culture winked. and the legal. All of life is to be lived pents after being caught dipping into meals and goods, offered trips and Why did we wink? Our affective on the front pages or in the court- the collection plate, there is forgive- cars. To my young eyes these were bonds, the connecting tissue of the room, or at least under the threat of ness. There is even forgiveness, if he striking signs of respect, security and clerical culture, affirmed by what we the front pages and the courtroom. is repentant, after he has done it sev- achievement, far beyond what I could understood to be the Gospel call, News reports claiming that a cer- eral times, but there are also secure imagine in any other way of life. were the primary reason. We lived, tain number of priests have been measures for denying him access to The relational structures were even worked, prayed and played together. charged with abuse and that the the collection plate. Children and the more attractive. Priests both young We enjoyed the same privileges and claims were settled out of court must integrity of sacred vows are immea- and old participated in a large web of friends; with all our talents, faults and not be interpreted to mean that the surably more valuable than the col- apparently congenial and respectful foibles, we knew and accepted one an- priests are guilty. Some of them in- lection plate. It is now evident that it relationships, living in groups of two other. Wishing to be loyal and com- sisted and insist that they are inno- is much easier to keep violators away and three in rectories, gathering for passionate to friends, understanding cent, but bishops were advised by from collection plates than to keep dinner parties after confirmations and only too well the human condition, lawyers and insurance companies that them away from children. Forty Hours devotions, touring with- seeking to protect people, their repu- a legal defense against the charges in the diocese and traveling through- tations and their good work, we would cost much more than settle- Rev. John Neuhaus is the editor of out other dioceses visiting, vacationing winked. At some level, I suppose, we ment out of court, and could well end First Things. and playing tennis or golf together. sought, too, to protect the institution up in a guilty verdict entailing even They remained jocular even when we loved and served, but that was not greater financial liability. In some Abridged and reprinted with permission from they swapped occasional horror sto- the heart of our behavior. cases, settlements were agreed to the April 2002 issue of First Things. ©2002 by ries about this or that pastor or bish- with the guarantee that they would First Things. op. I could hear in the stories that the Continued on page 10

boston college | c21 resources | spring 2003 9 the consequences for his relationships and exhortation gives to priests with a those in formation for many years and, Papesh with peers and superiors. With rela- homosexual orientation is even more these days, some of our younger men, Continued from page 9 tively rare exceptions, the natural distancing and evasive. The homosex- think celibacy requires that sexuality male temptation to posture is typical uals among us are told by the institu- itself be ignored or denied. Some Because of all the anguish we are of priests in groups small and large. tion that their orientation is priests are nervous about sexual experiencing in these days—with The all-male, celibate clerical cul- intrinsically disordered. Also, some thoughts or feelings or seem to have priests and bishops accused of irre- ture attends in a particularly careful fellow priests accept American soci- so repressed them that they probably sponsible sexual and administrative way to the formation of its members. ety’s bias that admission of homosexu- have none they are truly aware of. behavior—we seek a cause, a culprit. Seminary celibacy formation, ongo- ality means that a person is sexually Some hole up in their rooms in the Though the media may suggest so, ing priestly formation and retreat ex- active. The identification of homosex- name of the spiritual life or promul- and people may think so, neither hortations, therefore, are the points uality with pedophilia and gate pieties and rigidities about how celibacy nor the all-male priesthood is at which the distortions about sexual- ephebophilia is common. Some dare others ought to live their sexual lives, in itself to blame. The culprit is, ity within clerical culture are most publicly to admit to a homosexual ori- when the real issue is that they them- rather, the clerical culture that has de- tellingly and tragically evident. entation, but all know that this is the selves seem to be neither self-aware veloped as a primary professional con- Wherever one might place himself kiss of death to any possibility of a nor self-understanding nor whole. text for at least Latin rite diocesan along the sexual spectrum, the cleri- miter or other significant leadership. Others focus their ministry on priests and bishops here in the United cal culture—even with the best of in- The most courageous bishops say pri- lovely young girls or associate with States. And we priests and bishops are tentions—tends to repress the vately to an individual man, “As long handsome young men, evidently powerless to change it. exploration of male sexuality and as you are under good spiritual direc- oblivious to what these behavior pat- Males in our American culture have stunt adult growth and development. tion and make no public statements, terns reveal about them. As one a notoriously difficult time discerning Our formation processes, for in- your orientation is fine with me.” shrewd observer quipped, “Love may their emotions, understanding them, stance, have long presumed a hetero- But many bishops fail to manage be blind, but not the neighbors.” A sharing them and appropriately direct- very few among those who repress ing them. This dull truism is most es- their sexuality are positively danger- pecially on the mark with respect to ous to themselves, others and the sexual feelings. I have spent nearly 19 church because of what they see in years as a priest ministering in parish The way for our clerical culture to begin others but do not and will not face in and seminary settings, doing chancery themselves. volunteer work directed toward priests, the transformation it needs is for the church Many healthy priests exercise their sharing serious and reflective conversa- ministry nobly and faithfully. Yet the tion with fellow priests on a wide array to ponder our theology of ministry, as well terrible reluctance of the clerical cul- of matters and being blessed by a won- ture as a whole to engage matters of derfully intimate experience with a few as make a radical critique of the sexuality forthrightly and construc- of my brother priests in a support tively is a grave impediment to min- group. But I find that today—no less cultural elements that surround it. istry. It is intensified by Catholic than in the past—the all-male clerical moral teaching, fear and anxiety, un- culture still winks. And of course it dergirded by concerns for institution- winks. Many of us do not have the self- al preservation and self-protection. awareness, understanding, articulation Consequently, realistic, wholesome and sometimes the courage to face sexual orientation among priests. even that; some are hostile. Conse- and candid discussions of sexuality are straightforwardly the complex ques- While the majority of us certainly are quently, most homosexual priests feel silenced. Healthy, balanced formation tions that surround male sexuality, adult heterosexual, this assumption func- the need to closet their orientation. of ordained ministers is hobbled. Sex- human growth and development, or tions as an institutionally and person- They fear public admission may not uality, for many priests, becomes pri- even the spiritual disciplines required ally insulating safe haven. The only short-circuit leadership possibili- vatized, solemnized and darkened. for deepening growth in chastity. As heterosexuals among us feel free to ties, but also serve to ostracize them Public and private accountability is one anxious friend said comically, speak about some of their struggles in from other priests and compromise thwarted. Many live in confusion and “Please share on the level at which you a reserved, socially acceptable and su- the effectiveness of their ministry anguish about sexuality. And we wink. think I would be comfortable.” perficial way. They tend to remain among Catholics, who may remain The demise of privilege, once part Sexuality is an integral concern for silent about deeper, more complicat- squeamish about a homosexual priest. of clerical culture, is probably a good every human person and a conflict- ed sexual struggles, however, because, Bishops, fellow priests and Ameri- thing. The passing of priestly fraterni- filled concern for all people in West- though it is affirmed, even heterosex- can culture all fail to understand, ty for many presbyteries across the ern cultures. And in a celibate clerical uality is discussed superficially. much less articulate, the particularly country is more painful. However culture, sexuality is an especially hot- Though heterosexual priests have to grave difficulties many among us face grounded one might be in the spiritual button issue. The clerical culture’s tolerate some discussion about homo- because of homosexual orientation. life and centered in intimate personal way of handling sexuality is to intel- sexuality, they are uncomfortable with The homosexual priest spends enor- relationships, rambling alone around a lectualize and evade. It is a matter for it, because they generally share mous energy maintaining balance and 13-room house in the middle of an al- classroom teaching, homily and re- American cultural biases, fail to un- integrity under massive institutional falfa or asphalt field invites an eccen- treat conference exhortation and pri- derstand it and feel ill at ease with the and societal pressures, not to mention tric existence. The risk of falling into vate spiritual direction. Open picture of priesthood that such dis- the personal sense of shame and the melancholy and dejection is ever-pres- discussion about sexual curiosity, ori- cussions paint. The bias toward het- feeling of being misunderstood with ent for many presbyters and bishops, entation, experience, joy, fear and erosexuality is so great that I have which many struggle. especially in smaller parishes and rural anxiety is rare, and certainly a gamble. heard priests remark of a sexual of- As if all this were not enough, some dioceses. The passing of many ele- If a priest speaks about these things in fender, “Well, at least he’s straight.” among us have chosen a thoroughgo- public, he has to be prepared to face The nod that priestly formation ing sexual repression. Some priests, Continued on next page

10 boston college | c21 resources | spring 2003 ments of clerical culture, coupled with a lack of forthright, discerning and free discussion about male sexuality, The Present Scandal: adult development and the relation- ship between spirituality and sexuality, has been and remains a danger for the A Personal View church. Yet clerical culture allows for nothing else. Our current crisis is fundamentally a spiritual one. Yes, we need to grow “When questions were raised about the alleged incident, they were met in the virtue of chastity. We also need to improve recruitment and admis- with a constant refrain: ‘We must not discuss this subject’” sions procedures; to restructure semi- nary and ongoing formation, retreats and professional support; to include more women and men in church gov- ernance; to rethink where and how By Anonymous amusement parks. As one of them Mass each Sunday, hugging parish- priests live, their compensation and said, “He was a regular Pied Piper.” ioners and thanking them for their retirement; to fashion dioceses and t began one Sunday in Septem- To most of the parish all of this continued support. The parish limped deaneries to provide priests with vi- ber when we noticed an unfa- was completely unknown, and many on, clouded by fears and concerns that brant contexts for growth in relation- miliar priest celebrating Mass. were confused and shaken by the we were not allowed to acknowledge. ships with ordained and nonordained. The monsignor, who intro- monsignor’s disclosure. The pastor Quite unwillingly, my own family We need our leadership to administer duced himself as the director of was popular. Under his leadership the found itself drawn into the affair. As our ecclesial life with crystal-clear Ipriest personnel for the diocese, had parish was thriving. Many parish- guests at the pastor’s cabin, soon after transparency, reshape it with rock- bad news. A family in the parish had we had joined the parish, my wife and solid purpose of amendment and filed a lawsuit against our pastor, eight-year-old son had witnessed be- pledge us ironclad assurance that the charging inappropriate behavior to- havior consistent with the allegations innocent among us are always and ward their teenage sons, and against in the lawsuit: the discovery in plain everywhere secure. All of these things the diocese for negligence. The mon- The pastor leaned sight of a book on “The Art of Sen- deserve focused, applied energy. But signor hastened to note that no crimi- sual Massage”; the sight of our pastor there is one thing more. nal charges were pending: “This is over to my son massaging a 12-year-old boy clad in a It is time to consider the possibility purely a suit about money damages.” bathing suit—an expression of that the residue of a repressive clerical Lawyers for the diocese had conclud- and whispered, dreamy concentration on his face. culture is near the heart of our prob- ed that the charges were utterly with- Though disturbed, we had not re- lems. Moreover, because we ordained out foundation, he said. In the “Next time you ported these observations. Why? Per- are powerless to do anything about it, meantime, said the monsignor, our haps we convinced ourselves of what the most constructive, fruitful way for pastor had the full support of the dio- come alone, we wanted to believe—that surely our clerical culture to begin the thor- cese, and he would continue at his this could not be as bad as it seemed; oughgoing transformation it needs, post while the legal process unfolded. and we’ll leave that we did not want to tarnish a and that our age and circumstances He lamented the injury to a priest’s priest’s reputation on the basis of an demand, is for the church to ponder good name and urged us not to allow Mom behind.” isolated incident. Now, however, deeply our theology of ministry, as baseless rumors to divide the parish. since the monsignor’s disclosure at well as make a radical critique of the The family’s case centered on church, we regretted our silence. cultural elements of the many discipli- charges that the priest, on separate But surely the monsignor would nary notes that surround it and, in our occasions, had massaged their young be interested in our story. Surely he time, hinder its effectiveness. As weak sons in an unmistakably erotic man- ioners chose to ignore the unseemly would be sorry for having declared, as it may seem in some respects, cleri- ner. In one case, during an overnight controversy. Others loudly ques- before conducting any wider investi- cal culture is bigger than us priests trip to his remote vacation cabin, in tioned the motives of anyone who gation, that the suit was without and bishops. It still has hegemony. It the presence of other boys, the priest sought to “undermine” their pastor. foundation. Surely he would also re- still winks. It causes the whole church had instructed one of their sons to This attitude was of course encour- gret the article in the diocesan news- scandal and pain. The time has come remove his shirt and lie on the floor, aged by the monsignor’s insistence paper stating that no other to bid farewell to “the club.” while he straddled him and massaged that the charges had no foundation, allegations of this nature had ever his back with oil. The family had that they were, in effect, stimulated been made. If only the monsignor Rev. Michael L. Papesh, pastor of Holy brought their suit after discovering, by greed, and that our duty as knew the whole story. Spirit Parish in St. Paul, Minnesota, has contrary to initial denials from the Catholics was simply to rise above So we called and wrote the monsi- served as director of spiritual formation diocese, that this priest had done the the rumors and pray for healing. gnor several times. Within a matter at the St. Paul Seminary School of same thing to many boys over the Parish leaders seemed genuinely of days, after talking with other Divinity and as chair of the committee on years. The leadership team of the anguished, but their main effort was parishioners, we compiled a long priestly life and ministry of the St. Paul- parish—deacons, associate priests and directed to avoiding public airing of chronological account documenting Minneapolis archdiocesan presbyteral youth minister—had repeatedly the issue. When questions were raised incidents of improper behavior by the council. warned the pastor against his habit of before the parish council or in other pastor going back 25 years. This ac- taking young boys on unsupervised groups, they were met with a constant count included the story of the Reprinted with permission from America, May trips to his cabin, or overnights in the refrain: “We must not discuss this sub- 13, 2002. ©2002 by America Press, Inc. rectory, or to motels on trips to ject.” Meanwhile the pastor was at Continued on page 12

