What Went Wrong?

Confraternity of Catholic Clergy | July 15, 2003 | Father Paul Mankowski, S.J.

[cebadams]

>> I don't think it's "all" about money, but certainly that is a big part of it.

OK, so maybe that's a little harsh but consider the size of the bureaucracy here. The USCCB has an annual budget of over $130M and duplicates many of the functions of a large diocese. Bishops often live in splendor (how else to describe it).

The Ecclesiastic process is shrouded in secrecy.

Summary: an exclussive club atmosphere, lot's of money, and an unaccountable process leads to abuses. No suprises here.

[RobbyS]

I believe the sexual abuse crisis represents no isolated phenomenon and no new failure, but rather illustrates a state of slowly worsening clerical and episcopal corruption with its roots well back into the 1940s. Its principal tributaries include

1. a critical mass of morally depraved and psychologically defective clergymen who entered the service of Church seeking emoluments and advantages unrelated to her spiritual mission, in addition to 2. leaders constitutionally unsuited to the exercise of the virtues of truthfulness and fortitude.

Right! Contrary to some people's thinking, it did not begin with Vatican II.

[Maximilian]

Summary: an exclussive club atmosphere, lot's of money, and an unaccountable process leads to abuses. No suprises here.

Undeniable.

[NeoCaveman]

I thought of you and that RCF article when I read this earlier.

[Askel5]

Outstanding. Thanks.

[NDHoosier]

Two salient points to this reply - also "truth in advertising". (1) I am a former Roman Catholic who converted to Eastern Orthodoxy (2) I am a former Roman Catholic seminarian. (1991-1993)

The Eastern Orthodox (with the exception of the Orthodox Church in America) refuses to ordain celibate diocesan priests. Either you must be married or a monk. Either state helps keep a man grounded in reality. I have yet to meet an Eastern Orthodox priest who had a taste for material things that I saw in RC priests. I saw many, many RC priests who suffered from "playboy priest syndrome" - the excessive materialism described in the article posted. I can remember how repulsed I was when I saw my RC bishop wearing French cuffs with expensive cufflinks.

The seminaries are indeed as bad as advertised. They're now nothing more than gay priest factories. They were 10 years ago, and "it ain't gotten no better".

This isn't to bash - it's just that I've found the differences between RC and Orthodox clergy striking, to say the least.

[xsmommy]

In short, many bishops and superiors, lacking integrity, lack moral courage. Lacking moral courage, they can never be reformers, can never uproot a problem, but can only plead for tolerance and healing and reconciliation

isn't this the truth?

[netmilsmom]

>>I am here sketching only the best-case scenario, where the bishop's adventures were brief, without issue, and twenty years in his past. In cases where the man continues his sexual exploits as a bishop, he is of course wholly compromised and the blackmail proportionately disastrous. <<

Welcome to Cleveland!
Could you put me on your ping list as well?

[netmilsmom]

How did you find your way here?

[NDHoosier]

I have an occasional peek as seattlecatholic.com.

[dangus]

I agree entirely.

[SuziQ]

An excellent article! I'll have to send it to my priest b-i-l, who has been saying many of the same things for the last couple of years!

[Fifthmark]

The John Jay report commissioned by the USCCB revealed that the peak year of ordination for abusive priests was 1970, five years after the close of the Council. From a Washington Times article:

"The John Jay study was praised as the first of its kind to study sexually abusive practices among a category of the American populace. The priests involved — 4,392 — constituted 4 percent of the 109,694 clergy who were working in the Catholic Church from 1950 to 2002.

The peak year for sexual abuse by the clergy was 1970, according to the report, which said sexual acts against children, defined as those under the age of 18, were often perpetrated over many years. Seventeen percent of the victims had siblings who also were abused.

The year 1970 was also the peak when abusive clergy were ordained, the report said, adding that more than 10 percent of all priests ordained that year were accused of sexual abuse."

[RobbyS]

Does it gives the age(s) of the perps?

[Fifthmark]

The entire article can be found here:

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20040227-111236-5901r.htm

As concerns the age of the perps, this is the only mention:

"The largest group of abusers — more than 40 percent — were between 30 and 39 years when they first preyed on children."

The rest of the John Jay report should be on the USCCB website, although last time I checked, it was "Temporarily removed for editing." Figures.

[RobbyS]

Then a lot of these sinnners are now over sixty.

[narses]

Ping!

[livius]

Thanks for the ping. This is an excellent article by somebody who is probably one of the smartest guys in the Church. (Of course, being a smart, orthodox Jesuit isn't easy, which is why he is in semi-exile at a quiet post in Australia, if I recall correctly.)

His observations on poverty are very interesting, and I also thought his analysis of the "Mertonization" of monasticism was absolutely on target.

[ELS]

BTTT