Confusion on Annulment, Divorce and Remarriage

The October 27^th. issue of a well known national Catholic weekly featured two separate articles about Catholics who may be considering a possible annulment of their marriage.  The first article by Francis X. Rocca (Catholic News Service) immediately dashed any hopes for divorced couples based on Pope Francis’ recent comment that the Synod of Bishops would explore a “somewhat deeper pastoral care of these difficult marriages”. 
In contrast, another article in the same weekly warns readers that the Church can no longer avoid dealing with marriages involving abusive spouses. This is without question an issue which for many years has been considered a taboo by many including the Vatican.  According to newly gathered statistics, a staggering forty per cent of the cases handled through Catholic Family Services involves some level of spousal abuse.

 

 

 

While Pope Francis recently raised hope for remarried Catholics; a patriarchy of celibate individuals i.e. the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, subsequently and  quickly reaffirmed the well established Church teaching barring divorced and remarried members from receiving communion.  Exactly how did an imperfect Church, made up entirely of sinners, arrive at a decision calling for punishment of these unfortunate members of our community?  Why do we think that these struggling individuals should be banished from receiving communion?   People in pain need God more than ever.  How and when did the Church think it could override a Creator who not only understands our pain but can help us to overcome our failings? Is the Church incapable of positively reinforcing the bonds of these marriages?  Several years ago a deacon delivered a homily at our parish in which he warned "Jesus walks away from the sinner!"  Based on such examples what are we saying about God and about Catholicism?  

 

 

 

   If we are in a state of religious confusion about annulment, divorce and remarriage it is only because we, especially the laity, have not been willing to share our experiences about such trying and difficult issues. At the same time, if we want to develop healthier attitudes about sex, celibacy, abortion, contraception, euthanasia, and other pressing religious issues we will need to share and listen to those who have failed, suffered and frequently questioned or felt separated from our unconditionally loving Creator. One such individual is Fr. Ronald Rolheiser.  His recent article ‘You don’t get what you want, you get what you need’ (see The Catholic Register Oct. 20, 2013) speaks about celibacy in a way not usually heard of from among members of the clergy. In speaking about his spiritual journey just six months beyond his chemotherapy treatments he shares this incredible insight on the matter, “What I learned from walking the road in the company of three close friends was how spoiled and immature I'd become. Having lived as a celibate priest, outside of the constrictive demands of marriage, children and family for more than 40 years, I realized how idiosyncratic and self-centered the patterns and habits of my life had become. I was used to calling the shots for my own life, at least in its day-to-day rhythms”.  Rolheiser’s very personal experience comes from suffering and speaks to us from below not from above as so many clerics are want to do.

 

Finally, when it comes to present church teachings on divorce and remarried couples; I am reminded of a priest who spoke about the matter in a completely new way. He said “If couples involved in a difficult marriage, one that is destined to fail, but stick together for the sake of their children, they should be given a medal from the Church, as soon as the kids are old enough to support themselves.” This was the same priest who once privately shared how he had attended Mass at the Glass Cathedral in California.  Dressed in his civvies, sitting at the far end of this magnificent building, he was approached by an elder and asked if he would like to bring up the gifts at the appropriate moment.  Without a moment of hesitation this priest accepted his humble request. The greatest stories and teachers in the world are those who like Jacob wrestled with God before  accepting his humble offering of an indestructible faith.      

 

  The only humility that is really ours is not that which we try to show before God in prayer, but that which we carry with us in our daily conduct.    Andrew Murray

Catholic Teaching on Sexuality fails

Human Life & Sexuality
 Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam

In the eyes of Fr. Jack Gallagher, sociologists have proven Catholic Teaching on Sexuality and Marriage is Right.  So reads a recent headline in the Western Catholic Reporter.

However I believe with God it is never about whether we ‘get it right’ or not.  Not one of us will ever 'get it right'! Thankfully, God is only interested in our heart.  

If anyone is interested they can read Fr. Jack Gallagher's entire 300 page book  Human Sexuality and Christian Marriage - An Ethical Study free on-line.

It is evident that sociologist and church teachings still want to take precedence over our God given freedom of conscience while ignoring its primacy guaranteed under Canon Law. That is not to suggest that all Church teachings must be rejected; on the contrary.  Its teachings on justice and peace, for example  have been exemplary.  On the other hand its teachings on human sexuality have been anything but dismal and even downright un-Christian.    

