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PDF versionScandal vs. crisis; PR vs. raw data
by A.W. Richard Sipe on Jul. 09, 2010
Examining the Crisis
Ron Westrum, professor of sociology at Eastern Michigan University, suggests that organizations react in a series of stages to “anomalous reports.” They are: 1) suppression, 2) encapsulation, 3) public relations, 4) local fix, 5) global fix, and 6) investigation of root causes. He came to his formulation through the study of the battered child syndrome that many people, even professionals, found hard to admit was a widespread phenomenon.
It is not difficult to match the trajectory of church response to allegations of hidden clergy sex abuse against Westrum’s model. It’s a good fit.
Even in the United States the church is not near the final stage -- the process of resolving root causes. Since the eruption of revelations in 2010 spotlighting sexual activity by priests across Europe it is obvious that even the U.S. church is still suspended between public relations and “fixes.” People in the pews need to know and evaluate the bishops’ public relations efforts against the raw material in church files. Those documents indicate what the bishops (pope) knew and when they knew it.
The church in the United States and Ireland worked hard at the suppression and encapsulation of the sex abuse among its ranks. The Vatican and Europe are struggling with that now, but the public relations fight everywhere is reinvigorated. Roman minions have begun pointing fingers and are repeating the defenses the United States suffered throughout the past two decades.
Pope Benedict XVI is raising the PR stakes by flirting with the idea that the “sin is inside the church” at the same time that he blames the devil for the scandal. But he is still stuck on scandal and avoiding the crisis. Nonetheless, the public relations program follows a programmed pattern beginning with accusations of “anti-religion.” The PR sequence is organized and transparent enough to diagram -- “there is no crisis; the media is causing the scandal; there may be a “few bad apples” causing a problem; if any, it is only a small problem; there is a problem, but no bigger than in any other organization; abuse is not connected with celibacy; abuse is a societal problem; homosexuals cause it; we have done more than any other organization to combat with the problem of child abuse.”
After 20 years the schema is familiar to most U.S. observers. However, a new crop of bishops is recycling the old pattern -- beginning by blasting the press for reports of clergy malfeasance as unfair and anti-Catholic, anti-clergy, anti-religion. One recent example: Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, accused The New York Times of bias: “It is not hyperbole to call prejudice against the Catholic church a national pastime,” he wrote on his blog. The attack was against Catholic columnist Maureen Dowd’s spirited defense of nuns -- Laurie Goodstein’s reports on a dying 22-year-old abandoned son of a still active priest -- and the paper’s lack of “outrage” at reports of pedophile attacks in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. From the Vatican, Cardinal William Levada, also reprimanded the Time for what he termed “attacks on the Holy Father concerning sex abuse” within the church. He pronounced them “deficient by any reasonable standards of fairness.”
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Dolan’s rant is reminiscent of Bernard Law, Cardinal of Boston in 1992 rankled by news reports about Fr. James Porter who admittedly abused 200 minors in five dioceses. Law riled against a biased anti-Catholic secular press he claimed was actually causing the scandal by writing an overblown account. “By all means,” he said, “we call down God’s power on the media, particularly the Globe.” That didn’t work. More stories came out.
The public relations efforts of the church have voiced interesting spins. In 2000 Sr. Mary Ann Walsh, spokesperson for the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference, asserted twice on national TV, “I’m convinced that '99 and 44/100%' of priests keep their celibacy.” ("99 44/100% Pure" is the old Ivory soap slogan.) In 2004 Bishop Wilton Gregory proclaimed that the problem of clergy abuse was “history.” In 2010, a John Jay spokesperson preparing a report for the bishops declared that Catholic clergy abuse is a historical and time-limited phenomenon.
Catholic clergy abuse stories in the United States now generally meet a media-weary reception. Does this mean that the crisis is over? No. The public relation efforts whether from the Vatican or home grown, so far are aimed at control of a scandal and its aftermath.
Every Catholic boy and girl learned in grade school that “scandal” should be avoided at all costs. We may not have known any formal definition, but we knew it was bad. Public school kids and non-Catholics should never be given a reason to criticize our church. A scandal is “a widely publicized set of allegations that damage the reputation of an institution, individual or creed” and we have it.
The scandal has partly gone cold -- it is old news. Most people now know that some Catholic priests are sexually active, some abuse minors, and bishops try to cover up.
The Catholic crisis remains. One key to addressing the crisis, and ultimately in fixing it, is in the review, revelation, and analysis of the documents that record the behavior of the clergy. That factor made The Boston Globe’s reporting seminal and preeminent in making “hidden events” available for reform (Westrum, defines hidden events as an “occurrence so implausible that those who observe it hesitate to report it because they do not expect to be believed.”). Bishops fight to keep the truth (documents) secret.
The church has not yet addressed the crisis; in fact, most bishops are still resistive and mired in an old familiar pattern of obfuscation if not deceit. Public relations efforts are aimed at damage control, not change. Crisis presents a decisive turning point that demands a “fix.” Two lay Catholics chosen by the bishops to chair the National Review Board, Governor Frank Keating and Justice Anne Burke, rendered their opinions: Keating said bishops operate like “cosa nostra”; Burke pronounced a judgment that the bishops are primarily interested in pursuing “business as usual.”