boston college | c21 resources | spring 2003 11 Again and again from priests in “We must not the area, including two monsignors supposedly monitoring the case, I Healing Forgiveness discuss this” heard various versions of the same impulse: to minimize the problem, to Continued from page 11 shift the issue to the sad injury to a priest’s reputation. “He may have The Spirit still moves brother of a close friend in the been foolish, but he hasn’t broken parish, who said that on an any laws.” “Those boys look like in our church today overnight camping trip, the pastor strapping fellows; it’s hard for me to had crawled into his tent in the mid- believe that they suffered any real dle of the night and tried to pull harm.” “He has this thing about mas- down his pajama bottoms. The child sage—he’s a very touchy-feely per- By Anonymous therapy and have also been recover- had screamed and fought him off. son.” “Sure, he doesn’t walk on ing from active alcoholism, anorexia Now, 25 years later, the memory still water; but we are all broken, we are am a happily married Roman and bulimia for more than 18 years. burned. He had never again attend- all sinners....” Catholic woman. Attendance I cannot tell you how long I lived ed church. Again and again I found it neces- at Mass and time spent in with feelings of rage, or how long I The monsignor was sorry to hear sary to point out to these priests that meditation are my daily suste- suffered from horrible feelings of our news. Very sorry. “Oh dear, oh the pastor’s particular form of broken- nance. I am a eucharistic min- betrayal by the church, Father X dear, this is serious,” he said. It ness took the form of victimizing the isterI in our parish and have been a and, by association, Jesus. I don’t “pained” him more than he could most innocent and defenseless mem- sponsor in our adult initiation pro- know how long I prayed for this say to have to hear these things. But bers of his flock. The pattern of these gram. Our prayer group meets regu- man and for the gift of forgiveness it did not take long before we dis- stories suggested a compulsive erotic larly, and I receive spiritual direction and healing. I was blessed with a covered that much of this was al- attraction to young boys, which he once a month. I make regular retreats very good therapist, who helped me ready known to him. An associate was unable or unwilling to curb. He and have been privileged to walk uncover my memories and put priest in the parish had earlier sub- used his parishioners’ trust in him as a through the Spiritual Exercises of St. words to the feelings I was experi- mitted his own account of impropri- priest and as a family friend in order Ignatius. I share what I have with encing—quite an arduous journey. eties in the rectory and had begged to gain access to their male children those who have less; I give work to As I began to “grow up” in therapy the diocese to investigate. The mon- and to take them on unsupervised the immigrants, comfort the wid- and obtained my master’s degree in signor himself had been involved in overnight trips, where he acted out his owed, visit the lonely and counsel the counseling, I came to understand resolving a previous situation, after attraction and abused their trust. After addicted. I am respected by my col- how Father X had never developed another 13-year-old boy said the Mass on the Sunday following the visit leagues at the well-known university psychosexually. He entered the sem- pastor had gotten him drunk in his of my wife and son to his cabin, the where I teach. inary when he was 13 years old; per- cabin and then straddled him and pastor leaned over to my son and I am also a woman who as a child haps he never dated. He did not massaged him with oil. whispered, “Next time you come in the sixth grade was sexually abused mature into a psychologically As months passed, it appeared that alone, and we’ll leave Mom behind.” by her parish priest. I share my story healthy adult male, capable of hav- nothing was going to change in our Again and again I found it neces- in the hope that my experience of ing chaste relationships with adult parish. The pastor remained in sary to answer the claim that nobody healing and forgiveness may help the men and women that might have charge, celebrating Mass each Sun- was hurt by the pastor’s behavior. many people who are suffering as a met his very human needs for com- day—though we could no longer The fact that he had intended no consequence of sexual abuse by some panionship, love and friendship. I bring ourselves to see him there. harm was irrelevant. There are cer- members of the Catholic clergy. began to develop some compassion Publicly he took the position, “on the tain adults a child has every right to As a child, I grew up loving the for Father X. advice of counsel,” that he could not trust. One of these is surely a priest. Roman Catholic Church—the smell While in therapy, and for quite comment on the allegations and was Who could assess the consequences of candles burning, the wafting of in- some time after I terminated therapy, thus, sadly, powerless to defend him- when such trust was betrayed? Who cense up to the rafters, the peaceful, I stopped attending Mass, did not re- self. To parishioners who approached could doubt the shame and confu- quiet churches where I felt God’s ceive the sacraments and was so him with their concerns and ques- sion planted in the minds of the presence and the kindness of many of angry that I wanted to take a hammer tions he denied everything. children he touched? Who could the church’s priests and sisters. I to that mammoth concrete edifice, To priests in neighboring parishes calculate the damage that such be- played the organ in our own church the National Shrine of the Immacu- the pastor provided his own version havior did to the whole body of and coordinated the altar boys’ train- late Conception in Washington, D.C. of the facts, which they willingly cir- Christ and to the reputation of many ing in our small town long before the As I began to see my imperfections, culated: It never happened. There innocent priests? thought of female altar servers was in acknowledge my defects of character, was nothing sexual about it. It was all Perhaps I was naïve; perhaps it re- anyone’s mind. In a childlike way, I accept my creaturehood, and as I misunderstood. These are very trou- flected my residual faith in the priest- thought Jesus must be just like our began to mature, I was able to take bled boys. Their parents are jealous hood. But what offended me most parish priest—smiling, kind, loving, the church and Father X off the of me. The 11-year-old boy with the was not whatever deviant weakness warm and forgiving. That association pedestal on which I had placed them. pajama bottoms? To the boy’s brother caused our pastor’s actions, but that made my recovery particularly chal- A wise Jesuit director told me during the pastor said he had no recollection when confronted he could accept no lenging. my first eight-day retreat that “the of this incident. But to a priest friend responsibility—that he lied, and that The abuse began when I was 11 church is as sinful as her people.” he recalled the incident clearly: we he used his brother priests to circu- years old. My feelings about Father Eight years ago I was asked to had to get up early to catch a train. late his lies. X were conflicted for many years, share my story of recovery with oth- The boy wouldn’t wake up, and then Diocesan officials did nothing with and it was not until I was in my late ers who were trying to recover from he struggled when I tried to get him 20s that I began to acknowledge the dressed. Continued on next page abuse. I have had extensive, in-depth Continued on next page

12 boston college | c21 resources | spring 2003 felt grateful that there was closure process of forgiving has been the power of Jesus’ love with others. The Spirit and that I could finally let go of him. most difficult experience I have had Recovery from sexual abuse is a Continued from page 12 Through all the years of therapy, in my 46 years of living. But it has circuitous path that takes a lifetime. tears, prayer and meditation, I had been the journey for which I am The wounds I have as a result of the alcoholism. While I had spoken in been given the gift of forgiveness for most grateful. abuse are still there, but they are not this type of setting many times, I him, and now I received compassion After I finished telling my story, a open wounds any longer. They have never until then mentioned publicly for myself. man approached me with his wide- been turning into scars for many that a priest had sexually abused me. I years now, and one day at a time, I was talking extemporaneously about am being healed. the gifts one receives by living a 12- The healing allows me to be com- step program; specifically I was ad- passionate. For the past six months, dressing the eighth step, which deals my heart has been broken and tears with forgiveness. I told the following I slowly began to seek the God who had have run down my cheeks each time I story: read the morning paper or listened to In 1990 I went to visit Father X. never abandoned me. The God who radio commentators describe the suf- During our visit, he was restless and fering of yet another victim of sexual dominated the conversation, such loves me so much, carried me abuse by a priest. I have been filled that I was unable to bring up the with anger once again, after I learned topic of the abuse. I felt angry and when I could not walk. about the errors made by some bish- frustrated, and after arriving home, I ops because of denial, ignorance and called him on the phone. I didn’t re- misjudgment. And then I go and sit ally know what I was going to say. I with the Lord, participate in the Mass just asked to say the right thing. I I had to get to the point where I brimmed hat pulled down to shield and find myself praying silently and told him that I was in therapy, and I wanted to be free more than I want- his eyes, and his coat collar pulled up aloud for the victims, the survivors, was trying to come to terms with the ed to be angry. I didn’t want to live around his neck. He extended his the perpetrators and the enablers. abuse. I told him that I had forgiven my life in an ongoing rage. The only hand, and as I shook it, he said, “I am And I am comforted and filled with him for what he had done. He said, way I knew to be free of the anger Shawn [not his real name], and I am a hope for our church. When I look “I have been praying that you and the rage was through forgive- Roman Catholic priest. On behalf of back on the times along my journey would.” I had nothing more to say. I ness. This was not easy. In fact, the the Catholic Church, I want to apol- when I felt overwhelming pain, deso- ogize to you.” I shivered as a chill ran lation and feelings of hopelessness, I through my body, and tears filled my am reminded that it was then that the eyes. For the first time, I felt some- Spirit was working quietly, unbe- one in the church acknowledged the knownst to me, to bring about heal- wrong that had been done to me as a ing and forgiveness. And so is the “We must not discuss this” child, felt genuine compassion for me Spirit moving our church today. Continued from page 12 and was courageous enough to “take Silently and creatively, I believe that on the sins of others” with his sincere the Spirit is working in the hearts and the accumulating body of evidence. Dickensian fashion. One of the dep- apology. After being away from the minds of lay men and women, the What seemed increasingly clear was ositions, by a decorated police offi- sacraments for many years, and being clergy and bishops. Some bishops and that their “hands were tied” by the cer, stated that 30 years ago, when unable to pray, except to say, “Please clergy are suffering in solidarity with pending lawsuit. Any evidence sup- he was an 11-year-old altar boy, the keep me sober and healthy” in the us, as we struggle to be courageous, porting the pastor’s guilt could reflect priest regularly massaged him in the morning and “Thank you” at night, I compassionate and committed to the on the diocese’s own culpability. So rectory. On the last of these occa- began to hunger for God again. call of the Second Vatican Council. they spread the church’s mantle of sions the priest had placed his hand I slowly began to seek the God I believe that God’s gracious gift of authority around this priest and his inside the boy’s underpants while who had never abandoned me. The forgiveness is given to all who secrets and lies, hoping that if only a moving the boy’s hand over his own God, who loves me so much, carried earnestly seek it, so that we can ex- knowing few were scandalized or crotch, in a state of arousal. me when I could not walk. When I tend that forgiveness to those who do alienated from the church this would The monsignor never returned to cursed God, and doubted that God us harm—physically, emotionally and be an acceptable price. Surely the address our former parish. He went even existed, God put people in my spiritually. In the midst of the pain parish, and the victims, would recov- on to become chancellor of the dio- life who listened to me and loved me and the suffering, we are invited to er in time. cese! back to health. This past Easter was love one another as Jesus loves us, to It is the same logic, repeated over My wife and I continue to think the first time in 14 years that I could forgive and to beg for forgiveness, to many years and in many dioceses of ourselves as Catholics. But we say that Jesus and I are intimate let go of the rage, to be healers and to around the country, that has led have not belonged to another parish friends again. be healed, to be reconciled with one today to a crisis, and a scandal, of un- since then. In his own way, Father X acknowl- another—to bring God’s transforming precedented proportions. edged that he had harmed me, and he love to our church and to the world. Five years have passed since that The author is a Catholic writer who was deeply sorry. By recognizing and Sunday in September. The priest wishes to remain anonymous and who, at accepting his own frailties as a human The author lives in the metropolitan finished out the remaining two the time of the events reported here, pro- being, Father Shawn was able to Washington, D.C., area. As is the prac- years of his term as pastor. The dio- vided full documentation to the appropri- reach out to me graciously and gen- tice in many 12-step programs, the cese placed him, after an extended ate authorities. erously and offer reconciliation. Over author’s name is not disclosed. trip abroad, in another parish— the years, I have been blessed to though only on an “interim basis.” Reprinted with permission from America, April know many priests who, from their ©2003 by America Press, Inc. All Rights The lawsuit has dragged on in 1, 2002. ©2002 by America Press, Inc. life of prayer, share the transforming Reserved.