Hopefully one day the   Church’s teaching on sexuality will bring more of Christ’s love, compassion, wisdom and understanding to the subject. (whatever do they think when reading Song of Songs?) Since the sexual act is a highly private and personal activity between a loving and committed couple their need for God’s direct blessing in this regard is certainly more important than any dictates from a celibate institution.   The Church will finally graduate on the question of human sexuality when it:

·       Accepts contraception when practised between two loving and committed heterosexual couples as their personal decision bound by and under God.

·       Accepts and blesses the role of married priests by recognizing that celibacy is a gift from God not a condition forced on them by the Church.

·       Accepts and blesses the role of women as priests, bishops, etc., as a gift of equality confirmed by God and not an artificial condition enforced by the Church.

·       Accepts and blesses the role of the laity in the Church as equal partners working together to bring about Christ’s kingdom here on earth.

·       Accepts and blesses divorced couples who desire to return to the Church by giving them full access to all the sacraments.  (the simple desire to be in communion with God automatically takes precedence over any Church rulings).

·       Accepts its God given role to work for and among all people who have contracted Aids.

·       Accepts and recognizes the sexual act when practiced between two loving and committed homosexual couples as gift from God.

·       Blesses the role of committed homosexuals to adopt and raise children

·       Accepts and blesses abortion in all cases when it threatens the life of the mother or in exceptional cases of rape, and incest etc.,

·       Humbly accepts the advice provided by Catholic experts calling for a total and complete overhaul of the systemic and endemic problems within the institution that resulted in the sexual abuse of women and children by misguided members of the clergy.  

Finally, to paraphrase Fr. Jack Gallagher: “The Church must evangelize recognizing God in the present or it dies.”  God meets us where we are not where others would have us be.

The Catholic Church is seriously, possibly terminally ill

‘Theologian Kung says only radical reforms can save the Catholic Church’ so reads the banner  by ENI News services dated May 8th.  ENI News is a global news service reporting on ecumenical developments and other news of churches as well as giving religious perspectives on news developments world-wide. The report went on as follows:

 
The Catholic Church is seriously, possibly terminally ill and only an honest diagnosis and radical therapy will cure it, one of the sharpest critics of Pope Benedict XVI, the Swiss Catholic theologian Hans Kung, has written - reports Anli Serfontein.

Speaking at a sold-out event in the Literaturhaus (Literary Centre) in Munich on 2 May 2011, Kung who is a former colleague of the pope at the University of Tubingen, introduced his new book, Ist die Kirche noch zu retten? (Can the Church Still Be Saved?).

Kung argues that the malady of the church goes beyond recent sexual abuse scandals. According to him, the church's resistance to reform, its secrecy, lack of transparency and misogyny are at the heart of the problem.

He said that the Catholic church in the United States has lost one-third of its membership."The American Catholic church never asked why," he said."Any other institution that has lost a third of its members would want to know why." He also said that 80 per cent of German bishops would welcome reforms.

Kung is one of today's most outspoken Catholic theologians. Because he questioned the infallibility of the pope in 1971, he had his 'missio canonica', the license needed to teach Roman Catholic theology, withdrawn. Thereafter, he became professor of ecumenical theology in Tubingen. He remains a Catholic priest.

He told the mostly elderly audience in the Diocese of Munich and Freising, the former diocese of Benedict XVI, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, "I would have preferred not to write this book. It is not pleasant to dedicate such a critical publication to the church that has remained my church."

He said he had hoped that Benedict would find a way forward in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) which in the early sixties reformed the church in a number of ways, such as the celebration of Mass in local languages instead of Latin.

However, Pope Benedict has distanced himself from Vatican II and "failed in the face of the worldwide sexual abuse by clergy," King said. Benedict is "in essence a person for medieval liturgy, theology and a medieval church constitution."

Referring to the celibacy debate that arose after the sexual abuse cases, Kung said, "the Roman Catholic church survived for the first thousand years without celibacy." He is strongly in favour of allowing priests and bishops to marry.

Kung compared the changes needed in the Catholic church to the democratic changes taking place in the Arab world."When will in our church the youth take to the street? That is our problem; we have no young people anymore," he said to laughter from the 350 people present.

At the end of the book Kung returns to the question: "Can the church still be saved?" He said he has not lost his vision of a church that would meet the expectations of millions of Christians, but certain conditions have to be met. In their reforms, this Church should show Christian radicalism, constancy and coherency, he said.

"I have not given up the hope that it will survive," Kung ended, to applause.

Readers might also wish to see additional comments about Kung's comments about the state of the Catholic Church today as recently posted on the National Catholic website - click here.
 

