Institute for Church Life

The Council of Elders:
Tapping the Wisdom of the Vatican II Archbishops

Summary of Interviews and Individual Transcripts

• Summary of All Interviews
• Archbishop Borders
• Archbishop Gerety
• Archbishop Flores
• Archbishop Hannan
• Archbishop Hurley

A. The full engagement and involvement of the laity is key to mission. The Church is the People of God. They have an obligation and responsibility to participate in the full life of the Church. The church will only accomplish its mission to the extent that it involves all the People of God. This principle needs to be applied in the actual daily living of the Church. While the Second Vatican Council addressed the role of the laity, this vision has never been fully implemented. The mission of the Church is the responsibility of everyone. The laity needs to be more intimately involved and fully engaged in developing solutions for the challenges that face the Church today.

All leaders, including bishops, need to understand that they cannot effectively carry out the mission by themselves. Leaders must delegate more responsibility to the laity. The problems that exist in the church and the world are the problems of the entire Church and all the members of the Church need to develop solutions.

B. Faith and baptism serve as the basis for all we do. Everything we do must begin from a vision of faith and from the obligations that flow from baptism. “It is our common baptism that makes us brothers and sisters in the Lord. We are one body and the bishops in this body are servants.” We have to keep “the constant faith vision before us.”

C. Mission and Structures. The mission of the Church will only be accomplished when clear structures, supported by canon law, are developed. These structures need to provide opportunities for laity to use their gifts at every level of the Church. The structures would foster collegiality, marked by frank and open dialog. This dialog will lead to trust and relationships. With this base, the structure, itself, will not be of paramount importance. “We talk structures and we should be talking about people and relationships.”

D. Steps for Developing Lay Leadership.

1. Church leaders must listen. “If you listen you learn and if you don’t listen you don’t learn. Ultimately, you learn a lot of things that you would probably prefer to not learn. Listening doesn’t preclude sharing your ideas.”

2. Empower peoples’ gifts. As you listen you begin to identify people’s gifts. “Get everyone in every category to do more than they did and then get them to work together.”

3. Emphasize discipleship. Mature discipleship is contemplative discipleship. “It is not an authentic apostolic life unless it is a contemplative life.”

4. Foster collaboration. “Bring people together with different expertise, finance, education, social services, etc. Create an atmosphere where people feel free to share and challenge each other. Then just ask questions.”

E. Clarify the role of Priests. The emergence of lay leadership does not detract from nor deny the need for priests. The priests have a definite, important role to play. Emphasize the role of the priest. This will help to erode the fear that exists in some priests as the laity begins to assume greater leadership.

A. Advice for New Bishops

1. Live the mentality of the Second Vatican Council. Study the imperatives of the Second Vatican Council and try to implement them as a bishop. One of the major tasks is to develop structures that involve the entire body of the Church.

2. Sit down, keep an open mind, pray and listen. Your life must be one of openness: to the will of the Spirit being revealed through the People of God.

3. Focus on self-conversion and self-development. Follow the flight attendant’s advice “to put on your own oxygen mask first before helping another. You will be unable to help others or do any good if you become a nervous wreak, exhausted, chronically tired, nervous and angry person.” Spend time every day in personal prayer. “If you do that you will find that you’ll get everything done that you would have gotten done anyway. Spending quality time in prayer isn’t going to detract from all that you must do, such as answering the mail, seeing people, and everything else that will arise. You will never get everything done anyway, whether you pray or don’t pray. If you pray you will do it more peacefully, you will do it with better consideration and attention, and it will have greater fruit.”

4. Avoid micromanagement. St. James said it: the art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook. That is a sign of an advanced stage of spiritual development “Have enough common sense to not control every single detail in the diocese.” If this happens it might be a sign of insecurity. “Bishops must become patient.”

5. Don’t overestimate emotional satisfaction. One’s religion shouldn’t center on emotional satisfaction. Give yourself completely to God. God may bring about a certain dryness. However, when one proceeds in faith, God will provide you with something beyond the darkness and the dryness.

B. Desirable Qualities in a Bishop

1. A good strong pastoral and theological background.

2. A commitment to mission based on that background so you first recognize what is God’s will.

3. Knowledge of both the world and the church;

4. An enabler. If you are not an enabler, you will fall on your face.

5. A realist who realizes that there are no easy answers.

6. A person of courage who does not fear facing controversial issues because of possible negative reactions.

7. An animator of the laity, who will seek the help of the laity immediately and not wait until he is forced to do so.

C. Role of the Bishop

1. To persuade, not mandate.

2. To state clearly where you stand and where the church stands.

3. To accept the responsibility that comes with having the final and sole word. However, you must also acknowledge that the issues facing the church are not just the Bishops’ issues they are the issues of the whole church. The People of God must be engaged in dialogue to address these issues.

