C21Re sour c e s A S E R V I C E O F B O S T O N C O L L E G E f a l l 2 0 0 4 in this issue Pope, there is no contradiction be- tween legitimate authority and care f u l A Plea for Dialogue consultation. Consultation, listening, and dialogue only enhance true author- Renewal of ity, because they issue from a lived A Dying Priest’s Appeal to the Bi s h o p s trust and they serve to increase trust. the Church: If I were to sum up my final plea to you, it would be: “dialogue, dia- logue, dialogue!” I do not mean this the Road Two days before his death in Au g u s t accidental. In many ways the crisis in as a facile or pious slogan, for I am 2003, Re v. Msgr. Philip F. Mu r n i o n , the Church and the ensuing polariza- only too aware of its cost and condi- A h e a d founder of the National Pastoral Life tion...have only grown more acute. tions. It is for this reason, I think, Ce n t e r, sent the following letter to each Your own credibility and ability to that the Pope places dialogue within bishop in the United States. guide God’s people have been severe l y the context of an entire theological hose with long memories compromised, sometimes because of and spiritual vision and practice. In may recall Cardinal Alfredo To My Brother in Christ: negligence and lack of wise leader- his Letter, the Holy Father advocates TOttaviani, a staunch defender In his final public address on ship, sometimes because of factors a “theology and spirituality of com- of the status quo in the days before October 24, 1996, Cardinal Joseph beyond your direct re s p o n s i b i l i t y. munion,” for they “encourage a fru i t- the Second Vatican Council, whose Bernardin spoke these moving words. It is time for bold initiatives. I do ful dialogue between pastors and episcopal coat of arms pro c l a i m e d “A dying person does not have time not presume to know all the dimen- f a i t h f u l ” (ibid). Indeed, does not the Semper Idem, “always the same.” for the peripheral or the accidental. s i o n s of such undertakings. But I am living out of such a spirituality of But an earlier and more famous He or she is drawn to the essential, convinced they must emerge from the communion re q u i re dialogue as its cardinal, John Henry Newman, had the important—yes, the eternal. And deepest discernment of God’s will and v e ry life-breath: the dialogue of written: “To live is to change, and to what is important, my friends, is that the widest consultation of God’s people. prayer with Jesus Christ, the dialogue be perfect is to have changed often.” we find that unity with the Lord and In his apostolic letter, N o v o of mutual building up on the part of And Vatican II itself, after some within the community of faith for Millennio Ineunte, the Holy stro n g l y the members of Christ? debate, wrote in its Decree on which Jesus prayed so fervently on u rges practice of “the ancient pastoral A spirituality of communion and , “In its pilgrimage on the night before he died.” wisdom which, without prejudice of dialogue is as demanding in its asceti- earth, Christ summons the Church Now, in God’s Providence, I too their authority, encouraged pastors to cism as the spirituality of desert or to that continual reformation of write this reflection as a dying person, listen more widely to the entire People c l o i s t e r. Like them, it re q u i res its which it is always in need.” with no time for the peripheral or of God.” Thus, in the mind of the own s t ru c t u res. The Catholic tradi- This fourth issue of C21 Resourc e s tion knows well that spirituality and focuses on the Church of the future structure are not opposed. Here, as in the U.S. and what kind of change, elsew h e re, it aff i r ms the “both/and” renewal, or reform is needed in order of charism and institution, invisible to get from here to there. The art i c l e s grace and visible embodiment. Both reprinted here propose different ways a r e essential, though only one is the Church might undertake Newman’s e t e rnal. We can ill aff o rd to be less challenge without violating Ottaviani’s Catholic than the Pope himself who sense of its changeless truth. insists: “The spirituality of commun- When BC undertook two years ago ion, by prompting a trust and the initiative that came to be called openness wholly in accord with the The Church in the 21st Century, it dignity and responsibility of every sought to respond as a university to member of the People of God, sup- the shocking disclosures about sexual plies institutional reality with a soul.” misconduct by priests and the inade- For more than 20 years I have quate responses of bishops. What been blessed by working with many re s o u rces did we have in scripture, of you. I know that many have sought tradition, theology, and other intellec- diligently to consult and communicate tual disciplines to help us understand with your priests and people alike.

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B O S T O N C O L L E G E | C 2 1 R E S O U R C E S | F A L L 2 0 0 4 1 in this issue Facts, C21 R e s o u r c e s Change, Renewal and Reform: Myths,and executive editor J.A. Appleyard, S.J., The Road Ahead for the U.S. Church Vice President for University Questions Mission and Ministry

e d i t o r Continued from Page 1 j o u rnals have far fewer. Why don’t Richard Higgins Catholics nourish their thinking about B Y T H O M A S J. R E E S E the issues? What kinds of changes would the Church and religious topics by advisory board p revent a crisis like this again? reading Commonweal or First Things or or those who have been Ben Birn b a u m Quickly the focus widened to look a t U.S. Catholic? We would be pleased i f following the Patricia M. Chang questions beyond the headlines. What C21 R e s o u rc e s leads some readers to crisis in the American Patricia De Leeuw should the roles of , priests, and subscribe to the journals that have since the Jack Dunn bishops be in a healthy Church? How been providing us with our material m i d - 1 9 8 0 ’s, the re p o rts M a r y Ann Hinsdale should we understand the Churc h ’s for the past two years. Fby the John Jay College of Criminal R i c h a rd Keeley teaching on sexuality and, especially, the Nearly two years ago, when the Justice and the National Review R o b e r t R. Newton gap between teaching and practice Church in the 21st Century initiative Board for the Protection of Children Hallie Sammartino Di Schino among Catholics? How can we live our was created at Boston College, we be- and Young People provided confir- Judith Wi l t faith as a community and hand it on to lieved that the issues challenging the mation of hunches and the destru c - the young? More than 25,000 people Church would be well on their way to tion of myths. At the same time, they consulting editor have come to campus or alumni gather- resolution by this time. That has turned left many questions unanswered. John L. Mahoney ings around the country for 130 lectures, out not to be the case. In fact, many The myths have been promoted by d e s i g n e r panel discussions, scholarly conferences, Catholics are just now understanding people on both sides of the debate: Mathew Parent and artistic perf o rmances dealing with the extent of loss we have suffered and those who want to beat up on the Progressive Print Solutions these questions. its consequences for a Church we love Church and those who want to down- The idea of C21 Resources was born and its people. play the crisis. But what are the facts C21 Resourc e s is published by Boston when we realized that many alumni and Thus, we see a continued need for a reported in this study of sexual abuse C o l l e g e ’s Church in the 21st Century friends in Boston and around the coun- program that includes the kinds of lec- in the Church between 1950 and 2002? initiative, in partnership with the try can’t come to campus for an e v e n i n g tures, conferences, articles, and books publications in which these a rt i c l e s event but want help in thinking about that you and others have come to expect first appeared. C21 Res o u r c e s is a the issues. Catholic weekly and monthly from Boston College. However, we plan compilation of the best analyses and journals are publishing thoughtful arti- to incorporate fresh salients. These will The beginning, essays on the Churc h ’s crisis and cles about the crisis, we thought. Let’s include distance learning opportunities s e a r ch for renewal. They are p u b- collect the best of them and reprint them for Catholics everywhere who want a not the end, of lished with the intent of stimulating in newspaper format. chance to develop a serious understand- discussion and thought among bishops, This issue of C21 Resources is being ing of, and relationship with, their faith, research on sexual priests, and religious and lay mem- sent to about 160,000 alumni and and the establishment of a permanent bers of the Catholic community. friends of BC. Many have told us they center on campus to study and assist the abuse in the value the articles we’re sending them. Church in this 21st century as it moves A few have made it clear they don’t . toward a necessary renewal of spirit and C h u r c h . One even accused us of manufacturing resources. That, in any event, is our in- Mu r n i o n the crisis. Most, though, seem to be tent and our prayer. Continued from Page 1 the audience we had in mind: thought- The past two years have been a But in this time of crisis we face the ful men and women, disturbed by what defining moment not only for the Churc h M y t h : Less than 1 percent of the urgent need imaginatively to expand is happening in the Church they love, in the U.S. but for Boston College. If c l e r gy are involved in sexual abuse. present structures and to create new eager to read material that helps them universities in the West were born, as Fact: 4,392 priests, or 4 percent of ones that will enable us to draw more think about the issues. John Paul II has said, from the heart of the total number of members of the effectively upon the rich wisdom of Publishing C21 Resources has been the Church, Catholic universities clearly Catholic clergy between 1950 and those baptized in water and the Holy something of a paradox. As editors we now have the responsibility of helping 2002, have had allegations made Spirit. have sometimes wondered: If our read- the Church do its thinking. against them. P e rmit me with the last breaths the ers appreciate the articles that we are In the subtle economy of grace, Myth: Much of the abuse was not Spirit gives me to implore you: Do not reprinting, why don’t they read the jour- even this darkest episode in the history really serious. Fact: All incidents be afraid to embrace this spirituality nals where they first appeared? There of the American Catholic Church can re p o r ted to John Jay involved more of communion, this “little way” of are more than a million living alumni of yield points of light. The essays in t h i s than verbal abuse or porn o g r a p h y. dialogue with one another, with your Jesuit colleges and universities in the issue of C21 Resourc e s o ffer a variety of Only 3 percent of the acts involved priests, with all God’s faithful. Doing United States, yet America, the weekly ways of thinking hopefully about change only touching over the victim’s so, you will touch not only the heart s journal of opinion edited by Jesuits, has and renewal in the Church. clothes. On the other hand, 57 per- of your brothers and sisters; you will 45,000 subscribers and most Catholic The Editors cent of the acts involved touching draw closer to the heart of Jesus, the under the victim’s clothes, 27 percent L o rd and brother of us all. involved the cleric performing oral

2 B O S T O N C O L L E G E | C 2 1 R E S O U R C E S | F A L L 2 0 0 4 Getting in Touch with the Real Facts on Ab u s e sex, and 25 percent involved penile Myth: Most of the abuse occurred the 80’s, and by the 90’s had returned Six dioceses and several religious penetration or attempted penetration. with older teenagers. Fact: Only 15 to the levels of the 1950’s. o r ders did not even respond to the M y t h : Most of the abusers were percent of the victims were 16 to 17 Myth: Billions of dollars have been s u r v e y. Even for the other 189 serial offenders. Fact: 56 percent years of age; 51 percent were between spent by the Church dealing with this dioceses, the bishops could re p o r t of priests had only one allegation the ages of 11 and 14. crisis. Fact: Though the cost may only on those who had come forward. against them. The 149 priests who Myth: Abusers targeted children of eventually reach a billion dollars, the O n e - t h i r d of the allegations were had more than 10 allegations against single mothers. Fact: Only 11 perc e n t total already spent as compiled by reported in 2002-3. How many more them were responsible for abusing of victims were living with their John Jay was $472 million. are out there? 2,960 victims, thus accounting for 27 mothers only. Almost 79 percent of M y t h : The Church knew about • A few serial abusers (147) were percent of the allegations. the victims had both parents living these allegations from the very begin- responsible for a quarter of all M y t h : These offending priests at home. ning. Fact: According to the John Jay allegations. Why were these men w e re “dirty old men.” Fact: Half M y t h : Most abusers thre a t e n e d re p o r t, one-third of the accusations not spotted and dealt with by other t h e priests were 35 years of age or their victims. Fact: Only 8 percent of w e r e made in the years 2002-3. priests and Church officials? younger at the time of the first victims were threatened by their abuser. Two-thirds have been reported since • More than half the priests had instance of alleged abuse. Most abusers indulged in “gro o m i n g , ” 1993. “Thus, prior to 1993, only only one allegation against them. Is Myth: Many of the abusive priests a premeditated behavior intended to o n e - t h i r d of cases were known to this because their names were never had been victims of sexual abuse as manipulate the potential victim into C h u r ch officials,” says the re p o rt . made public, or were they truly one- children. Fact: Fewer than 7 percent complying with the sexual abuse; 39 M y t h : The abusive priests time offenders? Would it be safe to of the priests were reported to have percent of the clerics offered alcohol always/never received tre a t m e n t . return any of these men to ministry? experienced physical, sexual, or emo- or drugs to their victims. Fact: Nearly 40 percent of priests The number of alleged abuses t i o n a l abuse as children. increased in the 1960’s, peaked in the M y t h : Celibacy caused the sex 70’s, declined in the 80’s, and by the abuse crisis. Fact: 96 percent of priests 90’s were at the levels of the 1950’s. (all of them obliged by celibacy) were Were there more cases prior to 1960 not involved in sexual abuse. A small number of serial abusers accounted that simply were not re p o r ted or M y t h : Homosexuality caused the re c o r ded? Will there be more cases abuse crisis: Fact: No one knows the for one-fourth of all allegations. Why were reported for the 90’s as time goes on? exact percentage of priests who are ho- Or did most bishops get their act to- mosexual. Estimates have ranged fro m these men not spotted and dealt with by gether in the late 80’s, so that most 10 percent to 60 percent. In any case, abusers were dealt with and potential most homosexual priests were not other priests and Church officials? abusers were not ordained? involved in the sexual abuse of minors. Eighty-one percent of the victims Myth: Most abuse was done under were male. Why? What role does ho- the influence of alcohol or dru g s mosexuality play in this crisis? There when the priest did not know what he is no hard data on what percentage of was doing. Fact: Although 19 percent Myth: The abuse is a result of the alleged to have committed sexual the clergy is homosexual, because the of the accused priests had alcohol or s e m i n a r y training after the Second abuse participated in treatment bishops refuse to allow such a study. substance abuse problems, only 9 Vatican Council (1963-65). Fact: programs. The more allegations a percent used drugs or alcohol during Almost 70 percent of the abusive priest had, the more likely he was to What Next? the alleged instances of abuse. priests were ordained before 1970, participate in treatment, according The John Jay re p o r t can be only after attending pre - Vatican II to the report. the beginning, not the end, of Myths about the Victims seminaries or seminaries that had had re s e a r ch on the problem of sexual Myth: There were 60,000 to little time to adapt to the reforms of More Research Needed abuse in the Church. The more the 100,000 victims of sexual abuse. Fact: Vatican II. The John Jay re p o rt, which covers problem is studied, the more likely it While we know only the number of Myth: This problem is unique to the period of 1950-2002, is an excel- is that the Church will change from victims who reported their abuse to the Catholic Church: Fact: The John lent first step in the re s e a rch on this being part of the problem to being bishops, it is difficult to see how Jay re p o rt notes that in the period p r oblem, but it raises as many part of the solution to the epidemic there could be 6 to 10 times as many 1992-2000, the number of substanti- questions as it answers: of sexual abuse in our country, where victims as the number (10,667) who ated sexual abuse cases in American • 4,392 priests (4 percent of the 20 percent of women and 15 percent came forward. society as a whole was between clergy) were accused of sexual abuse. of men report that they were victims M y t h : The victims did not 89,355 and 149,800 annually. At a Is this better or worse than other of child sexual abuse as children. a p p roa ch the Church but sent their minimum, this number for one year p r ofessions—teachers, social lawyers. Fact: Only 20 percent of the is eight times the total number of workers, scout leaders, doctors, Thomas J. Reese, S.J., is editor-in-chief allegations were re p o rted to the alleged abuses in the Church over a lawyers, psychologists—or the total of America. C h u rch by lawyers re p resenting period of 52 years. male population? No one knows, victims. Almost 50 percent of the M y t h : The abuse is still going on because comparable studies have not Reprinted with permission from America, allegations were reported by victims, at the same rate. Fact: The number been done. March 22, 2004. Copyright 2004 by America plus another 14 percent by parents of alleged abuses increased in the • 10,667 individuals reported abuse. Press, Inc. or guardians. 1960’s, peaked in the 70’s, declined in Are there more victims? Definitely.

B O S T O N C O L L E G E | C 2 1 R E S O U R C E S | F A L L 2 0 0 4 3 is already quite important and will membership (market position) has Crisis Management in undoubtedly become ever more changed substantially. As a result of critical, there doesn’t seem to be a these changes and the managerial c o m p rehensive plan for achieving a shortcomings cited above, the U.S. the Church smooth integration. In summary, Church’s market position has deteri- the Church seems to lack even the orated in a dramatic way: rudiments of an effective human • The potential market is much re s o u rce management process or better informed and aware of B Y F R E D E R I C K W. G L U C K the positive side, there seems to be a system at a time when the need is the options available to them v e ry large number among the laity e n o rmous and increasing rapidly. than in the past. he Catholic Church in who, while embarrassed, upset, and 2. On the finance side: • Many of the faithful (customers) the United States is enormously frustrated by the current • The Churc h ’s traditional sourc e s no longer feel committed to the going through the state of affairs, remain deeply of revenues are drying up. product line and openly reject g reatest crisis in its committed to their faith and the • C h u r ch costs are escalating portions of it as irrelevant to h i s t o r y. Dealing with Church, are willing and able to help, rapidly as it no longer is attracting their lives. cTrises is not a problem unique to and are thirsting for direction and h i g h - q u a l i t y, cheap labor. • The Churc h ’s reputation has C h u r ch leaders; it is a task faced by leadership from the clergy. • The plant is rapidly becoming declined precipitously as a leaders of any complex org a n i z a t i o n . obsolete. result of recent scandals and When faced with a crisis, U.S. corpo- The Current State • Potential liabilities as a result of many of the faithful no longer rate leaders often bring in a firm like I will examine the current state of the recent scandals are large and trust Church leaders or believe McKinsey & Company to help them the Church from the perspective of a growing. in their infallibility. think through their situation and management consultant. I will look at: • The processes for financial • On the positive side, most of construct a meaningful program for human re s o u r ces, finance, general management seem to be highly the faithful remain highly change. The consultants—working management, and market position. fragmented, uncoordinated, and committed to the basic message closely with management—analyze much too underdeveloped to and thirst for sure-handed the causes of the crisis, both internal 1. There are two broad pro b l e m s deal with the problems leadership and dramatic change (like inadequate personnel, misman- with human resources in the Church: enumerated above. in the delivery system. agement, misallocation of resources, i n s u f ficient talent and inadequate not keeping up with technological p r ocesses for managing it. More Strategy for a Turnaround i m p r ovements, or a dysfunctional s p e c i f i c a l l y, on the talent side: The situation is not without hope; corporate culture) and external • The work force is rapidly aging. but the Church, I believe, is in what (aggressive competition, for example, • The Churc h ’s ability to re c r uit Little change will be can only be called a “turn a round” changes in consumer pre f e rences, or a has declined dramatically over situation. In the business world, decline in the company’s reputation). the last 40 years. possible until the most successful turnarounds are generally They then jointly develop strategies • The Church is no longer the glaring shortcomings in characterized by: and programs to respond to the crisis first choice of the best and the • Changes in leadership so that the company can prosper. brightest. Church management • A single-minded focus on While at McKinsey, I often advised • Church people are demoralized measuring performance and corporate leaders on dealing with by internal conflict and public and governance are acting quickly when it is unsat- crises. What advice would I give the scandal. isfactory Catholic bishops for dealing with the And on the process side: r e m e d i e d . • Quick identification of the causes current crisis? • Many believe that Church underlying the major problems Unpleasant and challenging as the personnel policies are overly and development of specific recent sexual abuse scandal has been, restrictive and are counter- action plans to remove them that is not the crisis to which I am productive. 3. With respect to management: • Dramatic cuts in cost and staff referring. I have in mind rather the • T h e re is no effective perf o rmance • The U.S. Church is a subsidiary • Sale or closing of unprofitable long-term decline in the relevance, m e a s u rement system at any of a large enterprise located in a operations or at least perceived relevance, of the level, which makes constructive foreign country where manage- • A comprehensive challenge to Catholic Church to the lives and change very difficult, if not im- ment has been historically all the assumptions underlying spiritual well-being of its members, possible, to either plan or committed to resisting change strategy, organization, and the concomitant decline in the execute in any timely manner. and maintaining the status quo. operations. C h u rc h ’s capability to serve them, and • There is no effective planning • The U.S. Church organization Coming to grips with this formi- the resulting loss of the Church’s in- mechanism in place to deal has no effective central point of dable set of challenges, in an organi- fluence and standing in the gre a t e r with the dramatic changes in leadership that can energize zation as historically successful as the population and in our society. This mix between clergy and laity in the necessary change program. Church, will be a daunting challenge decline has been in pro g ress for at i m p o rtant positions in the • Church leadership is aging and and can be accomplished only by a least 30 years and has now re a c h e d Church and its related network is also largely committed to the c o m p r ehensive program of change the stage where there are very serious of social services that has al- status quo or even the status with strong leadership from the top. questions about the very future of the ready taken place and will in- quo ante. Moreover, little constructive change C h u rch in the United States. The evitably continue. This further • Church tradition of hierarchy will be possible until some of the reasons for this situation are many complicates the change process. dominates most of the leaders’ most glaring shortcomings in Churc h and complex, but I do not believe • While the contributions of the thinking about management. management and governance that there can be any question about laity to the administration and 4. The character of the Churc h ’s a p p r oaches are remedied. These the seriousness of the situation. On management of Church affairs membership and its potential shortcomings are most evident in the