[With acknowledgements to ENInews. ENInews, formerly Ecumenical News International, is jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Communion of Reformed Churches and the Conference of European Churches.]

the culture that allows sex abuse to happen

There have been numerous occasions throughout this blog that I have spoken out about the Catholic Church’s struggle with the ongoing sexual abuse crisis, as well as its growing militant attitude on abortions and other areas of human sexuality such as homosexuality, celibacy, condoms masturbation, same-sex marriage, partcularly when they are expressed in absolute terms.

Why does a religion remain so fearful about a gift from God when those sexual abuse issues are clearly threatening to destroy the very fabric of the institution?  THE TRUTH NEEDS TO BE TOLD. When will the hierarchy finally accept its duplicity in creating a culture that allowed the sexual abuse to bring so much pain and suffering in the world? THE TRUTH NEEDS TO BE TOLD. Why does the church still remain in denial? THE TRUTH NEEDS TO BE TOLD.  Considering the recent advances to help us break through a better understanding of human behaviour why does our Church still rely on theological definitions established by St. Augustine in the fourth century A.D.- especially in light of his own struggle with sexuality.  The Church continues to uphold its traditions as unchangeable and from an exclusive patriarchal point of view.  God, on the other hand moves with us through time, even though his unconditional love for humankind remains unchanged. God meets us where we are – not where others would have us be. Does the Church truly believe that God does not play a role in the discoveries in science and human understanding?  Surely, the revelations made known by individuals such as Galileo made this all too painfully clear? THE TRUTH NEEDS TO BE TOLD.

Most religions today, particularly those with a fundamentalist background, appear unable or unwilling to accept change and will quickly condemn anyone with different views. Christians do well to recall the price Jesus paid for attempting to introduce change in his community.

There are a few people who have the strength and courage to challenge our beliefs and understandings.  This week one such person spoke up at a gathering on April 4 at Marquette University Law School, Milwaukee - his name is Archbishop  Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, Ireland.  Here follows his complete address as it appears on the Archdiocese of Dublin website.  A condensed version is also  available on the National Catholic Reporters website of April 5th.      For full video of Martin's talk, visit the page on the Marquette University Web site.  The two day conference took place under the banner 'Restorative Justice Initiative' includes many speakers, including several victims of sexual abuse as well as Archbishop Martin.  

Having read and watched significant portions of this debate I am encouraged by the positive approach to this crisis which continues to impact our society at large. THE TRUTH NEEDS TO BE TOLD.

Sexuality and the Catholic Church

If there is one topic that traditional Catholics fear it is anything dealing with human sexuality. The Vatican offers only one solution to avoid this sin – celibacy! Sex is bad! For centuries the Church has taught that "Pleasure during intercourse is the carrier of original sin" (St. Augustine c.354-430). "Virginity belongs to paradise - marriage began after the fall" (St. Jerome c.347-420). "Every form of sex not directly open to conception is sinful and the use of contraceptives, masturbation and homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered" (Catechism of the Catholic Church). How can the Church define human sexuality as understood by St. Augustine centuries ago in the face of modern science and psychology?

More recently an article in a conservative Catholic newspaper dealing with sexuality found it necessary to condemn victims of transsexuality. Here follows the article in its entirety as it appeared in the Catholic Register

The following day I challenged The Catholic Civil Rights League as follows:

Several days later this amazingly non judgmental and courageous response was posted under the Catholic Register website by Denise Holliday

I am a 63yr old female that was born male. I am married and have two children alive and a son who died in an accident. I recall issues at age 4, my mother admitted I had issues actually at age 3. It has taken a long time for the world to catch up but I assure you that one or two struggling people do not define a nation or a segment of a nation.

We are estimated to be two in a thousand and most are indefinable as trans. Some are more masculine due to struggling to meet your idea of normal. There are as many if not more regular females who have similar issues. Trans females just wish to use the bathroom and go on their way. They try to be quiet and unobtrusive for the most part and despite fears, I have yet to hear of a transwoman attacking children in or out of washrooms. We go through hell and over two years of counselling. If lucky we can be who we are if we can find $ 20,000 plus. Many are too poor to get that far, 50% attempt suicide. For the record, I am still married and was married in a Catholic church 40 years ago.

I wish the Lords blessing for you all.

"Some serious research is needed before making judgments.

Opinions provided by medical experts dealing with transsexuals directly contradict the Catholic Civil Rights League’s recent position on this most sensitive issue. Professional opinions which appeared on the CBC Fifth Estate program 'Becoming Ayden' aired on October 2004 illustrate this point very clearly.