4. To discern needs and encourage the laity to become involved in responding to those needs in very practical ways. There should be an emphasis on involving those who are experiencing those needs.

D. As Bishops we must acknowledge that:

1. We should have been more aware of the sexual abuse issue and taken more concrete steps in responding to the problem.

2. We could have done a more effective job in implementing the Second Vatican Council.

3. We may find ourselves threatened as the laity become better educated and take more responsibility for the church. We must acknowledge and address this.

4. We may have developed structures that are still too dependent on us.

5. We sometimes have been less than transparent. It is good for people to see the bishops disagree among themselves. This should be done openly so that it is evident to the People of God. During these opportunities for dialogue and debate more bishops should take initiative to speak up.

6. We need to become more personally involved in implementing what we proclaim.

A. Recommendations Regarding The Vocation and Role of the Priests

1. Primarily, be men of prayer. There is no substitute for prayer. “It is not easy. Sometimes you will try to be theoretical about it. Sometimes you will be bored. You must be persistent.”

2. Be converted to Christ and the Eucharist as the sole focus of the priesthood.

3. See your primary role as leaders of the Eucharist. “If the people get a great experience of liturgy, they are going to come. When they come to Mass, they do not become community. They come as a community of baptized people, as a community of faith.”

4. Maintain the concept of service at the heart of your priesthood.

5. Be engaged with the people.

B. Some Thoughts Regarding the future of the priesthood.

1. Consider the ordination of a “mass priest,” i.e., men trained only to lead public worship, our public prayer. (This was discussed at length during the Notre Dame meeting.)

2. Consider the establishment of an institute for the study of the priesthood. Students would major in vocation to the priesthood. Those who attend might or might not feel an attraction to the priesthood.

3. Attempt to find the proper balance in such issues as the role of priest as liturgical, sacramental and community leader. This is particularly true today when priests are expected to be leaders of two or more communities.

4. Be sure that seminaries are preparing priests to involve lay people in the way that the Second Vatican Council intended.

5. Be sure that seminarians are being trained to minister to the changing cultural realities of the world today.

C. Some Reflections on the Priestly Morale and Fraternity

1. There are a number of issues that are affecting priestly morale. Priests are stretched too thin. Parishes are becoming larger and priests often have one or more additional responsibilities beyond the parish. The only remedy for this situation is for priests to involve the laity in more meaningful ways.

2. The events that once provided opportunities for priestly fellowship, such as 40 hours devotion no longer exist. In the past this, as well as the administering of the sacrament of Confirmation was an occasion for neighboring priests and priest friends to gather and socialize. One archbishop raised the questions about whether the multiplication of required meetings has had a negative effect on attendance at some of these informal gatherings.

3. Participation in priest support groups, both formal and informal, has had a very positive effect in the lives of many priests.

4. Priests must truly care about one another and take responsibility for each other, especially when the actions of a priest are self-destructive or destructive to others or to the mission. One Archbishop commented that in all his years as a bishop no priest ever came to see him about another priest who was engaged in some form of destructive behavior. Other Archbishops, while acknowledging the validity of this in cases of sexual abuse, wanted to discourage priests “tattling” on each other. One of the Archbishops commented that he could have been more helpful to the priests, “If someone had alerted me to what was happening."

D. Some reflections on Celibacy

1. “We need more priests. The crux of the question for a lot of people is celibacy. We must talk about celibacy. Celibacy has served the church very well but celibacy shouldn’t get in the way of the evangelization of people. Theologically, I have a great problem seeing so many parishes lacking priests and seeing the tremendous problems facing people in the parishes. Even if we get the people involved, we’ve got to have priests. I’d like to have an open discussion about, ‘Is celibacy getting in the way?’ I’m not saying it is. I’m just saying let’s talk about it…We’ve got to respond to the needs of the people. It’s all very lovely to say we’ve got to pray. The Lord, Himself, told us to pray for workers in the vineyard. He didn’t say they all had to be celibate, though. Now, I’m not saying that the solution is to eliminate obligatory celibacy for the priesthood. I’m not saying that. I’m just saying, let’s talk about it. You can’t discuss these things unless you’re talking facts and good theology. There are a lot of factors that have to be brought into that discussion and they can’t just be off the tops of our heads. We have to know what we’re talking about and be willing to face up to facts”

2. “Priestly celibacy is another example of the need for engagement. I support mandatory celibacy. But I do think we should publicly discuss it because the adversarial is the only side we hear now. If it were a public discussion, I’d be out there saying why I’m convinced that celibacy is a good decision, while always admitting it could be changed. I don’t fear the media turmoil that would surround such a discussion. It would be better to go through all that. I don’t think we would lose one thing. It’s a good issue to discuss because it is strictly a disciplinary law.”