Investigative reporter, Jason Berry already notable for forcing the crisis of abuse into U.S. public attention in 1984, labored intensively and extensively for a full decade to help victims of Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado tell their story of abuse, only to witness a 2004 PR photo of Pope John Paul II embracing and blessing this notorious founder of a religious order. There can be no doubt that the pope heard the stories about Maciel and discounted them as he had the well-founded reports of sex abuse by Cardinal Groer in 1995. The Vatican’s belated official verdict on Maciel in 2010 -- that he was dismissed in 2006 for immoral behavior, criminal acts and demonstration of “a life devoid of scruples and authentic religious feeling” -- can hardly compensate for the laborious pain of discovery in addition to the rejection and humiliation involved in the battle to speak truth to power that Berry and the victims had to endure for two decades.
A more intrepid and dedicated advocate for victims of clergy abuse than Fr. Thomas Doyle is impossible to find. He describes his 25-year crusade for justice, accountability and transparency as “wading through a cesspool of toxic waste.” These men among others working to document facts and reveal healing truth are neither anti-religion nor anti-Catholic. Indubitably there are temptations to despair as we read what bishops have done and continue to do in their effort to deny truth and destroy evidence behind a pious PR curtain.
Those of us who have reviewed church documents -- raw data including the depositions of bishops -- and write about what we find do know what bishops knew about abuse and when they really knew it. There are records. We are not interested in scandal. We are concerned with the welfare of children. We are interested in a crisis that distorts and destroys peoples’ lives and hope. We are interested in change--reform of a corrupting system and concerned about religious hypocrisy. We are respectful of a church that does much good despite its corruption.
PR campaigns by the bishops and the Vatican evade the historic and monumental crisis of epic proportions that is upon us. That is an additional scandal. The crisis awaits a fix.
[Richard Sipe is a mental health counselor and author who earlier spent 18 years as a Benedictine monk and priest.]
Read all the contributions to NCR's Examining the Crisis series here: Examining the Crisis.
"It is not difficult to match
"It is not difficult to match the trajectory of church response to allegations of hidden clergy sex abuse against Westrum’s model. It’s a good fit."
Yes, a good fit for the DYSFUNCTIONAL (i.e. "pathological" and "bureacratic") stages in Westrum's model, but further investigation of his analysis also demonstrates how and why the institutional Catholic Church will NEVER achieve the HEALTHINESS ("generative") he describes:
http://books.google.com.hk/books?id=3IlX-BvjjYEC&pg=PA401&lpg=PA401&dq=R...
It seems to me that the
It seems to me that the Church is on the threshold of a historic opportunity to
reform and renew itself if only the leadership(Bishops, Vatican) is up to the task.
The frightening thing is that this opportunity will be missed if our Church leaders refuse to listen to the Holy Spirit, as seems to be the case up to this point.
Your use of the word IF twice
Your use of the word IF twice is key. Crisis is the other side of opportunity as the Chinese character reminds us. Another opening to a brighter future comes from the call of the Holy Spirit. But both depend on IF: 1)Reform/renewal can happen IF power-"leaders" become servant-leaders 2)This will happen IF they listen to the Holy Spirit. 3)I need to add this one because we must always look to a worst case scenario: that neither of the above happens. IF neither of the first two things occur then it's up to the rest of us who call ourselves baptized Catholics (that is, the People of God) to become servant leaders who respond to the call of the Holy Spirit with faith, courage, trust, determination/fortitude.
It has always been so. The
It has always been so. The mere fact that the Catholic Church has survived the length of time that it has is due to the courageous loyalty of the faithful and its willingness to see the spirit through the hyperbole.
In 1517 Martin Luther was
In 1517 Martin Luther was only trying to deal with the problems that he saw in the RC.
Read for yourself.
http://www.luther.de/en/95thesen.html
My RC teachers taught that he was the cause of Protestant revoltion.
That is not true.
The immorality and abuses of the RC had created a world that was ready to reject it.
Yes it's more complicated than that, but it was not as simple as the lies that I was taught.
Alas, here we go again.
RJ
John the Oblate's comments
John the Oblate's comments are a prime example of the enormous passive aggressive attitude Catholics must overcome if we are to answer history's call.
Why is it up to the "bishops and Vatican" to seise the historic opportunity to reform and renew the Church?
I would argue that it is up to us, the men and women sitting in the pews. Don't waste your time on the clerics - their time has gone, overwhelmed by compromise, complicity and corruption.
This is our moment to take the helm of the ship and steer into the future. It's the American way. Its in our blood.
My sainted sixth-grade teacher, Sister Mary Adelaide, always encouraged us to listen to our angels when we were afraid. The New Testament offers us two very pertinent examples:
In Luke 24, on Easter morning women went to Jesus' tomb with spices. Jesus was not there. The angel said, "Why do you look for the living among the dead?"
Aren't we looking "for the living among the dead" when we wait for the priests, bishops, cardinals and pope to rescue us from this tragedy?
In Acts 1, the angel questions, even rebukes, the apostles for staring into the heavens after Jesus at his ascension: "Why do you stand here looking into the sky?"
Why do we continue to "look into the sky" hoping against hope that by some miracle God, deus ex machina, is going to miraculously intervene and make things right?
I have to believe that we must take matters into our own hands now that the hierarchy has betrayed us again and again. We have to shape the church of the future. The clerics have lost their way. It's up to us!