boston college | c21 resources | spring 2003 13 What We Can Do

The goals and purposes of Boston College’s two-year effort to learn from the crisis

By Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J. broad issues: 1) the roles and rela- controversial or disputed. Should that commitment to the Church and to tionships of lay men and women, happen, we need to remind ourselves Catholics who trusted them. Church ll of us know how dev- priests, and bishops and how to en- that Boston College, as a university, is leaders made serious errors in the astating sexual miscon- hance them; 2) sexuality in Catholic committed to open discussion and to way they dealt with victims, their duct by priests and teaching and in contemporary cul- the objective consideration of the families, and abusers. Trust between bishops has been to vic- ture; and 3) the challenge of living, wide variety of opinions that can be lay men and women and the hierar- tims and their families, deepening, and handing on the reasonably argued. chy has been severely eroded in re- Athe Catholic community, and wider Catholic faith to succeeding genera- Our approach is based on the con- cent months, and many priests who society. So many have been left con- tions. A calendar of events scheduled viction that the essence of a universi- have served faithfully all their lives, fused and angry, feeling betrayed, and or in planning stages will be on the ty is the search for truth, and that, in especially those in parishes, feel be- asking serious questions about the Church in the 21st Century Web site. the end, the truth will prevail. At leaguered and discouraged. Trust Church and their relationship with This calendar gives information Boston College, this search for truth must be restored and accountability the hierarchy. In response to the about the types of programs offered is enriched by the acknowledgment ensured. scandal and to the wounds it has and exploration of spiritual and reli- Part of our initiative will focus on caused, especially in the Catholic gious truths, influenced by our Je- the reinvigoration of parish life, for community, I announced in mid-May suit, Catholic educational and example, by striving to develop model that Boston College would undertake religious traditions. Stated simply, we structures and practices that are built a special academic initiative during The challenge seek to link faith and culture, espe- on trust and accountability, and that the next several years. I did so for cially the Catholic Church and encourage and support the talents three reasons. for us American society. and responsibilities of laity, priests, First, the current situation calls for Finally, I want to say a word about and bishops. So many lay men and healing, and healing requires not only is to renew the goals of our Church in the 21st women want to use their gifts to help work of the heart but also work of Century initiative. First, it seeks to the Church, and we need them to do the mind. As a Catholic university, our vision, engage issues and topics critical to so, just as we need priests and bishops Boston College has a special respon- the healing and vitality of Catholics to live up to their responsibilities and sibility to help the Catholic commu- a vision built in the United States in the aftermath commitments. nity and wider society better of the sexual abuse crisis. All should The challenge for us is to renew understand Catholic perspectives on on trust and contribute to that task, but it is espe- our vision, a vision built on trust and critical societal problems, and also to cially urgent that younger Catholics, accountability. And one nurtured by assist the Catholic Church in appreci- accountability. so often enthusiastic, generous, and faith, knowledge, and conversation— ating and responding to contempo- interested in volunteer service and faith in God as revealed in Scripture rary issues. Doing so is part of our the spiritual life, be enlisted in the re- and human experience; knowledge of mission. newal of the Church. So much of the basic Catholic teaching, beliefs, and Second, BC has scholarly and pas- and topics that we will discuss in the future of Catholicism is in their tradition; and conversation with peo- toral resources that can assist lay future. hands. But younger Catholics need ple of both similar and different per- men and women, priests, and bishops Obviously, Boston College alone the inspiration and encouragement of spectives. in engaging the complex issues facing cannot resolve all the hurts and chal- older Catholics who know, appreci- I know that these goals and other them and help them learn from one lenges facing the Catholic communi- ate, and practice their Catholic faith. needed steps will not be realized another. Third, Boston College can ty today. Nor does it seek to supplant Our second goal is to help without a commitment to dialogue, a be a meeting place, an intellectual bishops or others in the Church who Catholics become more informed willingness to seek forgiveness and and religious resource that can assist must eventually respond to pressing about core teachings and traditions of healing, prayer and study, and leader- in the revitalization of the Church issues. Our initiative intends to be re- Catholicism and clearer about what ship from laity and clergy. But I also and individual members of the spectful of the Church and its teach- they believe and reasons for their be- know that during the past 2,000 Catholic community. ings and tradition, strive for balance liefs. This educational and religious years, the Catholic Church has adapt- The Church in the 21st Century and fairness in its programs, and pro- effort should enable them to live up ed and changed to meet a variety of program is intended for the Boston mote healing and understanding in to the demands and responsibilities of challenges. So as we strive to heal and College community, BC alumni and the Catholic Church. their faith more authentically and ef- to think and act anew, we must recall friends, the Catholic community of I realize that at times our initiative fectively. that God does not leave us orphans Boston and beyond, and for all peo- may generate disagreement and con- Third, our initiative seeks to help and that the Spirit is moving among ple, Catholic and non-Catholic, who troversy. Faithful Catholics hold dif- revitalize the Catholic community, to us always. are concerned about the present crisis ferent opinions about many important move from scandal and crisis to re- in the Catholic Church. matters, and it may well be at times newal and greater hope. Offending Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J., is the presi- Our initiative will focus on three that views and positions will become priests and bishops betrayed their dent of Boston College.

14 boston college | c21 resources | spring 2003 Can We Tell The Truth?

The Church faces a crisis: how it orders itself and understands its authority

By Margaret O’Brien The current situation could be de- Communist ideology], but they must portant in the current crisis, responsi- Steinfels scribed as paralyzing. The church is behave as though they did, or they bility for political and organizational paralyzed. And the Gospel passage I must at least tolerate them in silence, behavior—these warrants have come e have had good have most often thought of over the or get along well with those who work home to roost in the church, most ob- reason this year, last several months is that of the para- with them. For this reason, however, viously as a response to the sexual which has produced lytic in Mark’s Gospel. The paralytic’s they must live within a lie. They need abuse crisis. the greatest crisis in friends brought him for healing. His not accept the lie. It is enough for All of this was embedded in the the history of the friends carried him up to the roof of them to have accepted their life with it council fathers’ sense of history and U.S.W Catholic Church, to remember a the house where Jesus was staying, be- and in it. For by this very fact, individ- historical consciousness; the church’s man who faced the clerical sexual cause it was so crowded outside. The uals confirm the system, fulfill the sys- mission was to read the signs of the abuse crisis over a decade ago, both paralytic’s friends stripped the cover- tem, make the system, are the system.” times. That admonition is strangely institutionally in Chicago and person- ing from over the place where Jesus What is to be done? To what absent now from our reflection and ally in enduring a false accusation. was sitting. Then, they lowered the should we be paying attention? There action in the church. The church is The great lesson from Cardinal stretcher on which the paralytic lay. are three frameworks through which I part of history. But how? In reading Joseph Bernardin’s ordeal, in his life Jesus, seeing his faith, said, Your sins have been thinking about this. the signs of the times, doesn’t the and in his dying, is clear: Tell the are forgiven. For the time being, each 1. At heart, we are facing an eccle- church have to face up to the contra- truth. of us must carry our paralyzed church siological crisis, that is, a crisis about dictions and the contrary pulls in the As we reflect on the sexual abuse with such faith until we find some au- the church itself, how it orders itself, circumstances of its life today, espe- crisis, the biggest challenge we face is thentic and effective way through the and how it understands office and au- cially the structures and decisions that exactly that: telling the truth. Though mess we are in. thority—a crisis that has been growing have fostered this crisis? The council it may seem that we have had all too In all of this scandal, a great deal for at least the last two decades. This reconfigured the understanding of much “truth,” we do not yet have the has been made of clerical culture. crisis did not begin last January in how the church was to be in this whole truth. We must take the time to Does such a generalization help ex- Boston, but the sexual abuse crisis world. The last 40 years have been a understand not only the what of sexual plain why and how? What if we nar- manifests this larger crisis. It concerns struggle to live that understanding in abuse, but also how this tragedy hap- rowed the arena to chancery not only episcopal authority, or lack our practice. It is a struggle between pened and why it happened. Only culture—the culture of ambitious thereof, episcopal power and its possi- the church as a perfect society and the then can we move forward with in- priests who work together and who ble abuse, not only church gover- church as a pilgrim people. As time tegrity and with the hope of a remedy. may live in the bishop’s household? nance, but also and more has passed and we have come to criti- We must pursue a form of what Vaclav These men run the local church. Is fundamentally a crisis about the cal forks in the road, the church itself Havel, now president of the Czech not this chancery culture (at least in church itself. How do we understand (and I mean all of us) has not always Republic, called “living in truth” in his large archdioceses such as Boston) ourselves as the church? taken the right turn. We are falling 1978 essay, “The Power of the Power- akin to a system of lord and vassals, in Forty years ago, Vatican II offered a short in implementing and embodying less.” which the vassal pledges fealty and the renewed idea about ourselves as a this new understanding of the church, “Living within the truth,” he wrote, lord pledges protection and promo- church, as a Christian community. above all, in reconfiguring our rela- “is an attempt to gain control over tion? The vassal does the lord’s bid- The liturgical changes were an expres- tionships as lay people, as clergy, as one’s own sense of responsibility.” Al- ding, protecting him from vexing and sion and a promise of the communion bishops within the framework of a hi- though he was writing of Soviet domi- difficult problems, like a Paul Shanley. of saints. Gaudium et spes said the erarchical church. Let me be clear nation in the 1970s and 1980s, his There is rich treasure here for so- church traveled the same path as all about that: I do think hierarchical or- words call us to a sense of our own re- cial analysis: perhaps an anthropolo- humankind; the church was “a leav- ganizations work. I even think they are sponsibility as members of the gist could describe that chancery en.” Lumen gentium described the necessary, but not if they are all head Catholic Church. Uncovering the culture with greater precision. It does church as the people of God. This and no body. Maybe I should also say, truth of the matter requires searching bear out my point that finding the means collaboration and collegiality, all mouth and little brain. Though the for how and why this crisis happened. truth, the why and the how are both the practical mechanisms for acting as liturgy reminds us that the laity is a Instead of anxiously dismissing this difficult and painful. In reflecting on a Christian community. Vatican II is part of the communion of saints, the crisis, instead of simply moving on, we this, I could not but think of Havel’s frequently described as the work of current Vatican ecclesiology seems to need to practice a patient attention to phrase, “living a lie,” a condition, as the Holy Spirit. Yet, who back in 1962 see most lay people as a bunch of the facts and the events so that we can he sees it, so subtle, and so uncon- fully anticipated the effect of the knaves and ne’er-do-wells—a rowdy inform ourselves, understand what has scious that those who live a lie may council’s teachings, especially Gaudi- people (doubtfully) of God. Not to be happened, and, above all, judiciously not fully grasp the ordinary subterfuge um et spes, on the church itself? The trusted. And bishops, too often, have consider what needs to be done. Not in which they carry on their daily life. warrants that the council launched on been appointed only because they are every remedy deserves our support. Havel writes, “Individuals need not the “world”—warrants for human soli- cautious, careful, and concerned above Not every remedy has yet presented believe all these mystifications [he is darity, dignity, and responsibility for itself. speaking of the Soviet system and the human condition, and most im- Continued on page 16

