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The Catholic elephant in the room
Priestly sex abuse: Why Catholicism?
Dan Rottenberg
Revelations of sexual abuse by Catholic priests, so rampant in America over the past decade, have now spread into Europe. Every Catholic, it now seems, has a story about a priest who habitually molested boys in his charge with alacrity— and the story is remarkably similar from one country to another. (See, for example, Bob Ingram's memoir.)
The Vatican's own office in charge of handling sex-abuse cases says the Holy See has reviewed 3,000 cases of alleged abuse worldwide, some dating back 50 years. Last week even Pope Benedict's former archdiocese in Germany disclosed that a priest known to the church as a sex abuser had been returned to pastoral work there in 1980 while Benedict was the presiding archbishop.
All of which, it seems to me, raises a critical question that no one has yet asked, presumably for fear of being burned at the stake: Is sexual abuse by clergy an inherently Catholic problem? Why does an ostensibly moral institution like the Vatican need an office to handle sexual abuse cases?
The rabbi's wife
Yes, I know: Anyone with a pulpit, regardless of faith, may succumb to the temptations posed by a congregation full of worshipful admirers. Rabbi Fred Neulander of Cherry Hill got so involved in an adulterous affair that he hired a hit man to eliminate his wife. The fundamentalist evangelist Billy James Hargis resigned as president of American Christian College in 1974 amid allegations that he had sex with a female student and four male students. Martin Luther King often exploited the passion of his noble calling with women who were not his wife. (For more on this subject, see Bad Pastors: Clergy Misconduct in Modern America, by William Stacey and others.)
But why does the problem seem almost systemic in Catholicism? Why don't you hear about widespread sexual abuse among, say, Episcopalian or Congregational ministers, not to mention rabbis or imams or Ethical Culture leaders?
Three toxic elements
I would suggest a combination of three factors.
First, Catholicism ranks among the most authoritarian and hierarchical faiths. Under the doctrine of papal infallibility decreed by the Vatican Council in 1870, the Pope enjoys a direct and exclusive pipeline to God. The Pope in turn transmits God's word to the faithful through his cardinals, bishops and priests. Such a doctrine leaves little room for members of the flock to question the morality of God's designated shepherds.
Second, Roman Catholic priests, unlike most other clergy, are required to take a vow of celibacy— a noble ideal, perhaps, but also an unnatural one.
Third, Church ritual encourages young lads to serve as altar boys, placing them in the charge of priests whose authority can't be questioned and whose sexual needs have no legitimate outlet.
By themselves, these three elements might be relatively harmless. Combine them and you have a sure-fire formula for sex abuse. At the very least you have a large elephant in the room that some thinking person is bound to notice sooner or later.
Methodist ministers have spouses. Episcopalian priests are hired and fired by their congregants. Quakers operate by consensus. Rabbis don't require the assistance of altar boys or girls. A Catholic priest's job, by contrast, exposes him constantly to temptation while subjecting him to few checks and balances. Given the nature of the priestly vocation, the remarkable thing about Roman Catholic priests is not that so many of them are sexual abusers, but that so many of them aren't.
Blaming the media
At Mass in Dresden this past Sunday, the Reverend Vinzenz Brendler accused the media of creating the false impression that sexual abuse is a Catholic problem. "Sexual abuse affects all parts of society," he said in his sermon, citing statistics that priests are less prone to sexual deviancy than society as a whole.
No doubt he's right about that. But then, most sexual deviants don't make their living as moral authorities.
Come to think of it, what was the iron principle that Jesus imparted to St. Peter when he launched his new faith? Oh yes, here it is, in Matthew 16:13:
"Upon this rock I will build my Church, to be administered by unsupervised celibate priests who are less prone to sexual deviancy than society as a whole, assisted by impressionable boys who are still young enough to swallow our whole megillah. With a game plan like that, what could possibly go wrong?"♦
To read responses, click here.
To read a related commentary by Thom Nickels, click here.
The Vatican's own office in charge of handling sex-abuse cases says the Holy See has reviewed 3,000 cases of alleged abuse worldwide, some dating back 50 years. Last week even Pope Benedict's former archdiocese in Germany disclosed that a priest known to the church as a sex abuser had been returned to pastoral work there in 1980 while Benedict was the presiding archbishop.
All of which, it seems to me, raises a critical question that no one has yet asked, presumably for fear of being burned at the stake: Is sexual abuse by clergy an inherently Catholic problem? Why does an ostensibly moral institution like the Vatican need an office to handle sexual abuse cases?
The rabbi's wife
Yes, I know: Anyone with a pulpit, regardless of faith, may succumb to the temptations posed by a congregation full of worshipful admirers. Rabbi Fred Neulander of Cherry Hill got so involved in an adulterous affair that he hired a hit man to eliminate his wife. The fundamentalist evangelist Billy James Hargis resigned as president of American Christian College in 1974 amid allegations that he had sex with a female student and four male students. Martin Luther King often exploited the passion of his noble calling with women who were not his wife. (For more on this subject, see Bad Pastors: Clergy Misconduct in Modern America, by William Stacey and others.)
But why does the problem seem almost systemic in Catholicism? Why don't you hear about widespread sexual abuse among, say, Episcopalian or Congregational ministers, not to mention rabbis or imams or Ethical Culture leaders?
Three toxic elements
I would suggest a combination of three factors.
First, Catholicism ranks among the most authoritarian and hierarchical faiths. Under the doctrine of papal infallibility decreed by the Vatican Council in 1870, the Pope enjoys a direct and exclusive pipeline to God. The Pope in turn transmits God's word to the faithful through his cardinals, bishops and priests. Such a doctrine leaves little room for members of the flock to question the morality of God's designated shepherds.
Second, Roman Catholic priests, unlike most other clergy, are required to take a vow of celibacy— a noble ideal, perhaps, but also an unnatural one.
Third, Church ritual encourages young lads to serve as altar boys, placing them in the charge of priests whose authority can't be questioned and whose sexual needs have no legitimate outlet.
By themselves, these three elements might be relatively harmless. Combine them and you have a sure-fire formula for sex abuse. At the very least you have a large elephant in the room that some thinking person is bound to notice sooner or later.
Methodist ministers have spouses. Episcopalian priests are hired and fired by their congregants. Quakers operate by consensus. Rabbis don't require the assistance of altar boys or girls. A Catholic priest's job, by contrast, exposes him constantly to temptation while subjecting him to few checks and balances. Given the nature of the priestly vocation, the remarkable thing about Roman Catholic priests is not that so many of them are sexual abusers, but that so many of them aren't.
Blaming the media
At Mass in Dresden this past Sunday, the Reverend Vinzenz Brendler accused the media of creating the false impression that sexual abuse is a Catholic problem. "Sexual abuse affects all parts of society," he said in his sermon, citing statistics that priests are less prone to sexual deviancy than society as a whole.
No doubt he's right about that. But then, most sexual deviants don't make their living as moral authorities.
Come to think of it, what was the iron principle that Jesus imparted to St. Peter when he launched his new faith? Oh yes, here it is, in Matthew 16:13:
"Upon this rock I will build my Church, to be administered by unsupervised celibate priests who are less prone to sexual deviancy than society as a whole, assisted by impressionable boys who are still young enough to swallow our whole megillah. With a game plan like that, what could possibly go wrong?"♦
To read responses, click here.
To read a related commentary by Thom Nickels, click here.
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