"It's up to us". But just
"It's up to us". But just what we do? What does "take matters into our own hands" mean? Are we to set up a new Church independent of "bishops and Vatican" or what?
From where I stand "Take
From where I stand "Take matters into your own hands" means "follow Jesus". The call of Jesus is to follow him. He makes no reference to joining a church, to signing a loyalty oath to an institution, to swear allegiance to a set of doctrines and dogmas. All of that concerns the institutionalizing of spirituality, the very thing that Jesus opposed! Jesus always talked about the 'new way' of spirituality: forming a relationship with him. So, what happened? As soon as he departed this life, his disciples [over a 125 yr. period] gradually slipped back into the very form of spiritual life that he had opposed and to which they were accustomed. I suggest that this current crisis is a WAKE UP CALL for all of us who claim to be followers of Jesus, to begin to exercise that right and that freedom and FOLLOW HIM in the style he proposed. And that has nothing to do with any institution! It has everything to do with LOVE. As Paul constantly reminds us, now that we are adults, it is time to put away the things of a child. It is time for every true Christian to take personal responsibility in developing a real relationship with Jesus, the Christ, and put away the artificial impostor of any religious institution.
You got it Jim. The hierarchy
You got it Jim. The hierarchy and the clergy will never change. Why should they? They have it made. WE must take over and make the church what it should be.
What would be your formula
What would be your formula for fixing things.
"Therefore do not be afraid
"Therefore do not be afraid of them. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops." Matt 10:26-27, today's gospel
It was brief, transitory,
It was brief, transitory, nevertheless clear. An image. Mr. Ratzinger deftly ferrying a wheelbarrow full of rotten apples! Varying degrees of putrifaction. Quo vadis Mr. pope? Will he make it to his destination? Perhaps he will make it to his destination. What kind of 'consciousness' could do this? Rationalization in extremis. Simply look to the Nazi phenomenon. Mr. Ratzinger has been in need of a forensic psychiatrist's interview for quite some time. Sitting in the Office of the Inquisition for twenty three years, outrageous. I tried reading Jason Berry's work in the 80's, and put it down. I was 'welcomed' in THE CHURCH later and have come to understand what 'pay, pray and obey' means. I understand the palpable presence of 'secrets' in the sacristy. I understand that 'Father' enjoys sailing with his lady friend on weekends. I understand that 'Father' is conflicted about his masturbatory habits ie: his humanness, I understand that 'Father' lost the real sense of the holiness of the Eucharist a long time ago if he ever knew it. Of course, I know, it's a gift. I think I've left the church. I still hope to visit some of the great Catholic shrines before I die, and when I do, die that is, I will hold the precious memory of some of g-d's friends very close. They're deep love brings me closer to that of the almighty. As for putrefying apples? Perhaps some schnapps...pray for the derailing of the containing vessel...reformation could be at hand.
Richard provides us with an
Richard provides us with an insightful and thoughtful apologia in response to those who attack advocates and investigators as "anti-Catholic."
His citation of Dolan's "It is not hyperbole..." followed by astonishing hyperbole is really quite apt.
Those stages of
Those stages of organizational reaction are excellent, but shouldn't "Denial" be in there somewhere? I'd also like to see a better definition of "Encapsulation." Is his study on line somewhere?
"Encapsulation", according to
"Encapsulation", according to Westrum, is the isolation of the messenger so the message cannot be heard (as opposed to "suppression", which is the intimidation or actual punishment of the messenger). Westrum gives as an example the way the Chinese government created a news blackout around the HIV and SARS epidemics leading to more infections and more deaths. I guess in the context of Catholic clerical abuse, moving abusing priests from parish to parish, "sub secreto" defrocking processes, and confidential victim settlements aimed at keeping allegations from being heard in an open court might all qualify as forms of "encapsulation".
Thanks to Richard Sipe for yet another incisive contribution. As an Australian journalist who has been covering this story for many years, it seems to me that reporting on these long-running stories (Islamic terrorism is another example) often goes through stages not unlike those outlined by Westrum. The phase of the sex abuse crisis that we are currently in was prompted by the two Irish reports last year and the Pope's inadequate letter to the Irish Church, which together shifted the focus away from individual perpetrators and onto the institutional causes, and in particular onto the responsibility of the Vatican. Even further stages in the crisis might be predicted should allegations of abuse become more widespread in Latin America and Africa (this is already happening in Brazil), or if Pope Benedict were suddenly to set a date for the beatification of Pope John Paul II (the attention of the international media would immediately shift to focus on the personal responsibility of JPII much as it has done around the wartime record of Pius XII).
In my view, Richard Sipe is right to be pointing us in the direction of what we might want to call "institutional pathology": the sociological and psychological factors that shape the cultures of institutions. This is where the work now needs to be done if we are to seek out the root causes of what has gone on. We need to think about the behaviour of elites, the role of leaders, institutional violence, patterns of co-dependency, domination and submission, infantilisation - in the priesthood, in the families of priests, in the hierarchy, in the Church as a whole.