boston college | c21 resources | spring 2003 15 church is at once a visible organization but the coverage often enough has in- tutions; sexual abuse as well as physical Truth? and a spiritual community that travels accurate headlines, sound bites, or in- and psychological abuse; not only in Continued from page 15 the same journey as all humankind formation. We see in this coverage a this country, but elsewhere. We know and shares the same earthly lot with terrible confluence of media animosity that the prostitution of children is a all with pleasing their “Holy Father.” the world: it is to be a leaven and, as it toward the church and inadequate grave problem often connected with Thus our current situation. were, the soul of human society in its communications by the bishops. Yet, tourism in some countries. Could rais- We have been told often in recent renewal by Christ and transformation when looking to the mote in the eye ing the church’s consciousness about months that the real crisis in the into the family of God.” We are leav- of the media, some church officials sexual abuse extend the compassion of Catholic Church is a crisis of faith. en in the church as much as in society. ought to look to the beam in their others to these children? And the answer to that crisis of faith is 3. The usual fault lines (or maybe I own. The church has been wounded, obedience and submission, or as some should say the usual fault persons) are And then, here are some things we badly wounded; in this condition that intone it mantra-like: fidelity, fidelity, jousting for position in responding to should or could do, some things to requires examination and repair, bish- fidelity. This echoes Vatican statements this crisis. Still I do not think these think about: ops, priests, and lay people will have and actions that over the last two particular knights-errant are able to Look again at the usual and ordi- to scrutinize their own attitudes and decades have focused on a doctrinal remedy the ecclesiological crisis and nary mechanisms now on the books behaviors in order to remedy the in- crisis that is always threatening to pol- reorder the disordered relationships. for church governance, mechanisms difference we all display at times to- lute the church, or to tear it apart. George Weigel doesn’t have the an- like parish councils, diocesan pastoral ward the well-being of the whole This distracts attention from a deeper, swers; neither does James Carroll nor councils, presbyteral councils, finance church. or, at least, another crisis. In fact, Garry Wills. All of them have written councils, many of which have been One can never underestimate the sometimes it contributes to the ecclesi- recently on the scandal, and no sur- coopted by bishops or pastors, have importance of prayer; of course, we ological crisis of disordered relation- prise, each of them has found the an- fallen into disuse, or ceased to be ef- can overestimate it too. In any case, ships among and between bishops, swer in the very agendas he has been fective. Above all, the bishops’ confer- Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen re- priests, and laity, and the relationship pressing over the last two decades. ence, the U.S.C.C.B., has got to be cently urged us all to pray for the of all of us, but especially the American Each may be correct in portions of his recognized once again as a critical and work of the spirit. And then he said: bishops, to the Vatican. Not only that, “We need a miracle. Expect one.” Dallas showed how profoundly disor- Would it be the miracle of uncovering dered the relationships among the and telling the truth? bishops themselves have become. Pre- Can we tell the truth? Can we ceding Dallas, and from January on, We should remind ourselves that know the truth? Perhaps. Think of there was little effort among the bish- Jesus’ conversation with the woman at ops to respond nationally to the evolv- the Catholic Church is and always the well. She was not immediately ing scandal. At Dallas, they were under forthcoming about herself, lingering tremendous pressure to act in concert, has been the most diverse communion over the animosity between Jews and when, in fact, it is only some bishops Samaritans, discussing well water and who had disgraced their office. Those on the face of the earth. living water, buckets and such. Yet men should have been called to ac- when Jesus speaks the truth of her count by their fellow bishops. Rather condition, “You are right to say, you than examine the failures of some of analysis, but none has the answer. I vital force in the life of the U.S. have no husband. You have had five their fellow bishops, many otherwise don’t have the answers. We don’t yet Catholic Church. The erosion of its and the man you now have is not your responsible bishops (whether out of know the answers, because we don’t influence over the last decade—partly husband. You spoke the truth there,” deference or a misguided sense of soli- yet have the truth, or at least we have under the influence of the Vatican, she immediately recognizes his power darity or fear of making matters worse) not yet fully told the truth. What can partly under the influence of some and his compassion: “I see you are a chose to risk the reputations and min- we do? American prelates, and partly under prophet, sir.” Then she returns to her istries of their priests rather than con- Let me conclude in suggesting that the influence of persistent and false village to announce the good news. front their fellow bishops. Who could in the interim, there are some things accusations by conservatives—has cre- The Catholic Church is caught up have guessed that this is where we’d be we probably should not do, and some ated an enormous gap between the in an ecclesiological, political, and soci- 40 years after Vatican II? things we should try to do. Vatican and the local church. A church ological crisis: the truth and full conse- 2. Because this crisis comes from We should not press our usual that values mediating institutions is quences of that are obscured both by the top, it cannot be resolved in the agendas: on the one side, obedience now without a national voice or bridg- reams of media coverage and by the si- customary way, from the top down or and submissiveness, overhauling the ing capacity. If more of us paid atten- lence, bad memories, and perhaps bad with pronouncements from on high. seminaries, banning homosexuals from tion to these organizational structures consciences of church officials. If we Yet such is the state of the church that the priesthood; on the other side, al- as authentic governing mechanisms are to know the truth, we must all stop we are admonished with: Who are lowing married priests and the ordina- and genuinely worked on them for the living a lie. you—the ordinary Christian faithful— tion of women. good of the church, and not our own to suggest any remedies? More to the We should not scapegoat homosex- hobbyhorses, perhaps they could be Margaret O’Brien Steinfels is the former point, what mechanisms are available ual priests or bishops, though we must revivified and serve their purpose of editor of Commonweal. This article is for us to offer remedies? When there come to a fuller and deeper under- helping to bring good order to the adaped from the 2002 Cardinal Joseph are no internal mechanisms, where do standing about the role that homosex- governance of the church. Bernardin Lecture that she gave last fall people turn to voice their anguish and uality plays in a church that requires Though it is hard to see at the mo- at the Catholic Theological Union in their complaints? To the media, to TV celibacy, and what role, if any, it has ment, we should not forget that some Chicago. dramas, to Oprah Winfrey! Each of played in the sexual abuse scandal. great good may come of this. Not us—and all of us—needs to take some We should not believe everything only will sexual abuse of children be at Abridged and reprinted with permission from responsibility for being what Gaudium we read in the papers or hear on TV. the forefront of our attention in the the Dec. 20, 2002 issue of Commonweal. ©2002 et spes said we were, a leaven. “The The media did not cause this scandal, church, it could also be in other insti- by Commonweal.

16 boston college | c21 resources | spring 2003 manded on the parish level as well. The pastor was not ordained to be an The Aftermath administrator. His charism is spiritual leadership. The pastor could give over the details of running a parish to others who are trained and have The people are catching on that they are the Church enough expertise to direct the com- plexities of parish life. The parish’s operation could be restructured so there are checks and balances on all levels, where pastors and staffs are ac- By Thomas P. Sweetser those who wanted to be heard. The erated as joint efforts of leaders and countable to lay leaders and vice one I attended was in a parish hall pastor together. Pastors give authori- versa. A new tradition of accountabil- n the first century, Peter had a packed with faith-filled Catholics ty to the councils to participate in the ity and creative planning has to be es- dream in Joppa, a strange who were also angry, concerned and decision-making of the parish. This tablished. What is interesting about dream that encouraged him to very vocal. They were knocking at may serve well as a model for change the present ferment is that most of it eat prohibited food that was the door of the hierarchical structure in church structures as a whole. is directed toward the bishops rather common and unclean. This demanding accountability and re- It will take some doing to win back than the pastors. Why? Could it be Iwas not kosher. Then he heard a form. Theirs was a united voice of the trust and confidence of the people. because there are more occasions for knock at the door. A group of gen- both traditional and progressive per- Converting a parish to a more consul- open sharing and participative deci- tiles, sent by Cornelius, asked him to suasions that demanded redress for tative and inclusive style of governance sion-making on the parish level? come with them to Caesarea. He wrongs and cover-ups. Their voices must be genuine and not merely A new way of acting is demanded agreed, mystified by the invitation. also called for a leadership that would rhetorical. The days in which people of the church as a whole. Peter had When Peter got there, he was forced include both married and single peo- accepted the word of a bishop or pas- his awareness greatly expanded when to admit that his vision was far too ple, male and female. The church is tor without question are over. Perhaps he entered Cornelius’s home. The narrow. Jesus had commanded him to undergoing a shift in awareness and this is the most profound consequence same is needed today. The view, for preach to the people, but not just to vision not unlike that experienced by of a shift in attitudes. The laity want instance, that the church can be run the Jewish people. Here he was, Peter, the first pope. It can no longer change, and they want to participate in only by an all male, celibate clergy is standing in the home of a gentile, be contained within limited bound- what those changes will be. no longer credible. People demand probably for the first time. Acts aries and narrow ways of acting. change, because they think, a more quotes Peter as saying, “You your- NEW WAYS OF OPERATING inclusive priesthood will provide a selves know how unlawful it is for a IMPLICATIONS People keep saying, “They just don’t larger pool of candidates and a more Jew to associate with or visit anyone The first consequence of the current get it,” about the way church authori- balanced priestly ministry. Regret- of another nation; but God has shift in Catholic consciousness is the ties have handled sexual abuse issues. tably, this change will probably have shown me that I should not call any- laity’s suspicion of its ordained lead- To regain the trust and confidence of to come from an ecumenical council, one common or unclean” (Acts 10:28). ership. The images of the clergy on the laity, diocesan structures will have a gathering similar to the Second To his amazement, and that of the pedestals are toppling. Those who to become more open and account- Vatican Council. Jews who had come with him, the stood on them are now tainted with able, with built-in checks and bal- Before jumping into a worldwide Holy Spirit fell on the non-Jews just suspicion. No longer is trust given ances. Advisory councils will not be conclave, however, regional gather- as it had on them. Peter had no freely to those in authority, especially enough. The same thing must hap- ings should prepare the ground. choice. “He commanded them to be on the diocesan level. Confidence pen on the diocesan level as on the This is already happening in the lis- baptized in the name of Jesus Christ” that they are making good choices parish level, where pastors share au- tening sessions being held in many (Acts 10:48). The young Christian and have the best interests of the thority with staffs, pastoral councils dioceses. A groundswell is begin- movement was never the same after people in mind has worn thin. and commissions. In those dioceses ning. It will not be denied. Local that. It broke out in all directions and Another consequence is that new where shared decision-making struc- councils for the church in Chicago knew no bounds. The gates were structures of review and accountabili- tures are already in place, these must or Boston or Atlanta could lead to thrown open and it could no longer ty are being put into place. Broad- become more visible. At the present an American council, which in turn be contained within Judaism. based committees of lay men and moment, the image of the church as a would contribute to an agenda for a The same phenomenon is happen- women are reviewing past and pres- sensitive and caring institution is tar- worldwide ecumenical council. ing in the church today. Those in au- ent cases of sexual abuse and are nished. People see it as self-serving, Change is in the air; the Spirit is thority might consider the present making recommendations to those in controlling and unassailable. One way falling on all who hear the word upheaval to be a bad dream. In many charge. They are given authority and to improve the image is for qualified (Acts 10:44). Unfortunate as the re- ways it is, especially for those who are credibility, power and prestige—a people to become co-leaders with the cent tragic events have been, the survivors of clergy sexual abuse. It is new phenomenon for governance in bishop, people who function not be- people are catching on that they are also a knock at the door, an invitation the church. hind the scenes but up front and visi- the church. It is to be hoped that to change the way the church oper- Greater sharing of information ble for all to see. This requires a shift church authorities will “get it” as ates. Ordinary and common people and decision-making is yet another from one person being in charge to well and respond appropriately. are experiencing a new vision of effect of this new climate in the shared leadership. If it is true that the church, one that challenges a small church. Some parishes have had a bishop is the one ultimately in Thomas P. Sweetser, S.J., is director of cadre of decision-makers unaccount- history of collaborative style for some charge, then he has it within his the Parish Evaluation Project, able for their actions. time. But now parishioners are de- power to change the system and cul- Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As has happened in many parts of manding more collaboration at all ture of the diocese to one of shared the country, the Archdiocese of Mil- levels of church authority. The more authority and mutual accountability. Reprinted with permission from America, waukee held “listening sessions” for successful pastoral councils have op- A new way of operating is de- October 28, 2002. ©2002 by America Press.