4 B O S T O N C O L L E G E | C 2 1 R E S O U R C E S | F A L L 2 0 0 4 management of finance and human • Defining a comprehensive set re s o u r ces. These short c o m i n g s — of personnel policies to guide True and False Re f o r m there are undoubtedly others—are the management of the U.S. the legacy of years of operation with Church and to shape recruiting a management and governance system and human re s o u rce development tuned for a very different environ- policies. B Y AV E R Y C A R D I N A L D U L L E S Trent. Luther and his colleagues also ment. Nevertheless, I believe that • Developing a systematic approach took up the theme of reform, but in Church leaders can make much to dealing with controversial he long experience of the name of correcting abuses they p r o g r ess in the short term by issues in the U.S. Church that the Catholic Churc h attacked essentials of the Catholic a d d ressing finance and human integrates the laity completely has included many faith and became separated from the re s o u r ces, and they would send a into the process—including, seasons of decline and Church. The reform decrees of Trent very constructive message to both the most importantly, the definition renewal. Thro u g h o u t targeted some of the real abuses and clergy and the laity that real change of which issues should be addre s s e d . tThe centuries the Church has striven, continued to bear excellent fruits long was afoot. The agenda of issues should by preaching and exhortation, to after the Council. But in the next few Since there is no “C.E.O.” of the include, for example, the role of help individual Christians re f o rm centuries, the term “reform” became U.S. Church—and very little likeli- women, the role of the laity, clerical their lives. At various times, re f o rm e r s suspect among Catholics because it hood that one will be appointed—the homosexuality, celibacy, birth have arisen to make the consecrated seemed to have a Protestant ring. U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops control, and divorce. life a more authentic school of per- The First Vatican Council ran seems to be the only place where the In order to accomplish these fection. One thinks in this connec- counter to certain reform movements necessary leadership energy can be goals, the U.S. Conference of tion of the Cistercians and Tr a p p i s t s of the nineteenth century. It success- generated. This would re q u i r e Catholic Bishops should re c r uit an as re f o rmed branches of the Bene- fully eliminated the remnants of the significant change in their mode of a d v i s o r y board of pro m i n e n t dictine ord e r, and of the Discalced Conciliar Movement and crushed operation, however. Catholic laypeople capable of devot- C a r melites, who conducted a thor- ecclesiastical nationalism in the form The Conference should make a ing substantial time and eff o r t to oughgoing re f o rm of their order in of Gallicanism and its counterparts in strong public commitment to mana- the organization and management 1 6 t h - c e n t u r y Spain. The universal several nations. As a result, the papacy gerial change that will address short- of these eff o rts. Representatives of this C h u r ch likewise has undert a k e n maintained uncontested control of comings in the administration of the a d v i s o ry board should be included i n major institutional re f o rms; for ex- the Catholic Church through the U.S. Church and to an examination, the senior council of the Conference. ample, the of the middle of the twentieth century. with the full participation of the laity, The bishops’ conference should eleventh century, which imposed During the decade after Wo r l d of the controversial and divisive policy concomitantly examine its own stricter discipline on the clergy and War II, the Church in Europe, espe- issues that plague the U.S. Church. o r ganization and capabilities and s e c u r ed the independence of the cially in France, experienced a revi- That managerial agenda should make the necessary changes required C h u r ch from secular control. talization thanks to a number of include: to discharge these new responsibilities. At many times in her history, the movements that may be gro u p e d • Ensuring financial accountability Finally, the Conference should C h u rch has been threatened by false under the heading of ressourcement. and transparency in each and communicate to the pope and the re f o rms that, if accepted, would have The Second Vatican Council was able e v e r y and diocese and the absolute necessity d e n a t u red her. Such re f o rms were to build effectively on the revival of measuring financial perf o rm - of adopting modern management attempted by the Encratites in the sec- biblical and patristic studies, the ance and correcting short c o m - methods in the U.S. Church and the ond century, the Donatists in the liturgical movement, kerygmatic the- ings therein. Some accounting inevitability and desirability of includ- f o u rth century, the Waldensians in the ology, the catechetical renewal, the and re p o r ting guidelines were ing the laity as equal partners in delib- twelfth, the Spiritual Franciscans in lay , the ecumenical move- adopted by the Conference in erations about important policy issues. the thirteenth, Wy c l iffe in the four- ment, and the social apostolate. Aw a re 1971 and 1983 under the I recognize that the changes teenth, and Jan Hus in the fifteenth. of the negative connotations of term s leadership of Cardinal Terence recommended may appear to more The Conciliar movement in the like “re f o rmation,” Vatican II used Cooke; but these were only traditional members of the Church fifteenth century brought forth some such language very sparingly, but did guidelines, which could be to be radical and impossible to good fruits but came to a bad end at not shrink from implementing some ignored. No review or enforce- implement. Turnaround situations, the Council of Basel. Attempting to of the desiderata of Luther and the ment mechanism was provided. h o w e v e r, always re q u i r e radical c o n v e r t the Church into a kind of early Protestants. • Developing and standardizing action, and unless some dramatic constitutional monarc h y, it ran afoul Fearing that the term “re f o r m ” an approach to managing the action to energize a change program of the Catholic doctrine of papal had too negative a connotation, the human resources of each parish for the U.S. Church that fully p r i m a c y. Council spoke by pre f e r ence of and diocese and the U.S. incorporates the laity is undertaken, By the beginning of the sixteenth purification and renewal (renovatio). Church as a whole. This effort I believe the decline that is already century, the necessity of a thorough- The Constitution on the Church, for should encompass such needs as: well under way will only accelerate. going reform was generally recog- example, declared: “The Church, • Integrating the laity into the nized. After the failure of the Fifth embracing sinners in her bosom, is at overall governance and manage- F rederick W. Gluck is a former Lateran Council to achieve this the same time holy and always in ment of Church affairs and managing director of McKinsey & objective, the whole Church teemed need of being purified, and incessantly planning for the inevitable C o m p a n y, the consulting firm, and a for- with reform movements, notably pursues the path of penance and continuing shift of re s p o n s i b i l i t i e s mer vice chairman and director at the among Christian humanists such as renewal” (Lumen Gentium 8). at all levels of the Church to Bechtel Group. Desiderius Erasmus, John Colet, and In one passage, Vatican II spoke the laity. Thomas More. Catholic card i n a l s explicitly though very guardedly of • Defining and implementing a Reprinted with permission from America, such as Gaspar Contarini, James ecclesial re f o rm. In stating that the c o m p r ehensive program of December 1, 2003. Copyright 2003 by Sadoleto, Reginald Pole, and John C h u r ch is subject to re f o r m to the performance measurement and America Press Inc. Peter Caraffa, proposed timely re f o rm s extent that it is a human institution, management development some years before the Council of it implies the presence of a divine

B O S T O N C O L L E G E | C 2 1 R E S O U R C E S | F A L L 2 0 0 4 5 element that is not subject to reform. substance that was previously there. a diff e r ent gospel (1:6). The God. We must energetically oppose It rules out any attempt to reform the Unlike development, it implies that Catholic Church is unconditionally re f o r mers who contend that the deposit of faith. something has gone wrong and needs bound to her scriptures, her cre e d s , Church must abandon her claims to Since Vatican II, re f o rm movements to be corrected. The point of de- her dogmas, and her divinely instituted absolute truth, must allow dissent have proliferated, but some of them p a r t u r e for re f o r m is always an idea hiera rchical office and sacramental from her own doctrines, and must be have been ambiguous or misconceived. or institution that is aff i rmed but worship. To propose that the Church governed according to the principles On the left, we find initiatives that c o n s i d e r ed to have been imperf e c t l y should deny the divinity of Christ, or of liberal democracy. seek to make the Church more toler- or defectively realized. The goal is to retract the dogma of papal infallibili- False re f o rms, I conclude, are ant, more liberal, and more democrat- make persons or institutions more ty, or convert herself into a religious those that fail to respect the impera- i c . Some progressivist reformers aim faithful to an ideal already accepted. democracy, as some have done in the tives of the gospel and the divinely to dissolve the Church’s hierarchical Reform may be either restorative name of re f o r m, is to misunderstand given traditions and structures of the structure and transform her into an or pro g r essive. Restorative re f o rm both the nature of Catholicism and Church, or which impair ecclesial egalitarian democracy. Bishops have seeks to reactualize a better past or a the nature of reform. communion and tend rather toward past that is idealized. Progressive re- Anyone seeking to re f o rm the schism. Would-be re f o r mers often f o rm aims to move ahead toward an Church must share the Church’s faith proclaim themselves to be prophets, ideal or utopian future. Either and accept the essentials of her but show their true colors by their can run to excess. Restorative reform tends toward traditionalism; progres- sive reform, toward modernism. But neither direction can be ruled out. The immoral behavior of Catholics Sometimes the past needs to be repristinated; at other times, it may is a cause of scandal and defections– need to be transcended. In any discussion of re f o rm, two not only the sexual abuse of minors but opposite errors are to be avoided. The first is to assume that because sex outside of marriage, abortion, divorce, alcoholism, drug use, embezzlement, and corporate dishonesty. Desiderius Erasmus now and again criticized or condemned mission. The Church cannot take lack of humility, their impatience, and liberalizing groups such as the “We seriously the reforms advocated by their disre g a rd for the sacred scripture Are Church” movement, which origi- those who deny that Christ was Son and tradition. nated in Austria, and the “Call to of God and Redeemer, who assert It is often asserted that reformers Action” here in the United States. that the scriptures teach erro r, or ought to speak pro p h e t i c a l l y. This Moderately to the right are ortho- who hold that the Church should not may well be true, provided that the dox but intransigent theologians who require orthodoxy on the part of her n a t u r e of prophecy be corre c t l y a s p i re to “re f o rm the re f o rms” intro- members. Proposals coming from a understood. Thomas Aquinas made duced in the wake of Vatican II. At perspective alien to Christian faith an essential distinction between the extreme right, the Church is should be treated with the utmost prophecy as it functioned in the Old c o n f ronted by movements that seek suspicion if not dismissed as unwort h y Testament and as it functions within to undo the work of the Council it- Thomas More of consideration. the Church. The ancient prophets, self, restoring what they venerate as The Church must be herself, and he says, were sent for two purposes: Tridentine Catholicism. The Holy the Church is divinely instituted, it must not strive to become what “To establish the faith and to rectify See has condemned the re a c t i o n a ry never needs to be reformed. This nonbelievers might like her to be. behavior.” In our day, he adds, “the t r a d itionalism of Archbishop Marcel position is erroneous because it fails Her first responsibility is to preserve faith is already founded, because the Lefebvre. His breakaway Church and to attend to the human element. intact the revelation and the means of things promised of old have been a variety of so-called Sedevacantist Since all the members of the Church, grace that have been entrusted to her. fulfilled in Christ. But pro p h e c y movements are certainly schismatic including the pope and the bishops, Her second responsibility is to trans- which has as its goal to rectify behavior if not openly heretical. are limited in virtue and ability, they mit the faith in its purity and make it neither ceases nor will ever cease.” In order to make a sound evalua- may fail to live up to the principles operative in the lives of her members. Prophetism since the time of Christ, tion of reform movements, it will be of the faith itself. When guilty of Her third responsibility is to help as Congar reminds us, must always helpful to unpack the concept of negligence, timidity, or misjudgment, persons who are not yet her mem- be inscribed within the framework of re f o rm itself. To re f o rm is to give they may need to be corrected, as bers, and human society as a whole, a p o s t o l i c i t y. “Any prophetism that new and better form to a preexistent Paul, for example, corrected Peter to benefit from the redemptive work would, in one way or another, look re a l i t y, while pre s e rving the essentials. (Galatians 2:11). of Christ. for a revelation still open to substan- Unlike innovation, reform implies The second error would be to In our day, the prevailing climate tial accretions or admit the possibility organic continuity; it does not add assail or undermine the essentials of of agnosticism, relativism, and subjec- of changes in the apostolic revelation something foreign or extrinsic. Catholic Christianity. This would not tivism is frequently taken as having is not true prophetism of the Churc h . ” Unlike revolution or transformation, be re f o rm but dissolution. Paul the kind of normative value that To give in to revolut i o n a ry impulses re f o rm respects and retains the rebuked the Galatians for turning to belongs by right to the word of would impoverish the Churc h ’s

6 B O S T O N C O L L E G E | C 2 1 R E S O U R C E S | F A L L 2 0 0 4 divinely given legacy and impair her Notwithstanding all doubts about community but as the sacrifice of the d i f f e r ent groups may result fro m mission to the world. the proper balance between personal universal Church performed in union mechanisms introduced in the wake Since the Second Vatican Council, and institutional reform, it should be with the whole body of bishops and of Vatican II. The Council exalted i l l - c o n s i d e red projects for institutional clear that the Church of our day has the Bishop of Rome as its head. As the episcopacy to an unprecedented re f o rm have become a consuming no cause for complacency. At least Pope John Paul II reminds us in his peak of power and responsibility. No passion among certain intellectuals. here in the United States, it stands in recent encyclical, Holy Communion normal individual is capable of being Under the circumstances, it is u rgent need of far- reaching intellectual, cannot be worthily received except by at once the chief teacher, the leading understandable that some excellent spiritual, and moral regeneration. persons who are in union with the mystagogue, and the principal admin- t h e o l ogians react negatively to the very Some of the issues to be a d d ressed, I C h u r ch and free from serious sin istrator for millions of Catholics, idea. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger makes submit, are the following. (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 36-37; 44-45). responsible for a huge array of an important point: Religious illiteracy has sunk to a Religious practice is falling off . parishes, schools, universities, hospi- The reform that is needed at all times new low. We urgently need an effec- Many fail to attend Mass on Sundays. tals, and charitable org a n i z a t i o n s . does not consist in constantly remodeling tive program of catechesis and re l i- The sacrament of Penance is neglect- Bishops are also expected to be in “our” Church according to our taste... gious education on all levels. T h e e d by the vast majority of Catholics. constant consultation with pastoral or in inventing her ourselves, but in Catechism of the Catholic Church is There is a serious dearth of vocations councils and senates of priests. ceaselessly clearing away our subsidiary only the first step in this revival, since to the priesthood and the religious life. Within the diocese, the bishop holds constructions to let in the pure light that the renewal it stands for cannot be The immoral behavior of Catholics, the fullness of legislative, judicial, comes from above and that is also the implemented without the form a t i o n both lay and clerg y, is a cause of and executive power. dawning of pure freedom. of a corps of trained catechists and scandal and defections. Under this In addition to their tasks within the preparation of suitable materials heading I would include not only their respective dioceses, bishops are Doubts About Reform for the religious education of diff e r- sexual abuse of minors, which has regularly engaged in the deliberations He goes on to observe that “the ent age groups and constituencies. been so extensively publicized in and decisions of the national episcopal m o re administrative machinery we Dissent is rampant, not only on recent years, but sex outside of mar- c o n f e rence to which they belong and construct, be it the most modern, the secondary and reformable teachings riage, abortion, divorce, alcoholism, in some cases have assignments fro m less place there is for the Spirit, the but even on central doctrines of the the use and marketing of drugs, one or more of its multiple committees. less place there is for the Lord, and faith. Catholics should be trained to d o mestic violence, defamation, and A number of them are also involved in the less freedom there is.” have greater confidence in the financial scandals such as falsification the government of the universal Henri de Lubac speaks in similar Magisterium, which enjoys a special of re c o r ds and embezzlement. The C h u rch . They occasionally serve on terms: assistance from the Holy Spirit. They morality of Catholics all too often c o n g reg ations of the , and I do not believe that structural re f o rm s, should willingly conform their private sinks below the standards commonly take part in synods of bishops. No about which there has been much debate judgment to its teaching, even when o b s e rved by Protestants and unbelievers. wonder that there are failures in the for some years, are ever the main part handling of certain assignments of of a program that must aim at the only priests and other personnel. t rue renewal, spiritual renewal. I even fear that the present-day inflation of Reform is a good thing, but history teaches "A Man of High Culture" such projects and discussions furn i s h e s A c c o rding to the job description an all-too-convenient alibi to avoid it. that it can be misconceived and indiscreet. in the official documents, the bishop The conciliar formula “Ecclesia semper ought to be a man of high culture , purificanda” seems to me as to others The only reform the Church should consider is f i rm in faith, solid in ort h o d o x y, a [e.g., Jean-Jacques von Allmen] “much paragon of holiness, graciously win- superior to the ‘Ecclesia semper re f o r - one based on authentically Christian and ning in personality, able to assess the manda’ which is used so extensively talents and weaknesses of others, nearly every w h e r e.” But I do believe, Catholic principles. skilled at managing large corporations on the other hand, that any distur- and conducting fiscal policy, eloquent bance, any change, or any relaxation of in the pulpit, fearless under criticism, the essential stru c t u r e of the Churc h indefatigable, and always self-possessed. would suffice to endanger all spiritual no dogmatic definition has been made. S e l f - e v i d e n t l y, these and similar Do we have in the United States a re n e w a l . The call for a new evangelization re f o rms ought to be undert a k e n s u fficient supply of priests with all C a rdinal de Lubac is not here s t rongly issued by Paul VI and John under the leadership of the bishops. these qualities? Many of the c a n d i- denying the desirability of any and all Paul II has fallen, it would seem, on U n f o r t u n a t e l y, however, the pre s t i g e dates being elevated to the episcopate, institutional re f o rms, but only insisting deaf ears. The majority of Catholics of the bishops is today at a new low. it would seem, are men of ord i n a ry that we should not exaggerate their have little appreciation of their mission In some cases, there is alienation abilities, kind and hardworking, but importance and that we always take to spread the faith as a precious gift between bishops and priests. Laity incapable of measuring up to the al- care to leave intact the essential and intended for all. In some cases, they a r e in some places org a n i z i n g most superhuman responsibilities of abiding structures of the Church. He behave as if faith were an unwelcome against bishops and seeking to apply the office. They run the risk of being is surely correct in thinking that no b u rden. Members of fundamentalist fiscal pre s s u r es and negative public- m o r a l l y, psychologically, and spiritually social re o rga nization will be able to c h u rches, Mormons, and Pentecostals ity as means to bring about what c rushed under the burdens. As a prime overcome the human tendency to sin commonly exhibit a stronger mis- they see as re f o r ms. This situation s t ructural problem, there f o re, I would and erro r. The most perfect stru c t u re s , s i o n a ry t h rust than Catholics. makes for new problems, likewise single out for special attention the in the hands of incompetent or selfish L i t u rgical laws are often flouted. calling for ref o rm. The Church cannot episcopal office. What can be done administrators, will only make things The sacraments need to be celebrated be made to function like a political to re s t o re the priestly and pastoral worse. But where people are motivated with dignity and reverence. The Mass c o m m u n i t y, with adversarial part i e s m i n i s t r y of bishops to its position by faith and genero s i t y, even deficient should be seen not simply as a com- contending for supremacy. of primacy? s t ru c t u res will be tolerable. munal meal celebrated by a local Some of the alienation between In this context, the relationship

B O S T O N C O L L E G E | C 2 1 R E S O U R C E S | F A L L 2 0 0 4 7 between clergy and laity may need the benefit of the Church. Although tion, the respective responsibilities of to participate in the process. some reconsideration. The distinc- the order of the Catholic Churc h c l e r gy and laity must be clearly Where existing institutions prove tion of roles, clearly spelled out by cannot be congregational, members demarcated. Whenever the functions clearly inadequate, institutional re f o rm the Second Vatican Council, can be of the congregation can make a a r e confused, misunderstandings, has a claim on our consideration. But overstepped from both sides. Bishops, positive contribution, especially tensions, and conflict follow. Success- it is less important and fruitful in the in their zeal to give explicit pastoral w h e re their professional skills and ex- ful cooperation might help to reduce long run than personal re f o rm, which d i r ection on every question and to perience are needed. There is every the excessive load of re s p o n s i b i l i t y re q u i r es purification of the heart c o n t rol everything that goes on in reason why the voice of the faithful that now weighs upon bishops. f r om pride, sensuality, and lust for their diocese, sometimes infringe on should be heard, provided it does not The idea of reform is as old as power. Where there is a humble and the proper competence of the laity, come from an adversarial stance as Christianity itself. Reform is by defi- loving spirit, combined with firm whose responsibility it is to apply the part of a scheme to seize power. nition a good thing, and frequently is faith and stringent self-discipline, gospel to the circumstances of the I submit, there f o re, that a gre a t needed both on the personal and institutional re f o r m will be at once marketplace, the professions, and deal of thought and probably some the institutional level. But history less urgent and easier to achieve. political life. But the laity should experimentation are needed to arrive teaches that re f o rm can be miscon- understand that doctrinal teaching, at the correct via media between cler- ceived and indiscreet. The only kind Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., holds the pastoral governance, and liturg i c a l icalism and laicism. Plenty of org a n s of re f o rm that the Church should Laurence J. McGinley Chair in Religion leadership are tasks ordinarily re s e rv e d for collaboration now exist: plenary consider is one based on authentically and Society at Fordham University. This to persons in , especially councils, diocesan synods, diocesan Christian and Catholic principles. essay is adapted from a lecture at the pope and bishops. and parish councils, and committees. Holy Scripture and Catholic tradition Fordham in April 2003. Within the Church itself, the laity New structures would not seem to be give the necessary parameters. All have certain rights and re s p o n s i b i l i t i e s , n e c e s s a ry. Often more is accomplished who propose ecclesial reform should Excerpted with permission from First Things: as sharers by baptism in the threefold by informal consultations than by make it clear at the outset that they A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life, office of Christ: prophet, priest, and official meetings. s i n c e r ely embrace these principles, August-September 2003. Copyright 2003 by king. Their talents should be used for For the sake of successful coopera- otherwise they should not be invited the Institute on Religion and Public Life.

must deal with this when electing a pope, and the one chosen will have Task for the Next Church Council to address this disaster in some appropriate way.

B Y R AY M O N D G. H E L M I C K the pervasive sexual disorders. Since we make fools of ourselves if we be- The Sex-Abuse Question the cardinal archbishop of Boston has lieve that a few hangings, a reign of Anyone can see the social imma- ave we a new Council had to resign his see, calls for other terror in the Church, will resolve t u r i t y, especially the re t a rded psycho- of the Church in our resignations abound; all refer to the these issues. Our ills are so endemic sexual development, of pre d a t o r near future? When pope as the only one who can judge, to the system that it is mere evasion priests. There have to be reasons for Pope John XXIII an- order, or accept them. Roman offi- to heap all the blame on individu- these disorders, and things in the expe- s w e red that question cials shrink from the thought, fearing als. Venting our outrage on them rience and formation of these priests Ha f f i r matively back in 1959, the that bishops may go down like a row may give us some self-indulgent that have led to their perversions. We rather sclerotic Catholic Church of of dominoes. satisfaction, but it does not addre s s h e a r a good deal about sexual sin, but the time faced a broadening crisis of If we are to attack this pro b l e m the underlying problems at all. Tw o basic attitudes toward sexuality are re l e v a n c y, but nothing like the ca- root and branch, we must be clear obvious questions stand out: one among the things that we shy away t a s t r ophe we have experienced since that the roots are in Rome, where about our attitudes toward sexuality, f rom discussing in our Churc h . J a n u a ry 2002. As we discovered how o f ficialdom expected that bishops the other about the governance of It does not stand to our credit if w i d e s p read was the crisis of child sex- would set as their first priority the the Church. On both matters, our we re g a rd one of God's most pre- ual abuse by priests, how long a time protection of the institution’s reputa- whole process needs to be opened cious gifts to us with the disdain and it had been going on, and how Churc h tion from scandal. up. While there may be other ways evasion that human sexuality has leaders had concealed it, we entered a That is not to say that the pope of doing this, the traditional one is received in much of our tradition, devastating period of collapsing tru s t did it; this is the sort of thing that in a Council of the Churc h . the furtiveness with which it is tre a t e d . and fierce re c r i m i n a t i o n . comes from a bure a u c r a c y. Nor This may well be the matter for a This applies not only to Catholics We have urgent questions about should we be surprised. This is the new papacy, which will come in its but to most other Christians as well. whether the bishops, whose actions way of large institutions, as examples time, although Pope John Paul II The antisexual tradition goes back to h o rri fy us even more than those of ranging from Enron to the United keeps surprising those who write him Saint Augustine, many of his contem- the pederasts, will be held account- States government constantly teach o f f and addressing new pro b l e m s poraries, and even older authorities, able in any credible way. That is ter- us. Bishops have simply followed with new energy. We may expect that but actually has its roots in the pagan ribly disillusioning for all who wish institutional pro c e d u r es. We have when the cardinals next meet to elect world of their time, its dualism (re- to have confidence in the Church as to suspect that any bishop who would a pope, these matters, weighing on flected in the Manichaeism that had an institutional stru c t u re thro u g h not go along would have found the whole Catholic Church, will be at so attracted Augustine), and its dis- which to live their faith. Accountability, himself at the end of his career course. the front of their minds. The leaders gust with the body and the material which seems an ultimate re d l i n e We have serious questions, then, in the Church have a responsibility to circumstances of life. question for the Roman authorities, to ask about basic habits in the ask why these things have happened. In the recruitment of our Catholic constitutes a quite distinct issue from C h u rch. Angry though people may be, We will all be telling them they clergy and religious members, this