Stephen Crittenden
Sydney
My deep appreciation to NCR
My deep appreciation to NCR and Richard Sipe for their continuing research on sexuality and celibacy. Here's a link to read a 5p discussion between Fr. Keating and Andrew Cohen about celibacy and spiritual practice I found very interesting:
http://www.enlightennext.org/magazine/j13/keating.asp?page=1
I would add that when
I would add that when applying this model to any Church problem that PRAYER should be number 1)
Ron Westrum, professor of sociology at Eastern Michigan University, suggests that organizations react in a series of stages to “anomalous reports.” They are: 1) prayer 2)suppression, 3) encapsulation, 4) public relations, 5) local fix, 6) global fix, and 7) investigation of root causes.
Outstanding grasp of the
Outstanding grasp of the reality -- a reality the leadership of the church absolutely refuses to accept. Tomorrow's Gospel of the Good Samaritan finds Jesus condemning the priest who passes "on the other side" to avoid the innocent victim lying on the road. What would that same Jesus say of the contemporary leadership of the church - he would condemn them in equally strong terms. I am beginning to believe that they will never get it -- they are living in a world apart from where the rest of us live. God help us.
When are any of us going to
When are any of us going to start talking about and working toward bringing the Holy Spirit back into the Church? Where is Jesus in all of this? I don't see him. I am not interested in vengance or discovery of facts. I need real change to happen to make my abuse make any sense.
A much needed review of
A much needed review of bishops' responses, from Rome on downwards. Sipe has accurately identified the whining about anti-Catholicism typical of Dolan and like-minded writers who see bias lurking in the recent outstanding efforts of the New York Times and other media.
I find it more than dishonorable for Dolan to stir passions about legitimate discrimination in the past for his own political purposes today.
The PR response since the beginning is an exercise in dissembling, deflection, evasion, and blame-shifting. When will deferential Catholics wake up?
Congratulations to Tom Doyle, Jason Berry, Richard Sipe, NCR, the NYTimes, and media unafraid to challenge the PR story line from hierarchy. Countless survivors, along with some brave district attorneys, attorney generals, grand juries, and plaintiff attorneys have endured despite fierce opposition. Thanks to all of them.
Are we storing up wrath
Are we storing up wrath against the day of wrath. One's feelings are dead., all we can do is cry to God for His intervention to save us from such evil.
Richard Sipe has always been
Richard Sipe has always been on target about the sexual abuse catastrophe. The power of the male, hierarchical dominate Vatican and Bishops keeps fosters the problem. I believe they may be afraid of losing their power.
One should also read Clifford
One should also read Clifford Longley's column in the May 15 2010 edition of "The Tablet", entitled "It used to be said that the laity's proper place was to 'pay, pray and obey' on page 7.
Longley gives two ways of organizing the Church...:
Holy Spirit-pope-cardinals-bishops-priests-deacons-laity
and
pope-cardinals-bishops-priests-laity-Holy Spirit
Here is the crux of the problem...the hierarchy certainly doesn't believe that any Holy Spirit worth "his" salt could possibly be present to the laity, nor could any lay person have the remote possibility of actually informing his/her conscience! Someone must herd the lay sheep!
Bishop Kevin Dowling's recent speech to a group of "influential lay Catholics" in South Africa ends with then "Father" Ratzinger's statement in commenting on the documents of Vatican II:
"Over the pope as expression of the binding claim of ecclesiastical authority, there stands one's own conscience which must be obeyed before all else, even if necesary against the requirement of ecclesiastical authority. This emphasis on the individual, whose conscience confronts him with a supreme and ultimate tribunal, and one which in the last resort is beyond the claim of external social groups, even the official church, also establishes a principle in opposition to increasing totalitarianism."
Wow...what an astounding turn of a mind!
Even Jesus, in answering his disciples, overly excited at seeing others "not of our group" preaching in Jesus' name, told them to calm down...that the fruits of such preaching would show themselves to be good or rotten.
What are the results of the Vatican seizing what is rightfully the bishops' portion of the magisterium? of usurping informed consciences of the laity?
Surely, this must be the sin against the Holy Spirit writ large?
Another grand slam by Richard
Another grand slam by Richard Sipe. This essay should be required reading in the Vatican and every Catholic home, rectory, and chancery throughout the world.
My deepest appreciation to
My deepest appreciation to you, Richard, for all in resourceful insight and research on the hierarchial church and it continuing attempt to deny crimes of rape committed on innocent children. Jesus did not have kind words for those who scandalized children. Something about those individuals being drowned with a millstone hung about their neck in the deepest part of the ocean . This was about scandalizing a child. What would Jesus have to say about the physical rape of a child? It remains for the church leadership to come clean and purify themselves for the remainder of their earthly lives before they meet their Creator.
Thanks for another really
Thanks for another really informative article about the Sexual Abuse Problem. Anyone who works in the mental health field knows just how prevalent sexual abuse is in the population at large. If you inform yourself of current research and understanding of human sexuality and gender identity you have to come to the realization of just how misguided (and I'm being kind here in my choice of words) the Roman Catholic teachings on sexuality are. I'm absolutely certain that St. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas both would admit how mistaken their notions of human sexuality were if they had access to the contemporary information about human sexuality. I don't exactly remember who labeled women as "misbegotten males" but I can forgive them for their ignorance but there is no excuse for the ignorance manifested in the teachings of the Roman Catholic institutional church on sexuality. If they were more informed ,the clerical hierarchy couldn't possibly with any integrity utter the words "intrinsically disordered" nor would they have been able to chose the path of avoiding "scandal" in the church. They have scandalized the real CHURCH, those children and young adolescents who are part of the People of God who were sexually and mentally abused by troubled and disturbed human beings. There are many other causes that can be identfied in this complex crisis confronting the institutional RC church like patriarchy and clericalism but in my opinion one of the biggest problems is the totally uninformed teachings on human sexualty.
