When I
first started hearing about the sexual abuse scandal within Roman Catholic
community I hoped that it might present a
perfect opportunity for the religious
institution to address this secretive and universal issue out of the dark into
God’s healing light’. What a disappointed it has turned out to be and unfortunately still is.
So what are
the obstacles that the Church still needs to overcome? Only an independent expert who understands the
workings of the Roman Catholic institution could answer that question. Such an expert is A.W. Sipe a much respected &
recognized Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselor who earlier spent 18
years as a Benedictine monk and priest. He was trained specifically to deal
with the mental health problems of Roman Catholic Priests.
Richard Sipe’s treatise ‘Sex & Abuse by
Catholic Clergy - Past, Present & future offers a window of hope for the Church and its victims that must not be ignored.
Should Pope Francis adopt its insight, recommendations and vision the church may finally begin the long process of restoring a broken trust.
I am
greatly indebted and blessed to receive Richard Sipe’s permission to reproduce the
above mentioned article, in full as follows:
SEX & ABUSE BY CATHOLIC CLERGY
THE PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE
Plenary
Session July 27, 2013
by A.W.
SIPE
PAST: Putting sexual abuse in
perspective.
Sexual abuse of minors is not a recent
phenomenon; the reality of clergy sexual activity has existed, as long as there
have been priests and bishops.
Church
documents from the earliest centuries record the ideal of religious celibacy
and its violations. (Cf. Doyle, Sipe & Wall 2006)
There is an element of basic
asceticism in the practice of religious celibacy—the imitation of Jesus in
having nothing: not a place “to lay his head”; poverty by choice; and forsaking
all-family relationships in order to be like Jesus. Treating others as Jesus
did was the object of the discipline. This ideal was found especially in the
earliest monks of the desert.
But the other side of the coin is
the corruption of the ideal. In our time, publicity about abuse has refocused
our knowledge of the frequency of sexual violations by clergy and the
horrendous and long lasting damage done to victims.
Purity was thought to be the source
of clerical power.
Sexual abuse of minors does not
stand alone within clerical culture. It is a symptom—and always has been—of a
corrupt system of double lives and
duplicity that reaches from local parishes to the Vatican; it destroys the myth
of clerical purity. The whole idea that clergy practice celibacy has imploded.
Celibate
practice of clerics (even the appearance of it) gave early Christians
considerable power. The early institution attempted to “bottle” this element of
power as early as the 4th Century. (Cf. Council of Elvira 309 C.E.) That
earliest council record dealt explicitly with many sexual aberrations of the
clergy. By the way, records of the Desert Fathers also include accounts of
their sexual struggles including some accounts of violations of minors by
“holy” men.
The
institution wrestled for centuries to control its clergy and its property. This
process of consolidating power—political, religious and temporal—was furthered
by three medieval church manoeuvres:
1.)
In 1049 C.E. St. Peter Damian wrote to Pope Leo IX and decried the prevalence
of sexual abuse by clergy that he called “criminal vice” and said it was
epidemic. (Letter 31) Even then he encouraged the pope to have zero tolerance
and have offending priests reduced to the lay state. The pope was more tolerant
and thought that was too stringent and said steps should be taken only if the
behavior was persistent.
2.)
Mandating in 1139 C.E. (1074) that all men ordained to the Roman priesthood had
to make a prior promise of “perfect and perpetual chastity that involved
celibacy, (non marriage). The rule was never very successful. Deprived of a
chance to marry a majority of the clergy continued to have sexual companions. [Even in the 1960s Jesuit sociologist Joseph
Fichter estimated that 30% of priests in Germany were living intimately with
women.] Although statistics are hard to come by sophisticated estimates from
scholars around the world do not support a vigorous practice of celibacy, from
cardinals to parish priests.
3.)
In 1215 C.E. The IV Lateran Council proclaimed that everyone had to confess
his/her mortal sins to a priest in the private and personal sacrament of
penance at least once a year. Every sexual thought word desire and action
constituted a mortal sin according to church teaching. We were all taught this
in grade school.
Control
by guilt and shame forms powerful and destructive shackles for priests and
people. The chasm between the law imposed by Vatican decree and the practice of
the clergy renders the teaching unbelievable. Essentially the priest is touted
as another Christ (Cf. statement from IV Lateran) ...
”Confession is the only ordinary way to receive the forgiveness of God for serious (mortal) sins, which if unforgiven, condemn a person to Hell. The Church teaches that Catholic priests have been given the authority by God to exercise the forgiveness of sins here on earth and it is in God's name by which the person confessing is forgiven. In theological terms, the priest acts in persona Christi and receives from the Church the power of jurisdiction over the penitent.”
The
reason I point out these dates is to show how the church tried to expand its
control over human sexuality in priests and people, at the same time it countenanced
corruption and constructed structures that were dangerous under the guise of
pastoral care.