A. Vision

1. The vision was clearly articulated by the Second Vatican Council. “The Church has to be involved in the joys and sorrows of the world. It is not merely a challenge to the hierarchy or the priests or religious. It’s a challenge for everybody! Everybody has to be involved. If a Bishop is going to accomplish anything he has to embrace personally that vision and courageously try to influence the living of that vision.”

2. The vision requires the involvement of the entire People of God. Such theologians as Yves Congar and others influenced most of the theology that emerged from the Second Vatican Council. “Vatican II gave the impetus toward a more broadened approach to how the Church operates. The Vatican II impetus was to get the whole body involved but, in fact, we’re operating out of a Vatican I ecclesiology.”

3. The vision must remain dynamic. “Whenever I share this vision with laity or priests the response is “Tremendous!” We need a dynamic vision that will result in greater enthusiasm. “We can’t just sit back and operate in this present day in a manner which is just going to keep us going…To me the absolute essential is that we have to have a vision of the church and we have to be dynamic about implementing that vision. That’s what Vatican II told us.” This vision will only become a reality if the priests and laity are filled with enthusiasm. If the priests are not enthusiastic, it is pretty difficult for the people to be enthusiastic.

4. The vision was truly inspired by the Holy Spirit. “I attended one of the work sessions prior to the Second Vatican Council. The Council tremendously influenced my generation of archbishops, priests and scholars.” The Council challenged both the church and the world in ways that could never have been conceived. The process that took place was awesome. One Archbishop described how he presumed that after the Curia had developed the initial series of papers and documents that the bishops would study them and make a few observations and changes. He was shocked when the bishops threw out those documents and started from scratch. There is no doubt in his mind that the Holy Spirit was at the center of the Council.

“I was present for the debates on Lumen Gentium and Gaudium et Spes. They were extremely intense. It was clear that the Spirit was present. More than three thousand, fairly conservative bishops, who rarely had their authority challenged in their home dioceses, approved those two radical documents. The bishops expressed some extremely strong contradictory opinions. More than three thousand bishops approved Gaudium et Spes. From a practical point of view, this was the most radical document. Only seventeen voted against it. I was sitting next to a Scottish bishop who leaned over to me after the vote and said, ‘We have seventeen guys here who do not know what is going on.’”

B. Realistic Evaluation.

1. Accepting the changes was difficult for many. “As a whole we’ve done pretty good in implementing the Spirit of Vatican II. There were a lot of changes and accepting those changes wasn’t easy both for the priests and the laity.”

“The imperatives of Vatican II are irreversible.” There will be bumps, fears and problems in implementing the ideals and vision of this Council.

2. Difficulties with implementing the council are to be expected. “When you have a General Council, tremendous problems pop up all over the place and it takes generations to correct it, to adjust to what is going on. That certainly happened after Trent. It happened after Vatican I and now it’s happening after Vatican II.”

3. Stronger communities of faith and prayer followed early mistakes. In describing the implementation of the Second Vatican Council, one Archbishop indicated that initially they made a few mistakes in the liturgy and proceeded too fast in some cases. After that he claims that progress was made resulting in stronger communities of faith and prayer. The results he said were imperfect and then added, “And that’s good.”

4. Failures in consistency and ecclesiology. An Archbishop identified what he considered to be the two key areas in which we missed the call of the Second Vatican Council, consistency and ecclesiology. “We still do not have a common ecclesiology in the world. We do not have a common ecclesiology in the United States either.” He attributes this to the fact that so much “nonsense” arises in the process of listening and making collective decisions. He indicated that too often, individuals, including himself, come to a conclusion long before the rest of the people have. Sometimes the decision is the right one and sometimes it is the wrong one. Contributing to this difficulty is that there are various levels of knowledge and commitment on the part of those involved, combined with the fact that some are wedded to their own agenda.

5. There is a need for continued on-going dialogue. “It will never be perfect. However, it is absolutely essential that there continue to be listening and dialogue. The People of God must own the church. In order to accomplish that you must be willing to accept the difficult work involved. There is no one simple solution. It requires a number of components, including engaging with people, providing formation, bringing people together, as well as fostering leadership and knowledge.”