I suggest you read "goodbye
I suggest you read "goodbye good men". You will find that none of the reasons you mentioned above are the reasons for the abuse scandal. They did enter into the denial of the scandal. But the scandal itself had other root causes.
The 5 stages of reaction to
The 5 stages of reaction to "anonamolous reports" reminded me of a list ascribed to Ghandi and/or followers over the years. The list is of methods/strategies used by those in power opposed to changing the status quo:
1)IGNORE IT -- Manage communications/media; manipulate language and its use
2)RIDICULE IT -- Also its proponents
3)FIGHT IT -- Chastise its proponents; use increasingly harsh methods
4)CO-OPT ITS PROPONENTS -- Mimic their language or goals, or both
5)CAPITULATE -- Only when it's impossible to do anything else.
It appears that sociologists and nonviolent political activists have come to strikingly similar conclusions although they begin out of differing contexts. Still another description can be drawn up from Malcolm Gladwell's TIPPING POINT thesis. We are truly at a point where the Holy Spirit speaks in and through the signs of the times.... our times.
Thank you NCR for printing
Thank you NCR for printing this article about Professor Westrum's research about how organizations react to "anomalous reports." The conclusions of this article are absolutely true of what is going on in the Catholic Church today in the Vatican's and bishop's efforts to deny exactly what has been going on in regard to the sexual abuse scandal for so many years. Richare Sipe has laid bare the problems that the current hierarchy are bringing upon the Catholic Church. We need to clean the house and pray that the Holy Spirit will help save the Church from this obscene situation.
What can turn our church
What can turn our church around in this country? Perhaps just one Bishop who breaks with the Cosa Nostra of the bishops and defies the others, shames the others. He would be followed. Just one Bishop to defy Chicago, Philadelphia, New York; to defy
Levada, Rode. Just one Bishop, like the Bishop in South Africa.
great article...we need many
great article...we need many Catherine of Siena's in the church...A church controlled by a celibate clergy where the rest is called to "pray, pay and obey" isn't the right formula. TRANSPARENCY IS THE RIGHT FORMULA!
"After 20 years the schema is
"After 20 years the schema is familiar to most U.S. observers. However, a new crop of bishops is recycling the old pattern -- beginning by blasting the press for reports of clergy malfeasance as unfair and anti-Catholic, anti-clergy, anti-religion. One recent example: Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, accused The New York Times of bias: “It is not hyperbole to call prejudice against the Catholic church a national pastime,” he wrote on his blog."
## This, I do not understand at all; if I were from the US, maybe I would. Surely, if - or rather, as - the clergy have been caught red-handed in behaviour which is anything but Christian, holy, edifying, or even worthy of a decent of a human being, it cannot be wrong to criticise those guilty of such behaviour ? Is the CC exempt from the moral law ? How can it be wrong to criticise Catholic bishops for doing, or conniving at, wrong ? Not to endure being criticised is "subjectivism" of the very kind the Pope (rightly) objects to. It is the logic of Catholic moral theology that condemns the bishops.
Justice is not divisible - if it applies to those whom bishops criticise, it applies to bishops as well. Rights & duties can't be separated; nor can authority & responsibility be divorced. If bishops want to criticise "pro-abortion" politicians, they must themselves submit to being criticised for their faults, whether real or perceived. If they won't take criticism, they have no business handing it out. The choice is theirs.
Has the Archbishop never heard of "The Boy Who Cried "Wolf !"" ?
The Sex Abuse Crisis has many
The Sex Abuse Crisis has many negative ripples. One that is rarely addressed and needs to be because it can and will affect our priestly vocation efforts has to do with the standards for determining the credibility of accusations of sex abuse. The Church needs to review what should be the standard -one that protects children, but also protects accused priests. There are situations where a simple phone call by a disgruntled person has led to the removal of a priest with his name and reputation smeared across papers and even no restoration of priestly faculties after review boards have found him innocent.
As the Church struggles to get things right as regards priests and sex abuse, this is a major area that needs serious attention. Families and friends will be very hesitant to recommend the priestly vocation, if an innocent priest can like Jesus be crucified over totally false charges.
"The Sex Abuse Crisis has
"The Sex Abuse Crisis has many negative ripples. One that is rarely addressed and needs to be because it can and will affect our priestly vocation efforts has to do with the standards for determining the credibility of accusations of sex abuse. The Church needs to review what should be the standard -one that protects children, but also protects accused priests."
## Excellent points. Priests who are falsely accused ought to be exonerated publicly, so as to put an end to all false accusations. And any perjury committed needs to be punished, severely - it is an appalling sin, which deserves to be punished with a severity that reflects its gravity and the damage it does in particular cases.
Litigation is a very inadequate solution to the evils committed, necessary as it seems to be if the victims are to be compensated. The scandal is theological in nature - it can't be *adequately* resolved by litigation. Not that is any reason whatever for the guilty to escape punishment in this world.