8 B O S T O N C O L L E G E | C 2 1 R E S O U R C E S | F A L L 2 0 0 4 attitude creates opportunities for young question of authority structures in freer. The Christian community is to system of Roman law, such a figure people simply to evade or postpone the Church. build up its members in a living of as Cardinal Law in Boston, like any dealing with the issue of sexuality at We have seen protection of the the faith, in the confident service of other bishop–caught though he was all, t reating it as something that has institution and its managers set above God in others around us, especially in the headlights of a condition that nothing to do with them. Many of us even the most basic moral responsi- those most in need. Of course, the is the fundamental commonplace know celibates who, even much later bilities. Our foundational Christian Christian community eventually throughout the Church so governed– in life, have never genuinely faced S c r i p t u r e calls for the most open became large and complex, acquiring was constituted judge of his accusers. themselves. This is especially tempting dealings among us. The “rulers of the respectability and a great deal of How could he escape this? Early in to those with some ambivalence, gentiles,” we are told, “lord it over secular responsibility for civil society the debacle, the lay members of sev- uncertainty, or fear about their own them, and their great men know how –first under Constantine and his eral existing parish councils, some of sexuality. We may try to screen out to make their authority felt,” but successor emperors, and again in the the most devoted of all his Catholic such individuals as candidates, but we “among you this is not to happen” harsher eleventh century. By then it people, attempted to construct an can expect little success if the scre e n e r s (Matt. 20, 25). Ours is to be a found itself in need of orderly struc- association among them–a much themselves share those attitudes. Church where “there is nothing hid- tures for its own governance. milder venture than the better-known den, but it must be disclosed, noth- What happened was that it turned, Voice of the Faithful. The inevitable A Poisonous Legacy ing kept for lack of any specifically Christian response, in terms of the law as The bishops at the Second Vatican secret except to be brought to light” s t r u c t u re of law, to purely secular constituted, was to reject the associa- Council made a concerted eff o r t (Mark 4, 22). To appeal to such fun- s o u r ces. Just by reason of time and tion as something built other than on never to accept this disparagement of damentals of Christ's teaching seems place, the Christians who established the executive’s will and hence the sexual character of human beings simply ironic today, and we need to our internal canons of law adopted potentially divisive. and the sexual expression of human ask why. the categories of Roman law, which Is this form of legal stru c t u r e of love, particularly in their teaching on We have become a very law-bound still dominate not only the law the nature of Christianity? By no celibacy. But the poisoning tradition Church. That in itself accords ill with of the Catholic Church but also, as means. “The Christian ideal,” as G. still holds on–one that sees people’s K. Chesterton once told us, “has not sexuality as the bad thing about them, been tried and found wanting; it has of which they should be ashamed, been found difficult and left untried.” and suggests that they try to live as if they didn’t have it. Discussion of this Rome’s Te n t a c l e s whole area has long been treated with We have become a very We are often told that the Church so much reluctance and suspicion as is no democracy, and the reasoning to contribute to a widespread imma- law-bound Church. That accords has been, essentially, that this Roman turity in our community–such that imperial system is the form of its law. we ought not be surprised when it But that has nothing whatever to do leads to bizarre consequences like ill with the priorities set in the with Christian principle. The Roman priest–pedophilia. The wild chaos of system was adopted only because it sexual permissiveness that character- letters of Saint Paul, which stress was the most obvious law available at izes so much of our contemporary the time when the Church first found scene can actually be seen as simply that our salvation is by faith, not itself so extensive an institution as to the reverse side of this same coin. need some such structure of order. It Many commentators, some with by the works of the law. has had so long a tenure in the p r econceived agendas, want to Church's experience that it will be a a p p roach this pathology with instant painfully intricate thing to extract solutions, like the abolition of manda- ourselves from its tentacles, should t o r y celibacy or the ordination of we so choose, but that is the enter- women, without undertaking the more prise that our current pre d i c a m e n t fundamental reflection that the matter the priorities set in the letters of Code Napoleon, the legal systems of demands. Such a task will re q u i r e a re q u i res. These issues will doubtless Saint Paul, which stress that our sal- most European countries. commitment longer than the dura- come into the picture and will vation is by faith, not by the works of The law is Roman but has no tion of a Council of the Church, but eventually have the attention of such the law. We search our scripture for a essentially Christian character to it. its initiation is properly the work of a Council as we may hope to see. We “law of Christ,” and what we find, in It is the law of empire, and its a Council. owe it to the integrity of the faith to such texts as the Sermon on the governing premise is that the will of U n d o u b t e d l y, many of the authority examine this void in our understanding Mount, is instead an insistence that the sovereign is law. That this should f i g u r es who reign in the Churc h of the human being more carefully we must never satisfy ourselves with have become the basis of canon law is would find it much more comfortable b e f o re settling for easy solutions. o b s e r ving merely the re q u i r e m e n t s entirely anomalous. It is the very sys- to resist any accountability. They Many question whether celibacy set by a law. Instead, we must always tem of domination that Christ so ex- have lived without it as long as they or virginity can be other than damag- strive to do more, to put ourselves at plicitly rejects for his followers. It has have had their jobs. But the situation ing to the persons committed to the service of others–never by con- provided a kind of order–essentially, has become untenable now. The them. No one will be able to defend straint, but by a willing offering of self. an imposition of order–to much of executive seat in the Church-as-cor- their value convincingly unless a You can’t codify that. Europe ever since Roman imperial poration currently stands empty. This m a t u re and welcoming understand- That makes the Christian commu- times, but its fundamental flaw is that must pose a dilemma for our present ing of sexuality and sexual identity nity an unwelcoming place in which t h e re is no room in it for making those pope–a centralizing figure who yet becomes the common pro p e r ty of to develop a culture of law. We have who govern accountable. asks so earnestly for the thoughts of Christians. a diff e r ent kind of mandate fro m By no choice of his, but by the all Christians on how his office may Still more pressing, however, is the Christ–more difficult, perhaps, but simple fact of his rank within this better contribute to unity in the

B O S T O N C O L L E G E | C 2 1 R E S O U R C E S | F A L L 2 0 0 4 9 C h u r ch. It has got to emerge as the tion of relations in society rather not expect to construct it at one matter of law and a structure of serv- main topic of discussion when the than mere retribution, but these stroke. We have a time before us to ice, humility, and accountability, cardinals meet to elect his successor. remain a novelty, still in their teething learn some of the humility that is so many other than the bishops of the The man who emerges from that stage. Those so inclined have found conspicuously lacking in the system Church need to be heard and respect- conclave will know that this is the top some useful lessons in the p r a c t i c e s by which we now operate. fully consulted. item on his plate. of Native Americans, the circ l e - The Second Vatican Council, in We face challenges to the basic T h e re are, of course, multiple sentencing concept among their fact, went some distance toward con- credibility of our Church, and hence systems of law we could draw on, most attractive features. None of s t ructing such a system in the first of our teaching, of no less magnitude many of which are free of either the these, though helpful, have specifically two chapters of Lumen Gentium, the than those of the sixteenth century. arbitrary, unaccountable character of the inspiration of Christian gospel dogmatic constitution on the Church. The Catholic Church re s p o n d e d the Roman law or the exclusively behind them - but neither has the Those chapters, however, have since poorly then, and paid with centuries retributive character of common law. current Roman-law-inspired law of been negated–first by a distru s t f u l of division and dissension among Many of these systems of justice exist the Church. period of anxiety, and then by a con- Christian believers when its defen- among peoples whom we in the West Are we capable, then, of construct- centrated period of clawing back siveness turned the attempted Refor- tend to re g a r d patro n i z i n g l y, as hav- ing a system of internal order for our f r om any tendencies toward the mation into a lasting breach. If we ing civilizations less complex than Church that would genuinely spring accountability of those who govern . should treat the present crisis as less ours. Yet South Africans, seeking a f rom sources within the Christian Is this indeed the work of a Coun- serious than it is, we can expect to see m o r e wholesome system of justice gospel tradition? The process would cil? We may well believe that it is– disruption of a comparable sort. than the one they received from the have to begin by recognizing the and one much needed in the face of E u ropean colonists, found much of profoundly a–Christian, even anti- the deservedly low esteem into which Rev. Raymond G. Helmick, S.J., teaches value in the native African concept of Christian, character of the law we the governance of the Church has conflict resolution at Boston College. For ubuntu–the strong, restorative presently have–disruptive of Christ- fallen. The Council would need to many years he has mediated in conflicts concept that inspired their Tru t h ian living and corrosive, as we are face squarely both of these outstanding ranging from Northern Ireland to the and Reconciliation Commission. seeing with the sex scandal, of the questions: the sexuality question and Middle East to the Balkans. Lawyers and judges in our country, most fundamental values of Christian that of law and structure. On the and in some parts of Europe and faith. We would have to reflect long sexuality question, the Church needs Reprinted with permission from Human Australia, have experimented with and carefully to build an ord e r e d to hear from many persons of author- Development Magazine, Vol. 24 No. 3. systems of restorative justice, in Church community that truly related ity, intellectual and spiritual, other Copyright 2003 by Human Development. which the objective is the re s t o r a - to values of that faith, and we could than bishops. Just as much, on the

Information Defi c i t

Why the Church’s hierarchy isn’t working

B Y A N D R E W G R E E L E Y ership. Any attempt to govern with and offer tentative recommendations be done at a lower and smaller level). the same style that was effective in for reform. In doing so, I will eschew Such reasoning, based on simplistic espite the fax machines 1850 would be like the United States theological arguments. My thesis is faith and even more simplistic theology and computers ubiqui- t rying to re t u r n to the pre s i d e n t i a l that many of the problems facing the (or a calculating one), in effect re g a rd s tous today in off i c e s style of Theodore Roosevelt, who C h u rch today flow not from theologi- the Church as purely divine and thus of the Roman curia, used to sit in a rocking chair in the cal erro r, bad will, or malice, but fro m unaffected by the problems that beset the institutional or- “ rose garden” at the end of the day inadequate information. A reorgani- other human institutions. Don’t Dganization of the Vatican has not and talk to federal workers as they zation of the Church will not by itself w o r ry about the poverty of leader- changed appreciably since the late walked home across the White heal the polarization between those ship, pious folk (including cardinals) eighteenth century. Perhaps the House lawn. who enthusiastically support the tell me, God will not desert his o rga nization of the Vatican worked To a relative Vatican outsider like Second Vatican Council and those Church. (Does that also mean God well enough one hundred fifty years myself, the Church’s need for organi- who want to reverse it, but without was responsible for all the errors and ago. Yet the Church stretches to the zational Change seems self-evident. an open flow of information, healing mistakes the Church has made?) Yet ends of the earth and is now re s p o n - Yet few bishops are ready to consider is not possible. all that was promised to the Church sible for the religious life of at least a drastic re f o rm of the Churc h ’s intern a l Many in Rome and elsewhere in by Jesus was survival—the gates of 1.2 billion people in a world of jet operations. They do not comprehend the Catholic world contend that the hell will not prevail against it. t r a n s p o r tation and almost instant that decision-making is shaped by the Church does not need social science Whether this erroneous perspec- communication. More o v e r, the information available to the decision- because it has the Holy Spirit. Hence tive is based on naive piety or (delib- modest re f o rms of Vatican II quite makers, and that, in the absence of the tools of management science are erately) bad theology does not matter. unintentionally destabilized the good information, serious mistakes not relevant. Nor, because of its It must be dismissed out of hand, for s t r u c t u res (what sociologists call are made. divine origin, does the Church need the Church is subject to the same behavior patterns and the support i n g In this article, I will develop a to apply to itself its own principle of o r ganizational dynamics as other motivations) of the Church and thus social-science critique of the internal subsidiarity (nothing should be done human institutions. If the Church is to diminished the credibility of its lead- organization of the Catholic Church at a higher and larger level that can function effectively, it needs to follow

1 0 B O S T O N C O L L E G E | C 2 1 R E S O U R C E S | F A L L 2 0 0 4 the same principles of subsidiarity with the United States. We routinely levels of the Church has been rare. how to listen (neither of which it is any other human institution must. hear of Rome’s solemn concern for But we desperately need it now. The c u r rently ready to do), but must see Subsidiarity opens the way for the the problems affecting the American flat shape of the Church and lack of to it that effective channels for both maximum input from the Spirit. C h u r ch. Yet the truth is that the collaboration are not, one can safely communication and collaboration T h e re may be some sense in which Vatican is largely clueless, not simply s a y, part of the essence of the Churc h . exist at every level. subsidiarity does not apply to the because of its anti-American bias or These organizational failings are now Some will complain that this is C h u rch, but there must be some sense because of stupidity (though one preventing the upward flow of infor- nothing more than an argument for in which it does—at least when it must not exclude those factors), but mation and the utilization of all avail- making doctrinal decisions by majority comes to organizational management. because there is no way for the curia able talent and insight, and placing vote. That is not my goal. My pro p o s a l (John XXIII said that it does apply to to acquire adequate inform a t i o n the Church in a straitjacket. The pope seeks only to involve as many people as the Church; John Paul II says it does about the United States or any other may speak on marriage with sere n e possible in collaborative efforts so that confidence. Yet if he wants to be the final decision will be based on the h e a rd by those to whom he is speaking, best possible information and the it would be helpful if his listeners felt wisest possible insights. If that hap- they had some input into his re f l e c t i o n s . pens, the final decision will have Perhaps the most serious issue facing the As the most elementary dictum of m o re influence rather then less. One management science puts it, all those may even say Rome will have greater next papal conclave is whether the present whose cooperation will be necessary authority. to implement a decision should have How does one go about creating strongly centralized organization of the input. To put it more clearly, top subsidiarity in the Church? I would C h u r ch leadership should not only recommend consideration of the Church can continue. want to listen, not only try to learn following suggestions:

not. I am pre p a red to agree with both; country. Thus the pope was, through they were speaking of diff e r ent no fault of his own, apparently not THE CHURCH IN THE 2 1 ST CENTURY dimensions of the Churc h . ) a w a r e of the seriousness of the P e r haps the most serious issue sexual-abuse problem. How was he AND BOSTON COLLEGE’S facing the next papal conclave is to know, if no one told him? whether the present strongly central- It took a long, long time for the INSTITUTE OF RELIGIOUS EDUCAT I O N ized organization of the Church can curia to realize how serious the crisis continue. The truth is that it doesn’t was in the United States. It is not AND PASTORAL MINISTRY work very well because the current clear even now that it understands structure is “flat.” There is in practice the sexual-abuse problem, or realizes Present two online learning experiences for the general public no ord e red hierarchy leading down that the problem is not confined to f r om the pope to the local bishops, the Church in the United States. One and no reliable flow of inform a t i o n Roman official attributed clerical What Makes Us Ca t h o l i c ? coming up from the local Churc h . sexual abuse to the “hypersexuality of October 1 - November 5, 2004 and January 10 - February 25, 2005 For example, the pope must super- American culture.” In the absence of vise several thousand bishops. Ye t better information, more careful re- corporate theory suggests that an search, and deeper understanding of Parents Handing on the Fa i t h executive should supervise no more the various countries in the Catholic March 11 - April 22, 2005 than seven subordinates. True, the world, curial officials fall back on pope exercises control with the help vague generalizations that are often of the heads of the various curial little more than uninformed clichés. Courses designed by Professor Thomas Groome, the c o n g r egations and the dozen or so They do so not because they are ma- members of his cabinet, but these licious, but because they are ignorant. Institute’s director, and Barbara Radtke of its faculty men specialize in subject matter Inadequate information leads to bad and are facilitated by a team of online instructors. (liturgy, the making of bishops, etc.), decisions. That inevitably happens in not in regions of the world or specific a “flat” organization. Whoever the Requirements: Internet access and a commitment to full participation. countries. The pope’s task is there- next pope is, he must open up (Note: It is not necessary for participants to be online at an appointed f o r e impossible, both because he is communication within the Churc h time; all can sign on, use resources, or post a message 24/7.) personally responsible for far too and transform the flatness of the many superv i s o r y tasks, and because organization. Courses are four weeks, with an introductory technology tutorial. the available sources of inform a - Another mark of good manage- Cost: $75 (+materials). Enrollment limited to 200 (in groups of 12) tion—either through the papal nun- ment is the ability to govern collab- for each course session. cios in the various countries or thro u g h o r a t i v e l y. In every org a n i z a t i o n , the various curial departments–are someone is ultimately responsible for For more information, go on the Web to: bound to be thin and often contradic- making decisions. Successful managers w w w. b c . e d u / s c h o o l s / g s a s / i r e p m / c o n t i n u i n g e d / d i s t a n c e e d tory. How can the Vatican know the listen very carefully to subord i n a t e s , truth about a specific problem in a h o w e v e r, and take into account their or call Maureen Lamb, 617 552 8057 or the IREPM, 800 487 1167 specific country? advice and recommendations. Such Think of the Va t i c a n ’s re l a t i o n s collaborative work at the highest

B O S T O N C O L L E G E | C 2 1 R E S O U R C E S | F A L L 2 0 0 4 1 1 Return the selection of bishops kind of supermajority) on all dioceses. Note carefully that at no point in world. The curia should rely on and to the local Church. The “Great” They should have authority to make this vast stru c t u r e is papal authority consist of specialists whose training popes of the early Church (Leo and decisions in many matters without under challenge. The pope might and function is to understand the G re g o r y) said that a new bishop prior clearance from Rome, though have to listen to many more people, C h u rch in all its distant manifestations. should be selected by the priests, the pope would have the right to re- some of them doubtless with wild C h u rch leadership should make accepted by the people, and conse- view any decision he thought harmful ideas. On the other hand, if he did e v e ry eff o rt to prevent the curia’s crated by the bishops of the province. to the faithful. not want to listen to them, he would common practice of drawing up He should not be imposed on them P r omote local, regional, and not be forced to do so. Nor would elaborate a priori plans for the en- from the outside. supernational synods. There is also there be any limitation on his right to t i re Church with little or no consul- In the American Church, until the a need for supernational synods (Euro- micromanage any subsidiary institu- tation from those who might be 1919 revision of canon law, the “irre- p e a n , N o rth American, English- tion in the Church, right down to the a ff e c t e d . A classic case is the re c e n t movable” pastors of the Archdiocese speaking world) with clearly delimited local diocese or parish. My plan is General Instruction of the Roman of Chicago had the right to submit a powers, as well as more local synods not to put restraints on a pope but Missal. The experts at the Congre g a- terna (a list of three candidates for within a country. This pro c e s s rather to make more inform a t i o n tion for Divine Worship share with bishop) to Rome. So did the bishops would force bishops to attend even available to him and his advisers. their fellow liturgists a propensity for of Illinois and the archbishops of the m o r e meetings, but perhaps not Papal elections. As for the election spinning out of the air fussy ru b r i c a l c o u n t ry. Hence, not so long ago, many more than they do now. Such of a pope, it will not do to re t u rn it to re f o rms that they think address cru c i a l some form of popular nomination of synods ought not to be merely the actual (instead of titular) parish p roblems—in this case lack of re v e r- bishops existed. I would propose that p i l grimages from preconceived ideas priests of Rome. Clearly, the historical ence at the Eucharist and a failure to in the future, the priests of Chicago to foregone conclusions, as some p rocess for the election of the bishop distinguish between the priest and the (perhaps the priest council) should be American bishops are now re c o m - of Rome has evolved and is now quite l a i t y. In fact, any serious empirical able to submit a terna to the pastoral mending for a plenary council. b road, yet the priests of Rome ought analysis (which is hard for liturgists council (laity). The latter would either because they know everything alre a d y ) accept it or work out a compromise or high-quality information of any kind terna, which would then go on to f rom the would have Rome. The pope would then choose shown that the serious liturgical pro b- the new archbishop or request another There is in practice no ordered lem is not the occasional lack of re v e r- terna (and if he deemed it necessary, ence or the almost nonexistent collapse another and yet another indefinitely). of the distinction between clergy and It would be difficult to keep these hierarchy leading down from the l a i t y. The sad truth is that the liturgy is discussions secret, and perhaps it boring, especially when it is marked by would be better not to try. Secrecy is pope to the local bishops, and no poor music and bad preaching. If the a dubious strategy in a Church whose C o n g reg ation for Divine Worship was founder warned that what is whis- reliable flow of information coming t ruly interested in the quality of the p e red in the closets will be pro c l a i m e d l i t u rg y, it would launch a worldwide from the housetops. It is also an im- campaign to improve serm o n s . possible strategy in the contemporary up from the local Church. Is there any chance that the next world where whispers find their way pope would begin to move in these instantly into the international media. directions? One would be ill-advised Such a change need not be as to bet on it. Still, the most serious a b rupt as at first it may seem, espe- Furthermore, the Church should to have and nominate their own vicar. failures of the Church since 1960 are cially since it would be in part a rehabilitate the international synod of Still, some way must be found for the due not to a resistance to change, but return to a system that persisted until bishops in Rome, give it canonical c l e rgy and laity of the world to be in- to the failure to adjust to the admin- the early twentieth century. It would and theological status, free it fro m volved in the choice. istrative and managerial demands of a be necessary, though, to revise canon domination by the curia, and perm i t R e f o rmi ng the Roman curia. The world Church in a world culture. All law. While the pope would still have it to establish its own offices in Rome p roblem with the curia, as I see it, is too often today, the world episcopate the final say, even he would not be and prepare its own agenda (subject not that it’s too big but rather that its appears as an isolated oligarchy, a re- able to impose a bishop whom the to papal approval). Between meetings, two thousand members are much too moved priestly caste claiming access priests and people did not want. a group of its members should be small a staff for advising the leader of a to special knowledge of God’s will. Would there be politics in such a appointed interim re p resentatives, and C h u rch of 1.2 billion people. The curia Only systematic reform of how the system? Cert a i n l y. To be sure, the be available for consultation with must be larg e r, better trained, more institution gathers information can present system of covert cronyism has the pope whenever he desires it—or, p rofessional, and more restrained in its change that appearance. plenty of politics also. Could the p e r haps, whenever they request it. p ropensity to interf e re in pro b l e m s Holy Spirit work through a more The idea would work only if a pope that could be solved better at a local R e v. Andrew Greeley is a priest of the democratic process? Probably more was completely committed to consul- level. Te rms of service should be limited Archdiocese of Chicago. His new books effectively than in the present system. tation. The synod, like a general council, to two five-year periods (or maybe only are The Catholic Revolution: New S t rengthen national bishops’ h o w e v e r, would have no authority one), so that membership on a curial Wine in Old Wineskins (University of c o n f e re n c e s . Subsidiarity re q u i r e s over the pope and no right to re v e r s e s t a ff would not become a pre re q u i s i t e California Press), Priests: A Calling in that national hierarchies be given his decisions. The synod would be for ecclesiastical advancement. Perh a p s Crisis (University of Chicago Pre s s ) , more authority and power—and thus nothing more than a group under the a rule could be made that would pre- and a novel, The Priestly Sins (Tor). be rehabilitated from Cardinal Joseph inspiration of the Spirit who would be clude immediate election to a bishopric Ratzinger’s attacks on them. National ready to discuss problems facing the f rom a curial position. Finally, there Reprinted with permission from Commonweal, bishops’ conferences should be able C h u r ch with the pope, and to whom should be a division of labor based on March 5, 2004. Copyright 2004 by to enforce decisions (made by some the pope (presumably) would listen. re p resentation from the regions of the Commonweal.