boston college | c21 resources | spring 2003 17 Considerations for a Church in Crisis

The Church must confront deeper questions: global problems in sexuality, episcopal collegiality and “finding a new way of exercising the primacy”

answer lies in greater discipline, even well as for the sake of the church’s vene a distinguished body of lay men By John R. Quinn a return to past policies of seminary pastoral mission, a binding national and women and charge them to assess training. This overlooks the fact that policy is a necessity. the present situation and set down n terms of its harm and far- the majority of offenders were trained some ordered plan for addressing it. reaching effects, the present in that kind of seminary. A narrow A STRONGER BISHOPS’ CONFERENCE This cannot be a ploy simply to extri- crisis in the church must be perspective cannot respond to the The effect of the continuing dimin- cate the bishops from the miasma of compared with the Reforma- grave crisis we now experience. It ishment of episcopal conferences is the present crisis. It has to be the be- tion and the French Revolu- would be a march of folly if the deep- painfully evident in this present grave ginning of a whole new way of think- Ition. It is this conviction that brings er questions were not dealt with com- crisis, which has been raging with in- ing and acting. It should be a to my mind the forthright declaration prehensively. And it would be a creasing intensity since January. Yet statement by the bishops of their de- of the Second Vatican Council, “Our distortion not to see this problem in the bishops as a conference will not termination to implement fully the era needs wisdom more than past the perspective of that great body of be able to deal with it until mid-June. longstanding conciliar and papal ages.... The future of the world is in priests all over the world who are Episcopal conferences are a critical teaching about the rights and role of peril unless wiser men and women serving Christ and his people humbly factor for the church’s ability to func- the laity in the church, including the are forthcoming” (“Pastoral Consti- and effectively and who are deeply tion in the modern world. The pref- stated right to public opinion in the tution on the Church in the World,” touched by this crisis. ace of the Code of Canon Law (1983) church. In addition to such a com- No. 15). Cardinal Yves Congar long declares that the principle of sub- mittee, and fully in keeping with ago pointed out that a major reason sidiarity underlies the code’s treat- Catholic doctrine on the role of the why well-intentioned reform move- ment of the episcopal office. The laity, would be an invitation to lay ments prior to the Council of Trent national conference was widely lis- Catholics to take part in the official failed was that they did not ask the Our response has to tened to and respected when it pro- discussion of sexual abuse during the deeper questions. They were content duced the two landmark pastoral June meeting of the bishops. to try to put things back where they be the start of a whole letters on peace and on the economy. were. The church must address the Restrictions placed on the confer- LONG-TERM AND SHORT-TERM deeper questions. A superficial re- new way of thinking. ence since that time would probably RESPONSES sponse will not do. prevent letters of that caliber from This moment calls for two responses. being written today. If the church is The short-term response: calling to- AN AMERICAN PROBLEM? to lead and to respond to crises such gether a distinguished body of lay According to some media reports, as the one we now experience, con- men and women and enacting a na- high-level figures in the Roman A NATIONAL POLICY ferences must be strengthened, not tionally binding policy for dealing Curia consider the present crisis an A problem of such magnitude as sex- weakened. While the work of the car- with sexual abuse. A long-term re- American problem. In actual fact, ual abuse calls for a nationally bind- dinals who met recently in Rome has sponse: addressing the deeper ques- there is a worldwide problem of sexu- ing policy and a more effective undoubted merit, the calling of the tions, such as the worldwide al failures on the part of priests: the structure of episcopal leadership. Ob- cardinals is a statement that the epis- problems in the area of sexuality, the reported abuse of nuns in Africa, for jections are raised to such a policy on copal conference as such holds a sec- meaningful implementation of epis- example, and concubinage in Latin the grounds that the individual bish- ondary role. It is the cardinals who copal collegiality and the largely ig- America. Canada has had major prob- op, responsible only to the pope, is are devising a response to the crisis nored question raised by Pope John lems, as well as England, Ireland and independent. But this is not the and, presumably, the conference at its Paul II in his encyclical on church Scotland. France, Poland, Germany whole story. From earliest times bish- June meeting will endorse and adopt unity, “That They May Be and Austria have figured prominently ops formed area or regional groups what the cardinals have determined. One”(1995), about “finding a new in the news. In other words, it would called councils or synods. In an un- Restrictions placed on the confer- way of exercising the primacy.” be calling darkness light to maintain usual conflict they might appeal to ence, together with emphasis on the Clearly the church has arrived at a that sexual problems exist only in the the bishop of Rome, as in fact they cardinals as in some sense superior to very critical moment in her history. United States. The problem is mani- did. But ordinarily problems were the conference, serve only to weaken Clearly too, the future of the church fold in nature; it is worldwide, and it dealt with by the bishops at the re- the conciliar institution of episcopal is in peril “unless wiser men and must be dealt with comprehensively. gional level. There was a sense that conferences. women are forthcoming.” While it would be rhapsodic to think to some degree the bishops were ac- that the abolition of celibacy is the countable to one another. Certainly LAY INVOLVEMENT Most Rev. John R. Quinn is the retired solution, the church must open itself during the first millennium there was There is need for strong lay involve- archbishop of San Francisco, California. to considering all possible solutions; no idea that a bishop was responsible ment if a successful path is to be and this includes the possibility of a only to the pope. For the common found through the crisis. It is there- Reprinted with permission from America, May married clergy. Some believe that the good and for the sake of children as fore necessary that the bishops con- 27, 2002. ©2002 by America Press, Inc.

18 boston college | c21 resources | spring 2003 The Laity and the Scandal: What Next?

A new and serious role for Catholic laity is now the only way forward out of the crisis

Writing to Archbishop (later Cardinal) Scott Appleby of Notre Dame—to ops last summer to hold a plenary It is needed, for one thing, as an James Gibbons of Baltimore in Febru- speak for the Catholic laity to the council for the Church in the Unit- antidote to clericalism. As I re- ary 1882, Bishop Richard Gilmour of assembled hierarchy. In response, ed States. The council would focus marked a decade ago in my book Cleveland made a blunt argument for the incorrigible Bishop Fabian on the spiritual renewal of bishops To Hunt, To Shoot, To Entertain, holding the assembly of the American Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Nebraska, and priests and their doctrinal fi- while clericalism is hardly the bishops that history knows as the Third remarked on EWTN, “I have better delity, especially where moral doc- Church’s only problem, it causes Plenary Council of Baltimore. “The things to do with my time and trine about sex is concerned. many and is a factor in many more. clergy need to be strengthened and pro- money than to listen to Margaret Should the rest of the bishops buy The truth of that has been on dis- tected against the people and the people Steinfels.” Second, when conserva- this idea—hardly a sure thing—it play in the sex abuse scandal, which also against the irresponsible ways of the tive Catholics attempted to sched- will be imperative that preparations saw otherwise sane bishops reas- clergy and the Bishop against both,” he ule a panel discussion of the for the council (the first since Bal- signing notorious repeat offenders explained. bishops’ meeting at a parish in a timore in 1884) not fall into the and hushing up their crimes as the nearby diocese, the chancery let it hands of the same Church bureau- culture of clericalism had taught By Russell Shaw be known that the gathering would- crats and academics who have them to do. n’t be welcome on church property. called the shots for years, and that But lay participation also is right he Third Plenary Coun- Catholics United for the Faith lay participants not be drawn from and proper in itself. Among other cil took place in 1884. things, progress in this area might Looking back over the rehabilitate the vision of shared re- years since then, a cynic sponsibility in the Church that might say that the clergy flourished briefly after Vatican Tand the bishop had gotten pretty Council II before being betrayed by There is a need for an orderly transition much what Gilmour thought they the irresponsible actions of zealots needed. As for the people, they’re to a more participatory mode of and enthusiasts on the left. still waiting to see how things turn True, the primary setting for lay out. ecclesial decision-making in which participation in the mission of the But now they also face a vexing Church is the secular world. Vatican quandary. As the clergy sex abuse lay people play a greatly expanded role. II says laypeople have the “special scandal has made clear, there is a vocation” of making the Church desperate need for an orderly tran- “present and fruitful in those places sition to a more participatory mode and circumstances where it is only of ecclesial decision-making in through them that she can become which laypeople play a greatly ex- moved the session to another dio- the ranks of the progressives fa- the salt of the earth” (Lumen Gen- panded role in many areas of the cese, where it took place in the au- vored by these folks. tium). This is the lay apostolate. But Church’s life, including finances, ditorium of an independent Reflecting on dispiriting matters the council also reminds bishops personnel, and social policy. But Catholic school before a standing- like these, conservative Catholics and priests that “the laity too have thanks to the bishops—and to the room-only crowd of concerned, un- may be tempted simply to walk away parts of their own to play” in eccle- progressive theologians and cleri- derstandably angry laypeople. from the whole mess, concentrate sial affairs. “For this reason,” it says, calist advisers who often guide their Taken together, these incidents on their own spirituality, and leave “they will work as brothers with the thinking on such matters—any reflect two unpleasant facts relevant it to the bishops and the bureaucrats laity in the Church and for the movement along these lines is likely to the future of lay involvement in to cope with the disaster. Although Church” (Apostolicam Actuosi- to be in just the wrong direction. In Church decision-making. One is this is not an acceptable option for tatem). Shared responsibility in de- a worst-case scenario not unlike the that the clericalized bureaucracy those who truly love the Church, it cision-making is an expression of sex abuse scandal itself, it could be controlling the administrative ma- would be hard to blame anyone for this. another case of inviting wolves to chinery of the Church seems to be so reacting, in view of the rebuffs So why has there been so very lit- tend the sheep. partial—perhaps without even notic- delivered over the years by the kind tle sharing for so long? Two incidents in Dallas last June ing it—to progressives and dis- of bishops George Sim Johnston de- at the time of the American bish- senters. The other is that these scribes as “mildly ‘pastoral’ men THE ROOTS OF CLERICALISM ops’ panicky, media-driven meeting unself-consciously arrogant office- who...chose not to see what was Historically, the sources of clerical on sex abuse illustrate this prob- holders often give orthodox happening on their watch” (“Can resistance to lay participation go lem’s dual nature. First, the United Catholics the back of their hand. the Bishops Heal the American back very far—all the way back to States Conference of Catholic Bish- Both points will need to be kept Church?” June 2002). the struggle in the Middle Ages over ops tapped two progressives—Mar- firmly in mind if anything comes of And yet...more lay participation in garet Steinfels of Commonweal and the proposal floated by eight bish- decision-making is urgently needed. Continued on page 20

