4/21/2024
What makes clergy abuse in the Roman Catholic church particularly
devastating is that priests are formed more closely to Christ than the laity.
Indeed bishops are closer still. This is the teaching of the Roman Catholic
Church. So being abused by a priest is like being abused by Jesus. Having
bishops enable abuse by moving rapists around is like God doing that very
thing.
So the teachings concerning our clergy make clergy abuse more devastating.
Victims are told that if they pray and hope hard enough, God will give them
the grace necessary to go back and interact and be vulnerable with priests
again. Victims need to do this to stay Catholic. Victims who feel like they
can’t do this are in trouble. They are seen as enemies. They feel desperate
because they feel they are being forced to choose between their Catholic
identity and salvation on the one hand and their safety on the
other.
The abuse crisis would instantly be less of a crisis if we simply affirmed
that priests are fundamentally on the same level as everyone else. They are not
ontologically superior. They are not the only path we have to God. The
priesthood is simply a group of men like any other. Many strive for holiness
just like the rest of us. However the leadership is not trustworthy. Dangerous
men are kept in ministry and given access to vulnerable people. Therefore we
should be on guard.
With this new perspective, even when abuse does occur, the victim has a
better chance of realizing that the abusive clergymen was just a guy. They have a better chance of realizing that the abuse wasn’t somehow the will of God or committed by God. It would be far less
devastating.