C. Unfinished Agenda

1. Ordination of women. “There is still a question about whether women should be priests or deacons. I think we should still be discussing it. We should ask the question, ‘Why not?’ We should listen to both sides of the story.”

2. The on-going call to mission. “That’s a reflection of the mystery of the Incarnation, which is a mystery of involvement and immersion. The Son of God immersed himself into the human reality. That’s what the incarnation is. The idea of mission—go and teach all nations—is a mandate of involvement and immersion.”

1. The family has a unique role as evangelizers. “Empower families to see themselves as the great missionaries of the Lord in the world.”

2. There is a need for strong families in our world today. “An ingredient really missing in our world today is cohesive, prayerful families. This is really needed because this is where young people learn their most important lessons.”

3. There are some very clear, concrete reasons for the dissolution of family life. “More than fifty percent of the marriages in the United States end in divorce. In addition, a fourth of new marriages are multiple marriages. One of the reasons for this is a lack of knowledge of values. Some people, including Catholics, grow up without any basic values. Another reason for the break up of marriages is the resistance or fear of permanent commitments. This is evident in the business world also where people choose second and third careers. It is difficult to make a permanent commitment to a person for life for imperfect people living in an imperfect world. The solution is to have a deep love that can overlook and work with the spouse’s faults, combined with a spiritual commitment to make the marriage work. I have witnessed some beautiful conjugal love. These individuals were characterized by the fact that they were unselfish and they had matured in their knowledge of their personal limitations. Unselfish love is more important than knowledge. You can acquire knowledge. You can’t manufacture love.”

4. There is a need for more effective youth, young adult and family enrichment programs. While there are many effective programs, more are needed.

5. If the Church is to be effective in its outreach to young adults it will be built on close personal relationships. This would be done most effectively in small communities. Develop close, personal relationships with young adults. One thing that will not work is to approach young adults by offering broad, philosophical lectures or studies. This advice comes from a man who had been a professor of philosophy. At a minimum, effective ministry to the young means being available to them. The parish priest, especially, has to associate with them.

6. There is a sense of hope about the response of young adults if they were reached out to in this relational way. “Young adults will respond if challenge and opportunity are offered to them. Twenty-five years ago, the country was characterized by rebellion and a completely subjective approach to life. During the last few years there has been a change. Young adults today are more open and willing to listen.”

7. Unless the Church is more actively and effectively involved in ministering to young people, it will not attract their parents. Today’s failure to minister effectively misses on two counts: it fails the young people, and it fails the parents who will stay with a church that is ministering to their young.

1. Faith filled and realistic

‘Leaders, including bishops, have to remember that the church is still in the hands of the Holy Spirit. As humans we do not have all the answers. Be realistic. Don’t try to do the impossible.’

“There are certain issues that should be priorities. These include, the Eucharist and reconciliation.”

2. Collaborative

All leaders, including bishops, must be convinced that they cannot accomplish the mission by themselves. They must collaborate. They must find dedicated and knowledgeable collaborators.

3. Challenging

One bishop spoke of a theology professor in the seminary who had a profound influence on him. “The professor was both a marvelous scholar and a good teacher. He used to infuriate me because he was always challenging my thinking. I came to realize I couldn’t always find answers for problems. That professor taught me to arrive at conclusions only after having sufficiently studied the facts and the background.”

4. Learn from experiences, especially, negative ones.

An Archbishop indicated this a strong influence on his style of leadership was a negative experience. He was a chaplain in the infantry during the Second World War. During that time he observed some extremely incompetent people in leadership. Their incompetence led to the death of many young men. One third of his regiment were either killed or wounded. As a result, he developed an attitude, “unconsciously, not consciously,” that he would listen to people, not because of their role, but because they offered something positive in leadership.

5. Humble

“One of his strongest convictions about leadership is that without humility you will not be open to grace or anything else. You will not be objective without humility. Without humility you merely fall back on your own ideology.”

6. Mature

“Leaders must accept the fact that the church is in motion. The struggles that exist in the church are positive. There are no easy answers. Ultimately, anyone in leadership in the church must be mature. That is, you must: know what is your mission and vocation; acknowledge your limitations; and, not be overly concerned about approval.”

7. Accept and learn from failure

“One of the primary roles of leaders is to create a climate where people will accept responsibility, and are not afraid to make mistakes. Leaders realize that they can’t give maturity to others.”