1 2 B O S T O N C O L L E G E | C 2 1 R E S O U R C E S | F A L L 2 0 0 4 reign in the world. And the religious Open Questions on the Roman Co l l a r o r ders will most likely remain exclusively male or female. In other w o r ds, to be a Jesuit or a Sister of M e r c y, one will still be re q u i r ed to take vows of povert y, chastity, and Celibacy and the ordination of women should be central obedience, and to live in same-sex communities. But should a sem- to the debate over the future of the Catholic priesthood blance of this venerable tradition, historically grounded in monastic s p i r i t u a l i t y, be imposed on all priests, specifically through the pre c o n d i t i o n of celibacy? B Y T H O M A S H. G R O O M E of the U.S. Catholic Bishops, Bishop up and saves face at all costs for For almost 1,200 years, Christianity Wilton Gregory, discusses the matter, members of the club. had a married priesthood. The gospels n a communiqué from Rome and expresses concern that homosexuals And why were so many known re c o rd Jesus healing Peter’s mother- following their meeting last not reach a majority among priests. abusers shuttled from parish to parish? i n - l a w, and some 40 popes after him month, the U.S. cardinals and That implies there is already a high One reason is the dire shortage of w e re marr i e d – f o rm a l l y. So, to make episcopal leaders said that p e r centage. But why would the priests. That shortage, a crisis long celibacy optional is not a new liberal because “a link between priesthood be attracting a dispro p o r- b e f o r e this scandal hit, is attributable idea but a re t u rn to the practice of Ipedophilia and celibacy cannot be tionate number? Surely many good to having celibacy as a pre c o n d i t i o n the early Church. scientifically maintained” they would Catholic gay men, told by their for priesthood. When the We s t e rn Church man- remove priestly celibacy from the C h u r ch that their orientation is But even if celibacy is not one of dated celibacy for priests (often dated discussion. Those who hope for a “intrinsically disord e red” and that the root causes of the present scandal, from the Second Lateran Council of systemic overhaul of priestly ministry they are “called to chastity” for life, and even if women among our priests 1139), it was for some noble re a s o n s know that when celibacy is taken off say to themselves, If I must be and bishops would not have pre v e n t e d to better serve people but for some the table, the same surely follows for celibate, why not be a priest? A it–an unlikely hypothesis–it is high dubious ones as well: among them, w o m e n ’s ordination. homosexual is as likely as a hetero- time that we re c o n s t ruct the Catholic c o n c e rn for inheritance of Churc h I t ’s likely true that there is no sexual to integrate his spirituality priesthood. And not just because of property and a negative theology of c a u s e - a n d - e ffe ct correlation between human sexuality. Eastern Catholi- celibacy and pedophilia, strictly de- cism rejected the precondition of fined as attraction to pre p u b e s c e n t celibacy except for bishops, and the c h i l d ren. But how about the sexual P r otestant re f o r mers favored mar- abuse of adolescents by celibate Even if celibacy is not a root riage for the clerg y. Both of these priests? Many of the older priests Christian communities have been now accused of such ephebophilia cause of the scandal, it is time that well served by their ministers. In e n t e red through the minor seminary this era, Catholic priesthood w o u l d system and began to attempt celiba- we reconstruct the priesthood and in be improved, and thus its believers cy in their early teens, with adoles- better served, by having the quantity, cent hormones in top gear and so doing reconsider celibacy and q u a l i t y, and perspective that marr i e d sexual identity often still in flux. priests would bring. And the cre d i - Who knows what effect that had? maleness as preconditions. And not bility of those who voluntarily Released to the world again after choose celibacy–always remaining an 12 years of strict regimen–the old just because of the scandal, but option–be enhanced all the more. s e m i n a ry system resembled boot Likewise, the presence of women c a m p–it would not be surprising if because it is the right thing to do as priests and bishops would be an many were sexually underd e v e l o p e d e x t r a o rd i n a ry gift to the life of the and so picked up where they had left theologically and for the Catholic Church. What a loss it is o f f. More surprising by far is that when ordained ministry is limited to the vast majority turned out to be life of the Church. men, excluding the consciousness fine priests, with only a handful of and gifts of women; at best we a b e rra nts among them. benefit from only half our priestly T h e re are about 13,000 marr i e d re s o u r ces. To ordain women would deacons in the U.S. Catholic Church, s u r ely hasten the demise of clerical- but they have caused no such scandal. and sexuality into a life of integrity; the scandal, nor even the dire short- ism–the antithesis to priesthood as Likewise, there are 35,000 lay people many of our finest priests and bish- age, but reconsidering celibacy and s e rvant leadership–and catalyze a in designated functions of Catholic ops are gay. Yet no one desires that maleness as preconditions is the renewed ministry of “holy ord e r.” ministry in this country; apart from a priesthood become a gay pro f e s sion. right thing to do theologically and In the mid-70's, Pope Paul VI set handful of cases, the same good Still, celibacy may be encouraging as for the life of the Church. up a blue-ribbon commission of em- record holds. much. A brief look at each issue: inent Catholic scholars to investigate In another area of discussion, All the exaggerated rhetoric about T h e r e will always be a vowed the question of women’s ord i n a t i o n might there be some connection celibacy being a “higher calling” religious life within the Catholic f rom a biblical perspective. Their between celibacy and the “gaying” of than marriage can encourage a communion, cherished and support e d resounding conclusion was that it the priesthood? Even the pre s i d e n t pedastalized clericalism that covers as an extraord i n a r y witness to God’s would not be “contrary to scripture , ”

B O S T O N C O L L E G E | C 2 1 R E S O U R C E S | F A L L 2 0 0 4 1 3 a most significant finding that would wonder that they were excluded Roman Curia, and many more. to keep these issues on the table for opened wide the theological debate. from priesthood and why repeat such But it must keep the issues of the universal Church. But every peo- The commission also noted that “tradition”? celibacy and the ordination of women ple of God needs good priests and women in the early Church per- Clericalism needs to break down; on the table as well. g reat prophets. Let us pray for both. f o r med functions of ministry that priesthood needs to break open. The systemic changes needed will later were re s e rved for priests. Indeed, the U.S. Catholic Churc h re q u i re the U.S. Catholic bishops to Thomas H. Groome is professor of theol- I t ’s true, of course, that women must and will put in place a national find their own voice, to speak the ogy and religious education at Boston w e re excluded from priesthood policy to prevent both the crimes t ruth that they know themselves and College, and author of What Makes t h roughout Christian tradition, and the coverup of clergy sex abuse. hear from the great majority of their Us Catholic: Eight Gifts for Life. though there are historical ru m o r s And it must address many other people, to take back Church leader- of notable exceptions. But re m e m b e r issues if it is to move beyond ship from the right-wing phalanx, Reprinted with the author’s permission fro m that the Churc h ’s cultural context symptoms to causes, including lay re p resenting only a small perc e n t a g e The Boston Sunday Globe, May 19, 2002. also barred women from the trades p a rticipation in the oversight of the of American Catholics but holding Copyright 2002 By the Globe Newspaper and professions, from owning pro p - C h u rch, the clandestine way bishops so many of the strings of power. C o m p a n y. e rt y, and from all public work. Who a re selected, the inflated role of the It will take courage for the bishops

Reviving a Parish Culture

A new pastor brings a congregation back to a vibrant, collaborative life

B Y P A U L W I L K E S by a “parish culture” that was only to find and then visit—but only school open. But on a deeper level, m o re terrible in degree, but sadly visit—some of the best parishes in we were looking for, if not the Messi- year and a half ago, enough—if what I hear from too America. I eventually published my ah, at least someone who would give when a new pastor was many Catholics is at all accurate— findings in Excellent Catholic Parishes: us a new vision of what as a parish assigned to our parish, not infrequent in today’s Churc h . The Guide to Best Places and Practices. and individuals we could be. We we, the Catholic re m - In my particular parish, one had I had seen firsthand dynamic, open, wanted our parish to thrive, we want- nants, held our collec- l e a rne d to approach the parish sec- spirit-filled parishes with an entirely ed it to matter in our lives and the tiAve breath. We had a stunningly re t a ry or business manager as sup- d i ff e rent kind of parish culture. life of our community. beautiful parish Church and equally plicant, expecting (and rarely being Also in my travels, I had sat with In his first weeks, we listened stunning was how dysfunctional we surprised to the contrary) that the diocesan personnel directors whose e a g e r l y, but we heard no ro u s i n g had become as a parish body. initial answer would be no, re g a rd- jobs grow more difficult by the calls to unity or greatness. Instead, After years of a distant, autocratic less of the request. We had become month as priests re t i re and both the our new pastor started with the sim- pastor who, beneath all his surf a c e accustomed to a parish culture that number and quality of their replace- plest of things, such as quietly dro p- coolness, had the parish’s best inter- assumed we were bothersome, that ments leave a disquieting gap. I ping the notice that had appeared as ests at heart and one-on-one could our ideas were not worth pursuing. knew well what was “out there” in the first and prominent item in our be an effective spiritual counselor, And, anyhow, all the hoops that t e rms of priestly talent. I wondere d rather skimpy and tired weekly bul- we were sent a distant, autocratic would have to be jumped through to if we would be getting still another letin. That notice, which week after man who quickly proved he had get something going in the parish pastor who would curtly clip the week advised that only “Catholics in neither talent. By the time he was re q u i red more energy and persever- wings of the Spirit. the state of grace and in good stand- u n c e r emoniously removed from the ance than most of us could muster. When our new pastor arrived a ing with the Church” should dare to parish, not only had numbers plum- All this collaboration that we’ve year and half ago, all we knew about a p p roach the altar for Eucharist, in meted at weekend liturgies and been hearing about? Collaboration him was that he had most re c e n t l y some ways defined the spirit of the parish committees virtually implod- in my parish meant doing the pas- s e rve d a parish so distant from ours parish. It was not that the statement ed because of his imperious, err a t i c t o r ’s will and keeping our thoughts that there was no, as we used to say was outside Church norms, but it ways, but we had discovered that we to ourselves. in the Navy, scuttlebutt about his was an immediate indication that w e re on the verge of insolvency But perhaps unlike many Catholics p e rf o r mance there. We were so this was a parish that wasn’t as con- because of his profligate spending who might think their dysfunctional b r oken and embarrassed by our cerned about what you could or on staff he had added, furn i t u re he parish is the norm and who have p revious pastor, that, while we wanted should be, but more what you had purchased, and personal expenses simply drifted away from the Church, so much of our new pastor, we had c o u l d n ’t or shouldn’t do. An unnec- i n c u rre d. The offenses were of such I had recently been leading a some- rather modest expectations. On the e s s a r y slammed door, a curt slap in magnitude to make the front page of what disorienting, even schizophrenic surface, we simply wanted him to stay the our local paper. The diocese had to life as a practicing Catholic. For I out of the papers, keep the parish out face. Hardly welcoming. send—so we heard—a huge sum to had, while a member of my own of debt, perform the s t a n d a rd litur- As the weeks went on, although bail us out. parish and with the support of a gies with some thought and dignity, he never mentioned this somewhat We were a dispirited flock, dulled Lilly Endowment grant, been able and keep our limping parish grade amorphous thing I call “parish

1 4 B O S T O N C O L L E G E | C 2 1 R E S O U R C E S | F A L L 2 0 0 4 c u l t u re,” our new pastor set about to exegeses that might have impre s s e d been written to diocesan off i c i a l s . school is now thriving, where the change the tenor and texture of our s e m i n a ry professors but escape Speakers who are obviously not budget has been balanced, where parish. Some were symbolic acts; most of us in the pews. Catholic enough for some tastes, committees are again functioning, others were targeted at re b u i l d i n g • He was blessedly open to our p o r tions of his sermons with which w h e r e individuals have come forw a rd our shattered community. To name ideas. When a group of us ap- the doctrinal police take issue, his with fresh ideas and taken on new just some of them: p ro a c h e d him with an idea for a handling of personnel matters, an ministries. • He moved out of the re c t o r y, homemade parish renewal p ro - alleged “takeover” by newly enflamed I tell him of our gratitude for floridly and expensively re d e c o - gram, he was immediately on lay people have all been duly re p o rted. what he has done for our parish in rated by his pre d e c e s s o r, and b o a rd with the idea and off e red his I try to stop by his convent home such a short time. And that he is a moved into the smaller, vacant suggestions, but allowed this e v e r y week or so to see how he’s good and reasonable man who has convent. (Later, three wonderful g roup of lay people to steer the doing. For the most part, I find him let us see his humanity and tre a t e d nuns were encouraged to come to p roject. positive, upbeat. Sometimes, though, us as equals. He is a solid priest who our parish and they now occupy • He revamped and expanded the I find not the smiling, good-nature d never needs to play the clerical im- the re c t o r y.) parish bulletin to include his pastor we have come to know, but a perative card to have his way. He is a • He started a “branch” religious spiritual reflections, news of the man almost as dispirited as the model to other pastors, a leader who b o o k s t o r e in a vacant office, school, and other items of interest. parish he had found 18 months be- d o e s n ’t need always to be in contro l . using the buying power and • He invited outside speakers to f o re. Another letter might have been He has given life to a parish and management experience of a a d d ress us. sent to diocesan officials or people hope to the parishioners during a l a r ge bookstore. Looking over this list of initia- a r e grumbling about this change or v e ry difficult period in a Church that • He inaugurated a monthly tives, I am stunned by their ord i n a r i- that alleged slight. The parish at turns welcomes and fights that “dinner with the pastor,” where ness. Yet, they are so re f r eshing for grapevine spreads news quickly. On w o n d e r ful Vatican II vision of a tru l y a dozen or so people would this parched group of Catholics. those down days, he wonders if it is collaborative community of believers bring a meal to the re c t o ry Over the months, he made the w o r th it, if he’s up to the job, if we and pilgrims. visit inform a l l y, and get to know tough decisions as well. After try i n g a r e on the right path. And that he was about that most him and each other. for the better part of a year to instill All I can do is be honest with him. d i f ficult of jobs—changing a parish • He began a Thursday morning a new vision for some of the more Although we might have hoped c u l t u r e. It will be continually diff i- discussion of the upcoming re l u c tant parish staff who were quite for the One, he was not the Messiah. cult. But absolutely necessary. S u n d a y ’s readings so that the comfortable with the old parish c u l - He was not a brilliant scripture Word could be a part of our week, t u r e, he replaced them and expanded s c h o l a r, he was not an incisive CEO, Among Paul Wi l k e s ’s many books are not just proclaimed on the weekend. the duties of new staffers, giving and he was certainly not a miracle Excellent Catholic Parishes: The • He re t u r ned phone calls them more freedom to innovate. w o r k e r. Guide to Best Places and Practices. • He thoughtfully pre p a red his Of course, no good deed or good But it is worth it. We now have a s e rmo ns, using contemporary intention goes unpunished. While parish that has come to life, where Reprinted with permission from N a t i o n a l examples while making a salient the majority of the parishioners have t h e r e is a palpable good feeling. Catholic Report e r, March 5, 2004. Copyright point or two, not mouthing applauded him for his innovations W h e r e people linger after Mass, 2004 by the National Catholic Report e r pieties or mind-numbing and openness, critical letters have w h e r e our once-endangered grade Publishing Co.

Contributing Pu b l i c a t i o n s

A m e r i c a , the national Catholic weekly distinctively Catholic perspective to bear on volved in religious leadership and form a t i o n , human rights, living the Catholic faith, magazine, has been published since 1909 the issues of the day.” Please give us a try. A spiritual direction, pastoral care, and education, social justice, and liturgical developments. by Jesuits in the United States for think- trial subscription is $25. Call 888-495-6755, including parents, teachers, coaches, students, It is published by the National Catholic ing Catholics and those who want to or visit www. c o m m o n w e a l m a g a z i n e . o r g or others interested in the development of the Reporter Publishing Company. Sub- know what Catholics are thinking. It has whole person. The magazine, founded in scriptions may be ordered online at published dozens of articles, analyses, First Things is a monthly journal of opinion 1980, is published quarterly by Regis www.ncronline.org and commentaries on the sexual-abuse founded and edited by Rev. Richard John University in Denver, Colorado. Its editor- crisis in the Church and its afterm a t h Neuhaus, a Lutheran priest, prolific author, in-chief is the Jesuit priest, author, and U.S. Catholic, a monthly magazine pub- since 2002. A m e r i c a is online at and authority on religion and public life. spiritual director Rev. William A. Barry, S.J. lished by the Claretian Missionaries in w w w. a m e r i c a m a g a z i n e . o rg. Subscribe via First Things is published in New York by t h e A one-year subscription costs $36 and may Chicago, believes that it makes a diff e r- the Web site or call 1-800-627-9533. Institute on Religion and Public Life, whose be ordered by calling Regis University at ence whether or not you are Catholic, mission is to “advance a religiously inform e d 800-388-2366 or visiting www.regis.edu and that Catholicism is a spiritual path Established in 1924, C o m m o n w e a l is an public philosophy for the ordering of socie- that helps us live better and richer lives. independent journal of opinion edited by ty.” Editorial board members include Mary National Catholic Reporter is an independ- We invite readers to explore the wisdom lay Catholics. It has a special interest in Ann Glendon, George Weigel and Michael ent newsweekly that is frequently first to of our faith tradition and to apply it to religion (Catholic and otherwise), poli- Novak. Subscriptions may be ord e red on its report on serious issues important to the challenges of contemporary American tics, war and peace issues, and culture . Web site, www. f i r s t t h i n g s . c o m thinking Catholics and is a venue for open, life. We embrace a positive vision of Along with articles on current events, honest, and ongoing discussion of those is- Catholicism today. For information or C o m m o n w e a l regularly reviews books, Human Development Magazine is published sues. Founded in 1964, National Catholic to subscribe, call 800-328-6515 or visit plays, films, and television. It is published for people involved in the work of fostering R e p o rt e r f e a t u res fearless, balanced re p o rt i n g www.uscatholic.org 22 times per year. Its goal is “to bring a the growth of others. This includes persons in- and writing on topics including spirituality,

B O S T O N C O L L E G E | C 2 1 R E S O U R C E S | F A L L 2 0 0 4 1 5 The Real Agenda

Voice of the Faithful can be part of the solution

B Y R O B E R T M. R O W D E N to Church s t ru c t u re, appears intrinsi- f i dently assign offices to them in and truly dedicated to Christ and his cally subversive. s e rvice of the Church, leaving them C h u rch, some bishops, by what they t. John Chrysostom once T h e r e are those who say that the f reedom and scope for activity” (No. have done and what they have failed w a rned: “Whoever is not laity should have no role in Churc h 37). From the “Decree on the Apos- to do, have enabled and facilitated a n g ry when there is cause g o v e rna nce, since it is the function tolate of the Laity”: “While pre s e rv i n g multiple child rape. Saying this is for anger sins.” The 25 of the bishop to teach, govern, and intact the necessary link with ecclesi- not a sign of anti-episcopal bias. It Catholics who gathered sanctify. Such a view is not supported astical authority, the laity have the is a fact that has been demonstrated Sin the basement of St. John the by Canon Law. Canon 212, for right to establish and direct [apos- many times and in many places. Evangelist Church in We l l e s l e y, example, states: “In accord with the tolic] associations and to join existing Although priest-predators have been Mass. on a Monday night in January knowledge, competence, and pre e m- ones” (No. 19). VOTF seeks a link p r operly and appropriately re m o v e d 2002 were angry indeed—angry and inence which they possess, [lay people] with authority in every diocese for f rom ministry, and many have been e m b a rra ssed because of the sexual have the right and even at times a duty respectful dialogue, but it will not c h a rge d, tried, and convicted of abuse of so many children by priest- to manifest to the sacred pastors their negotiate its right to exist as an asso- crimes, those bishops who failed in p redators in their own arc h d i o c e s e , opinion on matters which pertain to ciation of faithful Catholic lay men their basic responsibility to pro t e c t but angry especially because inci- the good of the Church, and they and women. Suspicion of motives, our children have not been charg e d , dents of abuse had been kept secre t condemned, censured, or even criti- by archdiocesan leaders for whom cized by higher authority. There are concealment appeared to be the no stru c t u res of accountability for number one priority, while known them. p r edators were transferred fro m Fellow bishops, many of whom parish to unsuspecting parish. Any The crisis has magnified have publicly apologized to victims financial settlements with victims and are complying with the pro v i - w e re made in secret and were often the realization that the laity sions of the Dallas chart e r, have contingent upon maintaining secrecy. n e v e rtheless remained silent. Card i n a l The scandal and its extent were are absolutely powerless in the Francis George, on the eve of the documented in The Boston Globe, bishops’ meeting in Wa s h i n g t o n , and soon all were reminded that government of their Church. D.C., said, “There have to be sanc- c l e rgy sexual abuse had infected the tions for a bishop who has been C h u rch in many dioceses in the Unit- There is a total lack of negligent the same as there are e d States and in many nations. sanctions for a priest.” The bishops, By spring, crowds had swelled to institutional checks and balances h o w e v e r, were asked only to commit 700. In July 2002, a convention of themselves to “fraternal support, this newly formed group, called that would allow them some f r a t e r nal challenge, and fratern a l Voice of the Faithful, and known as c o r rection.” In the words of the V O T F, drew over 4,000 part i c i- say about how R e v. Richard John Neuhaus: “pre t t y pants. Today the membership of limp.” In fact, the only time in mem- Voice of the Faithful numbers over authority is exercised. o r y when a bishop has been publicly 33,000 Catholics in 40 states and 21 criticized by other bishops was when countries, largely through 200 parish C a r dinal Joseph Bern a rdin made his a ffiliates. VOTF has defined its mis- doctrinally sound case for the Com- sion: “To p r ovide a prayerful voice, mon Ground Initiative in the docu- attentive to the Spirit, thro u g h have a right to make their opinion m i s i n t e r p r etation and misinform a- ment Called to Be Catholic, in 1996. which the faithful can actively par- known to the other Christian faith- tion about VOTF are rampant. It is He was publicly criticized by Card i- ticipate in the g o v e r nance and guid- ful.” Again in Canon 129: “Lay accused of doctrinal heresy, seeking nal Bern a rd Law of Boston, and ance of the Catholic C h u rch.” Its members of the Christian faithful to establish parallel Church stru c- l a t e r, somewhat less vehemently, by goals remain: to support those who can cooperate in the exercise of this t u r es, anti-episcopal bias, and C a r dinals James Hickey of Wa s h - have been abused, to s u p p o r t the power [of governance] in accord alignment and identification with ington, D.C., Anthony Bevilacqua vast numbers of fine priests of in- with the norm of law.” The docu- a n t i - C h u rch victims-rights groups. of Philadelphia, and Adam Maida tegrity who were devastated by the ments of the Second Vatican Council The recent crisis arising from sex- of Detroit. crisis, and to shape s t ructural change call for active lay participation in ual abuse by members of the clerg y VOTF believes that now, more within the Church. This third goal, C h u rch affairs. From the “Dogmatic has impaired the teaching authority than ever, dialogue is needed among s t ructural change, has raised eyebro w s , Constitution on the Church”: “The of the hierarchy and has demonstrated bishops, theologians, priests, and lay caused understandable concern among s a c red pastors should recognize the that the present system of Churc h people. Reconciliation is a mark of some leaders, and allowed the dignity and responsibility of the laity g o v e r nance is seriously flawed. C h r i s t ’s presence among us. The dismissal and banning of VOTF by in the Church. They should willing- While the vast majority of bishops American laity, better educated and those for whom “change,” in re f e rence ly use their prudent advice and con- and priests are able, sincere, holy, i n f o r med than ever before, actively

