The fully justified anger about Bishop Lahey should not blind us to the failings in other forms of Christianity. There have been crimes and cover-ups in other denominations.
Abuse in independent churches is almost impossible to track. Even denominations like the Southern Baptists have a polity that makes it impossible to screen out abusers.
When hierarchical churches have cases of abuse, people look wistfully at independent congregationalist churches; when independent churches have cases of abuse, people look to episcopal churches in which someone outside the immediate church has responsibility and authority.
The failure is not in governing structures but in human nature, in its lust and cowardice.
The failure in the Catholic Church is however made worse by a form of clericalism.
In the Middle Ages, as Tom Doyle has shown, Catholics were very open about denouncing the crimes of clerics. After the Reformation, Catholics drew the wagons in a circle and became reluctant to admit problems that Protestants could use as ammunition against the Catholic Church.
The hierarchy had a fear of massive defections to Protestantism, and adopted a strategy of convincing the laity that the sacraments were the best way to salvation, and that the clergy were the members of the Church most intimate with the sacraments and who also controlled access to the sacraments.
By controlling access to the sacraments clerics also controlled access to salvation, and therefore cleric could control laity – for their own good, of course. A legalism grew up the church, and the hierarchical church became an enforcer of law rather than a guide to growing in virtue.
The Roman Catholic Church is the only religion that states flatly, that “their priests” represent Jesus Christ here on earth”. They have magic powers to turn the wine into blood and the bread into flesh. No mere man can do that! But if I believe it, then I do the consecration not the priest. They represent Christ when they “make ” you come to confession to them and not to God because they are the only ones that truly represent Jesus here on earth, [they claim no one else can do this but them] How gullible can we be? But gerneration after generation has been told this lie and believed the
lies…We now see what happens when we don’t do our own research on a religion and don’t read the Bible for ourselves. Yes it is our fault, so now we should do something really good and finally listen to that small voice within us that says”LEAVE”!
We did in 2001 and it has been a spectacular revelation. Freedom is most beautiful!Miracles never cease. Amen!
Leon: Excellent analysis. I would add that our predominantly gay clergy has set up church ownership so that they own everything legally. Lay panels may have limited consultative access but no real core deliberative power over church money, investments, land holdings, and the substantive components of church wealth. Short of walking away from your religion, there is not much one can do to impact the power and influence of this multinational corporation that is modeled after an ancient European oligarchy. Canon Law is also set up to establish lines of clerical authority over the laity. This is all a far cry from the deomcratic and family-based ecclesiology of the early church that was closest to the experience of Jesus. No wonder we have so many outrageous situations that cannot be definitively addressed. We are mere peasants in their eyes.
What is the difference what clerics know about or of God, that doesn’t make them feel guilty for their crimes, cover-ups & spiritual rapes they cause upon the mass millions of victims?. How do they manipulate the theology on God to live with it, and yet do not teach the sheep same theology?.
Conscience vs Conscious?