VOLT Press
April 4, 2007
http://www.bonusbooks.com/bookpage.asp?BookID=1304
 |
Sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults by Catholic clergy burst onto the American scene in 1984. Revelations about such abuse since then have confirmed that this tragedy is not limited to the U.S. Catholic Church, nor is it a new phenomenon that grew out of so-called secularizing trends of the late twentieth century. Sex, Priests, and Secret Codes clearly demonstrates a deep-seated problem that spans the Church's history. This collection of documents from official and unofficial sources begins its survey in 60 CE and concludes with the contemporary scandal. It reveals an institution that has tried to come to grips with this devastating internal problem from its earliest years. At times circumspect and at other times open and direct, Church leaders tried a variety of means to rein in the various violations of clerical celibacy.
The sexual abuse crisis is not isolated from the questions of the celibate practice of all Catholic clergy and the moral questions that involve marriage and all human sexual behaviors. These are the main, yet unspoken, reasons why sexual abuse has been such an inflammatory and dangerous issue for the hierarchy.
One foundation of their power and control rests on the celibacy of the clergy. That area of religious ideal and personal practice has heretofore been shrouded in secrecy and taboo, certainly for the laity. That is no longer the situation. For the first time, certainly since the Protestant Reformation, the sexual life and adjustment of bishops and priests is open for discussion by lay people. This is the task of the new century: Clergy and lay people need to talk together about sexuality and how it affects them all.
The Church abuse scandal of the contemporary era, rather than seen as a new challenge, is actually the catalyst for a complex process that is forcing the official Church to redefine its ideology of sexuality, its responsibility to its members and its role in society.
The problem of clerical sexual abuse is huge and international in scope. Co-author Thomas P. Doyle has interviewed somewhere around 2,000 victims of clerical sexual abuse in the U.S. alone. Co-author Sipe conducted a twenty-five year landmark study of sexuality and celibacy in the American priesthood. A former priest and monk, Patrick J. Wall currently serves as a consultant on a number of clerical sexual abuse cases in the U.S.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.