boston college | c21 resources | spring 2003 19 no man in my diocese I cannot con- eral as vice president, three clergy ican said it had no problems with Scandal trol,” declared Archbishop John chosen by the clergy at an annual what was going on in Charleston. Continued from page 19 (“Dagger John”) Hughes of New convention, and six laypeople cho- That is how things stood until York. In due course, the second ap- sen by a house of lay delegates at England’s death in 1842, when the the abuse called lay investiture (lay proach prevailed. the convention. That is what Eng- constitution became a dead letter. lords naming pastors and bishops— Meeting for the first time in land did. His constitution also pro- Yet the episode stands as one of the and sometimes even popes) and to council to legislate for the Church, vided that parish members elect lay most remarkable in American the strong emphasis rightly placed the American bishops in 1829 vestrymen responsible for the tem- Catholic history, and its potential by the 16th-century Council of moved to eliminate lay participation poral affairs of their parishes (the as a precedent for the future is Trent on shoring up the clergy, a wherever they could and to shift the pastor was president of the vestry worth considering. necessary project whose unintended titles to Church property to bishops and had veto power, though not But a precedent of a different result was greatly to increase the as rapidly as possible. The policy over contracts); that parishioners sort also must be taken into ac- clericalization of the Church. was enforced by denying parishes elect delegates to the annual con- count—the ill-fated Call to Action In the United States, special his- pastoral services and in some cases ventions of the Church in Conference of 1976. Unlike Eng- torical factors also are at work, placing them under interdict if they Charleston; and that the diocesan land’s carefully planned and execut- above all lay trusteeism. Catholics of refused to acknowledge the bishop’s convention “dispose of the general ed project in the 1820s, Call to the generation of Cardinal Gibbons right to appoint and transfer parish fund of the Church in the way that Action (a name since adopted by an and Bishop Gilmour knew the perils priests. Says historian David it may deem most advantageous” overtly dissident group) is a case of trusteeism all too well, and much O’Brien, “While affirming republi- and oversee the administration of study of how shared responsibility of their Church polity was shaped in can values of self-government and the diocese and its institutions. shouldn’t work. reaction to it. Trusteeism’s ghost To mark the U.S. bicentennial, still haunts the Church in America. the bishops hit on the idea of a This crisis of nearly two centuries high-profile conference on the pres- ago helps explain many of the pecu- ent and future direction of the liarities that persist in lay-clergy re- Church in American society. The lations today. Progress in lay participation plan was the brainchild of a com- Lay trusteeism had complex caus- mittee headed by the influential es. These included conflict between might revive the vision of shared John Cardinal Dearden of Detroit, immigrant ethnic groups, especially founding president of the U.S. bish- the Irish and the French, misappli- responsibility that flourished after Vatican II— ops’ conference after Vatican II. cation of the ideology of republican- Cardinal Dearden, an advocate of ism to the Church, the influence before it was betrayed by zealots and shared responsibility and of a Na- exerted on Catholics by the model tional Pastoral Council to embody of Protestant congregationalism, the enthusiasts on the left. it, apparently was frustrated by a go- demagoguery of rebellious and un- slow directive from the Vatican in stable priests, and the quick tempers the early 1970s. It seems that he saw of hotheaded laymen spoiling for a Call to Action as, at least in part, a fight. By the 1820s trusteeism had individual responsibility in public Laypeople had no authority over backdoor way of bringing a proto- become a serious problem in such life, [the bishops] all but totally re- Church doctrine, the sacraments, type National Pastoral Council to places as New York, Philadelphia, jected those principles in organizing and clerical affairs. But even so the the American Church. Norfolk, and Charleston. the church’s internal affairs.” constitution did add this important If so, the idea backfired—badly. The basis of the trustee system One notable exception to the new proviso: “In those cases where the Call to Action, held in Detroit in was lay ownership of parishes, an pattern of absolute episcopal control Convention has no authority to act, October of the bicentennial year, arrangement developed in response was the Diocese of Charleston, should either house feel itself called brought together 1,300 delegates, a to American civil law. With lay which then covered not only South upon by any peculiar circumstances majority of them on the payroll of ownership came the assertion of the Carolina but North Carolina and to submit advice, or to present a re- the Church. Given their head, these trustees’ right to veto pastoral as- Georgia as well. When Bishop John quest to the Bishop, he will bestow people rammed through a laundry signments by the bishop and to re- England arrived there in 1820, he upon the same the best considera- list of resolutions that not only de- cruit priests of their own choice. found a hotbed of lay trusteeism. tion at the earliest opportunity; and clared broadly acceptable views on Supporters of the system argued for The Irish-born prelate sought to as far as his conscientious obliga- things like world hunger and peace a lay-clergy balance of powers not meet the challenge by a policy of tions will permit, and the welfare of but took controversial stands on unlike the separation of powers reasonable accommodation rather the Church will allow, and the hot-button issues like birth control, under the American system of gov- than suppression. The result was honor and glory of Almighty God in homosexuality, and women in the ernment. In time, trusteeism also England’s famous constitution for his judgment require, he will en- Church. The bishops, reacting like fanned the fires of the movement the diocese. deavor to follow such advice or to men who had looked into the abyss, for a national church. Philadelphia By today’s standards perhaps agree to such request.” created a window-dressing “imple- trustees went so far as to send a del- even more than by the standards of Twenty-eight conventions took mentation” committee and then qui- egation to Rome to negotiate a con- the time, the Charleston constitu- place in the Diocese of Charleston etly shelved most of the Call to cordat with the pope. tion was a remarkable document. from November 1823 to Novem- Action agenda. Bishops responded in two quite Imagine the astonishment there ber 1840. Not surprisingly, the This farcical episode put shared different ways. One was to try to would be today if a bishop vested bishops’ council of 1829 did not responsibility on ice for at least the find an appropriate participatory ownership of church property in the adopt Charleston’s constitution as next quarter-century. One lesson of role for the laity. The other was to general trustees of the diocese— a model for other dioceses, but it stamp out trusteeism. “I will suffer himself as president, the vicar gen- did let it remain in place. The Vat- Continued on next page

20 boston college | c21 resources | spring 2003 the sex abuse crisis may be that it is qualifications of priests in the cur- the current proliferation of “lay stitution” that provides for impeach- time to resuscitate the idea. But rent clergy pool. It means giving lay ministries” shows that laypeople al- ing the pope. there is no certainty that will hap- representatives, through a structure ready are playing a large and grow- But even though conservative pen, and there would be reason for and a process that don’t now exist, a ing role in the Church. And in a Catholics have good reason to be alarm if it came about in the wrong role in preparing the terna—the list sense, they are; but it is very much leery of coalitions, they cannot af- way. Already, there are signs that it of three candidates for the bishopric on clericalist terms. ford simply to sit back and watch could. in an open diocese that the papal There is another obstacle, though matters unfold. The sex abuse scan- In announcing the membership of nuncio sends to Rome. many don’t like to talk about it be- dal has been a watershed event. the National Review Board formed The Church’s social and political cause doing so is politically incor- Whether conservatives feel comfort- to keep an eye on the bishops as policies are a third area where the rect. It is the lack of relevant able with the idea or not, a new role they begin to implement their new, laity should have a voice—and, very preparation—education and forma- for the Catholic laity is now visible seriously flawed sex abuse policies, likely, a decisive one. The sex abuse tion in the faith—so apparent on the far side of the great divide. If Bishop Wilton D. Gregory of scandal has accelerated the decline, among the mass of laypeople. It is orthodox Catholics fail to help Belleville, Illinois, president of the already under way for years, in the often said that American Catholics shape this new lay role, they will bishops’ conference, said the hierar- bishops’ ability to advance the are the best-educated body of laity have only themselves to blame when chy wanted “the forthright advice of Church’s political agenda. The time in the history of the Church. But al- it turns out badly. the laity to help resolve the crisis.” when politicians trembled at the though that may be true in socio- As part of this, there is an urgent No doubt that is true. But several wrath of a powerful prelate like Fran- logical terms, in ecclesial terms it is need to begin forming a corps of re- other facts about the new arrange- cis Cardinal Spellman passed long highly questionable. As a result of liable Catholic laypeople prepared ment bear mentioning. One is that ago. Moreover, since Vatican II, the catechetical collapse of the last for responsibility in the Church— the national board and its diocesan the board and council members and and provincial counterparts have a ecclesiastical civil servants of the fu- mandate in an area where badly ture. The infrastructure for this burned bishops are happy to let work of formation already exists in laypeople take the heat for a change. academic institutions, organizations, Another is that loose-cannon re- Another obstacle is the lack of formation movements, media, and marks by the board’s chairman, publishing houses of an orthodox Frank Keating, raise questions about relevant preparation—education and persuasion. Now the elements must the future directions of the body he be harnessed with this end in view. heads. And a third is that many formation in the faith—so apparent Another important step will be to laypeople are way beyond wanting draw up realistic criteria for identi- only to give the hierarchy advice. among the mass of laypeople. fying laypeople who might be called They want a share in the decision- to such roles. An ongoing critique, making for a Church they consider respectful but firm, must be mount- to be as much theirs as the bishops’. ed against the woolly-headed inclu- recognition has grown that bishops four decades, huge numbers of adult sivism of leaders who smile on DECISION-MAKING ABOUT WHAT? and priests should teach social doc- Catholics today probably know less dissent and are more concerned Finances, for one thing. Recent trine, not act as policy advocates. Ad- about the faith than their parents with preserving a false facade of ec- disclosures—an archbishop’s pay- vocacy is the job of the laity, and grandparents did. clesial unity than protecting the ment of $450,000 in Church funds addressing political and social issues A while back, I shared some Church against continued subver- to a former boyfriend, the hushing- according to the dictates of con- thoughts about clericalism and lay sion from within. Laypeople should up by the last two bishops of Palm sciences formed by the doctrine of participation with a sympathetic participate in decision-making in Beach, Florida (both of whom re- the Church. Transitional steps should archbishop. He replied in part: “If the Church, but not just any laypeo- signed in the face of sex abuse alle- begin immediately to shift responsi- your suggestions were carried out ple will do. Faithful adherence to gations) of an unrelated $400,000 bility in this area from clergy to laity, with the help of lay Catholics like Catholic doctrine as taught by the embezzlement, and on and on—un- in anticipation of the day when yourself, it would be good. But I’m magisterium is the indispensable derline the fact that despite a lot of laypeople—representing, no doubt, a afraid they would be carried out by minimum pastors should expect and talk about stewardship and account- legitimate diversity of Catholic people ignorant of their own require. Unfortunately, if the past is ability, some clerics still look on the views—will speak for the Church on Catholic identity or actively antago- a guide to the future, it is far from Church’s money as if it were pretty issues of social and political policy. nistic to the traditions of the faith.” certain that they will. much their own. Diocesan and Daunting obstacles face a pro- That is not a fanciful concern. parish finance councils are a step in gram like the one just outlined. It Today’s activist lay groups are gen- Russell Shaw is a writer and journalist the right direction but only a step. will be objected that it is “Protes- erally of the Call to Action variety— in Washington, D.C. He is author or Shared lay-clergy control comes tant” and “congregationalist,” that it agents of organized dissent. Voice of coauthor of 15 books, including To next, accompanied by total public mistakenly applies democratic the Faithful, which sprang up in Hunt, To Shoot, To Entertain: candor about where money comes thinking to the Church. But this is Boston in the wake of the sex abuse Clericalism and the Catholic Laity from and where it goes. not so. The underlying ecclesial vi- scandal and aspires to national sta- (Ignatius Press, 1993) and Ministry or Personnel is another area where sion here is the communio model of tus, says it wants to be a broad- Apostolate: What Should the changes are overdue. This doesn’t Vatican II. This model is an adapta- based lay coalition. But its first Catholic Laity Be Doing? (Our mean returning to lay investiture or tion of the doctrine of the Church convention last July was a platform Sunday Visitor, 2002). lay trusteeism. It means letting the as the body of Christ in which hier- for voices from the left like an or- laity of a parish that needs a new archical and charismatic dimensions ganizer for the European-based We Reprinted with permission from the pastor speak directly to their bishop both exist. The clericalist culture Are Church movement and the November 4, 2002 issue of Crisis. ©2002 by about parish conditions and the also can be expected to argue that framer of a proposed Church “con- Crisis Magazine.