The medical experts featured on this program leave little doubt about nature or unknown cause behind this unfortunate condition. In addition to the mental stress that these people suffer the Catholic Civil Rights League and several others are now prepared to marginalize these victims even further by condemning and demeaning transsexuals as being somewhat lesser human beings. By throwing their weight behind the misinformed and baseless fears expressed by Catholic sponsored groups such as Campaign Life Coalition and REAL WOMEN, the Catholic Civil Rights League has fallen into a trap spreading further pain and suffering upon transsexuals. No one chooses to become a transsexual! The Catholic Civil Rights League should be prepared to explain precisely how religious freedom and freedom of expression are endangered by transsexuals!

The unjust fear mongering by the League and others should remind Catholics worldwide what Jesus taught about ‘unclean’ persons. The cleanliness laws during the time of Jesus were especially strict, calling for the afflicted person to remain outside the community of God’s people. Any physical or moral blemish, including menstruation or touching a dead body could render a person ‘unclean’. Jesus went out of his way to touch and to allow himself to be touched by the ‘unclean’.

In the meantime the senseless arguments against transsexuals are reminiscent of the witch hunts during the 15th. and 16th. centuries. Shame on those who call for discrimination against an innocent minority whom some consider ‘unclean’. Shame on the Catholic Civil Rights League for denying the basic human rights they claim to support. No one chooses to become a transsexual!"

PRO-FAMILY GROUPS STEP UP THE FIGHT AGAINST TRANSSEXUAL ‘BATHROOM BILL’

The Catholic Register – by Deborah Gyapong, Canadian Catholic News

REAL Women national vice-president Gwen Landolt and Jim Hughes of Campaign Life Coalition are among those speaking out against Bill C-389 that would expand rights for transgendered and transsexuals.

OTTAWA - Pro-family groups are raising alarms about a bill before Parliament that would give expanded rights to transgendered and transsexuals. They argue it could expose businesses, schools and religious groups to a host of new human rights complaints that trample on their religious freedom and freedom of expression.

 

“Our government has come one step closer to passing the ultra-radical, private members’ Bill C-389,” warned Campaign Life Coalition Nov. 5 shortly after NDP MP Bill Siksay’s bill passed through the Justice Committee by a 9-2 vote. “If passed, it would add ‘gender identity’ and ‘gender expression’ as a protected class within the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code.”

 

The bill comes up for a vote on Dec. 2, and socially conservative groups have asked members to contact their MPs to oppose it.

Creating these new rights “will result in male cross-dressers and drag queens having the legal right to use girls’ bathrooms,” Campaign Life warned, noting the bill would also protect transgendered persons who believe “one can be a man on the outside but a woman on the inside or vice versa.”  “It’s absolutely crazy,” said Campaign Life president Jim Hughes. “It’s an opening of a Pandora’s Box to every kind of misconceived perceived right.”

Siksay has argued that the bathroom fear is a “red herring” because use could be handled appropriately. He has argued in the House of Commons about the real discrimination and even violence transgendered and transsexual individuals face.

Hughes admitted he was shocked at how rapidly this bill has rocketed through the House.  “I thought this was a bit of a joke at first,” he said. “We’re going to be in a real mess in this country if we continue to allow this to happen.”

REAL Women of Canada national vice-president Gwen Landolt raised alarms over the bill when it passed second reading in June only weeks after it was introduced. She said people who think they are transgendered need counselling not surgery.

The Catholic Civil Rights League has also flagged this bill to its members. “Of real concern is that many aspects of gender identity issues contain a strong element of self-definition,” said executive director Joanne McGarry in a Nov. 15 statement. She pointed out gender identity questions are listed as a psychological disorder.

“To protect by law a quality that the law does not even define could have serious implications for employers in their hiring and assignment decisions,” McGarry said. “People who believe they have faced discrimination on ‘gender expression’ grounds could file human rights claims. “This system is already misused by those who believe the issue was discrimination when it wasn’t; to complicate it by opening the process to more subjective grounds isn’t in anyone’s best interest.” She said.

Even without the bill, complainants are using present human rights legislation as if these grounds are already included. A man who had not undergone sex change surgery launched a complaint against the owner of an all-women’s gym when he refused the man membership. Two transgendered “women” sued a plastic surgeon for refusing to do cosmetic surgery on their reconstructed female parts. And a transgendered “woman” complained of discrimination against a rape crisis centre when “she” was refused a job as a counsellor.

