A Bishop’s Lament

Our Catholic bishops have been taught that they are the successors of the apostles and are therefore endowed with unquestionable knowledge and wisdom. Many were but a great number were not. Has anyone ever considered that the apostles would not qualify as Catholic bishops today? For example, the apostles:

• were allowed to marry
  
• continued to celebrate their Jewish heritage and traditions
  
• did not speak Latin
  
• never read the Bible (probably could not even read)
  
• did not receive indoctrination into Catholic Tradition and way of life.
  
• never recited the 'Hail Mary'.
• would not have understood the words 'Church', 'bishop', dogma, doctrine or term 'excommunication'
  
• would not have worn a crucifix
  
• did not wear a mitre or silk clothing
  
• lived in simple homesteads
  

Perhaps the only thing the apostles held in common with today's bishops is that they frequently misunderstood Jesus true message.


Now that we perhaps reached a better understanding of who our bishops are, we may begin to see how they have influenced our understanding of our Catholic Tradition as presented by Fr. Tom Doyle as follows:


The Church is a visible institution. The Church teaches as official dogma that the Church as we know it, that is, a hierarchical structure that is totally run by celibate male clerics (mostly bishops), was instituted by Jesus Himself. The Church teaches that the pope is the representative (Vicar) of Christ on earth. It teaches that Christ founded His church and left it in the control of the twelve apostles and explicitly willed that these apostles pass this power down to their successors. Consequently the official teaching is that the visible church is run by men who have been explicitly chosen by the Supreme Being. Furthermore the Church teaches that priests are fundamentally different than other humans. They are, in the words of John Paul II, uniquely configured to Christ. Catholics are taught to believe that priests are special. They represent Jesus Christ. They have very special spiritual powers. Their intercession is essential for anyone who wishes to make it to heaven in the next life.


This teaching is the foundation for the clerical culture that runs the Church. Clericalism is the belief that clerics (deacons, priests and bishops) are superior to lay persons and are rightfully entitled to deference, unquestioned respect and exemption from many of the obligations born by most lay people. This clerical world is the home of the men who make up the Church power structure. The Church teaches that this structure is the church. To be a Catholic, one must believe totally in the teachings about the nature of the church strictures and the sacredness of the Church's clerical ministers.


If all of these teachings were true, would there be a need for all of the secrecy? If these teachings were true, especially about the "Christ-like" nature of priests and bishops, would there be such widespread corruption, dishonesty and abuse found among clerics at every level?


If all of these things were true! The problem is that there is no authentic historical evidence that any of it is true. The various titles, roles and offices attributed to popes, bishops and priests are not products of divine revelation but of human invention, often as a response and reaction to serious external threats to the power and wealth of the clerical aristocracy. For example, and it's a good example, Papal Infallibility was literally invented by Pope Pius IX and forced through the First Vatican Council . . . for political reasons. The pope's kingdom, the Papal States, was threatened with dissolution by the Italian social upheaval at the time. Likewise the title "Vicar of Christ" was part of a conscious program of a medieval pope to fortify papal power. This title has had a long and complex and by no means consistent history. It was not applied to the Papacy until the 13th century when Pope Innocent III took it to enhance his overall program of actively concentrating just about all power in the Church in the papacy.


Consequently this massive institution seeks above all to preserve itself. Sexual abuse of children or anyone by members of the sacred elite is potentially disastrous for the image, credibility and hence the power of the Church. The bishops really believe that they are essential to the existence of the Church. Therefore protecting the hierarchy is essential and believed to be God's will. The popes and the bishops did not have to conspire to keep sexual abuse by clergy buried as deeply as possible. The secretive response is in the blood of the bishops. It is rooted in the fundamental urge to survive. Disruption and disintegration of the monarchical structures of the Church means the end of the system of power and control as we know it. This poses an unthinkable threat to the clergy and to the clerical world. The threat is personal because this world, this monarchical institution, this magical theological support system is the past, present and future of the bishops. It is their source of identity. To change or destroy it is a threat to the very being of the clerics who feed off of it.


Readers are invited to read Fr. Doyle's entire text at http://www.richardsipe.com/Doyle/2010/2010-07-25.htm


More than twenty five years ago, the Rev. Thomas Doyle warned the nation's Roman Catholic bishops about the church's looming sexual abuse nightmare. Since then, he has become a hero to the victims, speaking out on their behalf and helping them in legal cases in recent years. In doing so, Father Doyle also became a thorn in the side of the church hierarchy.For more on Fr. Doyle please read: http://www.snapnetwork.org/news/otherstates/doyle_loses_job.htm


The Lament of a bishop: "Wherever Jesus went there was a revolution; wherever I go people serve tea!" Anthony deMello, SJ.

