Abuse crisis is actually a hierarchy crisis

The hierarchy "problem" of protecting the image of the Church remains with us. The bishops act as if they have the "divine right of kings." We, the lay people should have a voice and a vote to elect all of our bishops LOCALLY and with term limits of five years with a renewable additional five years based on the service and how they acted as bishops. The Pope should not be involved in this process at all.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I wrote a letter in the same spirt of your editorial to the editor of our official Diocese newspaper in Wilmington, DE. My letter was written over four years ago when the reports of abuse in the US was becoming clear that this was a widespread problem - The gist of my letter that the failure was not the fact that priests may be guilty of pedophilia (a mental failure) but the bishops/cardinals were guilty of a far more serious offense - failure to properly manage their diocese, failure of following the tenants of faith, failure to guide their flock. You are so right that the flock, becoming more educated, will not be blindly led! (I am 61 years old and a practicing Catholic, active in my parish, and attended both Catholic grade schools and High School). Unfortunately this scandal has jaded the view of both of my adult children (both catholic schooled) regarding the church.

Would someone please nail the above editorial to doors of the Vatican!?
The second reformation has begun.

Excellent editorial. The big question is are the members the power-addicted hierarchy willing to change?

Mmm...I don't know about wanting to go BACK to "our pastors;" I rather wonder if the Spirit isn't calling us to go forward into the very heart of Christ Consciousness and abandon the hierarchy all together. I am serious. Let's sit around the table and become Eucharist once again, which is ~ as Paul so often reminded us ~ our true identity.

Let's sit around the table as the priesthood we are all, male and female, called to be with the Holy Spirit as our guide. The medium IS the message!

Perhaps without a hierarchy, we can sell the Vatican and imitate Christ, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, establish ministries to comfort the afflicted...

Perhaps we can stop being a political institution that cries out loudly to protect the unborn and yet barely whispers a protest against the war based economy of the US.

Perhaps we might become Christ and follow Christ if we just disband the hierarchy all together. It might be worth a try...

Transparency leads to the Truth.

Truth fosters Trust.

Trust brings forth followers searching for Truth.

Until there is transparency, accountability and democracy in electing popes and bishops for limited terms, there will be the strong likelihood of uncontrolled abuse of power by those in the Vatican hierarchy who think that they, and they alone, have the direct line of communication to God and Jesus as to what must be done for the good of the Church which consists of all Catholics world-wide. Human beings are flawed individuals as the Apostles and Saint Paul quickly learned after the Crucifixion and Resurrection.

History, experience, and constructive dissent have shown that until there is transparency in the actions of those in positions of power, the truth is hidden and can have damaging consequences affecting everyone who become the unknowing victims of secrecy until it is exposed and rectified. Truth is found in the light, not in the darkness, of all endeavors of mankind.
All Catholics—priests, nuns, and laity-- who are trying to follow the Commandments of Jesus suffer when the dark cloud of secrecy hovers over the Church.

Pope John XXIII was absolutely correct in calling for Vatican II with intelligent dialogue in creating common sense changes that would open the windows and let the winds of truth sweep throughout the Church. Those cardinals and bishops who were not happy rebelled against the changes of Vatican II when they finally came into power after the death of John XXIII. Instead of promoting Vatican II which would have lead to a friendly, transparent, serving church with efficient oversight, they instead created a handpicked hierarchy that wanted to go back to the good old days through “Reform” that smacked of royalty and servitude

Moral crises have flourished because of lack of prudent oversight and the fear by priests, nuns, and laity, of challenging the hierarchy and being ostracized. The troubles in the Church lay squarely on the shoulders of post Vatican II “Reformists.” Young people were already leaving the Church prior to Vatican II which is one of the reasons there was a call for Vatican II.

It’s time for the pope and hierarchy to go back to the Gospels, the letters of Saint Paul, and to dress and live in modern society not as relics of the Middles Ages. Discard princely clerical Robes and nuns’ Habits; they are nothing more than images of secular male royalty and women servitude of monarchies of centuries long past. Since when did Jesus and the Apostles dress as royalty and His women disciples wear habits instead of clothes of their day? If you were to listen to Jesus today on the “road to Emmaus”, you would be listening to Him in the clothing of today’s world, just as the two Apostles found out as they were talking to the “stranger” on the actual road to Emmaus.