Hughes worries about the implications for education if gender identity and expression are added to the law and schools begin to teach children from a young age that it is normal to think you are trapped in the body of the opposite sex. He said some psychologists have said sometimes there is a transient sense of this in young people that goes away if the young person is properly guided.

Landolt has warned of the dangers both to religious freedom and freedom of expression should this bill become law and Catholic teaching on this issue becomes subject to hate complaints.

Liberal Catholics

When I started a spiritual journey via the Catholic faith, more than twenty five years ago, it never once occurred to me that I would one day be labelled a ‘liberal Catholic’. Labels are dangerous. Labels allow people to be lumped into one category with the immediate loss of their unique personality. It is always easier to dislike a group than an individual. Historically persecutions have always been aimed at groups rather than individuals – heretics, mystics, witches, gays, Jews, etc.

Wikipedia the online encyclopedia for the masses describes Liberal Christians as follows:

Traditionalist or Fundamentalist Catholics

Traditionalist or Fundamentalist Catholics are Roman Catholics who believe that there should be a restoration of many or all of the liturgical forms, public and private devotions and presentations of Catholic teachings which prevailed in the Catholic Church before the Second Vatican Council (1962–65). They are most commonly associated with an attachment to the Mass liturgy in general use in that time period (often called the Tridentine Mass, the Traditional Mass or the Latin Mass), but their theological and practical concerns are broader in scope and in some cases go so far as to consider the present-day Church teaching heretical.
Traditionalist Catholics lay stress on strict following of customs prevailing immediately before the Second Vatican Council, such as: abstaining from meat on Fridays, kneeling to receive Communion directly in the mouth, women wearing a head-covering in church, frequent confession, prayers such as the Stations of the Cross and the Rosary, fasting from midnight before receiving Holy Communion. These practices are of course not confined to traditionalists: many mainstream Catholics also follow them.

Conservatism in Catholicism primarily refers to the upholding of the Catholic Church official teachings concerning the sanctity of marriage, the prohibition of artificial birth control, the sanctity of life from conception to natural death, the importance of traditional male clergy, prohibitions on divorce and homosexuality, and other similar theological and moral matters.
All core traditional beliefs of conservative Christians can be found in the three creedal statements, i.e. Apostles' Creed, and Nicene Creed.
Liberal versus Conservative

The liberal Roman Catholic understands ecumenism as welcoming and exploring God through ongoing dialogue with other world faiths while Traditional Roman Catholics prefer to limit their understanding of God, and therefore ecumenism, to the tenets dictated by Church hierarchy. The liberal Roman Catholic understands and accepts personal responsibility by claiming primacy of the Freedom of Conscience guaranteed under Canon Law, while the Traditional Roman Catholic is more likely to defer personal responsibility by more rigorously accepting Church teachings in favour of the Freedom of Conscience. Accordingly a liberal Catholic is more likely to view his beliefs and God as the natural result of evolution wich brings both change and growth, while his counterpart prefers to define his beliefs based on past history and repetitive rituals.

Sadly as these labels indicate, Catholics today find themselves strongly divided by these two polarities. Roman Catholicism unlike most other Christian faiths is centralized and presided over by a pope and an episcopal hierarchy. Under Pope’s John Paul II and particularly Benedict XVI leadership of the Church has shown a more definite conservative trend or attitude. Today, Roman Catholics appear to be deeply divided between those who accepted the changes implemented by Vatican II (1962-65) and those who still hold strong to the values of the Council of Trent (1545-63).

Conservatives in recent years have adopted a more militant position in response to demands for change from their progressive or liberal brothers and sisters. Recent examples of such militanchy are Bishops who publically deny individuals their right to receive communion due to their political positions. While still other Bishops have dismissed Catholic professionals due to their refusal to interpret abortion in strict and absolute terms, etc. And, so the battle lines are drawn.

The most sensitive issues dividing the two groups are: abortion, homosexuality, birth control, same-sex marriage, celibacy, population, and women as ordained members of the clergy.

As the demands for even greater adherence to Catholic Orthodoxy are being made by the current Roman Catholic hierarchy, led by Pope Benedict XVI ,the only losers are likely those liberals who continue to hope for change. This is unlikely to happen until the present regime dies out or the Roman Catholic Church finally collapses under the weight of its heavy handed approach to oust the remaining liberals.