Not only should the falsely accused be exonerated and perjurers punished - I would like to see punishments for grave wrong-doing in the Church greatly increased, and those punished most severely of all who are highest in authority; so, all things being equal, cardinals should be more severely punished than bishops, and bishops, than priests; & popes, most severely of all. If they exercise such great authority, they must be punished with equally great severity. Why not ? "Star Trek" is more Catholic in its ideas of responsibility than the CC - not for the first time, "the world" is being more Christian than "the Church".
There have been very few
There have been very few false accusations. Families are hesitant to recommend the vocation because they are questioning celibacy, not because they fear he would in the future be falsely accused. The plight of the falsely accused is a terrible plight, sometimes worse than actually being guilty. But it has not played any significant role in this crisis.
"There have been very few
"There have been very few false accusations." -- Nonsense.
The present circumstances are complex. The complex certainly includes the phenomena reported and analyzed so well by Sipe, as well as the fact that there now are many priests who have been unfairly named, and whose good names now seem lost forever.
Our problems will not be solved any sooner by oversimplifying the obstacles to justice for all. On the contrary, there are victims on all sides of this mess and justice demands honest appraisals of all of them as we work toward a vital and healthy future for our church.
THE SEX ABUSE CRISIS HAS MANY
THE SEX ABUSE CRISIS HAS MANY RIPPLES. OFTEN NEGLECTED IS THE CURRENT CRUCIFIXION OF TOTALLY INNOCENT PRIESTS WHO ARE FALSELY ACCUSED AND WHOSE NAMES AND REPUTATIONS ARE RUINED. THERE IS NO CLEAR STANDARD AROUND THE CATHOLIC WORLD AS TO WHAT MAKES AN ACCUSER'S ACCUSATION CREDIBLE. THE CREDIBILITY STANDARD SHOULD CERTAINLY WEIGH THE HARM TO AN INDIVIDUAL PRIEST, BUT ALSO TO THE PRIESTHOOD AS A VOCATION. HOW MANY MEN WILL BE EAGER TO ENTER A PROFESSION WHERE THEY CAN BE INNOCENTLY CRUCIFIED. THERE ARE NUMBERS OF CASES OF MEN FOUND INNOCENT EVENTUALLY BY REVIEW BOARDS WHO ARE STILL NEVER GIVEN THEIR PRIESTLY FACULTIES BACK AND NEVER REINSTATED. YES, EVERYTHING MUST BE DONE TO PROTECT OUR CHILDREN, BUT IN EXERCISING JUSTICE FOR THEM, IT IS TOTALLY UNJUST TO HARM INNOCENT PRIESTS.
There is an advantage for
There is an advantage for the innocent priest going to civilian law enforcement and then civilian court.
Just like any other citizen who is accused of abuse, the innocent man- who happens to be a priest- has a chance of going to civilian court and being cleared. Quite soon.
It would be a lot quicker and fairer than the Vatican.
American courts have huge protections for criminal defendants. Often the guilty get off free because of lack of evidence or clever criminal defense lawyers.
All Caps is hard to read and
All Caps is hard to read and not particularly effective.
When will the people stop
When will the people stop giving money to the Catholic Church. If you want to reform it, stop supporting its current and ancient corrupted policies.
Read my novel THE
Read my novel THE MICHELANGELO DECEPTION. (Available on Amazon.com for $9.99) It deals with the root causes of the RCC's historic, well-documented, record of human rights abuses. I am disappointed that Mr. Sipes did not deal with that issue after providing an excellent summary of the crisis.
intersting that the normal
intersting that the normal trolls who come on to this site to slam the "bad" Catholics are notoriously silent
I know. I don't get that
I know. I don't get that either. This has been a substantially uninterrupted flow of thought-provoking comments on a superb article. It is hard to criticize a well laid argument. Thank you, Mr. Sipes.
I did notice that as well,
I did notice that as well, but, I don't think that the word "troll" was necessary?
Mr. Sipe's analysis
Mr. Sipe's analysis re-illustrates the collective efforts of the Roman Church to "gather the wagons" around the problem. In good denominational fashion if the evil, sin, problem can be identified outside the institution and its monarchy, then there is little that the institution or its slaves have to do to correct the issue. The best offense for them is a good defense---denial, circumvention, rationalizing, justifying, "smoke and mirror" responses and the like.
For the Roman church, "scandal" is the saying of anything that might bring negative (though often justified) attention to the Roman Church, its policy and procedures, practices and the like. In short, it is a process of denying that the Holy Spirit may be inspiring and directing people of faith in identifying, and correcting an obdurate denomination and its clerical hierarchy. Therefore, a scandalizer, is any one or any organization that participates in such activity. Such persons are to be castigated, excommunicated (when applicable), denigrated so that the the organization can continue to appear in immune from error.
The raw data on coverups and
The raw data on coverups and abuse, documented or not, originate in human witnesses. Today, the hierarchy remain buffered by a vast silent ensemble, the thousands of "good priests" who stand between the pews and the thrones, apparently uninvolved.
In the Boston abuse calamity of 2002, the most striking voice among many was from 58 "good priests" who found the virtue and courage to call publicly for the departure of the lawless cardinal. Can't that many be found today in any other diocese or country to join with the pitifully few voices Sipe names and the few others serving as witnesses to the raw data? If not, the coverup must be recognized as extending far beyond the well known traditional practice of bishops, and prospects for change are very slight.