If the hierarchies and the popes in the present and past had followed and practiced the Second Commandment that was clearly expressed by Jesus (Mathew 22. 34-40), in all likelihood there would have been no serious moral crises that have pervaded and still pervade the actions of the Vatican, such as the Inquisition and Reformation.

To truly follow in the footsteps of Jesus--by practicing His two Great Commandments--there must be no discrimination, no inequality against any human being. The Vatican has not yet learned the fullness of this truth—“Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself.”

Woe to those who think their proclamations are equal to these two great Commandments of Jesus.

Jesus is the Way the Truth and the Life.

I will be among the first to help burn and bury the trappings of the empire. Break apart the Curia and it's court-like environs, get rid of all those robes, mitres, and other royal attire. Start to look more like the Jesus you all claim to emulate, but wear common clothing, as he did. Then do what you say you are about - live the Beatitudes. Be real world leaders in the way you act, allow everyone to participate in the priesthood of the church, as proclaimed at Vatican II. Your humility will be most welcome. Those who choose to opt out of the reform may quietly find something else to do to serve God.
I agree with your last lines, "We want to be the people of God, not cowed serfs. We want our pastors back. We've had quite enough of princes."
I'd say, let the princes be for fairytales.

"We want our pastors back. We've had quite enough of princes."

Good luck.

Without the support of this monarchical pope, his episcopal lackeys, and an entrenched curia, renewal including reform won't happen. They are too heavily invested in the existing system.

And most pewsitters will continue to dutifully put their shekels into the weekly collection plates.

Not a good prognosis.

You let the abusers off too easy. Regardless of what you think about the bishops, these priest abusers were the ones who stole the innocence of so many children. You are letting these pedophiles off too easy and shame on you!

Sexual abuse of anyone, let alone children, is about one's desire to have power over another. Never forget that. The bishops weren't the ones abusing these children, the priests were. You blaming the parent for what the child did because the parent did not handle things correctly.

Sometimes in your pursuit of "reforming the church" NCR sounds just plain silly and at times very offensive.

Of course it is about sex and how one uses their urges to control other people for their own self gratification regardless who their victims are.

Only a dolt could think that a crisis of sexual abuse is not fundamentally about sex. Priests and bishops have given in to sinful temptations of lust. Stop trying to rewrite history in order to advance your anti-hierarchy agenda in the Church. Stop playing the tired card of the "educated laity" versus the "ignorant hierarchy". As evidenced by many of the columns and agreeing comments on this website, the dissident laity is hardly well educated.

Bravo!

Your editorial today about the 'royal model in decline' embraces a trope about the nature of hierarchy which relies on a secular notion of kingship which is not a profitable analytical tool when applied to the Church. Employed in the way in which it is, the point becomes a blunt and inaccurate tool in the hands of those who see the Magisterium as the problem. It is simply preposterous to ascribe the cause of the sexual abuse by clergy to the existence of hierarchy. You talk about 'deep intrispection and prayer that will be required of the clergy, especially the hierarchy' as if somehow the massive experience of the Church with prayer were absent. It is not the command to pray always which needs changing: it is the culture of intellectual disobedience (and the failure to pray) that has permeated the Church and a secular intellectual culture which wilfully fails to acknowledge objectivity that has got us to this point. As always, the problem with evil begins in the heart of man, not in the organisational chart of the Church. That is where your call to reform should begin.

When a priest uses his position of power to seduce a child and to use that child for his own sexual purpose, that priest demonstrates a complete lack of empathy for human beings and a total lack of respect for the teachings of Jesus Christ. The Roman Catholic Church claims to be the Church founded by Jesus Christ and led by the Holy Spirit. The fact that perpetrator priests have been and are being protected by members of the Church hierarchy creates a huge disconnect in the minds of many faithful Catholics who believe this claim.

