BishopAccountability.org
	Papal Apology? By Mark Bahnisch PollieGraph May 9, 2008 http://www.newmatilda.com/polliegraph/?p=327 The Pope had a lot to say about sexual abuse when he was in America recently. It's now being reported that there's "pressure" on him to repeat his apology to victims specifically in the Australian context, when he's out here for World Youth Day. I have no doubt Benedict will, and I suspect the pressure in this instance isn't needed. While an apology promotes healing for individuals directly damaged by clerical sexual abuse, it doesn't address the broader problem, and nor do the protocols the church now has in place for dealing with complaints and reparations, welcome as they are. What should be quite familiar to Benedict is the concept of "structural sin" - something originating in liberation theology which he in his incarnation as Cardinal Ratzinger acknowledged as a valid manifestation of human evil and wickedness, even as he disagreed with the political and some of the theological overtones of liberation theology as theorised and practiced in Latin America (and in - significantly - Germany). The Pope would also know very well that in Catholic sacramental and moral theology, an act of contrition and indeed an act of reparation are worthless without an awareness of the fault that led to a sin, and a genuine intention to "go and sin no more", as Someone or other put it rather pithily. All this raises the question of whether the conditions of possibility of sexual abuse are genuinely being addressed. Sexual and other forms of clergy abuse are not particular to the Catholic Church, and nor are abusive behaviours unknown to most organisations which have very rigid power differentials. However, the particular manifestation of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church is what it is because priests are on one hand seen as sacred persons - indelibly and sacramentally marked as such - and on the other hand as unworthy servants who are as prone to falling as any of us. This often results in a dynamic where confronting abuse leads to a stigmatisation of the victim as having tempted the holy priest into sin, and, well, you know the rest. In the case of clergy abuse of young and adult women - which is common but lacks the publicity accorded to child sexual abuse and doesn't generate support structures with the same strength - inevitably a Madonna/whore typology is set into motion. Often, a lot of priests, even the best intentioned and all too human but non-abusive ones, lack not just a level of emotional maturity and development one would expect but also basic life skills, because they are part of a total institution which does everything for them. There's also a particular form of casuistry that comes into play. Secular (or diocesan) priests - that is to say, priests who aren't monks or members of a religious order such as the Jesuits or priests living under a rule such as Canons Regular - do not make vows. And not to God. Rather, they make promises at the time of ordination to their Bishop - including a promise of celibacy. Celibacy is not chastity - which monks vow - but rather the state of being unmarried. Of course in traditional Catholic teaching, being unmarried by definition means abstaining from sex. But a promise is not a vow, and the Bishop is not God, and unfortunately many priests are all too familiar with these fine casuistical distinctions which they then turn into rationalisations, and seeking forgiveness, displace responsibility onto their willing or unwilling partner - who becomes an "occasion of sin". The ultimate objectification. Most clerical training is no longer characterised by a pseudo-monastic separateness and practices such as "custody of the eyes" are a thing of the past - except insofar as Cardinal Pell has his way. But it's fair to say that the sociology of the priesthood is such that they have great difficulty in forming horizontal relationships with anyone other than fellow clergy. Celibacy isn't the only problem, although it's a big problem when the choice for celibacy masks underlying developmental immaturity or isn't freely chosen. An all male priesthood isn't the only problem, although it's a big problem when women are not regarded as fully equal spiritually and therefore in their personhood. It's too easy to say "give us a married priesthood" or "ordain women as priests" (though I fully endorse both), if there's an underlying theology of the body and a sociology of set-apartedness which empowers and enables and empowers unequal relationships and thus facilitates abusive relationships in all too many instances. What the Pope needs to reflect on is the meaning of the phrase "a thirst for justice" and a properly Catholic understanding of justice which redeems the suffering of the past by acting on the future. In the present.
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