The Wounded Body of Christ: Toronto Theological Colloquium on the Catholic Sexual Abuse Crisis (Part 2)

THIS IS PART TWO. TO GO BACK TO PART ONE, CLICK HERE

Clericalism

Boston College’s Mary Ann Hinsdale began her lecture by going back to the Vatican II theologian Edward Schillebeeckx (one of my theological heroes) to draw pertinent lessons for formulating an ecclesiology that can speak to aspects of this abuse crisis. Again, some of my random recollections and impressions:

·         Ministry as Too “Sacerdotalized”   Ordained ministry in the church has become too “sacerdotalized,” that is, it has been conflated too closely with being ordained a priest. That, in turn, has been explained in ontological terms in which the priest (“sacerdos” in Latin) undergoes an ontological change into a character that enables the priest to preside over a community and have, as one of his most important roles, the duty to “confect” (manufacture) the Eucharist. This, one can argue, lies at the root of the exaggerated sense of importance that priests have of themselves (that’s my own take).

·         Women in the Church  Schillebeeckx thought that as long as women are effectively left out of real decision making in the church, there can be no real liberation for women (I hope I’m paraphrasing this fairly). My addition: I’m convinced that the real liberation is not only for women but for everyone in the church. In short, sharing real power and authority in the Church with women is the only way for us Catholics to have a balanced church!

·         Clericalism  … can be described as the protection of rights of clerics even to the detriment of non-clerical members of the church. This is a seriously dysfunctional element that has to be remedied through the improvement of seminary education, among others. Evils such as sexual abuse should be dealt with through restorative justice.

Some Other Noteworthy Matters

·         “Policing Oneself” is Wrong!  In the last session, lawyer Simona Jellinek dropped some pretty intense remarks: First, allowing an institution to police itself is just wrong! Hey, isn’t that Catholicism 101? The whole of the RCC’s polity, as Sr. Nuala also remarked, is “up-down.” There is no “down-up” way to make the church accountable. In effect, there are no effective “checks and balances” in place.

·         First Things First   Another noteworthy point (from Simona), the priority now in the Church should be, first, help the healing of those who were abused. This is the most urgent task. Then and only then can you fix the church. But justice and healing for the victimized should be the priority.

·         Where’s the Clergy?  I heard a lot of voices saying that there should have been more clergy (especially clergy with real power and authority in the church) present in this colloquium because it is this group that has to hear the message most urgently

My (Preliminary) Concluding Thoughts

·         Share Authority!  There is a fake (although insightful) Albert Einstein quote in which the brilliant physicist is supposed to have claimed, The mentality that created a problem cannot solve the same problem it created. The sexual abuse crisis, although devastating for everyone in the church, (I think it is fair to say) has been created by the dysfunctional and unjust hierarchical structure of the church and perpetrated mainly by the members of the hierarchy. But then, who has real authority and power in the Roman Catholic Church? Despite Vatican II and its encouragement to the church to be the people of God, (as they say in the Catholic Church), the church ain’t no democracy! Let’s be honest, the only ones who have real authority and power in the church are bishops and priests. And, as the fake Einstein quote says, they will not be able to solve a problem that they themselves have created and are part of. Unless authority and power in the Catholic are shared in a real way outside the circle of <ordained, male, celibate>, I’m afraid nothing substantial will change.

·         My Personal Context  A remark on personal context is called for here. I myself was a religious order priest (Salesian of Don Bosco) for 10 years. Before ordination, I trained for the priesthood for an even longer period of time. In 2005, I finally decided that, in conscience, I could no longer remain a member of the hierarchy because I came to the conclusion that this select clique of <male, celibate, ordained> persons was, ethically speaking, “uncondonable,” deeply dysfunctional and—I thought then—incapable of reforming itself. Yes, I know that everyone and everything is flawed. But the level of being flawed can reach a state which can no longer be tolerated and I thought that the Catholic hierarchy was that 14 years ago when I resigned as a priest and religious. This makes me a jaded wimp and, sadly, I’ve also been treated sometimes as a “traitor.” But I very simply concluded then (after years of intense discernment and prayer) that “institutional church” was overrated and that working for reform in the church was—in the words of theologian Matthew Fox—like standing in front of an oncoming train. And so, I thought, I had better, more important things to do in life. Fast forward … when I hug my wife and daughter today, I somehow have a sense of the most important things in life. I have never looked back although I still self-identify as Catholic (as well as ecumenical) and, more importantly, I still deeply love the Catholic tradition (with this important qualification) as a critical grown-up child of the tradition (and we all know how complicated those relationships can be!)

Why do I feel that there has been no substantial change today? I walked away from the colloquium with deeply mixed feelings. I still feel that the only real ones who can actually solve the problem (because only they have real authority) cannot and, sadly, just don’t have the real will to solve the problem. I repeat, this will happen only when we open up real authority in the church to transcend the <male, ordained, celibate> group!

The “Grain of Wheat” Must Die   At the very end of the colloquium, a survivor (who was not one of the panelists), took the microphone and said (words to the effect of), “Here we are talking of rebirthing the church. Why? The church in the form it is now should die! We should think about what has to come out after that death.”

That remark has remained with me. We cannot fix this problem with Band-Aid solutions. Something more radical is needed. Perhaps, Jesus’ words in John 12:24 should be radically applied to the church (sorry, I’m a New Testament prof), “Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit”

I’ve also written down other thoughts elsewhere if you’re interested:

A biblical-theological reflection on the Catholic Sexual Abuse Crisis where I advocate a spirituality of brokenness: https://www.catholica.com.au/gc4/jkk/014_jkk_121118.php

My thoughts on the Vatican Summit on Sexual Abuse:

http://spiritual-notandyet-religious-jkk.blogspot.com/2019/03/my-thoughts-on-recently-concluded.html

Sorry for seemingly throwing cold water on the whole enterprise. Let’s end on a hopeful note: Sr Nuala pointed out that, for all the imperfections that could be pointed out about Pope Francis, he seems to display an awareness of this ecclesiological pathology that lies at the heart of this crisis. Now that is a clear sign of hope. I got deeply disillusioned with the institutional church during the John Paul II and Benedict XVI years. I’m pleasantly surprised that I am much more hopeful now under Francis! I savor and cherish that! I really, really hope that things will turn around. I’ll try my best to do my part to contribute to that.

Thank you very much, Jim (Dr. James Ginther-Dean of St. Mike’s theology department), and your collaborators, for hosting this important and urgent colloquium!

Peace and healing to all!