Perhaps the most shameful result underlying these issues is the debate held by both as to who today is the authentic Roman Catholic - this attitude is hardly one that would be ascribed to Jesus Christ. It is a wall that must be brought down if Catholics, liberal or conservative, are to be united as living examples of their faith. So far the Vatican has not shown any interest in doing so.

Liberal Christians tend to regard the Bible as the record of human doings composed of humans encountering the Divine within their specific historical context. They often interpret passages of the Bible as being less a record of actual events, but rather stories illustrating how to live ethically and authentically in relation to God. Some might, for instance, see Christ's death and resurrection in terms not of actual physical reanimation, but in terms of the good news of Jesus' teaching: that God's children are no longer slaves to the power of death.

Some professional exegetes consider the Bible, to a greater or lesser degree, to be a document of its time, taking on attitudes which may not be God's. While they may hold the document as sacred and most certainly as central to Christianity, they are also aware of the historical and cultural context in which it was originally written through archaeological and from critical study. Some scholars feel that in addition to its spiritual components, portions of the text merely reflect the human authors' beliefs and feelings about God at the time of its writing, and their cultural sensibilities. The influence of such persons may reflect a heightened spiritual consciousness, or may simply represent people attempting to explain the world as best they could give the tools of the time. Such scholars purport that passages in scripture related to slavery, war, genocide, female marginalization, and sex between men may not necessarily be about God's wishes, but rather about the predominant culture's opinions at the time of the passage's writing.
Liberal Christianity, sometimes called liberal theology, is an umbrella term covering diverse, philosophically and biblically informed religious movements and ideas within Christianity from the late 18th century and onward. The word "liberal" in liberal Christianity does not refer to a progressive political agenda or set of beliefs, but rather to the manner of thought and belief associated with the philosophical and religious paradigms developed during the Age of Enlightenment.

And the walls come tumbling down?

Hardly a day goes by without some reference to the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church. Some still claim that this is simply a vicious attack by the media to discredit the church, while still others think it is all the work of Satan. Those who remain in denial, including many in the Vatican, refuse to accept the expert and proven opinions flowing from within the Catholic community itself. To anyone on the outside the longer this crisis continues the more the institution will continue to suffer. If polls were taken today few would probably admit they still have confidence in the world's largest Christian Church. Before the walls came tumbling down in Berlin; few would have believed it would ever happen - yet this sexual abuse scandal is rocking the very foundations of the church. Like the walls of Jericho this institution could be the next victim - at the expense of those who gave so much and trusted in its true message and calling. Hopefully, the only walls that will eventually come down are those formed by the minds in the Vatican.

Sadly, many faithful Catholic followers have cemented their faith in the institution - an institution that speaks of itself as the necessary intermediary to God himself. This is perhaps even a greater scandal then the one we are dealing with presently. This is not a battle between the left and right, the clergy and the laity. It is simply a means to rediscover what it is to be a follower of Christ among and with the many religions in our world. Scripture tells us that Jesus rejected the earthly kingdoms while he was in the desert. Could it be that we have arrogantly misunderstood how this might apply to a religious institution?

What will it take to bring change and allow the People of God the freedom to worship and live out their lives 'to the full', as promised by Jesus two thousand years ago? What will it take to bring healing and a new understanding to the current sexual abuse crisis? Perhaps the Vatican also needs to heed the advice from its own members – such as contained in the following article:

The inner workings of a hierarchy with a sex offender mentality

By Fran Ferder and John Heagle

Aug. 02, 2010

Analysis

The Vatican announcement that the attempted ordination of women is a "grave crime" to be dealt with according to the same procedures as the sexual abuse of minors exposes the way those running our church actually think. In attempting to explain revised norms to church canons, they reveal the legalistic inner workings of their minds, and affirm unsettling psychological patterns of thought.

Msgr. Charles Scicluna of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, for example, speaking about the new codes July 15, identified the sexual abuse of minors as an "egregious violation of moral law." His statement placed the emphasis on "violation of law." When all the words are parsed, and the nuances carefully articulated, it is law that has prominence.

What about the children? Should we not think of sexual abuse, in the first place, as an "egregious violation of children?"

This distinction is significant because it paints in bold letters the central concern of a hierarchical church whose first interest is ensuring its pronouncements are obeyed. A violated law and a violated child evoke, or ought to evoke, quite different emotional responses. Tears are generally not shed over a broken law. Perhaps this is why we have seen precious few tears among church leaders. They have been schooled to place obedience to the law above all else, with a tragic disconnect of empathy the predictable result.

Perhaps this is also why those who crafted the latest document can think of sexual abuse and the ordination of women in the same category of "grave crime." As long as both the abuse of minors and the ordination of women are avoided, the law is kept, and Rome is pleased.

