The Catholic Church and the Sex Abuse Crisis

The Catholic Church and the Sex Abuse Crisis Dr Pravin Thevathasan Published by CTS

This is an excellent booklet on a very difficult topic.  Dr Thevathasan strives to find a balance between a number of tensions. One tension is between acknowledging the very real evil perpetrated by some priests and bishops (both those guilty of abusing others, and those guilty of failings in addressing the issues) and the over-reaction of the media and some of those hostile to the Church.  Another tension is between seeking to understand the historical context within which wrong decisions were taken, and not appearing to condone those wrong decisions.

Dr Thevathasan navigates this contested territory with skill and clarity.  He provides the references necessary to support his argument and the statistics that demonstrate his case.

He starts by considering the context for the abuse crisis, locating it in the period which gave rise to it. That was a time when paedophilia was not understood as well as it is now, and indeed 'there was a degree of tolerance towards paedophilia.'  However he is quick to proceed to a summary of the very real and serious harm that is caused by such abuse, and gives examples to drive the point home.  He also summarises the current understanding of the profile of abusers.

The next section deals with the Church's attitude towards abuse.  He demonstrates that from the earliest days, the Church has reprobated any such abuse, and condemned it severely.  He also outlines how Canon law applies in such cases, and how that interacts with the Civil Law of different countries.

He then outlines the abuse crisis in the USA, the crisis in Ireland, and then the crisis in the rest of Europe, before looking at the response of the Church to the crisis.  To help us to understand that, he shows how deficient the Church's understanding was, particularly in the turbulent times of the 60s and 70s when a disciplined spiritual culture was abandoned (for example in seminaries) and replaced by an inappropriate therapeutic culture.  He concludes this section:

As a consequence of the therapeutic mentality, some seminaries, which ought to have been houses of formation, became houses of malformation. If the thesis of After Asceticism is correct-and I believe it is- the scandal of clergy sexual abuse cannot simply be explained by the presence of a handful of deviant priests. The statistical analysis used to support the thesis is thorough, convincing and damning. The analysis lines up with the fact that a climate of permissiveness was created in certain seminaries and, as a result, sexual misconduct became infectious.

Another symptom of the therapeutic mentality can be found in the way in which the abuse crisis was dealt with by bishops. As we have noted, the offender was often seen as simply being in need of therapy. “Yours has been an effective ministry impaired by illness” wrote an archbishop to the serial molester Fr. John Geoghan. A certain priest, who perhaps became deviant often by means of inappropriate therapy, was seen to be in need of more (inappropriate) therapy.

He then looks at the issue of Homosexuality and abuse, noting some of the statistical correlations, but also recognising that further research is needed fully to understand the issues here.

What is clear from the research is that, despite what the media would like to suggest, celibacy is not a significant issue.  In fact the offence rates of Catholic priests who are sworn to celibacy, and ministers of other Christian denominations are remarkably similar, at around 4%; and that is half the offence rate for the male population as a whole.  So while even 1% - or one priest offender even - would clearly be too many, it is quite wrong to suggest that the Catholic priesthood is worse than any other denomination's ministers, and important to note that it is significantly better than the adult male population as a whole.  We owe it to our good and faithful priests to know this information!  One has to recognise that significant sections of the media do have a definite anti-Catholic agenda.  Others, not unreasonably, are outraged precisely because they expect those who proclaim the highest standards of sexuality morality to uphold them.  In a way, the fury at the Catholic Church is a compliment  (NB that's an AP-S view, not Dr . Thevathasan's.)

Finally he considers, and quickly dismisses, the case against the Holy Father himself.  He demonstrates that there is no case to answer, and that, in fact, Pope Benedict has done probably more than anyone else to address the issue and resolve it.

This is an excellent, well-researched and well-written booklet. It is essential reading and reference source for any Catholic who needs to defend the reputation of the Church and her priests against those who gleefully leap upon the very real and terrible misdeeds of a very small minority of priests and bishops to attack the rest.  And surely that means every adult Catholic in the West...