Personal
confession was and is a precarious site for domination and potential sexual
abuse of the vulnerable. I wish that I had kept a record of the number of cases
in which confession was the occasion for a violating cleric to target his
victim.
PRESENT: Abuse knows no social, economic,
ethnic or religious boundaries. You are one important voice among many
suffering to be heard and healed; crying not only for your own torturous experiences
but to support and protect children and the vulnerable to prevent them from the
trauma you know only too well.
The work that abuse survivors, their
supporters, lawyers, and press do is tremendously valuable beyond the
boundaries of the Catholic Church.
Your
witness is now taken seriously. The clergy victim/survivors movement
contributes to the understanding of the dynamics of minor abuse in every other
cultural system from the family to colleges to the military and beyond the U.S.
This makes you valuable.
You
are real. You are telling the forbidden truth. Sexual abuse and cover-up is
central to clerical culture and its inherent narcissism. The future cannot
sustain a culture that effectively: hates women, imposes impossible and
irrational sexual standards extols itself as unerring.
Sex
is the core problematic issue for religion in our time. The sexual agenda that
trips up the church was defined by Wm. Shea already in 1986: "family life,
divorce & remarriage, premarital & Sex is the core problematic issue
for religion in our time. The sexual agenda that trips up the church was
defined by Wm. Shea already in 1986: "family life, divorce &
remarriage, premarital & extra marital sex, birth control, abortion, ,
homosexuality (same-sex marriage), masturbation, women in ministry (& their ordination to the priesthood)
& the male monopoly on power."
This morass requires not a simple
tweak, but a Copernican shift to address it. The basis on which the institution
of the church builds its sexual is false. We must be part of the solution.
FUTURE. What is a vision for the future?
Pope Francis has already said that "Ecclesiastical Narcissism" is one
of the fundamental sources of the current corruption in the church.
He said that four days before his
election as pope in an address to the cardinals. He is correct in identifying
it as the Church’s fundamental illness. Certainly narcissism—self-interest—is
at the root of abuse of the vulnerable and the pattern and practice of covering
up violations to preserve image and money.
Certainly ecclesiastical agencies
and power have not been proactive but strongly resistant to coming to grips
with the crisis of clerical abuse. Every action they have taken has been
reactive and largely continues in every possible way.
We can divorce ourselves from the
institutional church all we want, but we cannot shake our own narcissism so
easily. We need to support honest and reform anywhere we find it.
AU Bishop Geoffrey Robinson’s voice is worth
hearing and his call for a Council is brave and prophetic. Rare in the
hierarchy.
The Capuchins of Milwaukee have been unique
and bold in their efforts to review the records of all their personnel.
Our own integrity is our primary
concern and responsibility. But integrity does exist even in the midst of
corruption. Seek, find, and support the reformation of an institution that is
sexually and financially distorted. Truth will out.
SPIRITUALITY
BEYOND TRAUMA
The long-term adverse effects of early trauma
are physical/medical, psychological and spiritual. (cf. ACE Study-adverse
childhood events) As you know those effects can be dire.
Sexual trauma or betrayal by a clergy person
often leaves deep scars that sometimes necessarily involve the rejection of the
structure of any church and hierarchy. (23.9 % of Americans raised as Roman
Catholic no longer claim this as their faith. One in five Americans claim
“none” as their religious preference. Cf Pew Forum on Religion.)
No one can fault anyone for rejecting
Catholicism. Co-lateral victims—family,
friends, advocates and many Roman Catholic lawyers—have testified: “I can no
longer believe in the Catholic Church.”
The moral credibility of the
institution has been so deeply compromised that it is empty. An institution
that cannot tell the truth about itself has nothing to say.
Individuals of integrity exist (they are not
generally the hierarchy of the Church).
But the need for non-clerical
spirituality continues and can be found.
We can exist without a church,
without rules and without dogmas.
We cannot exist without
spirituality. One of the great leaders of the 20th Century said: “We must find some spiritual
basis for living, else we die.” (Bill W)
This discussion will explore ways of
healing and fulfilment that go beyond institutions and clerical control.
STEPS TO A SPIRITUALITY
- We need powers beyond ourselves. Awareness that we are not spiritually self-sufficient is essential to a spiritual life.
- It takes daily attention in mindfulness or meditation.
- Honesty is necessary for any spirituality.
- Empathy, gratitude and forgiveness are also required.
- A system or group of like-minded people may be helpful. The 12 steps demonstrated by AA is one of the most profound spiritual programs ever devised.
- Spirituality is beyond rules and dogmas. It is an internal process that will demonstrate itself to others on the outside. St. Augustine in his confessions articulates the core of his personal spirituality: It is an internal relationship that is not institutionally confined:
Late have I loved you, Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things that you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would have not been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace. (St. Augustine, Confessions)
Richard Sipe's complete professional profile and his many insightful articles can be found on-line here or at http://www.awrsipe.com/