We have conducted psychological evaluations of dozens of clergy sex abusers over the past 25 years, becoming familiar with their style of cognitive processing. Similar to sex offenders in general, they typically deny responsibility, minimize the seriousness of their offenses, blame their victims, react with outrage when accused and redirect attention away from their behavior. They are self-centered and often exhibit a sense of grandiosity -- a belief that they are above accountability. If this sounds familiar, it is because we have repeatedly -- and sadly -- been seeing it in the responses of church officials from the cathedrals of the United States to the basilicas of Rome.

A mentality is a way of thinking, a deeply ingrained pattern of perceiving, reasoning and decision-making. A sex-offender mentality is one that prompts defensive, self-serving, deceptive and blaming responses when faced with credible accusations of sexual crime. Unaware of their abnormal processing, sex offenders display a blindness that is central to the problem.

Even more disconcerting, however, is that characteristics observed in the mentality of individual offenders can also be present in systems and institutions. The similarity in cognitive processing between actual offenders and the system that seeks to shield itself from their offenses is often chilling:

• 
  
  "Holy Father, the people of God are with you and will not let themselves be influenced by the petty gossip of the moment" (Cardinal Angelo Sodano, former Vatican secretary of state, Easter 2010, St. Peter's Square).
• 
  
  "Pupils told me on concert trips about what went on. But it didn't dawn on me from their stories that I should do something" (Fr. Georg Ratzinger, brother of Pope Benedict XVI, BBC, March 29).
• 
  
  Only 300 of about 3,000 sexual abuse cases spanning 50 years involved allegations of "genuine pedophilia" (Scicluna, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's promoter of justice, March 13).
• 
  
  "All we ask is that it be fair and that the Catholic church not be singled out for a horror that has cursed every culture, religion, organization, institution, school, agency and family in the world" (Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, March 28).
• 
  
  And the latest -- the attempted ordination of women is a grave crime that ought to be treated with the same severity as the sexual abuse of a child.

These and similar statements illustrate a mentality whereby the characteristic way of thinking of sex offenders has found its way into the collective psychic structure of an institution. The same "default" setting in the brain that triggers distorted mental processing prompts members of an entire group to think and respond in much the same way that sex offenders do. This "group think" inadvertently offers protection to actual sex offenders, and may have attracted them to the institution in the first place.

Let us be clear: We are not suggesting that church leaders are sex offenders. But we must name a tragic reality: Many of them think or respond the way sex offenders do when confronted with clergy sex abuse and its cover-up: They deny, defend and blame. They minimize and cover up. They become outraged when their abysmal handling of abuse cases is exposed. Most egregious of all, they display appalling deficits in empathy for victims: They turn to categorizing crimes when all people want is a heartfelt pastoral response from their leaders.

Celibacy is mandated for male church leaders. Women are excluded from sacramental leadership, thus creating an ecclesial environment that offers a perfect refuge for those whose sexual interests do not include women. Among them are the sexually disinterested, who simply don't pick up sexual cues in the environment. For these asexual men celibacy is easy -- and so is failing to notice if some of their brothers become sexual with minors. Since asexual individuals have a minimized capacity for intimate feelings, their affectivity is stunted, limiting their ability to experience the whole range of the most normal human feelings, including falling in love and feeling horrified over the abuse of a child. Women are a genuine threat to this world. They can expose it. Keeping them far away from the inner workings of the system is essential to its survival.

Rome has now connected the sexual abuse of minors and a ban on the ordination of women in one of its own documents. Perhaps those who crafted the document are on to something: The refusal to allow women into the inner sanctum of ecclesial power may well be related to clergy sexual abuse, and to the Vatican's impotence in addressing this crime in a truly pastoral way. Is the attempted ordination of women a crime, or is the real crime the refusal to allow it?