Hopefully, if the laity is
Hopefully, if the laity is loud enough, and civil enough, to make its complaints better known, more priests will come out of the shadows. But I don't think that declaring war on them as part of the hierarchy is the way to go. Just as it is not all Muslims who are terrorists, as some claim, so too it is not all of the hierarchy who oppose reform. It is the Reformists vs. the Conformists, whether they are lay or clergy.
The waves of destructiveness
The waves of destructiveness generated by of the unresolved storms pelting the Vatican are soaking individuals and societies far and wide.
Catholics who love the church and the teachings of Jesus and the rich heritage of the church now have to
ask themselves- can I be a decent upstanding person and continue to associate myself with the curia and the demands that it is so forcefully (the SS comes to mind) trying to inflicti on individuals and society?
Can I participate in the unhealthy revival and validation of the anti-semitic talk that I am now hearing as the Pius X group comes to influence? (Our priest is now writing Rabbi jokes in the bulletin. In the last year I have heard more anti-semiticism coming from Catholics than I have heard in my whole life).
Can I participate in an organization that is double-teaming the nuns at attempts to gain control over their very consciences -to regulate their activities as involved American citizens interested in the health care of others?
Can I watch as the minions of the Vatican use "pro-life" as a wedge to gain control of the legislative and perhaps judicial bodies which govern our country? Abusing "excommunication" and reception of the Holy Eucharist to obtain their own political control (in concert with one party-the GOP) of freedom in the USA?
Can I continue to sit quietly while clear to directions on how to vote come from the pulpit each and every Sunday?
There is more.
My point is that the waves of destructiveness are spreading far and wide in our church and in our society.
It is interesting isn't it that the Church which operates tax free in this country feels no responsibility for the havoc that it has and continues to cause in this society?
The waves of destructivenes-mainly centered in the Vatican- are like the oil in the Gulf- reaching into nooks and crannies, spreading like the oil slick and causing those who love the Church to run for the sake of their health.
I'll try again, my first post
I'll try again, my first post apparently having been deleted.
While I agree in spades with the need for reform in the Church,I dislike the Laity vs. Hierarchy tone of Mr. Sipes' article. The idea of lumping together all of the hierarchy on one side and all of the laity on the other is simply not realistic. There are many in the hierarchy who want reform. There are many in the laity who do not. Why ignore our friends in the hierarchy, who well may form the core of reform?
And the idea of kicking them all out reminds me, as it did another poster, of the Tea Party.
The extremists have largely been in control. I do not think the solution is to put extremists at the other end in control. I don't think that declaring war, hopefully non-violent, on the hierarchy is something that will attract more than a handful of extremists. I also think it will turn off a great many Catholics who want reform, but not revolution.
I don't believe it is
I don't believe it is realistic to expect the Church or any organization to be completely free of this kind of abuse. This is said as a reaslist not as a defense of sexsual abuse. The "Snipe types" would have nothing to write about if this thing would ever go away which is unlikely. Richard can always be countd on to have strong criticism (objective?) of the Catholic Church. It seems that he is always trotted out when there is a need to stir the pot.
Dear Rev.John: The point, as
Dear Rev.John: The point, as a fair mind would see, is that there is a need for "Snipe types". He is not the problem! Maybe if the church, its admin and systems dealt with the issue openly, honestly, intelligently, humbly, contritely and effectively Mr.Snipe and the "Snipe types" would go away. That is, as you allude, with a degree of introspective accuracy, unlikely. That is, "....deal with the issue openly, honestly....".
In a patriarchical tyrrany of the aged and disconnected,it would seem, there is always "a need to stir the pot". Even in a great democracy.... So why the criticism of intelligent discourse on fact?
I believe we need a wholly
I believe we need a wholly different mind set about how the organizational structure is built. Religion is simply the structure in which we place our spiritual practice. I would suggest really serious research into the structures used successfully by Alcoholics Anonymous, Al-Anon and other 12-step programs that follow the founders and the consensus reached by the continuous leadership.
It has been my experience that this bottom-up consensus model encourages self-examination, respect and honor of others, and decision by "group consensus." This does not mean total agreement--it does mean a deep listening to the opinions of all involved and agreement to go forward even if one doesn't fully agree. There is no hierarchy. Decisions are delegated to local, regional, national and world-wide bodies based upon the group's Traditions and Concepts.
The only requirement for belonging is a need to recover from the effects of one's own addiction, or of people who have affected us by their addictions. There is no blaming. We work at forgiving ourselves and others and letting the God of our understanding guide our lives toward spiritual health and service to others.
It is only because I practice these steps in my own life that I can accept that those in the church hierarchy are as flawed as I am and as need of self-examination and recognition of our powerlessness to "fix" ourselves. The sin is heinous;the sinner a pitiful caricature of humanity. It doesn't have to be this way.
Besides the excellent
Besides the excellent insights of Richard Sipe, I am also struck by the quality and erudition of the comments. If there were such thing as dialogue in the Church, the Bishops would have to face a highly articulate and intelligent group whose searching questions and often substantial answers would cause yet an episcopal earthquake.
Our Church is being cracked open, and will continue to be for a long, long time to come.