boston college | c21 resources | spring 2003 21 it” of Vatican II in the church’s rejec- tion of the “mystique of changeless- Tomorrow’s Catholics ness” and in its consequent “opening of the windows” to the world; Catholicism must look outward, not inward. The church, according to Three visions of crisis and reform Pope John’s opening address to the council, ought to serve the world with the “medicine of mercy,” rather than condemn it with the “medicine of severity.” By Christopher J. Ruddy does profoundly afflict ministerial, the- holiness, and that only the saints Carroll largely agrees with Wills ological and cultural elites within the formed by such a renewal can reform on the concrete achievements of the Toward a New Catholic Church: church. It has become impossible not the priesthood, the episcopate and council—especially its affirmation of The Promise of Reform. to pigeonhole leaders and thinkers: the entire church through their the equal dignity of the entire people By James Carroll. Mariner Books, Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Ange- courageous embrace of the fullness of of God and its view of Judaism—but 130 pp., $8.95 paperback. les is a “progressive”; Cardinal Francis Catholic truth and tradition. goes still further in interpreting its George of Chicago a “traditionalist”; For each writer, the past is very “spirit.” Above all, the council ad- The Courage to Be Catholic: Notre Dame theologian Richard much present in American Catholi- dressed the gaps in life and thought Crisis, Reform, and the Future McBrien a “liberal”; First Things editor cism in the form of three decisive that had developed between a largely of the Church. Richard John Neuhaus a “conserva- years: the 1965 conclusion of Vatican medieval, defensive Catholicism and By George Weigel. Basic Books, tive.” The polarization is so deep that II; the 1968 release of Humanae the modern world. It ended the 246 pp., $22.00. when, in 1996, the late Chicago Cardi- Vitae Pope Paul VI’s encyclical ban- church’s self-destructive revolt against nal Joseph Bernardin founded the ning artificial contraception; and the modernity and declared a truce not Why I Am a Catholic. Catholic Common Ground Initiative as 1978 election of Pope John Paul II. simply with the world, but also with- By Garry Wills. Houghton Mifflin, a means of addressing division in the Vatican II is the decisive event of in itself. Second, the council rejected 390 pp., $26.00. church, he was criticized by some liber- modern Catholicism. Convoked by the “imperial autocracy” that had al Catholics who thought that the proj- Pope John XXIII, the council en- reached its doctrinal apex in Vatican “The past is never dead. It’s not ect was not radical enough and by gaged in a twofold movement of I’s 1870 definition of papal infallibili- even past.” Though William Faulkner some of his brother cardinals who be- ressourcement (a return to the often- ty and its organizational apex in the did not have the Catholic sexual-abuse lieved that it jeopardized the essential neglected sources of the Christian “bureaucratized misanthropy” of crisis in mind when he wrote these truths of the faith. tradition) and aggiornamento (an up- modern Catholicism. Because Vatican words, they do throw light on the James Carroll, George Weigel and dating of the church’s life and doc- II’s work was incomplete, a Vatican conflicting responses to the scandals of Garry Wills all agree that the sexual- trine in response to the times). In III is needed. But Vatican II nonethe- the past year. While most commenta- abuse crisis is symptomatic of a deep- both its 16 documents and its overall less opened the door for a future af- tors agree that there really are two er cultural war in Catholicism, but experience of communion and colle- firmation of the radical equality of all scandals—clerical sexual abuse itself they differ—often diametrically—on giality, the council effected the first people in the church. and the subsequent episcopal derelic- what is at stake. Carroll, a novelist comprehensive reform of Catholicism If Carroll sees Vatican II as a move tion—they differ on their diagnoses of and former priest who won a National since the 16th-century Council of toward the “holiness of democracy,” both the causes and the appropriate Book Award for his memoir An Amer- Trent. Nearly 40 years after the close Weigel sees it as proclaiming the remedies. Some attribute the crisis in ican Requiem, offers the slimmest tome of Vatican II, significant differences “democracy of holiness.” Whereas part to a centuries-old repressive sexu- of the three. A lightly edited version remain in how the achievements of Carroll and Wills focus on the eccle- al ethic, while others indict the of the concluding section of his 2001 the council are interpreted and in its sial aspects of the council’s labors, church’s ambiguous and permissive book Constantine’s Sword, it calls for reception in the life of the church. Weigel emphasizes its evangelical and moral teaching of recent decades. a Vatican III which will bring about How one views the council is there- anthropological dimensions. Vatican Some hold that numerous bishops “full democratic reform.” This reform fore a Rorschach test for one’s under- II, in his view, inaugurated a two-way have failed because of their complicity will enable Catholicism to reject anti- standing of the church and its reform. dialogue in which Catholicism not in corrupt ecclesial structures, while Semitism, triumphalist and exclusivist Devoting several chapters to Vati- only listened to the world’s hopes and others believe that these leaders lacked conceptions of Christ and the church, can II and its aftermath, Wills locates anxieties but also proposed to the the courage to teach unpopular truths and puritanical notions of sexuality. the council’s fundamental achieve- world a Christian humanism: the and to govern their own dioceses. Garry Wills, a Pulitzer Prize win- ment in its conception of the church “passionate love of God for all hu- Such divergent responses to the cri- ner for Lincoln at Gettysburg and as the “people of God” in which the manity, made visible in . . . Jesus sis are unintelligible unless one sees the author of Papal Sin: Structures of laity and hierarchy are equal in their Christ, crucified and risen,” that same them as part of the deeper issue of what Deceit, focuses on the charism of the baptismal dignity. The council also Christ who fully and uniquely reveals might be called American Catholicism’s Petrine ministry of church unity and led to a renewal of the liturgy, an af- to humanity its incomparable dignity “culture wars.” Over the past 40 years, the papacy’s frequent self-aggrandize- firmation of religious freedom and and high calling. Accordingly, while since the Second Vatican Council ment throughout the centuries. the primacy of conscience, a rejection the council made decisive advances in (1962-65), the Catholic Church in the George Weigel, best known for Wit- of church-state unions, an openness such areas as liturgy and religious U.S. has become increasingly divided ness to Hope, his massive and massively to the truth of other religions (espe- freedom, its primary achievement was over liturgy, theology, catechesis, min- successful biography of Pope John cially Judaism) and a renewed sense renewing the church’s mission to pro- istry, sexuality and a host of other is- Paul II, is the only one of the three that the church’s teaching authority claim to all humanity the good news sues. If, as priest-sociologist Andrew whose book specifically responds to resides in all of the faithful, not ex- that Christ is the source of true free- Greeley argues, such polarization has the sexual-abuse crisis. He argues clusively in the hierarchy. little affect on the average Catholic, it that Catholicism needs a renewal of More broadly, Wills sees the “spir- Continued on next page