1 6 B O S T O N C O L L E G E | C 2 1 R E S O U R C E S | F A L L 2 0 0 4 involved and in love with the Church, Although VOTF endorses some of want and need to be involved in its the goals and practices of victims- The Hour of the Laity healing and continuing re f o r m. The rights organizations, and has met bishops need the meaningful in- with and collaborated with them in volvement of lay organizations if some instances, we are identified their credibility is to be re s t o r ed. and/or affiliated with none of these Let us not neglect the Clearly there is no dogma, doc- g r oups. Many of their members have trine, or canon law that prohibits understandably left the Church and for lay Catholics we already have collaboration by a bishop or pastor a r e not interested in its future or its with the laity in the exercise of his v i a b i l i t y. We reach out to these and administrative authority. If members seek their healing and re t u rn to the of the hierarchy are in fact “the ranks of the faithful. B Y M A R Y A N N G L E N D O N b reakdown in sexual mores, the rise s e rvants of the servants of God,” VOTF especially supports the in family disruption, and the massive t h e re are no grounds for secrecy and o v e r whelming majority of our h roughout the twenti- e n t ry of mothers of young childre n no justification for excluding those priests, who live with integrity the eth c e n t u ry, leaders of into the labor force amounted to a being served from having a say in p r omises and vows that come with the Catholic Churc h massive social experiment, an how they are served, and from some o r dination, who seek integrity in i m p l o red lay men and u n p recedented demographic re v o l u- voice in their governance. There is their personal lives of prayer, in women with increasing tion for which neither the Church nor no logic in excluding from consulta- their daily ministry, in the simplicity uT rge ncy to be more active as the affected societies were pre p a red. tion the very people the bishops are of their lifestyle, in their pre a c h i n g Catholics in society, and—since In those turbulent years, pre s- commissioned to serve. Such exclusion of the Wo r d, and in their celebration Vatican II—to become more involved s u res intensified for Catholics to is analogous to a physician’s not asking of the liturg y. We support them with in the internal affairs of the Churc h . a patient to talk about symptoms. e x p r essions of encouragement and The earlier call found a warm re- A major part of the stru c t u r a l gratitude, and most of all by our sponse among Catholic Americans change envisioned by VOTF is the active participation in the life of the in the 1930's, 40's and 50's. But as establishment and empowerment of parish through gifts of time, talent, Catholics gained in affluence and In matters of reform, elected, re p r esentative pastoral and tre a s u re. We seek justice and influence, the lay apostolate has suf- councils on the parish and diocesan due process for anyone accused, and f e r ed, while new opportunities for Catholics must not con- levels, which would have not mere l y we pray for all priests and pledge to s e rvice in the institutional Churc h an advisory but also a significant s u p p o r t them in their ministry. have gone begging. No wonder form to the spirit of the legislative function, analogous to the Despite repeated assertions to the that John Paul II, with his history way our national government is c o n t r a r y, VOTF has no other of close collaboration with lay men age but do what is good, s t ru c t u red. VOTF wants organized agenda than the one above, and and women, often refers to the laity p a rticipation by clergy and laity in p o s t ed for all to see on its Web site, as a “sleeping giant.” For decades, pleasing and perfect in the selection of pastors and bishops, h t t p : / / w w w. v o t f . o rg www. v o t f . o rg . the giant has seemed lost in the deep and in exercising oversight and We refuse to address theological slumber of an adolescent. Now that the sight of God. independent auditing of parish and c o n t r oversies or to take a position the sleeper is beginning to stir— diocesan finances to ensure openness on divisive issues. We do not contest roused by media coverage of clerical and transpare n c y. There is nothing any Church teaching. We accept the sexual misconduct—it is beginning to in principle that would prohibit lay teaching authority of the magisteri- look as though the Leviathan has p a rticipation in councils and congre- um. Our membership is scattere d the faith I.Q. of a pre - a d o l e s c e n t . t rea t their religion as an entirely gations even at the highest levels of a c r oss the spectrum of Catholic Can this be the long-awaited “hour private matter, and to adopt a pick- g o v e rnance in the Church. thought, but we are united in our of the laity”? and-choose approach to doctrine. The current crisis has magnified stated goals. We seek to build up the The current re s u rge nce of inter- Many theologians, religious educa- the realization that the laity are kingdom of God, not to tear it est in lay organization suggests that tors, and clergy succumbed to the absolutely powerless in the govern- down. We recognize that stru c t u r a l the time is ripe to explore what has same temptations. In that context, it ment of their Church. There is a change takes time and does not hap- happened to American Catholics’ was not only difficult for the stro n g total lack of institutional checks and pen in a moment. VOTF members understanding of the lay vocation demands of Vatican II to be heard ; balances that would allow them pray daily for the Church, its bish- over the years during which they the messages that did get thro u g h some say about how authority is ops and priests, and for the laity that made unprecedented economic and w e re often scrambled. In an impor- e x e rcised. Against the protest that we might come together in love, for social advances. Are the sixty-thre e tant sense, all the most divisive con- “the Church is not a democracy” respectful dialogue, always keeping million or so Catholics who comprise t rov ersies of the post-conciliar years runs the growing consensus and Christ at the center of our eff o rts . over a fifth of the U.S. population w e re about how far Catholics can go underlying conviction that a dose evangelizing the culture, as every in adapting to the prevailing culture of democracy is precisely what the R o b e r t M. Rowden is a re t i red physician Christian is called to do, or is the while remaining Catholic. C h u rch needs in the present crisis. and a member of the steering committee c u l t u r e evangelizing them? Though American society was VOTF supports survivors of for Voice of the Faithful in nort h e rn For all the eff o r ts of the Second rapidly becoming more secular, abuse by listening to their stories, by C a l i f o r nia. Vatican Council to make lay men certain cultural elements of Protes- lobbying for their medical needs and and women the front line of the tantism remained as strong or a p p rop riate treatment of their post- Reprinted with permission from A m e r i c a, C h u rc h ’s mission in society, events s t r onger than ever: radical individ- traumatic stress disorders, and by F e b ru a r y 23, 2004. Copyright 2004 by in the United States and other aff l u- ua l ism, intolerance for dissent advocating just compensation for America Press, Inc. ent countries in the 1960's and 70's (redirected toward dissent from the their life-changing trauma. We seek would make it harder than ever for secular dogmas that replaced criminal prosecution of abusers. such messages to get through. The Christianity in the belief systems of

B O S T O N C O L L E G E | C 2 1 R E S O U R C E S | F A L L 2 0 0 4 1 7 many), and an abiding hostility to m u n i cations from Rome. Building on A p p l e by, for example, told the Amer- h a r dly a re a c t i o n a r y in Church mat- Catholicism. For the upwardly mo- R e ru m N o v a r um and Quadragesimo ican bishops in Dallas that “I do not ters, took pains to caution an earlier bile Catholic, assimilation into that Anno, the fathers of Vatican II re- exaggerate by saying that the future re f o r m-minded group, the Common c u l t u r e thus meant acquiescing in minded the lay faithful that it is their of the Church in this country depends G r ound Initiative, against “the dan- anti-Catholicism to a degree that particular responsibility “to evangel- on your sharing authority with the laity.” ger of concentrating too much on would have astonished our immi- ize the various sectors of family, T h e r e has also been much talk the life within the Church. I suspect,” grant ancestors. But that’s what all social, professional, cultural, and about the need for a more independ- he said, “that it is a trick of the too many of us did. In the 1970's, political life.” ent American Catholic Church. “Let Devil to divert good people from t h e A n d rew Greeley observed that “of Rome be Rome,” said Dr. Appleby. task of evangelization by embro i li n g all the minority groups in this coun- A "Sleeping Giant" Stirs Then there is Governor Frank Keat- them in endless controversial t ry, Catholics are the least con- Now that the “sleeping giant” is ing, chosen by the bishops to head issues to the neglect of the Churc h ’s es- c e r ned about their own rights and beginning to show signs of re g a i n i n g their , who sential role, which is mission.” the least conscious of the persistent Catholic consciousness, the C h u rch is p r oclaimed, astonishingly, at his first By leaving evangelization and the and systematic discrimination against going to have to reckon with the fact p r ess conference that, with re s p e c t social apostolate out of the picture, them in the upper reaches of the cor- that the most highly educated laity to the role of the laity, “Mart i n many lay spokespersons are promot- porate and intellectual worlds.” in its history has forgotten a gre a t Luther was right.” The Voice of the ing some pretty basic misunderstand- In this observation, as in his early ings: that the best way for the laity to w a rnings about child abuse and the be active is in terms of ecclesial gov- g rowth of a homosexual subculture e r nance; that the Church and her among the clerg y, Father Gre e l e y s t r u c t u r es are to be equated with was on the mark. I re g r et to say that public agencies or private corpora- I was a case in point until my con- tions; that she and her ministers are sciousness was raised by my Jewish Many lay spokespersons are to be regarded with mistrust; and that husband. In the 1970's, when I was she stands in need of supervision by teaching at Boston College Law secular reformers. If those attitudes School, someone took down all the promoting basic misunderstandings: take hold, they will make it very diffi- c rucifixes from the walls one sum- cult for the Church to move forward m e r. Though the majority of the fac- that the best way for the laity to be through the present crisis without ulty at the time was Catholic and the compromising either her teachings or dean was a Jesuit priest, not one of active is in terms of ecclesial her constitutionally protected free- us entered a protest. When I told dom to carry out her mission. my husband, he was shocked. He governance; that the Church and her Much of that careless talk simply said, “ W h a t ’s the matter with you reflects the fact that, with the de- C a t h o l i c s ? T h e r e would be an upro a r cline of Catholic institutions, the if anyone did something like that structures are to be equated with actual experience of the lay aposto- with Jewish symbols. Why do late has disappeared from the lives Catholics put up with that kind of public agencies or private corporations; of most Catholics—along with the thing?” That was a t u r ning point for practical understanding of comple- me. I began to w o n d e r, Why do we that she and her ministers are to be mentarity among the roles of the Catholics put up with that sort of d i f f e r ent members of the mystical thing? Why did we get so care l e s s regarded with mistrust; and that she body of Christ. It is only common about the faith for which our ances- sense that most of us lay people are tors made so many sacrifices? best equipped to fulfill our vocations In many cases, the answer lies stands in need of supervision by primarily in the places where we live simply in the desire to get ahead and and work. It is because we are pre s- be accepted. But for most Catholics secular reformers. ent in all the secular occupations of the American diaspora, I believe that the Vatican II fathers empha- the problem is deeper: they no longer sized our “special task” to take a know how to talk about what they m o r e active part, according to our believe or why they believe it. The talents and knowledge, in the expla- people-called-together have lost their nation and defense of Christian sense of who they are and what they principles and in the application of were called to do. deal about where it came fro m . Faithful, an organization formed in them to the problems of our times. And they seem to have lost a lot Meanwhile, as with any emerg i n g 2002 by Boston suburbanites, states John Paul II elaborated on that of mail as well. How many lay people, mass movement, activists with defi- as its mission: “To provide a prayerful theme in Christifideles Laici, point- one wonders, have read any of the nite ideas about where they would voice, attentive to the spirit, thro u g h ing out that this will be possible in letters that popes have addressed to like it to go are eager to capture the which the faithful can actively par- secularized societies only “if the lay them over the years? For that mat- g i a n t ’s strength for their own pur- t i c ipate in the governance and guid- faithful will know how to o v e r c o m e t e r, how many Catholics can give a poses. In recent months, American ance of the Catholic Churc h . ” in themselves the separation of the s e n s ible account of basic Churc h Catholics have heard vague but stri- T h e r e is nary a sign, thus far, that gospel from life, to again take up in t e a c h i n g s on matters as close to them dent calls for “structural re f o rm,” for these spokesmen have a sense of the their daily activities in f a m i l y, work, as the Eucharist and human sexuality, lay “empowerment,” and for more main job the gospels tell Christians and society an integrated a p p roach to let alone the lay apostolate? If few lay part i cipation in the Churc h ’s in- they were placed on earth to do. life that is fully brought about by the can do so, it is not for lack of com- t e r nal “decision-making.” Dr. Scott Even the late Basil Cardinal Hume, inspiration and strength of the

1 8 B O S T O N C O L L E G E | C 2 1 R E S O U R C E S | F A L L 2 0 0 4 gospel.” Those are the main mes- Fr. Richard John Neuhaus has said among America’s semi-skilled that “the Churc h ’s current activity in sages of all those letters that most of that the crisis of the Catholic knowledge class. Tr a d i t i o n a l l y, it has the educational sphere is not making us have not read or answere d . A n d C h u rch in 2002 is threefold: fidelity, been one of the glories of their faith s u f ficiently manifest how the basic those are the messages that are no- f i d e l i t y, and fidelity. He is right to that Catholics can give reasons for t h r ust of Catholic Christianity is in tably absent from the statements of s t r ess that lack of fidelity has bro u g h t the moral positions they hold—re a - h a r mony with full-fledged intellec- spokespersons for the lay groups that the Church in America to a sorry sons that are accessible to all men tualism, let alone that intellectual have formed over the past few months. pass. But it also needs to be said that and women of good will, of other life is integral to the Churc h ’s mis- sion.” Lawrence goes on to say, Beyond Slogans “The Church today needs to pro- Needless to say, the Church will claim loud and clear that under- need to undertake far- reaching re- standing the natural order of the f o r ms in order to move beyond the cosmos in the human and subhuman p r esent crisis, and many of the re- It is true that lack of fidelity has sciences, and in philosophy and the- cent calls for re f o r m are coming brought the Church in America to o l o g y, is part of a p p r eciating God’s f r om well-intentioned men and cosmic Wo r d expressed in Cre a t i o n . women. Most Catholics are deeply a sorry pass. But it also needs to be It is part and p a rcel of the fullness and rightly concerned about the of the Catholic mind and heart.” recent revelations of clerical sexual said that we are paying the price for abuse; they want to do something To Serve the Church about the havoc wrought by unfaith- another disaster: our inadequate American Catholics need to re d e d i- ful priests; and they are grasping at c a t e themselves to the intellectual the slogans that are in the air. But formation of theologians, religious apostolate, not only for the sake of slogans about “structural re f o r m ” the Churc h ’s mission, but for the and “power-sharing” did not come educators, and parents. sake of a country that has become f rom nowhere. Aging members of d a n g e r ously careless about the moral the generation of failed theories— foundations on which our fre e d o m s political, economic, and sexual— depend. Tocqueville was right that have seized on the current crisis as Catholicism can be good for Ameri- their last opportunity to transform we are paying the price for another faiths, or of no faith. Long ago, St. can democracy, but that can only American Catholicism into some- t h ree-dimensional disaster: form a t i o n , Thomas Aquinas wrote: “Instru c t happen if Catholicism is true to itself. thing more compatible with the spiri t f o rmation, and formation (form a t i o n those who are listening so that they Until recently, like most American of the age of their youth. It is, as of our theologians, of our religious ed- will be brought to an understanding Catholics, I was relatively unaware Michael Novak puts it, their last ucators, and thus of pare n t s ) . of the truth envisaged. Here one of the extent and variety of these chance to rush the wall. The wordsmiths of the culture of must rely on arguments which pro b e movements. It was only thro u g h Meanwhile, like Paul of old, John death have been quick to exploit that the root of truth and make people s e rving on the Pontifical Council for Paul II keeps sending those pesky weakness in the Church that has know how what is said is true; other- the Laity that I came to know letters reminding what he genero u s- consistently been their most feare d wise, if the master decides a question g r oups like Communion and Liber- ly calls the Faithful that Christians and powerful enemy. Thirty or so simply by using sheer authorities, ation, the Community of St. Egidio, must not conform to the spirit of the years ago, they came up with one of the hearer will...acquire no knowl- F o c o l a re, the Neo-Catechumenate age, but must seek to do what is the most insidious slogans ever in- edge or understanding and will go Wa y, , and Regnum good, pleasing, and perfect in the vented: “Personally, I’m opposed to away empty.” Christi, and became acquainted with sight of God. For the umpteenth (fill-in-the-blank), but I can’t impose The time is overdue for Catholics many of their leaders and members. time, he explains that “it is not a my opinions on others.” That slogan (not only in America) to re c o g n i z e What a contrast between these matter of inventing a ‘new pro g r a m . ’ was the moral anesthesia they offered that we have neglected our steward- g r oups that work in harmony with The program already exists: it is the to people who are troubled about ship duties toward the intellectual the Church and o r ganizations that plan found in the gospel and in the moral decline, but who do not know heritage that we hold in trust for define their aims in terms of power! living Tradition; it is the same as quite how to express their views, es- f u t u re generations. The question of It is no surprise that the more faith- e v e r.” One might think those mes- pecially in public settings. Only in why we have failed to keep that tra- ful and vibrant the great lay org a n i - sages would at least be picked up recent years have some Catholics, dition abreast of the best human and zations are, the more they are vilified and amplified by those Catholics P r otestants, and Jews stepped for- natural science of our times—as St. by dissenters and anti-Catholics. But whose profession it is to figure out w a r d to point out that when citizens Thomas did in his day—would be a attacks do not seem to trouble them, how to mediate the truths that are in a democratic republic advance re- subject for another occasion. Suff i c e for they know who they are and where “ever ancient and ever new” under ligiously grounded moral viewpoints it to note here that, in the twentieth they are going. changing social conditions. But the in the public square, they are not c e n t u r y, that was the project of fact is that far too many American imposing anything on anyone. They B e r n a rd Lonergan and others, but M a r y Ann Glendon is the Learn e d Catholic theologians, trained in non- a r e proposing. That is what is sup- the job has had few takers. Andre w Hand Professor of Law at Harv a rd denominational divinity schools, have posed to happen in our form of gov- G r e e l e y ’s diagnosis is harsh: “Ameri- University and a member of the received little grounding in their own ernment— citizens propose, they give can Catholicism,” he says, “did not Pontifical Council for the Laity. tradition. And far too many bishops reasons, they deliberate, they vote. t r y intellectualism and find it want- and priests have ceased to preach the It is ironic, given their rich intel- ing; it rather found intellectualism Excerpted with the author’s permission fro m Wo r d of God in its unexpurg a t e d lectual heritage, that so many h a r d and decided not to try it.” First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and fullness, including the teachings that Catholics feel unable to re s p o n d P e rhaps Greeley is too severe, but Public Life, November 2002. Copyright 2002 a re most difficult to follow in a he- even to the simplistic forms of secular it is hard to disagree with theologian by the Institute on Religion and Public Life. donistic and materialistic society. fundamentalism that are pre v a l e n t F r ederick Lawrence when he says

B O S T O N C O L L E G E | C 2 1 R E S O U R C E S | F A L L 2 0 0 4 1 9 Priscilla and Aquila Set Out Again

A profile of the lay Catholic in the 21st century

B Y R O B E R T P. M A L O N E Y • lay missionaries They will be profoundly lay. For ments like Evangelii Nuntiandi and • expelled from Rome during the those who are married, it is especially C h r i s t i f i d e l e s Laici (1988), lay men e who live today persecution of Claudius i m p o r tant to recall the beautiful and women in a notably hier- • living in exile in Corinth name used by the Second Va t i c a n e x e r cise a very wide variety of min- a rchical Churc h • working as tentmakers, Paul’s Council and repeated by Evangelii istries, serving as heads of local do not always occupation Nuntiandi (1975) in describing the C h u rch communities, both small and find it easy to • hospitable to Paul, taking him into f a m i l y. It is called “the domestic l a r ge, as catechists, teachers, dire c- aW p p rec iate the important role of lay their home C h u rch.” The family, like the tors of prayer, leaders of services of people in the early Church, especial- • his missionary companions in C h u rch, is a place where the gospel the Wo r d of God, ministers to the ly of women, even though we have Ephesus, and really the founders of is transmitted, especially to chil- sick in their homes and in hospitals, h e a rd about it repeatedly in the the Church there d r en, and f rom which it also radiates and as servants of the poor. In the readings at Mass on Sundays. How • risking their lives for his sake to others by the witness to unity and f u t u r e, even more than at pre s e n t , often do we recall Tabitha, whose • hosts of the local Church in their love that resides in a deeply Christ- they will bring creative ministerial life “was marked by constant good own home, a house-Churc h ian family. I hope that in the 21st competence to setting up sites on deeds and acts of charity” (Acts • catechizers of the great preacher c e n t u ry C atholic m a r ried couples the Internet, animating local com- 9:36)? I suspect that hardly anybody Apollos. will live as true “domestic churches,” munities through song and art , ever thinks of Phoebe, whom Paul Paul and Luke rate this couple as communicating God’s life to their parish planning and administration, describes as a deaconess and whom e x t r a o rd i n a ry missionaries. Priscilla, c h i l d ren and to all those whom they and evangelizing in countless other he praises for having been of such whom Paul calls Prisca, is twice c o n t a c t . ways, both directly and indire c t l y. g reat help to so many, including mentioned ahead of her husband in The 21st century will see, I They will be well educated, well himself (Rom 16:1-3). Though just the New Testament; this seems to be suspect, the flowering of the lay f o r med, and knowledgeable about the about everyone recognizes Mary social teaching of the Churc h . My fa- M a g d a l e n ’s name, how often do we ther and mother never reached high note that in John’s Gospel the first school. Both had to work from the evangelizer is not Peter, nor John, time they were very young, so their nor any of the Apostles, but Mary f o rma l education ended early. But a Magdalen herself, who proclaims to The 21st century will see the flowering generation later, all five of us, their the Apostles: “I have seen the Lord ” c h i l d r en, had the chance to go to (Jn 20:18). The New Te s t a m e n t of this vocation in the Church. The laity college; some of us went to graduate mentions many other lay men and school too. Lay Catholics of the 21st women, most of whom have been will be well educated, well formed, and c e n t u r y will be very well educated. l a rgely overlooked in the course I hope their education is integral, of history. knowledgeable about the social teaching that it will have a healthy mix of the When I notice people wavering humanities, sciences, philosophy, about the importance of the laity in of the Church. And they will see that they and theology. the Church, I encourage them to One of my deepest hopes is that read about Priscilla and Aquila. In have a special role to play in evangelizing the lay Catholic of the 21st century the Letter to the Romans, Paul will be not just well educated, but states that all the gentile communities the world of culture, politics, economics, well formed, too. Our future lay a re indebted to this married couple Catholics will receive formation (Rom 16:4). It is hard to find higher the sciences, the arts, society, especially in their homes, but also praise than that. in Catholic schools, parish religious These two great Christians appear international life, and the media. education programs, and youth on four occasions in the New Te s t a - g r oups. Others will perhaps have ment: in the Letter to the Romans experienced a foreign mission (16:3), the First Letter to the t h r ough programs sponsored by Corinthians (16:19), in the 18th dioceses or religious communities. chapter of Acts (vss. 2, 18, and 26), and an indication that she had a more im- vocation in the Church. The laity, Others will have journeyed for years at the end of the Second Letter to p o rtant role to play in the missionary by the very fact that they are lay, in groups, like the Society of St. Timothy (4:19). What do we know activity of the primitive Church than have a special role to play in evan- Vincent de Paul. Our schools, youth about them? The texts tell us that did Aquila. gelizing the world of culture, poli- g r oups and parish associations will they were: Will the role of lay Catholics be tics, economics, the sciences, the all, I hope, have strengthened signif- • a married couple revitalized in the 21st century? Below arts, society, i n t e rnational life, and icantly the formation that they give • converts from Judaism I offer a brief profile. the media. To d a y, inspired by docu- to young people.