Ok let's review. If you read
Ok let's review. If you read this article it would seem that nothing has been done at all. That's far from the case. The reason most are upset who read the NCR is that the Vatican has not done what they want. But to say that it's been ignored is disingenous.
Abp Dolan pointed out that the NY Times is not objective. Is he incorrect? Did he ask the Times to stop reporting on abuse cases no he just asked for fairness. Not popular here I know, but not unreasonable. The author also failed to mention that Dolan expressed gratitude to the media in general for uncovering these cases and asked that they continue to hold the Church's feet to the fire, a far cry from what the author would have you believe.
There are a multitude of mistakes, some cover ups, and perhaps yet to be discovered abuses. But nothing done by the Vatican will suit it's critics. If they aggressively critical of someone like Fr. Marciel, then they are at fault not doing it sooner. If they criticize quickly they didn't say the right things.
The single most important thing the Vatican has done is to get rid of the offending bishops who's lack of faithfulness led to this mess in the first place. Let's not forget it was within the last few days that Fr. McBrien listed Abp Rembert Weakland as one of his hero's, and most people of this board were supportive of that. Let's not forget Weakland embezzled $400,000 to pay his gay lover, was instrumental in driving good seminarians out of seminaries, called it, "great news" that seminarians were sexually active before entering the seminary. And this guy is a hero and Dolan is a bum?
The Pope is right, the filth needs to be cleaned out of the Church. It took two apostolic visit to right the ship in the seminaries, it took the sacking of multiple bishops to restore faithfulness to the diocese's, and the job is far from done, and I don't expect it to be done without mistakes. But so intimate that nothing has been done is being very short sighted. Well not really short sighted, but it does show that the important thing to this writer and most readers of NCR is the advancement of their agenda, the facts be damned.
Richard; what concerns and
Richard; what concerns and grieves me is that in Australia, a woman religious has done so much to steady a heavily rocking boat and help bring about a fair and compassionate result for those who have approached the system she is connected to and now that one bishop is now taking full responsability for not dealing with abuses cases in his diocese appropiately and going into mediation, there is going to be a flood gate of other bishops doing the same no doubt and I fear it is going to come back on her as an accomplance to inaction in the intervening years.
The church uses all and sundry for expediency and I hate the thought of her being paled into oblivion after 23 years of heart felt service in this field.
One cannot understand the
One cannot understand the crisis in the Catholic Church without looking at the world which surrounds the Church & the rampant hypocrisy of that outside world. You can't have a world where teenagers are continually eroticized & then act shocked when some adults take advantage of that situation.
One would think that the sexual seduction of adolescent boys was an activity solely of celibate Catholic priests. How do we stop it? End celibacy, of course! Maybe the real thing to do is to stop marrying couples who shack up in the Church at all or at least put an end to the white weddings for these shackees. That is a more realistic starting point to clean up the pollution. What exactly is going on in that world out there if this kind of thing has been going on in the Church?
Also, the Vatican Council II & its adftermath which ushered in confusion & dissent as well as a vocations crisis cannot be held exempt from an understanding of the crisis. The necessary reform of the Catholic Church will see a great reduction in its numbers. You can't have a Church with 1B members & not have a significant infiltration of the world's evils & dysfunctions. The real number of Catholics is probably no more than 250M at best.
Sorry Paulte--- Some of the
Sorry Paulte--- Some of the bishops have already tried the "society's to blame" excuse. It has fallen flat.
They've also tried the 'blame the victim' version (rather than the 'adults [who] take advantage' and those who supported and shielded them.
So, too, have neo-conservative reactionaries who seem somehow to connect theological progressivism with the sexual abuse of young people by clergy. I assure you, it was going on well before Vatican II was a gleam in John XXIII's eye.
MR Bullough Actually, it's
MR Bullough Actually, it's the data (John Jay) that tie this same sex crisis to the 1960s and 1970s - and the elimination since, under JP the Great.
Have a look at the data and get back to me.
I'm not sure about Mr Sipe's
I'm not sure about Mr Sipe's take. It is probably the wrong one. God bless him for trying.The real answer lies elsewhere.....and we all know where that is.
I'll bite. Please tell
I'll bite.
Please tell me.
Where oh where?
Are we not talking about what
Are we not talking about what it means to be a Roman Catholic?
My intent is an emphasis on the Roman part. How is it not the Pope's ball game? A decision -- does one want to be a part of it or not?
If there is a Laity Catholic Church, I don't know where/what it is. I might like it, mind you; but I don't agree with those who say that this established Church is primarily the laity. For all the talk about cafeteria Catholicism, I don't think this is the way "Rome" sees things. Perhaps there is something I am not seeing here???
The pope has to come to terms
The pope has to come to terms with the sins of his church: Jesus is the one who said, ‘Whatever you did to any of my brothers, even the lowliest, you did to me.’ That means that the priests abusing the vulnerable young were doing that to Jesus, raping Jesus. Any clerical functionary who shows more sympathy for the predator priests than for their victims instantly disqualified himself as a follower of Jesus. The cardinals said they must care for their own, going to jail if necessary to protect a priest.
Following my own analysis,
Following my own analysis, thousands of people on our planet get the home loans from various banks. Hence, there's a good chance to get a short term loan in any country.
People deserve very good life
People deserve very good life time and business loans or just financial loan can make it better. Just because people's freedom is grounded on money.
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