The other night on HBO I watched the devastating documentary, Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God. The story focused on St. John’s School for the Deaf in Milwaukee, and Rev. Lawrence Murphy who abused a number of boys at the school. The scandal of this and the inaction of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and the further lack of action from the Vatican made this into a legendary scandal.
The documentary also delved into the story of Rev. Marcial Maciel, the founder of the Legionaries of Christ and a personal friend and favorite of Pope John Paul II. Maciel abused a significant number of young people and fathered children. His notoriety was legendary and ignored by the Pope. It was not until after John Paul’s death that Pope Benedictine XVI finally took action against him.
It would be easy to dismiss this documentary has a hack job against the Roman Catholic Church. When the director of the movie, Alex Gibney, appeared on Bill Maher, Maher’s classically snarky comments were very hack oriented. I regret that Gibney appeared on the show----but it was probably more a promotion piece than anything else, as both Maher’s show and the documentary are on HBO. It also gave Maher plenty of ammunition for his anti-religion crusade.
Gibney, however, had a couple of people who were very, very credible on the show. Richard Sipe, a former monk and psychotherapist is probably the leading expert on the subject, and Rev. Thomas Doyle, a Dominican priest, is the foremost Canon Lawyer on the subject. Add Patrick Wall, another former monk and expert on the subject, and you have a formidable group grappling with a dreadful subject.
The story of abuse is an ugly one. At first it was seen as an American problem and the media was being blamed for making it a bigger story than it really was. As it turned out, the media merely scratched the surface of a very deep, very tragic, very ugly chain of events. It then began to be obvious that it was not an American problem and not a media issue. Molestation is worldwide and, while present in all walks of life, it has been more common in the Roman Catholic Church than in any other denomination at this point.
Jesuit priest, later Cardinal, Avery Dulles wrote a landmark book, Models of the Church, and one of the models he listed was “The Church as Institution.” In many ways, that model proved to be the most dangerous of the models. It is often the prevailing model of not only the Roman Catholic Church, but many churches and institutions.
The dilemma is, when things go horribly wrong, to protect the institution first and foremost. Penn State University did this. Joe Paterno did this. They looked first to protect the University and the football program and overlooked the kids Jerry Sandusky molested. It did not end well for anyone. The children were victimized first by Sandusky, but then again by the institution protecting itself.
Sadly, I think this is part of the dilemma within Roman Catholicism. There was (and is) a reaction to first protect the institution from the scandal. The tragedy was there were victims of the priests who were devastated.
Additionally, my heart goes out to many of the priests who molested children. I went to school with a lot of these guys. We drank beer, ate pizza, discussed philosophy and theology and ministry. We all went on and lived our lives and in later years I read of absolutely horrible stories of my friends and classmates molesting children. What they did was monstrous. They were, not, however, in the days of our youth, monsters. They were ill, they were disturbed, and often their cries went unheard and their illness went undiagnosed and untreated. They were repeatedly placed back in positions of power to victimize others.
The real tragedy took place in the hierarchy. They sought first to protect the institution and did not take care of the victims, the victimizers, and were often the obstacles for justice and healing. And it was ugly and, frankly, downright evil. Bernard Law, the Archbishop of Boston was one of the worst defenders of the institution and chances were good that he was going to be arrested for obstruction of justice. He should have been. Instead, Law was REWARDED and brought to Rome by John Paul II where Law also was given diplomatic immunity. Maciel victimized so many people and John Paul ignored all the evidence and did nothing to stop it.
Some Bishops did well. Some stepped in and addressed problems and were as open and transparent as they were allowed to be. Rome, however, consistently blocked any hopes of healing. The institution had to be protected at all costs.
To his credit, Benedict XVI addressed the Maciel issue and seminaries are now beginning to deal with this in the education of priests. Accusations are taken seriously now, with priests being removed upon the accusation. It is actually probably unfair now, as priests are left in incredibly vulnerable spots. The Bishops, however, for their part, have excluded themselves from accusations and protect the institution at all cost. Benedict has dealt with his predecessor’s cold indifference to molestation by fast-tracking John Paul’s canonization. The horror of this is, in my opinion, unfathomable.
I do find great hope in the words of Rev. Thomas Doyle. He has been the Canon Lawyer for many, many victims and prosecuted dioceses. He has often been a witness against the institution. Yet, he states that he is never against the church, but always for it. In searching for truth and healing, he sees himself as doing the ministry of Jesus Christ.
I keep reminding myself that the church of Jesus Christ was never meant to be an institution, but a living, breathing movement of God’s people gathered in faith. The Head of the church is always Jesus Christ, always Jesus Christ, always Jesus Christ. When we fail to serve Jesus, when we seek to feed the institution first and foremost, we forget to do the ministry of Christ.
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