2 0 B O S T O N C O L L E G E | C 2 1 R E S O U R C E S | F A L L 2 0 0 4 We l l - f o r med lay persons will jecting ourselves as individuals. again of the universal call to holi- that they blend together deep ro o t- gradually find the delicate balance The Catholic lay person of the ness, of the universal call to mission, edness in God with deep ro o t e d n e s s between daily labor and daily prayer. 21st century should be capable of and of the universal call to build a in the sufferings of the poor, and They will recognize that prayer and cooperating with other members of civilization of love. So I hope that that they express a creative, contem- action go hand in hand in a healthy the Church, standing at their side, Catholic lay persons in the 21st p o r a r y sense of tradition in complex, s p i r i t u a l i t y. They will experience p r omoting their gifts, generating c e n t u r y, like many genuinely holy changing circumstances. that divorced from action, prayer g r oup energ y, encouraging young lay men and women in the past, will can turn escapist and create illusions people to join forces in the service teach much more by witness than by R o b e r t P. Maloney, C.M., is the superior of holiness. But conversely, they will of the most abandoned. w o r ds, much more by their lives than general of the Congregation of the Mission. know that service divorced fro m In the 20th century, as the gre a t by their lessons, much more by their prayer can be shallow, have a “driven” theologian Karl Rahner often pointed persons than by their projects. I hope Reprinted with permission from A m e r i c a, quality to it, and become an addiction. out, the Church became, for the first that they connect the soul of the M a rch 10, 2003. Copyright 2004 by America While the Church proclaimed its time in its history, a truly “world- Church with the soul of the w o r l d , P r ess, Inc. social teaching eloquently throughout C h u r ch.” In the 21st century, our the 20th century, it remained larg e l y local parishes will involve a gro w i n g unknown to most believers. This number of Asians, Pacific Islanders, social teaching focuses especially on Africans, and Latin Americans who the neediest in society and is the will stand alongside North Ameri- foundation for the Churc h ’s “pre f e r - cans and those of European roots as ential option for the poor.” I hope the constituents of a truly global The Va n i s h i n g that all Catholic formation pro g r a m s f a m i l y. Church members will be of in the 21st century will impart a healthy all races and colors. Those whose dose of this teaching, packaging it well, skin is black, brown, yellow, red, and E u c h a r i s t so that those in formation can learn it white will stand next to one another and then transmit it to others. in projects serving the poor, will sit They will be electronically con- beside one another doing re s e a r c h nected. Unlike most of us today, lay into the causes of povert y, will work B Y W I L L A R D F. J A B U S C H celebration of the holy Eucharist was Catholics of the 21st century will be with one another in lay missions, and at the center of our religious life, e l e c t ronically connected almost fro m will sing and pray with one another y now it is clear to anyone defining us as Catholic Christians? birth. They will have learned to read, in eucharistic celebrations. i n t e rested in the Catholic A r e we not a eucharistic people, for write and do math with the aid of a I hope that the multiracial charac- C h u rch that there are no whom this sacrament is much more c o m p u t e r. E-mail will be a means of ter of 21st-century Catholic parishes longer enough priests to than a mere symbol or reminder of communication that they take com- will be a clear witness to the unity of celebrate Mass in many the Lord? It is his very pre s e n c e pletely for granted, using it to con- the human race and that the gifts of Bparishes. In rural areas and in the given to us for our spiritual nourish- tact people in other countries and on various cultures will help us to have p o o rer neighborhoods of the gre a t ment and re f reshment. Are we not other continents. They will look for a continually expanding vision. cities, parishes are being closed not invited to a joyful banquet of sacre d ways to use technological re s o u rc e s They will be truly missionary and only for economic reasons, but also food and drink, a living memorial, to draw others to work in the serv i c e in live contact with the world of the because priests cannot be found to the re p resentation of the very death of the most needy and in investigating p o o r. As transportation and commu- s e rve as pastors. The great re l i g i o u s and re s u rrection of the Lord for our the causes of poverty. They will de- nication become ever more rapid, I o rders, Franciscans, Jesuits, Redemp- time and place? sign Web sites that are really attrac- t r ust that 21st-century Catholic lay torists, and , are hand- If all this is more than pious tive to others, especially to the young. men and women will have a tru l y ing over to local bishops parishes fantasy and theological speculation, Recognizing the importance of global point of view. They will be they have staffed for decades. Some if it is indeed defined dogma, it is no being “connected” with the larger conscious, as they view the ocean, say that their “c h a r i s m” no longer in- wonder that so many find it strange world, these lay people will be cre a t i v e that its waves break on other shore s c l u d e s parish work. Others bluntly and even scandalous that this sacra- communicators. A recent Church doc- w h e r e the poorest of the poor live admit that they just do not have the ment should be allowed to disappear u m e n t states the challenge eloquently, and labor. men. f rom the religious life of large num- human communication has in it Most likely, the poorest of the On both sides of the Atlantic, lay bers of Catholics. something of God’s creative activity: poor in the 21st century will be the people, frequently women, now N u m e r ous Catholics find it “With loving regard, the divine Artist v e ry same persons listed 2,500 years p r eside at prayer services on Sun- s u p remely difficult, even impossible, passes on to the human artist”—and, ago in the Book of Deutero n o m y days. In place of the Mass, which to receive sacramental absolution for we might say, to the communicator as (16:11): women, children, and re f u g e e s . had been off e r ed weekly and even sin, the anointing of the sick, and, well—“a spark of his own surpassing The 21st-century Catholic lay person daily for many years, there are now most import a n t l y, the body and wisdom, calling him or her to share in will be creative in assisting them: some Bible readings, a few hymns, blood of Jesus Christ in the Mass. his creative power....” helping them find adequate food and and possibly a homily and distribu- C e r tainly millions of Catholics in They will be team players on a lodging, health care, education; tion of previously consecrated Com- Latin America have long experi- multiracial squad. Catholics are called listening to the word of God with munion hosts. enced this situation. Consider, for to live and serve not merely as indi- them and sharing with them in Many loyal Catholics are astonished example, the little village of San viduals, but as members of a family of p r a y e r ful celebration and rich re l i - that this has happened so quickly and Miguelito in Mexico, which is like believers. In a society characterized gious instru c t i o n . that communion services would be many other places in Mexico and by individualism, it is very important Let me express a final hope in c o n s i d e red an appropriate solution. C e n t r a l and South America. In the that we “sacramentalize” a family conclusion. I hope that we see many After all, did not the teaching of cen- late 16th century, two zealous friars spirit, handing on to others a capacity lay saints in the 21st century. To d a y, turies up to and including the Sec- somehow found their way to this for teamwork rather than merely pro- the Church reminds us again and ond Vatican Council insist that the remote spot in the mountains. They

B O S T O N C O L L E G E | C 2 1 R E S O U R C E S | F A L L 2 0 0 4 2 1 stayed to evangelize the people and gent and personable. His neighbors mons may be rather thin theologi- sacraments is not possible. Will the give basic religious instruction. Be- recognized his obvious leadership c a l l y, fundamentalist and naive, but next generation continue to see f o r e long San Miguelito had its own q u a l i ties. Pablo, with his wife and he is accepted and content with his them as important? Will even the i m p ressive baroque Church and a lively c h i l d re n , became the first persons in little flock. Eucharist, like confession, become a devotional life. The friars baptized, town to accept the new re l i g i o n , In Peru and Bolivia, in Guatemala, “disappearing sacrament”? o ff e red daily Mass and celebrated reading the Bible every day, giving Brazil, and Mexico, wherever there the liturgies for marriages and burials. up the potent local “fire w a t e r ” a n d a r e few priests or where the priests R e v. Wi l l a rd F. Jabusch is chaplain When political changes took leading the prayers and hymns at a r e arrogant or indolent, the story emeritus of the University of Chicago. place, the friars were called back to the Sunday service and We d n e s d a y of San Miguelito has been re p e a t e d . the city. Yet each year on the feast of night Bible s t u d y. The Americans The bishops of Latin America meet Reprinted with permission from A m e r i c a, St. Michael, one of them would make then arranged for Pablo to attend an and discuss this, but they seem pow- May 12, 2003. Copyright 2003 by America the journ e y, baptize many babies, Assembly of God Bible college in erless to halt the march of convert s P r ess, Inc. into evangelical Protestantism or M o r monism. One Mormon “elder” (all of 20 years old) told me that in the United States their most successful a rea for conversions is the Southwest. CHECK OUT Because of the priest shortage, They are finding so many convert s among Hispanics that they hard l y numerous Catholics find it difficult, even have re s o u r ces or time to pro c e s s THE C A L E N D A R impossible, to receive sacramental absolution them all. In Latin America, even very small OF EVENTS AND villages will have an Assembly of for sin, the anointing of the sick, and, most God or other evangelical Church. A town of any size will also boast a W E B A R C H I V E i m p o r t a n t l y, the body and blood of Jesus l a r ge white Mormon “C h u rc h” w i t h a gleaming spire pointed like a nee- OF THE CHURCH Christ in the Mass. dle into the sky, a religious educa- tion building, and a tidy sports field for soccer and American basketball. I N THE For several decades now, it may well S T be that the most effective pre a c h e r s 2 1 C E N T U R Y hear confessions, solemnize marriages, the capital for some intensive cours- in Spanish or Portuguese are not celebrate Mass, and finally lead a es in scripture and in preaching. A Catholic. In many places, the Catholic p rocession with the statue of the pa- simple but attractive little chapel was c l e r gy are not only outnumbere d , t ron of the town through the stre e t s built at the edge of town. When Pablo but they seem to lack the fervor and and plaza. Exhausted, he would then re t u rned with his certificate in Bible evangelical passion of the Protestants. ride his horse back to the city. As the studies, he was named the pastor. All this has been the price, a very years went by, this holy day developed Thus, a new Assembly of God high price, for the Catholic unwill- into a colorful and rowdy fiesta, t h e c o n g regation, one of hundreds, came ingness or inability to supply suff i c i e n t The Church in the 21st religious and social high point of the to be established. With a re s i d e n t and effective pastors for the people. y e a r. But it was, after all, only one pastor who was rooted in the commu- The problem in Latin America, day out of 365. And with fewer voca- n i t y, educated (but not overe d u c a t e d ) , of course, goes back several centuries. Century plans lectures, tions to the Franciscans and even zealous, and involved in the life of the Even in colonial times under the fewer to the diocesan priesthood, the village, preaching sermons in the Catholic monarchs, with flourishing panel discussions, and possibility of a resident pastor became local dialect, it is not a surprise that religious orders and govern m e n t a l even more remote. this new Protestant congre g a t i o n s u p p o r t, there were never enough other events at Boston One day, a Protestant missionary quickly grew. When the Catholic c l e r gy to preach and celebrate the team from Texas arrived in the village. priest next came to San Miguelito for sacraments. They rented a house and went fro m his yearly visit, there was a clear lack In Europe and North America, College this fall. Keep door to door making friends and of interest in what he had to say. the crisis is much more recent. The handing out literature, especially Even if a celibate priest could be use of married priests and perh a p s track of these, and view nicely illustrated copies of the New found to go and live in a remote vil- women priests has been off e red as a Testament. Since most of the people lage like San Miguelito, he comes as solution and rejected. Rather, the video and audio record- had trouble reading, they also of- an outsider, an “i n t e l l e c t u a l ” with a challenge is met by downplaying, in f e red Christian songs, which they university and seminary training. He practice, the necessity of Sunday taught to the children and bro a d c a s t has read Aquinas and Bonaventure , Mass and the re c r uiting of nonor- ings of past events by in the evening over their loudspeakers. p e r haps Rahner or Ratzinger. Wi t h dained men and women to conduct But these industrious and vigoro u s whom can he talk? Where is the in- a prayer service in lieu of Mass. visiting our Web site, young Americans had no intention of tellectual stimulus? With neither a M a r tin Luther and John Calvin remaining in the village fore v e r. They wife nor children, how long before d r eamed of a Church without holy w w w. b c . e d u / c h u r c h 2 1 . quickly made the acquaintance of b o r edom and loneliness lead him to o r ders, a sacrificial liturg y, confes- Pablo, a young married man, the father alcohol, eccentricities, or sex? Pablo, sion, and anointing of the sick. Now, of two sons, who clearly was intelli- on the other hand, “fits in.” His ser- in many places, regular access to the

2 2 B O S T O N C O L L E G E | C 2 1 R E S O U R C E S | F A L L 2 0 0 4 Scratching the Stained-Glass Ce i l i n g

A look at gifts brought and challenges faced by the Church’s women leaders

B Y R E N E E M. L A R E A U Dallas, began her post with the be a problem-solver by working with conversations that had taken place daunting task of regaining the laity’s others. Sometimes this means that I’ll at the priests’ residence before work,” t is lunchtime on a Thursday, trust after a major clergy sex-abuse decide more slowly. If I have a dis- she says. “I had to let [the priests] and Sharon Daly, vice pre s i - crisis in 1997. Carol Fowler, 61, the agreement to deal with, for example, know that while it may have happened dent for social policy at first female director of personnel in between [religious educators] and unconsciously it was not helpful to USA, talks the Archdiocese of Chicago, proudly principals, I’ll pull together a commit- the decision-making process. I h u r riedly on her cell phone, recalls when Cardinal Joseph Bern a rd i n tee to look at the problem.” learned to adapt to this and looked Ithe buzzing chaos of Wa s h i n g t o n ’s asked her to take the position in 1991. Sister of Mercy Sharon Euart, 58, for more information when it was Union Station in the backgro u n d . Valerie Chapman, 53, pastoral a canon lawyer in Silver Springs, a p p r opriate.” D a l y, the first woman to occupy this administrator at St. Francis of Assisi M a r yland, agrees that for many position, squeezes a phone interv i e w Parish in Portland, Oregon, stood in women leaders the decision-making Answering the Call in between legislative meetings on the designated pastor’s space in Port- p rocess is as significant as the decision The majority of women who now Capitol Hill, with the future funding l a n d ’s cathedral as the arc h b i s h o p itself. “Women tend to be more serve in these high-level administra- of programs like Section 8 housing c o n f i r med her parish’s high school attentive to things like process and tive positions speak out of many years and Head Start at the fore f r ont of students. Dolores Leckey, a senior dialogue. This can extend the deci- of experience working in the Church. her mind. fellow at the Woodstock Theological sion-making process but can generate Most believe that, in their case, A 25-year veteran in the field of Seminary in Washington, D.C., now ownership, understanding, and support.” familiarity has its privileges. legislative advocacy, Daly re c a l l s welcomes young women theology This was certainly the case for feeling a little out of place at the students into her office for inform a l But Daly doesn’t see this style as Edlund, who, in the wake of a major 1984 bishops’ meeting, the first she at- mentoring sessions, drawing upon unique to women. “Before I saw a lot clergy sex-abuse trial, was given the tended during her tenure in the public her rich 20 years of work experience of leaders I assumed that collabora- responsibility of reviewing sexual- policy arm of the United States as founding director of the Secre t a r i a t tion was unique to women. Now that abuse allegations involving minors, C o n f e rence of Catholic Bishops for Family, Laity, Women, and Youth I have worked with lots of leaders reconstituting advisory review boards, (USCCB). “There were hardly any at the USCCB. I’m not convinced that’s the case. and heading up the priest personnel women there. I just remember look- Though most U.S. Catholics Collaboration does not come any b o a r d, which had historically been ing out into this sea of 300 white would not be surprised to learn that m o r e naturally to me than to my composed of all clerg y. Edlund, heads and gold chains,” she says with women comprise 83 percent of those male counterparts,” she says. But col- who’d worked for the Dallas archdio- a laugh. Despite her minority experi- engaged in parish work, many are not laboration is essential for influencing cese since 1979, says she definitely ence, Daly has never looked back. acquainted with the increasing num- legislation. “It’s a complex dance,” “had an advantage in that I alre a d y After holding a variety of legislative ber of women who hold high-level she says. “You have to have re l a t i o n- had a good working relationship with advocacy positions, she has devoted administrative Church positions in ships with both allies and opponents. the clerg y. They were getting a the past nine years to Catholic Chari- dioceses, social service agencies, and The best leaders in this line of work are known entity. ” ties’ advocacy work on welfare re f o rm , faith-based organizations. These people who are collaborative. It doesn’t E u a r t agrees. Being the first tax issues, and the federal budget. pioneering women carry with them matter if they are male or female.” female associate general secretary of Daly is but one in an expanding an enormous amount of decision- Leckey found a collaborative lead- the USCCB was a challenge, but “I g roup of courageous, intelligent making power by virtue of the ership style helped in her work with felt that I moved into it smoothly women leaders in the U.S. Catholic positions they hold. the USCCB because “I wasn’t com- because I was not completely un- C h u rch, women who have been D a l y, Edlund, Fowler, Chapman, petitive with the bishops like some known. I felt tremendous staff sup- named to top-level executive Church L e c k e y, and many women like them men were. Many of them had gone to p o r t and support from the bishops. jobs in the traditionally male-clergy- are changing the face of the Church’s s e m i n a ry together and suddenly one of This was important because one of dominated areas of personnel, prop- leadership. Their stories tell not only their classmates was named a bishop, my responsibilities was to supervise erty, and policy. of the rich gifts and unique leadership and one of them would be thinking, 10 departments, most of which were These highly educated women, styles that women bring to the ‘ Well, I was smarter in liturgy than he headed by priests.” most of whom have served the C h u rch, but also of the challenges that was.’ That wasn’t an issue for me.” Unfortunately for Euart, being a Church loyally for decades, are the come with being a “first” in anything. Relationship-building can be a known entity wasn’t quite enough. In first women to hold positions such challenge for women Church leaders, the fall of 2000, after 13 years as the as chancellors, personnel directors, A Spirit of Collaboration especially when working with clergy USCCB’s associate general secretary, and pastoral administrators. Though Many women bring a collaborative who have access to informal social E u a r t was asked to leave her post. they embrace a collaborative leader- leadership style into org a n i z a t i o n a l networks that often exclude women. This was especially painful for her in ship style that resists self-promotion, s t r u c t u r es that have traditionally During her tenure as the first light of the fact that she was, in the these women are not the type to shy operated hierarc h i c a l l y. “I used to female associate general secretary at minds of many clergy and lay people, away from “firsts.” teach math,” says Fowler. “I treat the USCCB, Euart says, “There were the leading candidate for the general Mary Edlund, 55, the first female issues like a word problem and try to times I’d feel left out of the conversa- secretary post itself. When the U.S. chancellor of the Archdiocese of tion because there had been previous bishops asked the Vatican if religious

B O S T O N C O L L E G E | C 2 1 R E S O U R C E S | F A L L 2 0 0 4 2 3 or other lay people could be nominated be wonderful.” have the final say in major adminis- women “and not to feel thre a t e n e d for the job, according to a September Euart and Bensman’s deep sense to trative decisions. by them. With so few leadership op- 2000 article in the National Catholic ministry is echoed emphatically by The average age of women portunities for women available there Reporter, the answer from Rome was a many women administrators. Such Church administrators–59.5 years ac- is a tendency to be protective of the resounding “no.” anecdotal evidence is bolstered by a cording to the LCWR study—raises few opportunities that do exist.” The general secretary serves as the March 2002 study by the Leadership the question of who will carry the Competitive salaries, mentoring, day-to-day chief operating officer of C o n f e r ence of Women Religious torch for the next generation. For and opportunities for graduate the bishops’ conference. Though (LCWR), the first academic study of those gathered at a March 2001 education and leadership will help only priests have held the post since w o m e n ’s experiences in Catholic first-ever national gathering of e n s u r e that educated, trained the position’s inception in 1918, C h u r ch administrative roles. The women diocesan leaders, re c ru i t- younger women will be ready and canon law does not specify that this LCWR study, titled “Women and ment of younger women occupied a willing to lead the Church in the future. high-level administrative position Jurisdiction: An Unfolding Reality,” p rominent place on the agenda. Mentoring is a high priority for must be held by a priest. found that 85 percent of the 426 Sheila Garcia, assistant director of Catholic Charities’ Sharon Daly, who Not only did Euart not get the top women interviewed re p o r ted a high the USCCB’s Secretariat for Family, tries “to challenge the people who job, she lost her job as associate sense of vocation or calling. L a i t y, Women, and Youth says that work for me to gro w. I’m just as likely general secre t a r y. “The new general Does this mean that these women she is “terribly concerned that there to send someone else from our staff s e c r e t a r y wanted to hire his own feel a call to the priesthood? Are a re not enough younger women in to a meeting on Capitol Hill as I am s t a f f,” she says. “It was the most these administrative positions simply the pipeline. We need to point out to to go myself.” painful professional experience I have the next best thing? them the number of leadership posi- Euart says that, despite the profes- ever had, and there wasn’t anything I “ O r dination has never been an tions that are available....Many sional challenges she has endured, she could do about it.” i n t e rest of mine personally, but that younger women think that because highly recommends the field of Jane Bensman, 54, a pastoral asso- is not to say that I am not aware of they can’t be ordained there is no way C h u r ch leadership to women. “If ciate at Queen of Martyrs Parish in other women who are interested in they can have a meaningful role.” younger women have the gifts, the Dayton, Ohio and the only full-time d e s i r e, and the training, and have a pastoral staff member at the 500- love for the Church, it is worth a try. family parish, experienced her own Women have to try to find a niche in job security scare when her pastor the structure that currently exists— was removed in April 2002 in the face Many women bring a collaborative we can’t lose sight of the fact that this of a substantiated allegation of sexual is a hierarchical Church, and that abuse. An interim pastor was appointed leadership style into organizational isn’t going to change.” who was “very difficult,” according to Jane Bensman looks to the future Bensman. structures that have traditionally of the Church with hope. “The fu- “It was pretty much a mess, and he ture potential for women will only handled things very inadequately, ” i n c r ease,” she says, “and the field of she says. “He didn’t want [the staff] operated hierarchically. Church ministry will continue to be to be in charge, even though we re a l l y strengthened because of it.” had been the ones who had been in While women administrators may charge all along. We definitely didn’t not have access to the social or eccle- fit into his mold of how he thought it,” says Euart. “My gifts are in Fowler experiences this dearth of sial networks that ordained clerg y things should be.” administration.” women firsthand, especially when she have, many cultivate a variety of for- T h a n k f u l l y, the interim pastor Fowler echoes a similar sentiment. s e rves as the only woman on an 18- mal and informal support networks. only stayed for three months, and “I don’t believe that God calls you to member advisory council to Chicago Mary Edlund relies on other women Queen of Martyrs now shares a new something that isn’t going to happen,” C a r dinal Francis George. While in the chancery and classmates from pastor with a neighboring parish. she says. “But the sense of vocation is other women attend the meetings, her canon law program. Jane Bens- Bensman says the new pastor is v e ry strong in me. My call is the Fowler is the only voting female man participates in a bi-monthly “someone who works with me like I absolute number one, overarc h i n g member of the council. “We need meeting of area pastoral associates am an equal, a colleague.” reason why I do this. It comes out of more women at the higher level posi- who gather for prayer, networking, Baptism.” tions for their perspective on life, and education. Valerie Chapman Called to Serve Though these leading female C h u rch, and who God is in our lives.” meets every six weeks with pastors Despite the loss and diff i c u l t i e s C h u rc h administrators enjoy unprece- and the vicar of clergy and also that accompanied Bensman and dented access to decision-making A Female Perspective attends regular meetings with an Euart’s experiences, both stand firm power, the i n t roduction to the Other women administrators speak ecumenical community organizing in their convictions they are called to LCWR study sounds a note of caution emphatically of the continued need g r oup, close priest friends, and serve the Church. “My heart’s desire and reality with respect to decision- for a women’s viewpoint in the pastoral associates who have re s p o n s i- is finding a way to serve the bishops making and ordination: “As long as C h u rch, and the challenges they bilities similar to hers. in this country again,” says Euart , jurisdiction (the power to govern) is face in making that perspective who now serves various dioceses and tied to o r d ination, a very limited h e a rd. “[It] will not happen unless Renee M. Lareau is the author of religious communities as a consultant. number of roles with authority will women get in there and work at it,” Getting A Life: Flow to Find Your “It was ultimately because of the be open to women.” says Chapman. “It’s not like going True Vocation (Orbis, 2003). She lives people that I stayed at the parish,” Though the number of high-level t h rough the seminary, where when in Columbus, Ohio. says Bensman. “I felt that I could women administrators is increasing, [seminarians] finish they will be p r ovide stability in the transition. they are still the exception rather guaranteed a job.” Reprinted with permission from U.S. Catholic, I spent a lot of time praying about than the norm. In the end, it is Chapman emphasizes the need for September 1, 2003. Copyright 2003 by U.S. my decision, and it turned out to by-and-large the ordained clergy who older women to mentor younger Catholic.

