BishopAccountability.org

'The Church of the abuse scandal is the only Church we know'

By Massimo Faggioli
La Croix International
May 21, 2019

https://international.la-croix.com/news/the-church-of-the-abuse-scandal-is-the-only-church-we-know/10145

Protesters react after the sentencing of Cardinal George Pell in Melbourne, Australia, on March 13. Cardinal Pell, once the third most powerful man in the Vatican and Australia's most senior Catholic, was sentenced to six years in prison after being found guilty of child sexual abuse.

University students in the United States offer fresh insights into the clergy sex abuse crisis

Protesters react after the sentencing of Cardinal George Pell in Melbourne, Australia, on March 13. Cardinal Pell, once the third most powerful man in the Vatican and Australia's most senior Catholic, was sentenced to six years in prison after being found guilty of child sexual abuse. (Photo: EPA/MAXPPP)

St. Augustine is quoted as saying that "one learns by teaching" — docendo discitur. This has never been more true for me than during this past semester when I taught an undergraduate university course on the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church.

My class included 30 students aged 21-22, mostly from the United States. There was a mixture of males and females majoring in a variety of fields, from biology to political sciences. Most of them were Catholics, but there was a substantial minority of non-Catholics and even non-Christians. Almost all of them admitted to wrestling with the "God question" as well as the meaning of the Church.

I learned much while preparing my lectures, mainly from reading scholarly materials that integrated and systematized our knowledge of the various aspects of the abuse crisis from a historical and theological point of view.

It was an experience reminiscent of my first year of studies at the University of Bologna in 1989. The lectures in my courses on European and world history had to be changed almost overnight since the Berlin Wall fell on Nov. 9 of that year, right in the middle of the semester.

History in the making

Teaching history in November 1989 was probably not so different from teaching a course on the Catholic abuse crisis today. The crisis is still unfolding globally and is now reaching countries where the consequences are not just ecclesial but could also become political, as is the case with Poland.

My course was designed with a specific focus on the clergy sexual abuse of minors. The choice of topic raised multiple issues — methodological and ethical, in particular — which I tried to anticipate last January here in La Croix International.

This was easily the most intense classroom teaching experience I have ever had — emotionally, psychologically and theologically. Perhaps that's because a number of momentous events regarding the crisis actually occurred in the midst of the semester. These included the extraordinary Vatican summit (February), the sentencing of Australian Cardinal George Pell to six years in prison for sexual abuse (March), and the publication of Benedict XVI's long and controversial essay on the roots of the abuse crisis (April).

But most of all, the course was quite illuminating for what the students had to say in class and in their final term papers. They provided key insights into aspects of the crisis that I had never considered. Reading and talking about the crisis allowed them to reflect on their own experiences.

This also helped de-ideologize the current controversy over academic freedom at Catholic universities. Some people contend that the "liberal orthodoxy" of diversity and inclusion prevents professors from dealing with sensitive issues in the classroom. This course proved that this is not at all the case.

Particularly interesting was what students, after four years in the college community, wrote on the relationship between Catholic universities and the sex abuse crisis. The prevalent impression among them is that Catholic universities have strategically detached from the Church in dealing with the crisis. This is not just the Church's fault but also the universities' deliberate choice.

Failure of Catholic universities to confront crisis

"Our nation has a long history of students becoming important participants in social movements to help bring about positive change. This has not been occurring within the sex abuse crisis because universities are currently not taking enough time to educate their students on the issue," on student wrote.

Another said this was not an accident but a deliberate choice. "The inadequate amount of conversation on this subject on many Catholic university campuses feels extremely similar to this system of cover-up, in the sense that the only entity it benefits are the institutions of Catholic higher learning themselves, and not the students or faculty," this one said.

My students saw Catholic institutions of higher learning consciously distancing themselves from the institutional Church. This is not just a legal or public relations strategy. It also has ecclesiological consequences.

As one student put it: "The institutional model has in recent centuries served to give Roman Catholics a strong sense of corporate identity. I feel that in contemporary times, especially regarding the sex abuse crisis, this statement does not hold. Catholic institutions and individuals have abandoned their strong sense of corporate identity in an attempt to separate themselves from the system that perpetuated this abuse."

There are also socioeconomic factors at play in the Catholic university system's detachment from the Church, coming at a moment when Catholic higher education struggles to find ways to serve the student population it was originally built for — poor immigrants.

Students criticize tepid stance of Catholic institutions

One student saw this struggle also in the way Catholic universities deal with the abuse crisis: "It is not just the significant percentage of students that come from affluent families that cultivates this environment of distance. Catholic universities root their identity in creating a Catholic environment that exists away from reality."

This is a problem also for academic freedom on campus in the sense of the willingness to address uncomfortable topics in the university community. One student noticed that "Catholic universities, much like the priest in the film Calvary, seems to exude a sense of detachment from the crisis. A majority of students and sometimes even professors are not willing to discuss more sensitive topics or question their own views".