[Fran Ferder is a Franciscan nun, clinical psychologist, author and professor at Seattle University. John Heagle is priest, psychotherapist, canon lawyer and professor at Seattle University.]

http://ncronline.org/news/vatican/inner-workings-hierarchy-sex-offender-mentality

The Sexual Abuse Scandal & Theology

Experts tell us that the sexual abuse scandal within the church is both endemic and systemic. Interestingly, and certainly not surprisingly Catholic teaching on sexuality has a very strong basis or focus on sin. The development of Catholic moral theology, points especially to the legacy of Augustine and this saint's preoccupation with sin. Augustine who struggled with lust throughout his life has come under increasing criticism in recent times for his excessive sexual pessimism. Augustine, a favourite of Benedict XVI, linked sex so strictly with procreation that he held as sinful all sexual activity by married couples that was not consciously ordained to procreation. During the Middle Ages, as the sexual body became to be seen as evil, the self flagellation of body hatred became the highest form of devotion. To quote James Carroll "The sexual body now became an "occasion of sin" to be subdued". Among Augustine's many teachings such as 'original sin' he believed that people tend toward evil. This theology especially on sexuality continues to influence the Church's position on such matters as celibacy, contraception, abortion, masturbation, premarital sex, and homosexual relations.

When a church is so negatively inclined toward human sexuality, it cannot possibly be expected to find a solution internally to the sexual abuse crisis it now faces. A healthier approach to sexuality must be found. But first the church will have to shed it pessimistic views on sexuality it has held as sacrosanct for so long. And that will require a brand new theology – one that rejects what was pronounced by St. Augustine and begun with Vatican II. Perhaps we should all learn to re-read and absorb one of the greatest and sensuous chapters ever written about human sexuality – The Song of Songs. It would be interesting to learn how other religions view sexuality.

Which Cardinal or bishop is going to be the first to admit that the Church's theology on sexuality is at the root of the problem? Remember it only took the Church nearly four hundred years to admit Galileo was right.

The second hurdle to be overcome by the Church, in regards to the sexual abuse crisis, is its hierarchical leadership structure and the theological basis which supports it. This structure is clearly visible when members of the clergy view themselves as elevated above rather than totally integrated with the laity. Jesus taught equality not superiority. Jesus clearly denounced earthly kingdoms during his time in the dessert. The Church seems more interested in protecting a religious kingdom with a power that reaches beyond that of the people and nations it serves. The theology of 'apostolic succession' along with the claim that Jesus came to found a separate church not only denies Jesus' Jewish heritage but also his call to EVERYONE to bring about a worldwide community based on God's kingdom values. As long as the Church sees itself as special and separate from the world it cannot be expected to look inwardly. Hence the required changes will not take place. Which Cardinal and which Bishop is prepared to accept this challenge?

One of the most natural and valuable teaching tools we possess is learning by trial. We probably learn more from our mistakes then by any other means. But we will be bound by our mistakes if we never learn from our mistakes. That is why I wanted to examine how Catholic theology may have contributed to the Church's handling of the sexual abuse scandal.

Some other facts about St. Augustine

Augustine developed a theology of just war,

Augustine struggled with lust throughout his life.

As a youth Augustine lived a hedonistic lifestyle
Augustine underwent a profound personal crisis, which led him to convert to Christianity, abandon his career in rhetoric, quit his teaching position in Milan,
eventualy gave up any ideas of marriage, and devote himself entirely to serving God and to the practices of priesthood, which included celibacy.
as a bishop he used to warn, that one should avoid mathematicians who combine science and horoscopes

He believed all people tend toward evil

students must be physically punished when they allow their evil desires to direct their actions

He also wrote "On Free Choice Of The Will," answering why God gives humans free will that can be used for evil.

Augustine's arguments against magic, differentiating it from miracle, were crucial in the early Church's fight against paganism and became a central thesis in the later denunciation of witches and witchcraft.
Augustine taught that Adam's guilt as transmitted to his descendants much enfeebles

Augustine took the view that the Biblical text should not be interpreted as properly literal, but rather as metaphorical, if it contradicts what we know from science and our God-given reason

Augustine taught that Original sin of Adam and Eve was either an act of foolishness (insipientia) followed by pride and disobedience to God or the opposite: pride came first

The sin of Adam is inherited by all human beings

He often said that any can be saved if they wish. While God knows who will be saved and who will not,
he believed in papal supremacy
Augustine taught that the eternal fate of the soul is determined at death,and that purgatorial fires of the intermediate state purify only those that died in communion with the Church. His teaching provided fuel for later theology.

Augustine struggled with lust throughout his life. He had a mistress before he converted, but once he became a Christian, he condemned all forms of extra-marital sex (including his previous relationship with his mistress),

For Augustine, the evil was not in the sexual act itself, but rather in the emotions that typically accompany it.

Augustine's life experience led him to consider lust to be one of the most grievous sins, and a serious obstacle to the virtuous life

St Augustine "vigorously condemned the practice of induced abortion" as a crime, in any stage of pregnancy

At the risk of being too critical of St. Augustine - he did say many other wonderful and inspiring things.