2 4 B O S T O N C O L L E G E | C 2 1 R E S O U R C E S | F A L L 2 0 0 4 What Women Wa n t

‘Buffy,’ the pope and the new feminists

B Y C AT H L E E N K AV E N Y a strong moral character, the loyalty, how being a good mother does not a hellmouth, an entrance to the h o n e s t y, and compassion of friends exclude (and in fact may re q u i re) a u n d e r world ruled by all variety of n his 1995 Letter to Wo m e n , and family, and sometimes a bit of tough-minded independence and demon life. Not only does Buff y Pope John Paul II calls for a s u p e r natural grace. As it turns out, worldly competence. It also needs to have to spend a lot of time patro l l i n g dialogue about the situation we all live in the Buffyverse, no p r oclaim unambiguously that a voca- dark and dank cemeteries, re s u l t i n g and challenges facing women. matter what our age. tion is a personal call, given by God in disheveled hair and missed dates, He addresses himself to all Why is Buffy an important inter- to each person, freely to embrace— but she needs to run through the Iwomen, not just those who are locutor for the “new feminism” and freely to create—her own destiny, whirling blades of a double-edged Catholic, and still less to that subset i n s p i r ed by John Paul II? Because which will involve both self-sacrifice set of preconceptions. On the one of Catholic women who agree with the two have enough in common for and self-fulfillment in service to hand, her fragile appearance, and his formulation of a “new feminism.” the discussion to be fruitful. The others. A true vocation is not an even her name, do not correspond The pope’s feminism celebrates the pope rejects sexism, as well as both impersonal demand to conform to well with her vocation as a vampire advances women have made in the “sameness” and “separatist” femi- the cookie-cutter re q u i r ements of slayer. On the other, her powers economic and political spheres even nism, for the same basic reason: they outdated conceptions of part i c u l a r haven’t proved to be a guy magnet. as it promotes traditional ideas about u n d e r mine the dignity of women be- roles, whether nun, mother, teacher, Even basically decent boys in the the nature and vocation of women, cause they are untrue to the complex or engineer. Buffyverse tend to resent strong girls, which are rooted in his conception reality of the nature and situation of B u f fy Summers has such a voca- or at least to shy away from them. of the Blessed Vi rgin Mary as the women. So does Buffy, but with snap- tion. She is also a delicate-looking Despite her unique vocation, p e r fect exemplar of the “feminine pier dialogue and better clothes. blonde who attends high school (and B u f f y ’s problem is not unique. It is genius” so desperately needed to Spending some quality time in the later college) in Southern Californ i a . the problem of many young women humanize the world today. B u f fyverse would also help the pope She has every qualification necessary attempting to come to terms with The pope’s tone is not crabby and and the new feminists avoid three to be prom queen. Her problem, you the various and complicated facets of defensive, but open-minded and ap- pitfalls marring their work. First, in might say, is that she is overqualified; their personalities. In an eff o r t to p r eciative. In fact, the letter begins their eff o rts to escape the distort i o n s she also happens to be the Slayer, avoid sex-based stereotypes, an earlier with a litany of gratitude to and for of the old feminism, such as its women who occupy a wide variety of dismissive attitude toward traditional roles in their families, their commu- female roles as caregivers or moth- nities, and the world. Who would be ers, some new feminists have come a good dialogue part n e r, within the close to embracing the old sexism. Buffy is not mere mind candy. Philosophers, context of American culture, for Second, in attempting to high- those Catholics who wish to explore light the positive aspects of the theologians, literary critics, and scientists the pope’s new feminism? I would C h u rc h ’s teaching on sexual matters like to propose Buffy Summers, the in a culture that alternately glorifies write about Buffy. Secular feminists and p r otagonist of the popular television and trivializes sexuality as a form of series “B u f fy the Va m p i re Slayer.” self-gratification, new feminists side- conservative Catholics argue passionately I’m not kidding. Buffy is not mere step the dark and raw doubts about mind candy. Philosophers, theolo- passion, love, and commitment that about what Buffy’s extraordinary popularity gians, literary critics, and scientists a r e increasingly part of the experi- write about Buff y. Secular feminists ence of many young people. may mean. Her world is a metaphor for the and conservative Catholics arg u e T h i rd, in their promotion of the passionately about what Buff y ’s ex- dignity of the vocation of women, in problems faced by middle-class teenage girls. t r a o r d i n a r y popularity may mean. p a r ticular the vocation of many The brainchild of the talented Joss women to motherhood, those cham- Whedon (a writer of Toy Story), the pioning the pope’s views perpetuate “ B u f fyverse” (the metaphysical and several false dichotomies about the moral world of the show) operates as character traits associated with women, the one girl of her generation en- generation of feminists proposed the an extended metaphor for the prob- the roles available to them, and even dowed with the supernatural stre n g t h n o rm of “mutuality” (re c i p rocal re s p e c t lems faced by middle-class teenagers, the meaning of vocation itself. and speed necessary to fight vampire s , and care) as a way to evaluate re l a t i o n- particularly girls. Whedon knows The basic challenge for a new demons, and other evil forces (how ships among all people, including that high school and college are not feminism—for any Catholic femi- else to describe the social pre s s u r e s between men and women. The norm the care f r ee prelude to real life as nism—is to transcend these of high school?) preying on human played down the significance of sexual popular culture generally port r a y s dichotomies. It needs to show how b e i n g s . d i ff e rences in order to highlight them. Rather, they are real life’s one and the same woman can be Being the Slayer can drastically character traits that men and women most intense and dangerous phase: both strong and sensitive to the i n t e rf e r e with social life, part i c u l a r l y w e re acknowledged to hold in com- negotiating them successfully re q u i re s needs of others, and in part i c u l a r if your hometown is set directly over mon, some of which (such as intelli-

B O S T O N C O L L E G E | C 2 1 R E S O U R C E S | F A L L 2 0 0 4 2 5 gence and determination) pre v i o u s l y of the body,” which they have de- b e t t e r. Sounds good, but what if shows these days, Buffy does not bring associated only with men. veloped out of the phenomenologi- things are not better? Or what if the p r etend that those relationships are Yet for many young women today, cal anthropology proposed by John ineliminable consequences of your without consequence, especially for the norm of a gender- f ree “mutuality” Paul II. One might call it the sexual own sins, the sins of other people, the moral character of those in- fails to account for the deep sense of ethics of the new feminism. bad luck, or bad timing mean that volved. On her seventeenth birt h d a y, attraction—and diff e r ence—they The theology of the body inte- you can never live this lovely picture B u f fy loses her virginity in a night of experience with respect to men. grates key features of Catholic sexual of metaphysical and sexual harm o n y ? passion with Angel, who, after losing The n o r m also seems constraining, teaching (especially the pro h i b i t i o n The theologians of the body have his soul, re v e rts at sunrise to his old e s p e c i a l l y coming from a movement against contraception) into a full- an answer. Tightly grasping that pic- demonic self, in accordance with a dedicated to the liberation of blown anthropology centered on the t u r e of sexual harmony and existen- gypsy curse that prohibits him fro m women, because it suggests that complete complementarity of men tial bliss in one hand, they gesture experiencing true mortal happiness. s t rength and success re q u i re the re- and women on the physical, psycho- a w k w a r dly to the need for suff e r i n g Other characters are similarly de- nunciation of all traditional feminine logical, and social levels. Equal but and the way of the Cross with the nied both the “happily ever after” behavior and intere s t s . distinct, man and woman are cre a t e d o t h e r. In their idealized world, sin, they desire in a sexual re l a t i o n s h i p In the “feminine” world of lacy by God with the capacity to give s u f fering, grace, redemption, and the and the capacity to extinguish that outfits and pretty pink bows, the themselves totally to one another, possibility for self-sacrifice may d e s i re once and for all. Prompted by character of a woman is primarily body and mind, heart and soul. This somehow coexist, but they are never the ghosts of his own parents’ un- defined by what she may not be capacity for mutual self-gift is per- i n t e r mingled. And therein lies the happy marriage, Buff y ’s mort a l (anything stereotypically associated friend Xander leaves his fiancée with men), rather than by what she Anya at the altar, propelling her to herself is. resume her former identity as a L a t e r, “Princess” Buffy quivers vengeance demon. The powerf u l b e f o re the vampire Spike, who In an effort to avoid sex-based stereotypes, witch Wi l l o w, possessed by grief and remarks: “Look at you. Shaking. anger when her lover Tara is sense- Te rrified. Alone. A lost little lamb. I an earlier generation of feminists proposed lessly murd e red, sets out on a mad love it.” Then, as he pre p a res to bite plan to destroy the world. In the B u ff y, the spell is broken: she grace- “m u t u a l i t y” as a way to evaluate relationships end, what saves her, and the world fully arises and deftly fends him off , itself, is not eros, but agape: the un- signaling her rejection of a dependent among all people, including between men conditional and selfless love shown and vulnerable role. Yet, in a re c o g- her by Xander, a regular mortal guy, nizably contemporary twist, she and women. Yet for many young women a carpenter, and her friend since retains her femininity in the fight: k i n d e rg a r ten. As the episode ends, the beautiful dress survives intact. t o d a y, the norm of a gender-free with a bleeding Xander comfort i n g Picking up her stake again with re l i s h , a broken Wi l l o w, we hear Sarah she remarks, “It’s good to be me.” “m u t u a l i t y” fails to account for the deep McLachlan in the background, softly Only the willfully blind could fail singing the Prayer of St. Francis. to acknowledge the real agonies that sense of attraction—and difference—they The struggle over women’s the sexual revolution of the 1960's roles—middle-class America’s very b r ought in its wake. As with any experience with respect to men. own Thirty Years War—is not over revolution, the brunt fell on the yet. According to a recent survey by most vulnerable: divorced, middle- the Center for the Advancement of aged women suddenly found them- Women, a large percentage of women selves without re s o u rces in a culture fectly fulfilled in an act of sexual p r oblem. In real life—especially in say that stay-at-home mothers and w h e re the rules of matrimony had intercourse between husband and real marriages—they intermingle all working mothers “often” or “some- changed midstream; many childre n wife that is open to the creation of the time. Our sense of bro k e n n e s s times” look down on each other. w e re raised in the acrimony and new life. By living your married life can give rise to an unholy as well as T h e re is no shortage of wounds, or instability of a crumbling or bro k e n according to Catholic teaching, you holy longing; our restless stirr i n g s salt to rub in them, on either side. m a rriage; and adolescents were can harmoniously integrate pleasure can both animate our contentment In fact, some new feminists expected to navigate their way to and pro c reation, friendship and desire , and threaten to destroy it. Tr a d i t i o n- s t r ongly imply that a woman who sexual maturity and a stable, intimate commitment and contentment. There al Catholic realism has always known voluntarily assumes substantial work relationship in a world that extolled are no sharp edges, no loose ends. this. We do not know our heart ’s de- outside the home is selfishly sacrificing the freedom of sexual expression but Of course, those retailing the s i re, and we do not have the stre n g t h , her children for her care e r. To put i g n o r ed its emotional and psycho- theology of the body acknowledge or sometimes even the will, to grasp the issue this way is to distort what logical dangers. that not every o n e ’s life or marr i a g e it when we think it fleetingly appears. is at stake, especially for Catholics. Who wouldn’t want to find a way c o r responds to this idealized picture . Yet, in the strangest moments, in the I t ’s not about care e r. It’s about voca- to make these demons go away? Some They chalk a good portion of this oddest situations, we can experience tion, which both the modern world Catholics, like seminary p r o f e s s o r fact up to personal sin. The solution? some wisp of peace, some taste of and the Church agree involves both Christopher West and theologian Get married young, never use con- the possibility of redemption. Divine self-sacrifice and self-fulfillment in M a ry Shivanandan (C rossing the traception, accept your God-given grace follows God’s plans, not ours. the service of others. Is it possible T h reshold of Love: A New Vision of sex role, and your life will be bet- A compatible realism is at work in that many a woman has a vocation M a rriage in the Light of John Paul II’s ter—your lovemaking will be better; B u f f y. Buffy is not Gidget. The with two distinct poles of concern , Anthropology, Catholic University of your relationship with your spouse teenagers and twentysomethings on one directed toward her own family, America Press), believe they have will be better; and your metaphysical the show do have sexual re l a t i o n- the other more broadly toward the found the answer in the “theology identity as a man or woman will be ships, but unlike most television community? Is it possible that at

2 6 B O S T O N C O L L E G E | C 2 1 R E S O U R C E S | F A L L 2 0 0 4 least some of the inevitable diff i c u l - it in difficult situations. When the ties of being both a mother and a job p o p e , and many of the new feminists, h o l d e r, the robbing Peter to pay Paul, speak of motherhood, they seem to The Future Church: the exhaustion—are rightly endure d , be romantically focusing on babies because they are the side effects of fi- and small children. What about delity to a complicated calling? caring for adolescents? Successfully A Demographic How can anyone have a vocation raising a teenage girl to fulfill her that incorporates some elements tra- own vocation re q u i res a re m a r k a b l e ditionally associated with virg i n i t y combination of strength and re s t r a i n t , Re v o l u t i o n and others traditionally associated challenge and aff i rmation—an inde- with motherhood? Here is where pendence and self-possession typi- BY JOSEPH CLAUDE HARRIS maintain its workforce. B u ffy can be helpful, can show us a cally associated with the life of These declining fertility rates have way to mix and match. Like many v i r g i n i t y. Buffy knows this from both eter Dru c k e r, writing in alarmed religious and secular leaders American women her age, she quali- sides; she battles with her mother, the Nov. 3, 2001 issue on the European continent. In the fies—at least literally—neither as who struggled to accept the fact that of The Economist, described face of a total fertility rate of 1.2 v i rgin nor as mother. Yet no one her daughter was also the Slayer, and a revolution that will cause lifetime births per female in , could be further from the stere o t y p i c a l later on, she battles with her younger a restructuring of Euro- Pope John Paul II exhorted Italians, “selfish” secular feminist implicitly sister Dawn, whom she was left to Ppean and American economies and in an address given in February 2000, criticized by the pope and others. raise alone after her mother’s death. cultures for much of this century. “ I n to “make more babies.” The Bavarian The series is about vocation; it The show does not shy away fro m the developed countries, the domi- p re m i e r, Edmund Stoiber, confro n t i n g e x p l o res what it means for Buffy to conflicts between Buff y ’s role as the nant factor in the next society will be a total fertility rate of 1.3 in Ger- be a vampire slayer, not merely to Slayer and her role as Dawn’s sis- something to which most m a n y, one-upped the pontiff and slay vampires for fun or profit. It t e r / m o t h e r. Nowhere are these more people are only just beginning to pay o f f e red a tangible program of cash shows her struggling to live up to acute than at the end of season 5, attention: the rapid growth in the subsidies per birth. Under Mr. the demands of the role, sacrificing w h e r e Buffy seems to face an impos- older population and the rapid Stoiber’s scheme, German parents the usual teenage pleasures to meet sible choice: sacrifice her sister, or shrinking of the younger generation.” would get the equivalent of about her unusual responsibilities. It also allow the entire world, including In every developed country and $484 a month, more than triple the shows her growth in competence, Dawn, to be overrun by demon in China and Brazil, the number of current rate, for the first three years wisdom, and confidence, and her dimensions of re a l i t y. Buffy simply b i r ths has fallen well below the of life. eventual realization that the sacri- refuses to choose. She willingly for- replacement number re q u i r ed for Both survey data and actual demo- fices are worth it. In exploring the feits her own life in order to save Dawn. any population to remain stable: 2.2 graphic information indicate that meaning of vocation, the show sug- In Buff y ’s free gift of herself, we b i r ths per woman of re p r o d u c t i v e large families are a thing of the past. gests ways of overcoming several see the dichotomy between self- age. As a result, immigration will When young women and men are dichotomies that hamper a cre a t i v e sacrifice and self-fulfillment over- become potentially divisive in all rich asked how many children they plan to and humane response to the contem- come; we glimpse the true meaning countries as businesses seek workers have, almost all, in all re l a t i v e l y p o r a ry situation of women. of vocation. There is no bittern e s s , to augment a shrinking number of wealthy countries, reply two or only active acceptance. Buffy wants native employees. maybe three. Fewer than 2 percent On Being Chosen Dawn not to be haunted by her A current and pending movement say they do not want children. The most fundamental dichotomy sacrifice, but to go on in freedom to of millions of Muslims into Europe T h e re seems to be little connection, the series overcomes is between accept her own vocation. Her part- and a burgeoning Hispanic population however, between survey responses being chosen and choosing. Just as a ing words to her sister embody the in the United States will challenge and actual birth data. In Germany, 30 brilliant scientist or a phenomenal ethos of the series. “I love you. I will Church leaders to restate the eternal percent of women born in 1965 are athlete chooses to acknowledge and always love you. But this is the work message of Jesus to non-European childless. In the past, over 90 percent to accept responsibility for develop- that I have to do. You have to take and non-Anglo cultures. of women their age would have had ing her innate gifts, Buffy chooses to c a r e of them now. You have to take children by now. Data also show a accept her calling and the re s p o n s i- c a r e of each other. The hard e s t Population Forecasts for Europe strong pattern of women having only bilities involved. In this way, the thing in this world...is to live in it. Population changes forecast for one child. In the case of Italy, for ex- show deftly calls into question our Be brave. Live...for me.” Germany illustrate the dramatic ample, Rosella Palombra, who has s o c i e t y ’s entrenched opposition be- The pope himself might have said pressures western European countries studied attitudes toward parenthood tween unchosen responsibilities and these words. The task of the new fem- will soon face. By 2030, people over at the National Institute for Popula- s e l f - d e t e rmination. It demonstrates inism that he has inspired is to show 65 in Germ a n y, the world’s third tion Research in Italy, says that Italian how impoverished, how unimagina- how they might be truly spoken by l a r gest economy, will account for couples feel strong pre s s u r e to be- tive it is to think that women who any woman who responds faithfully to almost half the adult population, come parents—but one child is want to develop their talents and G o d ’s call, no matter what the shape c o m p a r ed with one-fifth now. The enough to fulfill this social duty. who prize their autonomy are merely of her individual vocation. result will be that the total Germ a n E v e r y w h e re in southern Euro p e , s e l f - re g a rding. We are each called to population will shrink from 82 large families have been replaced by an individual vocation, not to the Cathleen Kaveny teaches law and theol- million to 70 million, with virt u a l l y single-child families: 26 percent of identical vocation. ogy at the University of Notre Dame. all of the decline–40 million to 30 Spanish and 31 percent of Portuguese In living out her unusual vocation, m i l l i o n — o c c u r ring in the working women now in their late 30’s have B u ffy also transcends the dichotomy Reprinted with permission from Commonweal, population group. The D.I.W. just one child. between virginity and motherh o o d . November 7, 2003. Copyright 2003 by research institute in Berlin estimates The low fertility rates of recent Her independence and strength of Commonweal. that by 2020 Germany will have to years may reflect a pattern in which character do not undermine her abil- i m p o r t one million immigrants women are postponing childbearing ity to nurt u r e; in fact, they support of working age each year simply to until careers have been established.

B O S T O N C O L L E G E | C 2 1 R E S O U R C E S | F A L L 2 0 0 4 2 7 In most western European countries, “were wise, very wise indeed.” Zedillo, then president of Mexico, deaths. Migration describes popula- the birth rate rose between 1998 and One may hope that this initial referred to Los Angeles as the world’s tion arrivals and departures over a 1999. Some demographers argue that bout of fear will subside as immigra- second most populous Mexican city specified period of time. The total the apparent fall in fertility rates has tion to Europe becomes more com- during a 1999 visit to southern population in the three counties of reached a plateau and that Europe’s monplace. Church leaders will then California. the Los Angeles Catholic Church true fertility rate may be 1.8 children have to contend with concerns about U.S. Census Bureau forecasts grew by 561,851 between 1990 and per woman. Even this “optimistic” how to run an average parish when point to a more diverse ethnic distri- 1996. Since there were 834,491 more fertility rate, however, still implies the median age of the adult portion bution in the American population births than deaths during the period, people having fewer children than the of the congregation is 65. In the past, over the next 50 years. Government the fact that the population only in- replacement of the population re q u i res. baptisms and weddings have in most demographers expect the Hispanic creased by 561,851 means that a total In general, present patterns point places dominated parish life. Pastors population in this country to quadru- of 272,640 residents moved from the to a decrease in the population of typically focused much of the energy ple from 27.3 million in 1995 to 96.5 area over a six-year period. There western European countries from 388 and resources of a parish on schools million by the middle of the next was a net growth in population for million in 2000 to 368 million by and religious education programs for c e n t u ry. CARA re s e a r chers re p o r t the counties that comprise the 2025. Much of the decline will occur youth. In the future, funerals may that 56 percent of Hispanics say they Archdiocese of Los Angeles because in Germany and Italy. Catholic outnumber weddings. Parish pro- are Catholic. Should this proportion births outnumbered deaths. Church membership in Germany will grams will also need to reflect the remain constant, the pro j e c t e d shrink by 2 million. In the case of fact that a substantial portion of the growth pattern cannot help but affect Immigrant Parishes Italy, the Church enrollment loss will population of an average parish will the operation of Catholic parishes in When Catholics came to America about equal the population decline, be retired. this country. At present, American in the 19th century, they settled in since 97 percent of Italians are Catholic Church membership may be cities and founded parishes to pre s e rv e baptized Catholic. Hispanic Catholic Growth about one-quarter Hispanic; if pre s e n t their culture and language. A system The impending birth dearth will A much different situation exists in patterns continue, Catholic Church of national parishes emerged, from lessen the historical Catholic domi- the United States, where Catholic mailing lists in 50 years could well Little Germany on Manhattan’s nance of the religious map of Europe. membership rolls seem to be surviv- top 100 million, with perhaps half the Lower East Side to the Italian neigh- The present infrastructure of the ing turbulent times rather well. The names showing Hispanic origins. borhood of North Beach in San worldwide Catholic Church reflects Official Catholic Directory counted Both the effects of migration and the Francisco. These churches offered its European origins. In 1997, a little the Catholic population as 47 million considerable natural increase—the sacraments and a community associa- less than two-thirds of the world’s in 1980; it increased to 55.6 million excess of births over deaths—of the tion in a language intelligible to the parishes were located in Euro p e . by 1995. Catholics have maintained a Hispanic population will contribute immigrants. Granddaughters and About a quarter of the world’s 23-percent level among the growing to a rapid growth pattern for Hispanics. grandsons of the immigrants subse- Catholic population lives in Europe. American population. At the risk of Nowhere is the increase of the quently moved from the cities to the N o n - E u r opean parishes re g i s t e r raining on such a happy parade, two Latino population more evident than suburbs in the 1950’s and founded about three-quarters of the Catholic trends in Catholic membership data in southern California. The total distinctively American parishes. population. A total of 53 percent of suggest at least a challenging future population for the three-county area National congregations gradually the world’s priests staffed European for diocesan and parish leaders. Yes, that makes up the Archdiocese of Los g r ew to be anachronisms. parishes and programs. With 53 per- the Catholic population is growing, Angeles increased by 561,851 be- American Church leaders today cent of the cardinals living in Europe, but much of the increase–6.5 million tween 1990 and 1996. At the same face a unique organizational chal- much of the management focus of —has occurred among Hispanic time, the Catholic population in- lenge, particularly in the four states the Church reflects European cultural communities. The picture for non- c reased by 688,257. The number of that border Mexico. It is not a matter values and concerns. Many years of Hispanic membership is not quite so non-Catholics thus declined by of some national parishes ministering likely immigration patterns will result robust, with the non-Hispanic 126,406. Since the increase in the to the needs of Hispanics. In Los in Islam becoming a large European C a t h o l i c population increasing only number of Catholics accounted for Angeles, Hispanics presently make up faith. Interfaith activities will cease to about 1.5 million. m o r e than the entire population t w o - t h i r ds of the Catholic popula- be esoteric endeavors. Rapid growth of the Hispanic growth, the number of Catholics as a tion, and the pro p o r tion is rapidly Demographic changes have community has influenced parish share of all residents increased from rising. Given the fact that the non- a l r e a d y led to an outbreak of xeno- programs in all parts of the country. 28.5 percent to 33.5 percent. The Hispanic population is shrinking, phobia. In September 2000, Cardinal Five years ago, there were only two p a t t e rn of a growing total of Catholics t h e r e may well be a market for Giacomo Biffi, the archbishop of Spanish-language Masses offered in closely paralleled growth in the His- national parishes in Los Angeles that , held a news conference at Indianapolis each Sunday, both in the panic population in the three counties. offer liturgies in English. Dioceses in which he painted a picture, which he same parish. To d a y, 80 diff e r e n t Should present patterns persist for the border states have become His- found bleak, of Italian civilization parishes in the city offer Hispanic two decades, Los Angeles re s i d e n t s panic enclaves that function like threatened by an onslaught of mi- Masses; the number would be larger would be 52 percent Hispanic and 43 national parishes in the 19th century. grating Muslims. The cardinal spoke if there were sufficient Spanish- p e rce nt Catholic by the year 2020. It is difficult to predict trends, but in favor of restrictive immigration speaking priests. While these changes The archbishop of Los Angeles would what is sure is a markedly changed policies. “I have never had anything a f fect every community, the tru l y then serve as pastor of one of the Church in the next generation. against the word ‘crusade’ personal- l a r ge growth in the numbers of l a rgest Hispanic communities in the ly,” he said, as quoted in The Times o f Hispanics has happened in southern world. The transition to a Latino Joseph Claude Harris works as L o n d o n. “We have to be concern e d California, Texas, southern Florida, community will come about because financial officer for the Society of St. about saving the nation.” These and metropolitan areas like New of two factors that cause population Vincent de Paul in Seattle, Washington remarks subsequently struck a re s p o n- York and Chicago. For example, one shifts: the impact of natural incre a s e s i v e chord with Cardinal Angelo So- Hispanic Catholic in six in the entire and the effect of migration. Reprinted with permission from America, dano, the Vatican secretary of state, country presently resides in the Arch- Natural increase means the March 18, 2002. Copyright 2002 by America who said that Cardinal Biffi’s words diocese of Los Angeles. Ern e s t o number of births exceeds the total of Press, Inc.