On Sexual Abuse

Many people awoke this week to the long anticipated results of the inquiry into child abuse at Catholic Institutions in Ireland dating back some sixty years. The report found that church leaders knew that sexual abuse was 'endemic' in boys institutions. It also found physical and emotional abuse and neglect were features of these institutions. Schools were run "in a severe, regimented manner that imposed unreasonable and oppressive discipline on children and staff". Following a nine-year inquiry investigated over a 60-year period about 35,000 children were placed in a network of reformatories, industrial schools and workhouses up to the 1980's. More than 2,000 told the Commission to Inquire Into Child Abuse they suffered physical and sexual abuse while there. The leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady, said he was "profoundly sorry and deeply ashamed that children suffered in such awful ways in these institutions".

It has been almost twenty years since a similar inquiry was completed about sexual abuse within the diocese of St. John's Newfoundland. That damning report concluded that the patriarchal, clerical structure of the Roman Catholic Church created a climate that significantly contributed to child sexual molestation by priests. In all probability the abuses in Ireland will reflect the findings first reported in Canada in 1990 by A.W. Richard Sipe of The Johns Hopkins University of Medicine, as follows . . . . ."it is clear that the institutional Church is in a pre-adolescent stage of phsychosexual development. This is a period typically prior to eleven years of age in which boys prefer association with their own sex, girls are avoided and held in disdain, often as a guise for fear of women as well as of the own as-yet-un-solidified sexuality. Sex generally is rigidly denied externally while secretly explored. The rigidity extends to strict rules of inclusion and exclusion. Control and avoidance are of primary concern. A church stuck in the pre-adolescent stage of development is limited in its ability to cope with sexual issues and give sexual guidelines."

Unhealthy Ideas Concerning Power and Sexuality

Australian Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, who was appointed to a special commission in 1994 following revelations of abuse in his native country, recently stated "sexual abuse is first and foremost an abuse of power. It is an abuse of power in a sexual form. Unhealthy ideas concerning power and its exercise are always relevant to the question of abuse. Spiritual power is arguably the most dangerous power of all. In the wrong hand it gives the power to make judgments even about the eternal fate of another person. It needs a sign on it at all times saying, 'Handle with extreme care'. The greater the power a person exercises, the more need there is for checks and balances before it is used and accountability after it is used'".

U.S. Dominican Fr. Thomas Doyle, a canon lawyer and advocate for those abused by priests, had this to say about the Irish abuse report: "The vicious sexual, physical, emotional and spiritual devastation inflicted upon these children was not accidental. It was systemic". And summarized the situation as follows: "The Church cannot and will not fix itself. The very reality of the systemic abuse in the Irish institutions (and elsewhere as well) reveals a deep disdain for people by those charged with leading the Church. There has been an abandonment of the fundamental values that are supposed to vivify the Church if indeed these values were ever really internalized by many in positions of power. There is something radically wrong with the institutional Catholic Church."

Sexual Abuse My Own Story

As a victim of sexual abuse myself, by a group leader, I feel somewhat qualified to provide some insight into this problem. Sexual abuse has many ugly and painful faces. Many victims have suffered and continue to suffer due to the hidden nature of the act. However, I believe we are on the verge of making a tremendous leap forward in bringing healing and understanding to this silent and hidden disease.

It is well known that the abuser, was often a victim of abuse themselves. The abuser was likely someone your family/community both admired and respected. And, finally the abuser is frequently a member of your own close family. It is due to this close association that the matter of sexual abuse has remained hidden and untreated for so long. When a problem of this nature is left secret or hidden it will take on a painful life of its own until it is acknowledged and correctly treated. However, when the solution is left or reduced to dollars and cents, and the original shame and guilt is left untouched the problem will remain. Such a victim of abuse, having been awarded a million dollars, will remain scarred unless treated professionally with compassion and understanding.

So far many people have talked about sexual abuse as though it were a modern day revelation. In my unprofessional and humble opinion that is not so. Sexual abuse probably continues to be the one of the most frequently occurring and emotionally damaging acts in human history! Again, due to its hidden and secret nature. We must learn to treat both the guilt and shame of the sexual abuse by exposing and calling it what it is. But it must be done with complete dignity and confidentiality.

The first step in treating the problem is to recognize that we have now made a giant leap forward by exposing the wrongs in these religious institutions. The second step must treat both the victim and the abuser. The third step must be to refrain from using the abuse as a weapon to wage war and revenge. This serves no one, least of all the victim. The fourth step must begin with education. We need to understand why some people are led to this kind of behaviour and why some become victims. Remember we are only on the first rung of a many tiered ladder to our understanding of sexual behaviour. Let us treat this painful issue with God given dignity and compassion. If we really want to help these victims we should not allow it to become an excuse for satisfying our hunger for news, revenge, labelling and continued accusations.

Perhaps we may eventually come to thank our institutions and those broken priests for bringing this 'scandal' to the forefront. If we allow ourselves to act with wisdom and compassion we will see that the victims and offenders can act as a shield by bringing this issue out of its dark past into a healing light. This will undoubtedly require a quantum leap of faith - but what if we don't?