If, indeed, the Church is founded on the teachings of Jesus Christ and led by the Holy Spirit, then one would be led by the inaction of the Church hierarchy to believe either that Jesus and the Holy Spirit approve of priests abusing little children or that the Church hierarchy is not doing what it is supposed to be doing and getting rid of those priests who are unfit for their offices. I am no theologian, but I have seen no Biblical evidence that would lead me to believe that Jesus would approve of His servants abusing little children or anyone else, for that matter. So why have the Pope, the bishops, and all the other members of the Church hierarchy been sitting around in their expensive robes, riding in their expensive vehicles, and doing little or nothing to get rid of the offending priests?

The clock is ticking, the Church is losing credibility, and still the hierarchy are just talking. Dump the Pope and dump the hierarchy. Use the money saved to bring some light into this dark world by implementing the teachings in Christ's Gospel and by doing what He asked when He said, "Feed my sheep." One bright light within the Roman Catholic Church is its strong belief in Peace and Justice. Now is the time for that light to brighten the world for all!

NCR does not share the ecclesiology taught in Lumen Gentium. The Church is Hierarchical. Get over it, it's divinely instituted and willed. Your snarky editorial shows contempt for the Catholic Church, not love for it. Let me guess, you'd replace the Magisterium with your panel of heretical "young voices"?

While I agree completely that this is a hierarchy crisis, I wouldn't go so far as saying that it's not also a sex abuse crisis. It's not an either/or. The thousands of cases of priests sexually abusing vulnerable children and adolescents created an enormous crisis for untold number of victims and their families irrespective of how shamefully the hierarchy handled the reported abuse. If those thousands of victims had come forward and reported the abuse and the hierarchy had handled every case perfectly, those children and their families would still have endured a horrific crisis. But the hierarchy crisis exacerbated the sexual abuse crisis and exposed a hierarchy crisis that, as your editorial says so well, needs to be addressed as forcefully as the sexual abuse crisis.

The dysfunctional hierarchy of the Roman Catholic church is the cause of so much that is wrong with the institution. The priests and bishops who secured a position for themselves on pedestals of gold seem to have forgotten that this faith community began in a manger of straw in a stable two thousand years ago. The physical trappings, the power and the prestige that come with being a member of the church hierarchy at whatever level have clouded so many clergy mindsets. The rampant neo-conservatism and condescending attitude of “Father is right” being engendered in so many seminaries only leads to further problems. While bishop Martin of Ireland may be open to dialogue, it will be interesting to see where and when he imposes limits on that dialogue, which indeed he will. Renewal of the Roman Catholic church is unlikely to come from within the hierarchy because of its tendency toward self-preservation. Renewal will only when the laity are considered as full equal partners in church management and the parish priest becomes part of the team, instead of its defacto leader.

Nonsense. It has NOTHING to do with such trite and overused sociology 101 type concepts of "power" and "authority". Man, it's almost like editors have this laminated card with "angles" to take on articles: power, authority, feminism, racism, class struggle. Yawn.

The lay are just as responsible for the priestly abuse problem. Our own infidelity to our own Faith has effects on priests over years and years. We are one body.

Great editorial. At last a realization that the culprit is not sexuality, homosexuality, "misinterpretations" of Vatican II, media (Masonic, Jewish, secularist -- take your pick) conspiracy. Nor is it a public relations crisis (as if a competent group of Madison Avenue wizards could fix it). The culprit may indeed be secularism, but if so, only because the Vatican resorts to secularist defenses and methods. (If Vatican II is being misinterpreted, maybe Vatican I, with its supposed vision of an absolutist papal monarchy is being misinterpreted even worse).

The culprit, I'm afraid, lies in the church's structures of governance, in the clericalist culture they promote, and in the view (dare one suggest it?) that presumed "Catholic" values might be at loggerheads with, and take precedent over, Christian values.

It's as simple as the math question NRC is now going to ask me: the sum od 1+0.

Excommunication of pope-kings and priests and bishops is the automatic requisite of the horrific abuses AND cover-ups; canon law requires that the perpetrators of these scandalous sins no longer be considered in communion with the organization. There is no legitimate pope; many bishops and priests are also dis-empowered for the very same reasons.