22 boston college | c21 resources | spring 2003 dom and life. Too many Catholics, Wills’s comments on Humanae Paul VI feared that a crackdown on ty in the face of political and cultural mostly liberals but also some conser- Vitae lack Carroll’s autobiographical the priests might lead to schism. barbarisms. He emphasizes that the vatives, have failed to grasp this evan- bent but far exceed him in scorn. In While not budging on the truth of heart of John Paul’s pontificate is his gelical core, Weigel argues. Papal Sin, Wills described the en- the encyclical, he decided to tolerate evangelism and Christian humanism. If all three writers agree on the de- cyclical as “the most crippling, puz- dissent for the sake of ecclesial unity. More a poet and preacher than a bu- cisive importance—if not the meaning zling blow to organized Catholicism This “Truce of 1968,” as Weigel reaucrat, John Paul has, in Weigel’s —of Vatican II, so too with the events in our time” and the “most disastrous calls it, affected three groups. The- words, one central theme: in Christ, of 1968, a revolutionary, traumatic papal document of this century”; the ologians and priests learned that their “you are greater than you imagine, year for the church and the world. text and its drafting exemplified dissent from magisterial teaching and greater than the late modern The assassinations of Martin Luther Catholicism’s hierarchical subterfuge would bring few negative conse- world has let you imagine.” Far from King and Robert Kennedy, the escala- and intellectual dishonesty. Why I Am quences. Bishops learned that their trying to repeal Vatican II, as many of tion of the Vietnam War, and the sex- a Catholic presents the encyclical as efforts to control dissent would re- his critics hold, John Paul has instead ual revolution seemed to mark the the “great break” between most ceive little support from Rome. Some affirmed the council’s key insights into disintegration of Western society. Catholics and the Vatican, for it bishops even felt free themselves to Christ and humanity. That year also signaled the end of opened the way for “qualified and dissent—however implicitly—from Carroll and Wills acknowledge the Vatican II honeymoon in Catholi- loyal theologians” to dissent from church teaching. Finally, the laity, ob- John Paul’s intellectual, spiritual and cism. The theological and ecclesial church teaching and emboldened the serving the conduct of these first two social gifts; “charismatic,” he is full of fault lines that had begun to surface laity to follow their consciences. No groups, began to think that every- “charm” and “energy.” They also within the conciliar majority toward longer would Catholics, “on entering thing was up for grabs. note his courageous support for the the end of the council now appeared church, have to check our brains at Often with an appeal to an amor- Solidarity movement in communist in full view. Several of the council’s the door” or “suspend our common phous “spirit of Vatican II,” priests, Poland, and Carroll makes special most influential and progressive the- sense or honesty” when faced with bishops and laity alike contributed to mention of his rapprochement with ologians—most prominently Henri “silly” teaching. If not always able to a “culture of dissent.” The sexual- Judaism. But such praise seems de Lubac and Joseph Ratzinger— abuse crisis—grounded in heterodox grudging, even backhanded, in light challenged appeals to the “spirit” of sexual morality and unchecked by of their severe criticism. Calling John Vatican II that seemed far removed cowed bishops—began to develop Paul a “reactionary,” Carroll con- from the documents and the inten- slowly but surely. What Weigel calls demns what he sees as the pope’s pro- tions of the council. Much of what Too many catholics fail “Catholic Lite”—a softening of or- gram of “medieval restoration” and passed as conciliar-inspired church thodoxy under the guise of reform— its attempted repeal of Vatican reform, they argued, was a betrayal of to see the evangelical began its ascendancy, and led to the Wills offers a lengthier indictment. the church’s identity. malaise and indecision of the 1970s. John Paul is apocalyptic, obsessed with More visibly, the release of Pope core of Vatican II The election of Polish Cardinal martyrdom and with the Virgin Mary, Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae Karol Wojtyla to the papacy was a and, worst of all, self-important: “The rocked the American church, leading revolution for the church and the pope himself seems to think the whole to unprecedented public dissent. In up- world. The first non-Italian pope in church depends on him – on his being holding the prohibition against artificial cite Vatican II’s documents “chapter 455 years, John Paul II has become a saved by the Virgin of Fatima, on his methods of birth control, the encyclical and verse,” these newly empowered figure of world-historical importance, living into the new millennium, on his dashed the hopes of many believers faithful nonetheless seek to be faithful having played a pivotal role in the fall visiting every Marian shrine, on his for a change in church teaching. to the “spirit of the council” – that of communism. Within Catholicism Stakhanovite canonizing, on his redef- Disappointment was inevitable, but “opening of windows” fundamental he is universally admired for his per- initions of every truth, on his creating its magnitude was astonishing. Hun- to aggiornamento. sonal holiness and his service of the a like-minded episcopate. . . . This dreds of Catholic theologians signed a Vatican II indeed opened the win- gospel. Among modern popes, he is one-man rescue operation is a stagger- public statement that questioned the dows to the world, Weigel agrees, but rivaled only by John XXIII in terms ing assignment,” he writes. If Wills is teaching. Financial contributions and just at the moment when modernity of popular affection. critical of John Paul, he is contemptu- church attendance dropped precipi- “barrel[ed] into a dark tunnel full of Yet Catholic elites are deeply divid- ous of Cardinal Ratzinger, John Paul’s tously. Wounded by the outcry, Pope poisonous fumes.” The sexual revolu- ed over his still-unfinished legacy. chief aide and head of the Vatican’s Paul never wrote another encyclical. tion, a suspicion of institutions and Some see in him courage in the face of Congregation for the Doctrine of the The American church entered into an authority, and intellectual nihilism a corrupt, brutal modernity; others Faith. Wills charges Ratzinger with acrimony that still lingers. combined in a corrosive mix. When see intransigence and incomprehen- reversing Vatican II’s teachings (and Carroll experienced the conflict coupled with a postconciliar euphoria sion. Some see a crabbed sexual his own earlier writings) on episcopal both personally and institutionally. in which people forgot that Vatican II moralist; others see a herald of true collegiality, the church as the “people Marred by the “ideology of papal ab- intended a two-way dialogue between sexual fulfillment. Some find authori- of God,” the liturgy, intellectual free- solutism,” Humanae Vitae was for him church and world, the result was ec- tative leadership; others find authori- dom and ecumenism. Together John part of Pope Paul’s effort to “turn clesial chaos. tarianism. At the root of these stark Paul and Ratzinger have mounted a back the tide” of church reform This chaos erupted, according to differences is a central question: Does “coup” to repeal virtually all of the begun by Vatican II. Ordained to the Weigel, with the publication of Hu- John Paul’s pontificate represent re- major advances of the council. This priesthood only a few months after manae Vitae. Faced with the public newal or restoration? That is, is it the coup has failed, Wills writes, for the the encyclical’s release, Carroll could dissent of 19 Washington priests, flowering of Vatican II’s hopeful vision Catholic people have rejected it. They not in good conscience accept the Cardinal Patrick O’Boyle disciplined or a return to the defensive triumphal- have instead shown their love for John growing disjunction between the them, even removing some from ac- ism of the preconciliar era? Weigel Paul by not abandoning him in his er- church’s official teaching and the tive ministry. They appealed to Rome, does not hesitate to state that the pres- rant ways; they support him precisely lived reality of many Catholics, he and in 1971 the Vatican allowed them ent pope may someday be known as through their loyal opposition and states. He resigned the priesthood in to return to ministry without an ex- “John Paul the Great,” particularly for 1973 and married soon thereafter. plicit rejection of their dissent. Pope his unstinting defense of human digni- Continued on page 24

boston college | c21 resources | spring 2003 23 Wills’s work is more intelligent of Weigel’s positions, they nonethe- and treat them as equals, is precisely Catholics and substantial than Carroll’s, and he less are not consumed by the theo- the problem of polarization. Continued from page 23 writes from a deep faith; he notes, logical and ecclesial power-struggles Thus, while Weigel rightly stresses not without pride, that he prays the that have afflicted the American holiness as the key to ecclesial and their faithfulness to Vatican II. Nei- Rosary daily and recites the Lord’s church for the past 40 years. episcopal renewal (a point made half a ther “monstrous” nor “misguided,” Prayer in Greek. His chapter on the Weigel fails, though, to prove his century earlier by Congar), his con- John Paul has been a “well-meaning” apostle Peter’s importance for early central thesis: that there is a link ception of holiness may exacerbate failure. Christianity is an incisive, eloquent between the “Truce of 1968” and the that polarization. All genuine reform If this is Catholicism’s recent past, defense of Catholicism’s inclusivity clerical sexual-abuse crisis. One can must be grounded in reconversion to then what of its present and future? against the exclusivity of Gnosticism admit that a “culture of dissent”—or Christ, and Weigel’s call to deeper ho- What is one to make of Carroll’s, and other heresies. He also makes, at a “school of resentment,” as it has liness is passionate, and has nothing of Weigel’s and Wills’s calls for church the end of his lengthy account of the also been described—does exist, and the saccharine or the sentimental. He reform? How well do they address papacy’s failings, an appealing, if that the “adventure of orthodoxy” is offers a heroic vision of the Christian problems raised by the sexual-abuse brief, case for reform within—not needed always. However, he refuses life that is much needed in a time of crisis, as well as by the polarization of apart from—the church: “I prefer the even to acknowledge that the wide- despair and mediocrity. This heroic the Catholic culture wars? company of Ignatius of Loyola to that spread rejection of Humanae Vitae’s holiness, though, is also largely invul- Carroll’s call for Vatican III is of Luther, or Charles Borromeo to teaching on artificial contraception— nerable. Although Weigel justly criti- thoroughly flawed. The reformed Calvin, Philip Neri to Melanchthon,” the supposed origin of the “culture of cizes the abuses committed under the Catholicism he envisions has little he writes. Wills’s argument is dissent”—may have been grounded in distorted influence of Henri Nouwen’s connection to the church and to the nonetheless marred by serious errors something other than systematic dis- “wounded healer” model of min- conception of Christ as they have ex- of fact and interpretation. Boston sent or cultural dissolution. By failing istry—and offers qualified support for isted across the centuries. His open- College theologian Francis Sullivan, to admit that many of those who re- the model itself—he nonetheless ing chapter “What Is to Be for one, has exposed Wills’s manipu- jected such teaching did so with in- leaves little room for the vulnerable Done?”—the only substantively new lative, dishonest summary of Cardinal tegrity, he reduces a complex leadership needed at this time. part of his book—ranges from reli- Ratzinger’s views on ecumenism and situation to a simplistic calculus of A fuller conception of holiness gious fundamentalism to Middle interreligious relations. It is a cruel orthodoxy and heterodoxy. than Weigel’s is needed—one that in- Eastern politics to the sexual-abuse irony that an author so self-con- Furthermore, the two most notori- tegrates heroism and vulnerability in crisis, yet it mentions Jesus Christ sciously devoted to truth-telling in ous pedophiles, Boston priests John Christian life and ministry. The Eng- only once. Here and throughout the the church is sometimes himself so Geoghan and Paul Shanley, trained at lish Dominican exegete Timothy book Carroll gives us neither the free with the truth. Moreover, how the same pre-Vatican II seminary and Radcliffe has written that whereas Christ of scripture and the creeds nor can Wills’s unrelenting critique nour- began their abuse before 1968, and Old Testament understandings of ho- the church that fostered them. ish those—especially the young—who many of the bishops at the center of liness stress ritual purity and separa- Carroll’s vision of church reform, haven’t yet eaten the solid food of the scandals—Cardinal Bernard Law tion, the Epistle to the Hebrews then, lacks a Christic center. His ef- trust and generosity (as he himself of Boston and Cardinal Edward Egan reveals Christ as the high priest and fort to address the Jewish-Christian fruitfully did in his youth)? His con- of New York come to mind—are not mediator who is holy precisely in em- division, for instance, reduces the cluding handful of pages on the posi- known for doctrinal or disciplinary bracing fully the brokennness and split to a tragic historical misunder- tive achievements of the papacy may laxity. Cardinal Law, in fact, first pro- sinfulness of humanity. He reaches standing and blurs the theological well seem hollow after having previ- posed the creation of 1992’s Cate- out to those marginalized, dispirited, differences between the two faiths. In ously sited hundreds of shortcomings. chism of the Catholic Church. At the angry, stigmatized. He reconciles the same vein, his desire to affirm the In True and False Reform in the eye of the storm, then, no “culture of through the blood of his cross and of value of religious pluralism is based Church (a seminal 1950 work disap- dissent” exists, and Weigel’s claims on the Eucharist. In this sense, the on an agnosticism about divine reve- pointingly never mentioned in any of that score are tendentious at best. Catholic church needs leaders—cleri- lation, and leads to an evisceration of the books under review), the Catholic The present crisis in American cal and lay—who have the courage to belief in Christ’s unique salvific role, theologian Yves Congar argued that Catholicism, I judge, is less one of be not only countercultural but also especially in relation to the cross: “It the first condition for genuine church dissent or duplicity than of distance. woundable (the meaning of vulnerable). is impossible to reconcile this Chris- reform was charity—caritas, that self- Notre Dame theologian John Cavadi- Cardinal Law, for one, appeared— tology, these cosmic claims for the less, unsentimental love that wills only ni has written that the only way to publicly, at least—to be aloof from accomplishment of Jesus Christ as the the good of the other. Wills often explain many bishops’ inattention to the complaints and warnings of vic- one source of salvation, with authen- makes little effort to understand the le- the victims of sexual abuse and to tim-survivors and their intimates, as tic respect for Judaism and every gitimate—even if misguided or wrong- their families, short of ascribing ac- well as from the concerns of laity and other spiritual neighbor,’” he writes. headed—concerns of his opponents, tive malice, is by understanding the clergy in his archdiocese. Leadership, Carroll’s preference for Jesus as preferring to ascribe to them the worst distance fostered by clericalism. Such in a Christian sense, is decisive and Revealer rather than as Savior turns of motives. Such utter lack of charity distance, he contends, means the authoritative only to the degree that Jesus into a mere moral exemplar – for those with whom he disagrees—es- church has “no sense that these are it hears and bears the pain of the peo- the same fatal move liberal Protes- pecially Ratzinger—cannot build up our children,” but rather sees them as ple and refuses to hide behind church tantism made at the turn of the 20th the church he professes to love. “your children, those of the laity, and civil law. In a word, it must re- century. Toward a New Catholic whose duty is to listen and submit.” flect the holiness of Christ. Church is a dying gasp from a branch WEIGEL, FOR HIS PART Bishops failed, then, not primarily by of liberal Catholicism that has never Weigel, for his part, makes a valid—if acquiescing to sexual perversity but Christopher J. Ruddy teaches at St. really left the 1960s and that grows unnuanced—point about the failure by privileging their institutions and John’s University in Minnesota. grayer by the year. It is, in Weigel’s of the Catholic “Lite Brigade” to re- reputations over their people. This phrase, “Catholicism Lite,” and the produce itself in subsequent genera- failure to communicate, to sympa- Reprinted with permission from the January reform it promises leads to dissolu- tions. Even if younger Catholics are thize with another’s plight, to assume 25, 2003 issue of The Christian Century. ©2003 tion, not to the fruition of Vatican II. far from unanimous in their support the good intentions of their people Christian Century Foundation.

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