2 8 B O S T O N C O L L E G E | C 2 1 R E S O U R C E S | F A L L 2 0 0 4 Architects of Su c c e s s

The promise of young Hispanic Catholic leadership

BY KENNETH G. DAVIS c o u n t ry. Spanish is spoken in 85 to develop the ministry: According to a document of the p e rcent of their homes, and 40 per- Of the 35 dioceses (19 percent) U.S. Bishops’ Committee on Hispanic lthough parents may well cent speak English “less than well.” that have personnel trained to develop Affairs, Hispanic Ministry at the Turn attend whatever Church Though increasing numbers are p rograms and coordinate this ministry of the New Millennium (November makes their children feel entering the middle class and engaging at the parish level, 10 employ such 1999), only 7.1 percent of bishops most welcome, young in university studies, only 57 perc e n t of ministers only part time. identified their youth programs as people are not as likely Hispanics completed high school, and Just 6 percent of the diocesan adequate. That was the lowest posi- toA attend a Church simply because it just 9 percent are university graduates. personnel ministering to youth in our tive response rate of any ministry appeals to their parents. Win over the Over 18 percent of Hispanic families country are themselves Hispanic. Of evaluated. Research conducted for the youth and perhaps win the whole live in poverty. those, 40 percent do so half time, one bishops by the Louisville Institute family. If this anecdote is reasonable, Because young Catholic Hispanics day a week or as volunteers. summarized the situation: “Given the the future of the Catholic Church in also exhibit this continuum of accul- In California—traditionally the fact that the Latino population in this the United States is being construct- turation processes, specialists in state with the strongest Hispanic country is overwhelmingly young (ap- ed by young Hispanics. Hispanic youth and young adult m i n i s t r y—a quarter of the dioceses proximately 50 percent are under the The latest census reports that 35.7 ministry, such as Instituto Fe y Vida have no personnel specifically sup- age of twenty-six and over 33 percent percent of all Hispanics in the United and the National Catholic Network p o r ting ministry to young Hispanics. under the age of eighteen), the Churc h States are less than 18 years old, de Pastoral Juvenil Hispana (La Red), Another 25 percent have Hispanic i g n o res Hispanic youth at its own peril.” c o m p a r ed to 23.5 percent of non- emphasize ministry in both English youth and young adult ministers with The results of another recent surv e y, Hispanic whites. And while the popu- therefore, are not surprising. The lation of Hispanic youth is expected Hispanic Churches in American P u b- to boom in the next 20 years, the lic Life Project explains the exodus o f non-Hispanic white youth population The Church in the United States, especially Hispanics from the Catholic Church is expected to decline. This incre a s e p r ecisely by generational diff e r e n c e . among Hispanics will account for at parish and diocesan levels, would be well While 74 percent of immigrants are most of the youth population growth Catholic, only 66 percent of the second over the next two decades. served by investing considerably greater generation and 59 percent of third and In its Exploratory Study on the later generations remain Catholic. Status of Hispanic Youth and Young resources in Hispanic youth and young adult If the urgings of Andrew Greeley, Adult Ministry in the U.S., the Allan Figueroa Deck, Juan Diaz Vilar, Instituto Fe y Vida (Institute for ministry leadership development. and others in the pages of America Faith and Life) reports that while the about the need to re-examine min- Catholic Church overall is about 33 istry to Hispanics are true, the need is percent Hispanic, the young Church especially great in the case of younger is already around 45 percent Hispan- and Spanish. An analysis done by La a B.A. or equivalent; a further 25 Hispanics. Local churches need to ic. In California, Hispanic youth now Red reveals that Spanish-speaking p e r cent have ministers with some invest in Hispanic young leadership make up close to 75 percent of all young people (single Hispanics courses at the college level; and 25 that is carefully selected, well educated, Catholics under the age of 18. In between 18 and 30) are the better p e r cent have ministers with only a and properly supported. This will Texas, they outnumber non-Hispanics s e rved. The status of ministry to high school diploma. re q u i re that Church stru c t u res cre a t e d by almost two to one, and the num- bilingual Hispanic youth is unknown, In the last 10 years, only four of to serve white non-Hispanic Catholics ber of dioceses nationwide in which and only sporadic attention is given C a l i f o r n i a ’s 13 dioceses have been be re-evaluated in response to this they make up 50 percent or more is specifically to English-speaking young able to retain their diocesan coord i - new pastoral reality. g r owing each year. Hispanic adults. For example, although nator for that specific ministry for the National Catholic Youth Confer- more than three years. Structural Challenges and Hopes What Do We Know? ence 2001 had more Hispanic partici- The relatively more numero u s Unfortunately, we know very little. pation than ever, that participation was Scarcity of Skilled Ministers c l e r gy and considerably gre a t e r Only Young Adult Catholics: Religion still tiny (5.2 percent). Why did so Current efforts to develop leaders money in the United States has cre a t e d in the Culture of Choice, by Dean few Hispanic youth participate despite who will minister to Hispanic young a local Church with a powerful Hoge and others, includes a chapter the best eff o rts of the National F e d e r a- Catholics are obviously insuff i c i e n t . infrastructure of parish employees, on Hispanic youth. Most recent stud- tion for Catholic Youth Ministry, w h i c h Poor re c ruitment and retention, as diocesan offices, hospitals, schools, ies on young Catholics do not even included $100,000 in scholarships? well as limited support for continuing professional organizations, publishing consider them. The following four observations education or full-time employment, houses and the like. This phenome- The 2000 census indicates that from the Fe y Vida study suggest that a r e some of the reasons we have so non has led to a highly professional- about half the Hispanics in the United a paucity of Hispanic ministers, their few Hispanic leaders in youth and ized ministry that requires large States are native born; the remainder frequent turnover, and limited young adult ministry. Our bishops investments in education, technology, come from every Latin American academic preparation make it difficult seem to be aware of this need. and support services. Such an expens i v e

B O S T O N C O L L E G E | C 2 1 R E S O U R C E S | F A L L 2 0 0 4 2 9 Church infrastructure, with its corre- bridge builders, they are potential goals: 1) engage in a dialogue with (http://www.ncchm.org) collaborated sponding models of ministry, may architects of success. the bishops’ Committee on Yo u t h on a recent study that demonstrates well serve non-Hispanic whites, espe- R e c rui ting, educating, and re t a i n i n g and Young Adult Ministry and, with that, if given the tools, young cially from middle and upper classes. such ministers is therefore vital. This the collaboration of that committee, Hispanics will be architects of a But it tends to eclipse apostol a t e s re q u i res a strong, sustained, and coor- launch a decade of intensive support successful ministry: “Hispanic that do not share the same cultural d i n a t e d investment through steward- and advocacy for the development of C a t h o l i c leadership development p r esumptions, and this hinders the ship, education, and communication, Hispanic youth and young adult min- (especially among women, youth, and development of different ministerial at which our country’s ecclesial infra- istry in both English and Spanish; 2) young adults) requires an immediate models. Popular religion and apostolic structure excels. Hence the thesis of write a pastoral letter focusing on and significant investment, but once this article: U.S. Church structures, ministry to the younger generations formed, such leaders are very likely especially at parish and diocesan of Hispanic Catholics with the aim of to in turn contribute time, talent, and levels, would be well served by investing presenting this invisible segment of treasure to the Church.” Hispanic young considerably greater re s o u r ces in our Church to the conscience of Hispanic youth and young adult other Church leaders; 3) request the Kenneth G. Davis, O.F.M., is people are not a m i n i s t r y leadership development. support of Catholic foundations and associate professor of pastoral studies at All this is not to say that there is organizations for programs to form Saint Meinrad School of Theology in problem, but a p r esently no good ministry for pastoral ministers capable of serving Indiana and vice president of the Catholic young Hispanics in the Hispanic youth and young adults in National Catholic Council for Hispanic solution. Given country. Some parishes, dioceses, and the language in which they live their Ministry. He edits a book series on apostolic movements do excellent faith life. Hispanic theological initiatives for the the tools, they work. More vocation directors and No one suggests simply throwing University of Scranton Press. seminaries are responding. And the money at a problem. Hispanic young can lead us into same Fe y Vida study extols the people are not a problem, but a Reprinted with permission from America, t r emendous time and energy that solution. The National Catholic April 29, 2002. Copyright 2002 by America the future. thousands of Hispanic young people Council for Hispanic Ministry Press, Inc. invest in ministering to their peers. But much more sustained and coordi- nated support of Hispanic leadership movements that are not similarly is necessary for effective ministry to a organized, for example, or that do population the size of young Hispan- not share the same spirituality may be ics. Despite the best intentions, the misunderstood or dismissed. Church will continue to be ineffective But because Latin American parish if parishes and occasional dioceses Will Church Fi n a n c e s and diocesan infrastru c t u res are only intermittently have ministers considerably weaker, ministry re l i e s who are architects of success—that s t r ongly on the leadership of the is, young Hispanics who serve as bridge Be the Next Scandal? young people themselves, who are builders between our differing cultural v e ry often products of apostolic p resumptions and ministerial models. movements. And popular religion is Changing how funds are accounted for constitutive of the way most Latin Recommendations Americans are Catholic. Hence the Reflecting upon all this, La Red, models of youth and young adult Instituto Fe y Vida, and the South ministry in North and South America East Pastoral Institute presented a B Y D AV I D G I B S O N about money than about clerical are quite different, because of differ- p r oposal to the U.S. bishops’ Com- sexual abuse. Rather, the fact is that ent histories, socioeconomic realities, mittee on Hispanic Affairs to pro- he release this year of aside from donating money, Catholics and cultures. Since the uniqueness of mote ministry to young Hispanics. the survey quantifying feel virtually powerless to a f fect the Hispanic youth and young adults in Approved by the committee at their a half-century of clerg y course of events within their Churc h , the United States is precisely that November 2001 meeting, the goals of sexual abuse of minors and the scandal revealed that those they negotiate both of those cultures the initiative are: 1) to improve and re i n f o rces the fact that donations had been used in ways and histories, any ministry to them expand ministry to Hispanic youth tThe scandal has two interc o n n e c t e d that wound up s u b v e rtin g, rather must address this peculiar experience. and young adults; 2) to coord i n a t e n a t u res—one sexual, the other financial. than building up, the Churc h . Well-trained Hispanic young national, diocesan, and parish efforts The overall price tag on the Catholics are now focusing on adults can best minister to their own, to integrate ministry to young His- debacle is disputed, but responsible fiscal accountability as a priority in because they best understand those panics effectively into the mission of estimates suggest that it is at least restoring trust in the Church. Polls cultural cro s s roads. They can exem- the Church; 3) to offer sound forma- a p p roximately $750 million, if one consistently show that eight in ten plify this “cro s s roads Christianity” tion for youth ministers and pastoral includes the settlement reached re- Catholics rate Church financial to other youth and young adults in advisers from this community based cently by the Archdiocese of Boston. re f o r m as a top concern. Just as the bicultural or multicultural envi- on the bishops’ National Pastoral Whatever the actual tally, Ameri- i m p o r tant, both conservatives and ronment in which they live. Such Plan for Hispanic Ministry and can Catholics for the past two years liberals agree on this issue, making leaders are also able to bridge the Encuentro 2000. have often focused their fury on the it one of the rare areas of conver- gap between the current leadership Among others, the following e n o r mous amount of money, much gence in a polarized Church. of the U.S. Churc h ’s infrastru c t u re actions were also recommended to of it supplied by lay people, paid out “Clearly one of the by products ( l a rgely non-Hispanic whites) and the bishops’ Committee on Hispanic to cover up cases of abuse. This is of the sexual-abuse scandal is the young Hispanics. As examples and A f fairs in order to achieve those not to say that Catholics care more recognition that the Church needs

3 0 B O S T O N C O L L E G E | C 2 1 R E S O U R C E S | F A L L 2 0 0 4 to be financially accountable, and way that is remotely intelligible to except the heat of scandal and the Boston—the bishops tried to come t h a t ’s not going to go away,” said the average parishioner. good will of the particular bishop. In up with a policy that would pro v e Charles Zech, an economics pro f e s - In June 2003, for example, the fact, there isn’t even a means to m o r e effective than the earlier state- sor at Villanova University and the Philadelphia archdiocese issued a gauge how many dioceses re v e a l ments on financial accountability leading authority on Church finances. financial statement detailing expen- their finances on a regular basis. A they had approved dating back to “Too often there is a lack of detail d i t u res of $334,449,037, and re p o rt i n g 1986 study re p o r ted that some 70 1971. Yet the resolution before the and frankly a lack of respect for a $7 million deficit that it chalked up p e rcent of dioceses released financial c o n f e r ence was not especially rigor- Catholic lay people, who are very well to investments that were “negatively re p o rts , but even that level of open- ous. It merely asked the confere n c e educated and deserve to know what is impacted by the financially challeng- ness has slipped since. One Churc h to “consider some advertentia, that going on.” ing times.” But since it was the first o fficial I spoke with estimated that is, helping bishops pay attention to The problem is that while the time in nine years the arc h d i o c e s e in recent years as few as twenty of the law of the Church and confirm- scandal has prompted the bishops to ing that each is doing so.” And it take unprecedented—some would sought to do so in a “collegial man- say draconian—steps to halt sexual ner while at the same time re s p e c t- abuse in the future, few practical ing the principle of subsidiarity and steps have been taken to make the the desire not to burden any person C h u rch more financially transpare n t . or office with unrealistic re s p o n s i b i l- The 2002 Charter for the Pro t e c t i o n While the scandal has ity that might encroach on the legit- of Children and Young People adopt- imate rights of a diocesan bishop to ed in Dallas bound bishops not to prompted the bishops to take manage his diocese.” sign confidentiality agreements with The voluntary system of “frater- victims (except for “grave and sub- nal support” that the bishops finally stantial reasons brought forward by unprecedented steps to halt adopted did nothing to infringe the victim/survivor”), yet everything upon the time-honored authority of else about diocesan and parish finances sexual abuse in the future, few each bishop, nor did it ensure much remains as obscure to most Catholics openness. Additionally, since the as the rubrics of the Tridentine Mass. c o n f e r ence does not compile that R e f o rms must go beyond matters practical steps have been taken i n f o r mation, it is not known whether of legal settlements to include a any of the bishops have been follow- wholesale change in the way funds ing the guidelines. a re accounted for in the Church. A to make the Church more Just as important as releasing f a i l u re to re f o rm the Churc h ’s financial data is doing so in a manner f i n a ncial policies would present an financially transparent. And the that is consistent with “full disclosure . ” enormous risk to lay morale at a time Statistics can conceal as much as when the credibility of the institutional they reveal, and audits can blind C h u rch is at an all-time low. This is financial situation is even murkier readers with a blizzard of figures or not just about the laity looking over p r ovide little more than an easily the pastor’s shoulder. Sadly, there are in the nation’s 19,000 parishes. digestible “summary” that tells little. plenty of examples of lay people a b- Ken Koro t k y, chief financial off i- sconding with Church funds. Rather, cer for the USCCB, told me that he this is about averting the next Church sees a trend toward transparency and scandal, and prevention must happen at c o m p r ehensible annual statements. the parish as well as the diocesan level. (The bishops’ conference itself re l e a s e s The stakes are huge, in terms of faith had released a financial statement, the nearly two hundred U.S. dioceses detailed financial statements, and the and the amount of money involved. t h e re was no point of comparison to w e re releasing annual statements. bishops carefully scrutinize, in public It is often noted that, as in few make any independent judgments on As currently written, canon law session, the confere n c e ’s budget.) other places, money is fungible in the overall fiscal health of the stipulates only that a bishop must Still, Korotky questions whether religious org a n i z a t i o n s — a n d Philadelphia Church. appoint a finance council “of at least t h e r e could ever be a one-size-fits-all Catholics today are dealing in Under the pre s s u re of scandal, t h ree members of the Christian financial statement. “I don’t know serious money. The latest surv e y, by other dioceses are also beginning to faithful truly skilled in financial af- that we’re seeing a growing unifor- re s e a rcher Joseph Claude Harris, release financial statements. The fairs as well as in civil law.” He must m i t y,” he said. “Each diocese is so indicated that American Catholics Boston archdiocese went so far as to also name a diocesan finance dire c- d i f f e r ent in terms of the way it is set put $5.8 billion into the collection post its financial statement on its t o r, and none can be closely re l a t e d up legally and financially. It would be basket in 2002. Combine that with Web site, and in December, Man- to the bishop by blood. The bishop’s like saying GM should look exactly the various government grants the c h e s t e r, New Hampshire bishop financial advisers must also pre p a re a like your neighborhood Wa l - M a rt . ” C h u rch receives for other pro j e c t s , John McCormack, the embattled yearly accounting of receipts and Others argue that compre h e n s i b l e and one quickly realizes that dioce- f o r mer aide to Boston’s Card i n a l e x p e n d i t u res for the bishop, but if d i s c l o s u r e is not all that diff i c u l t , ses today are sprawling, multitiere d B e r n a rd Law, released an audited the bishop chooses, that is as far as and that whatever the hurdles, they corporations that often have annual financial statement for the first time the disclosure has to go. must be overcome if the hierarchy is budgets in the hundreds of millions in the 120-year history of the C o n c e rn over the lack of trans- to regain its cre d i b i l i t y. “It is not just of dollars. Despite this size and com- Manchester diocese. p a rency was already troubling some having yearly statements, but it has p l e x i t y, there is no mechanism in Although these are all useful first in the bishops’ conference before the to be a real attempt to have inform a- place for publicly accounting for steps, they remain ad hoc eff o rt s scandal broke: in November 2001— tion in place to make it understand- these monies, or for doing so in a with nothing to compel compliance b e f o re the first abuse stories fro m able,” said Zech, the Vi l l a n o v a

B O S T O N C O L L E G E | C 2 1 R E S O U R C E S | F A L L 2 0 0 4 3 1 economics pro f e s s o r. “Right now it the range of problems that can afflict finance councils, whether they and re p o rting is essential. Ideally, is hit-and-miss.” diocesan finances. release regular financial statements, that would be undertaken by, or in The financial situation is even and how those statements are pre- collaboration with, the bishops’ con- murkier in the nation’s nineteen What Should Be Done? p a r ed. In all likelihood, there will be f e r ence, perhaps along the lines of thousand parishes. Although we are To be sure, there are many no universal template for diocesan the National Lay Review Board . only now about to learn the overall parishes and dioceses across the statements, but they could all The changes necessary to re v e r s e costs of clergy sexual abuse in the c o u n t ry that practice disclosure and comply with a certain set of standards the Churc h ’s closed-door mentality United States, some two decades a c c o u n t a b i l i t y, along with the collab- for intelligibility. on financial matters need not entail after the first wave of such re v e l a - oration that is both the seed and A second step would be to pro v i d e a radical revision of Church stru c t u re s tions appeared, there is no equiva- f r uit of such practices. Still, without a central clearinghouse for inform a t i o n or a return to the divisive nineteenth- lent snapshot of the state of parish a systematic eff o rt to promote and for parish finance-council members century battles over “ t r u s t e e i s m . ” finance councils. This is a glaring e n s u r e transpare n c y, credibility will and pastors. With the laity (and C o n t r a ry to what many prelates fear, oversight that undermines the ability remain elusive, and malfeasance will priests as well) often ill-pre p a red for accountability is not a threat to the of lay people to become involved in remain a regular temptation. the workings of parish govern a n c e , b i s h o p ’s trifold mission “to teach, to their Church, and of bishops to re a s- T h e r e are, however, a number of and with individual finance councils s a n c t i f y, and to govern.” Opening s u re the faithful that they are being relatively simple steps that could operating in virtual isolation, it is the Churc h ’s books involves no good stewards. quickly and effectively improve the vital to provide how-to guides for change in doctrine or theology, and Zech estimates that two-thirds of situation. The first is to define the lay people who want to have a voice the bishop or pastor would still have parishes nationwide have finance p r oblem. Catholics today are eager in the running of their parish. the final say on how diocesan or councils, but many of these may exist to know what concrete actions they “ E v e ry finance council struggles out parish funds are spent. The priority in name only. Pastors can appoint can take to affect how the Church is t h e r e on its own,” says Mark Fischer, right now is for simple transpare n c y, whomever they like to a council, and run. Yet without basic inform a t i o n a professor of pastoral theology at so that everyone can know what is in some places the councils just act as on the parameters of the problem, it St. John’s Seminary in Los Angeles coming in and what is going out, and rubber stamps for the pastor’s deci- is difficult to provide detailed answers. and a leading expert on pastoral where it is going. Next is to cultivate sions. Contrary to widespread as- C o n s e q u e n t l y, there must be a councils. “There is no comparative the collaboration that canon law re- sumptions, the lack of data about national survey on exactly how many data. So no one knows what the q u i res, but which is not being fulfilled. parish finances concerns not only the parishes have finance councils, and parish across town, or anywhere else, folks in the pew. The bishop himself then a qualitative study on how they is doing.” David Gibson is author of The Coming is often clueless about the budgets of operate—which work well, and which F i n a l l y, while the inform a t i o n Catholic Churc h ( H a r p e r S a n F r a n c i s c o ) . his parishes. A 1999 volume by the do not. gathering could be accomplished by Canon Law Society of America, the S i m i l a r l y, there must be a surv e y a private foundation or university- Reprinted with permission from C o m m o n w e a l, Church Finance Handbook, details of the dioceses to determine the based re s e a rchers, eventually some F e b ru a r y 13, 2004. Copyright 2004 by dozens of case studies highlighting number and quality of diocesan mechanism for national oversight C o m m o n w e a l .

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