Studying the abuse crisis in a college classroom gave us also the opportunity to reflect on the connections between a Catholic theology of the human person and the growing corporatization and commodification of higher education.

"Universities all across the world have this economic dilemma of receiving funding/resources from an outside source and then having to navigate the reality of the expectations that come with it," wrote one student. This has an impact on the willingness of the university to tackle the abuse crisis.

Another student echoed this, saying: "Catholic universities remain reluctant to bring their academic resources to bear on the sexual abuse crisis because it contradicts their neutral stance. They likely want to neutralize the danger of being a Catholic institution in an increasingly secular 21st century."

In this system, another student wrote: "Catholic universities have made themselves itself into politically tepid universities. On questions of social, political and religious changes, the schools have been allowed to remain quiet rather than engage in meaningful discourse."

This is not just fear of the consequences of raising uncomfortable issues. There is a connection between corporatization of the university and of the Church that was not lost on the students.

"The current operations of Catholic universities reflect the secular and modern notion of efficiency, quantitative outcomes and public perception. In this way, American Catholic universities reflect the mindset of the Church in the initial reception of claims of sexual abuse committed by clergy against minors," a student wrote.

In a way similar to the Church hiding the scandal, in universities "there exists an obsession with metrics and numbers in the manner of retaining a Catholic identity, but not so much in programs and research."

Catholic universities conflicted

One of the students said the reluctance of Catholic universities is part of a larger systemic problem. "I think that many universities are scared to go in the direction of Catholic social teaching or incorporating it into various professional courses because they do not want to criticize the system," the student claimed.

This becomes evident in dealing with the abuse crisis as part of the mounting pressure on core curricula and liberal arts

"There seems to be a struggle within Catholic universities. They want/need to be on par with their fellow secular universities but end up eschewing Catholic social teaching courses in favor of fulfilling professional requirements," this student concluded.

Towards the end of the course, we read in class Karl Rahner's famous essay on the theology of childhood (originally published in 1963), which has been re-examined with an important, recent article by Australian theologian James McEvoy.

One of my students reflected on her experience in reading about the theology of childhood in light of the abuse crisis.

"Children are in test prep starting in elementary school pushed to join extracurricular activities and build their resumes to prepare for their futures starting at such a young age. Every year is always just a preparation for the next step," she noted.

"Growing up, my teachers always said that each grade would prepare me for the next, and for me it was always to prepare for college. These assumptions about [theology of] childhood are problematic in the scope of the abuse crisis because they have very real implications for children growing up in the Church."

The abuse crisis helped us in the class rediscover Rahner's theology of childhood. And that opened our eyes to a wrong kind of theology of childhood that permeates the culture of performance where children are urged at a very young age to compete for admission to the best schools.

A university course that challenges one's faith

The course on church sex abuse also had an impact on the faith experience of some of my students. One confessed that it took a real toll on her.

"After spending a minimum of three hours a week discussing the crisis in class and reading articles about the abuse, it was difficult to continue to attend Mass and view the Church in a favorable light. I doubt that this is an uncommon experience for other students in this class," she wrote.

But some of my students did attend the final Mass for the academic year. I could not help but wonder how different that liturgy was for these students who had read about how often sexual abuse by priests took place in church buildings and near the altar.

If there is one thing I learned from this course, it is that Catholic universities need to engage with this new generation of believers who have grown up surrounded by news articles on the crisis.

"The Church of the abuse scandal is the only Church we know," said one of the students.

What is new compared to previous years is that students notice that the Catholic abuse crisis is also a theological crisis.

This is what one of them observed: "There is an internal battle in Catholicism over the root causes of the child sexual abuse crisis. Some believe the institutional framework, as well as the theological aspects of the Catholic Church, has led to the abuse and the lasting impacts on victims. Others, however, believe that the sexual revolution and Vatican II have caused the sexual abuse crisis. The generation of students currently attending Catholic universities are in the middle of this debate."

A solution will require input of students

The students noticed how the divide on the abuse crisis has become an additional divide on the pre-existing ideological-political divide. One of them referred to the polarization between different Catholic identities on college campuses.

"Throughout this class we've examined what appear to be two diverging communities within the Catholic Church. One is comprised of those who believe that society and outside forces have created changes that are conducive to the tragedy of this crisis. The other is a collection of Catholics who believe that the structure is to blame and seek to reform it. Both are present in all areas of the Church, and both are confused. This plays itself out in the communities of Catholic college campuses," one student said.

If Catholic institutions of higher education limit themselves to developing and implementing good practices on campus, they leave the field to the different forces trying to take advantage of the crisis for a specific and idiosyncratic agenda. This is one of the big temptations not just for hierarchical leaders but also for Catholic colleges and universities.

Finding a way out of the sex abuse crisis will require new policies and mechanisms to implement them. But there is also need for sound scholarship on the various aspects of the phenomenon and its consequences for the Church.

However, this will not come without the contribution of Catholic universities. And the voice of their students will be critical to this. They have a lot to say to all those on the different sides of what is truly a theological crisis.




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