Catholics want to walk with their leaders,not beneath them. We want to be deeply invested in the pilgrim's search, not sent on a forced march. We want to be the people of God, not cowed serfs.
We want our pastors back. We've had quite enough of princes."
This has been my feeling/idea for a very long time. This sums it up for me for now.

Well I don't see any big heads rolling yet. Law, Burke and Levada are indeed princes with a past. If bishops accountability.org is reporting the issues credibly, these three have had a lot to do with the cover-ups etc.
I don't understand why they were promoted up in light of all the problems re: sexually abusive clergy in their respective dioceses here in the US. The above article is a pretty acute assessment of the problem. Who wrote it?
Are they afraid to write their name?

How true, I will say; that I doubt this is a forerunner of the collapse of the Catholic Church. As a Church, we have weathered similar foolishness by our clergy, the Inquisition is one example.

I am a Roman Catholic; I worship within the Holy Roman Catholic Church. I do not worship any Holy Roman Catholic Clergy. I will accept the fact that they, through Holy Orders do give order to our worship. Not, orders. I think that some of our priests and bishops need to remember that they are called to their vocation as servants, not to be served. In the Seattle Archdiocese, from my perspective, our clergy for the most part understand the idea of service. There are some, who were formed many years ago, who do think of themselves as above the people, not through their word, but their actions.

What many in the world and unfortunately this will include many professed Catholics, do not understand; WE are the Church, the people. I will repeat; some are called through Holy Orders, to give order to our worship. We are all called through our Baptism to be priest, prophet and king.

We as a church knew of these despicable acts in some form, usually as they occurred, we did not cry out in anguish and pain at these acts. We need to cry out now and force an end to the lies and deceit some clergy have fostered. It is our responsibility as the Church to do so. It will be painful, it will be embarrassing, and it will be the Christ like thing to do. Also, we need to do this to support the clergy and religious who have served us for years and are now smeared by the disgusting few.

And then, we as a Church will be better followers of Christ.

Outstanding editorial. The monarchical, hierarchical, aloof, secretive model of church is apparently in its death throes. We need a church where leaders are there to serve and not be served. Instead of "leaders" obsessed with their own rank, privileges, and gaudy vestments, we need people, both male and female, who represent the whole church and not just a tiny part of it. Then we can respond to the Gospel and not an imitation Roman Empire.

Interesting that you never mentioned how Cardinal Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI opposed Fr. Maciel Degollado. Interesting how you never mention the role of heretical prelates such as Archbishop Weakland and Cardinal Mahoney in the cover-up or the role of women Religious in the sex abuse. Interesting how you never mention how widespread sexual immorality among the liberal clergy of the late 1960s/1970s/and early 1980s has been/continues to be in the name of self-actualization and moral relativism. Interesting how you now try to use this crisis to do what you always do anyway, which is to attack God's priesthood and the holy Catholic faith. Interesting how you refused to admit that the modernism in Catholic theology and the Protestantism in Catholic liturgy that you continue to blindly champion is a huge part of this and the many other scandals that have buffeted Catholicism over the past 45 years since they are what leads to a loss of faith and the resulting infidelity to vows of chastity and promises of celibacy along with those of obedience. Interesting how you sanctimonously accuse the Magisterium and the divinely constituted hierarchical nature of the true Church of arrogance while refusing to honestly apologize and make humble amends yourself for all the destruction that you have wrought through this publication and the many allies that you have in corrupt chanceries, pseudo-Catholic universities, and Wiccan convents. It would be interesting if next time you want to point to the sliver in the eye of an orthodox priest you would just for a moment consider if there is a plank in your own. Years from now there will be outrage on the part of Catholics when they finally see what you progressives have been doing all along behind the scenes; what we have seen of your public dissent pales in comparison to the evil that you have brought forth in the very secrecy that you pretend to condemn.

Agreed; Weakland, Cummins, Hubbard, Mahoney, Daneels, Bernardin...

The grim roll call of the enabler and even abuser bishops, infused w/ the 'spirit of VII'.

Not seeing Bruskievitz on the Wall of Shame. Maybe a lesson there in that...

Amen, brothers! 100% on the mark.

This is the best commentary I've seen so far! Totally agree. Thanks NCR editors!