8. Live what you proclaim

One of the Archbishops wrote a pastoral in which he described the church as “a community of collaborative ministries.” When asked what that meant to him, he replied that the mission of the church is to proclaim the gospel and to share the love of Christ with all. He said that is not something you can do on a theoretical level. You must live it. “If you expect others to live it, you must live it with them. This has to be done on many different levels.”

9. Listen and be open to dialogue

Create forums for dialogue that allow the freedom to raise questions. Anything and everything should be permitted to be voiced and questioned. The goal of the dialogue is never to come up with “the right” answers.

There should be open dialogue about all issues, even the controversial ones. However, this does not mean prolonged discussions, but rather dialogue that leads to action.

Be willing and open to considering and discussing new models and creative options, consider “screwy ideas.”

Listen, especially, to the “sense of the faithful.”

10. Foster practical moral education that leads to concrete action. In today’s society there is a great need for moral education. The way to judge the success of such education is whether it leads to concrete, compassionate action.

11. Become personally involved with people and issues. Leaders cannot remain aloof. Their success depends on their willingness to become personally and intimately involved in the lives of the people they are leading.

12. Be a person of integrity.

Make decisions, even when they will not be popular, e.g. such as pulling priests off the circuit because they are ineffective in liturgy. Be willing to challenge Rome when you believe that their decisions are wrong.

13. Combine openness, transparency and honesty with assertiveness

“In regards to the sexual abuse scandal, acknowledge that we have sinned.”

“Be assertive. Do not act defensively.”

Be open and transparent.

14. Don’t accept simple answers.

“All decisions, especially moral ones are complex. Consider the wide range of real, pastoral factors.” Leaders must provide the people with tools for making moral decisions.

15. Engage people

One Archbishop was extremely strong in emphasizing the aspect of engaging people. He believes the Bishops of the United States were most effective as leaders during the writing of the Peace Pastoral and the Pastoral on the Economy. He credits the success of these pastorals with the fact that they truly engaged people in the process

1. The leadership role of the American Bishops has been compromised by the Vatican’s emphasis on centralization. That and the lack of USCCB authority over its own members makes it difficult to address issues effectively. The Archbishops acknowledge a need for a strong center. “When John Paul II became Pope “he found a lot of experimentation. Some of the experiments never ended. At some point you have to say the experiment is over. The Roman congregations began to pull authority back to the center.” But this centralization must be balanced with subsidiarity. One Archbishop stated that the Vatican Congregations can be intrusive as in the case when he received a liturgical mandate from the Vatican regarding the age of Confirmation. He refused to implement it. “They were wrong. They had no right to come in and tell me (to enforce) this liturgical regulation. It was none of their business.”

Find a balance between centrality and subsidiarity.

If the bishops are going to enter into collegiality with the Pope, then there must be a collegial working at the diocesan level, at the parish level.

A. Their Perceptions of the World

1. The prevalence of violence. “Violence in our world is a very serious problem. The institutions that are growing the fastest in our state and diocese are the jails and penitentiaries. The numbers of people in jail is just unbelievable.”

2. Mobility urban disintegration and secularization. “Our culture is changing rapidly, experiencing greater mobility and becoming more secularized. The decrease in the number of baptisms and marriages and the increase in the number of divorces may be a result of these conditions. There has also been a disintegration of the cities and with that the frequent loss of community. The reestablishment of community among Catholic people is very challenging.”

3. Excessive individualism. Excessive individualism is having a negative impact on America society.

4. Cultural diversity. The church is becoming more and more culturally diverse. We are losing cultural Catholics to Protestants sects. This is a major challenge to the Church. The Church’s response should be to “involve the lay people in a really meaningful manner…It is a challenge for the entire body of the Catholic Church.”

B. Their Recommendations

1. Education. When asked if he were still the Archbishop of the diocese what would be his priority, one Archbishop’s response was, “I would continue to promote education of the poor, the blacks, the Hispanics and women. America is the greatest country in the world and it has no future for the illiterate.”

Education of the faithful emerged as a strong theme. The education has two components: to communicate the Church’s teaching and to consult the laity. The outcome of such education is to be able to talk knowledgably about the issues and to lead to action, especially in regards to social justice and moral issues.

“The number one problem is educating our Catholics to be able to talk knowledgeably about societal issues. We don’t have a lot of control over what issues come up. We’re frequently in the position of responding.” Dealing with such issues is difficult, “Our people need to enter into the discussion and I think they want to, but I don’t think they feel at all prepared to do that. We need to help people realize what we should be doing without giving others the impression we are telling them how they must believe.”

A component of the education process is the need for meaningful engagement of the faithful in the issues. The Bishops’ pastorals on Peace and on the Economy (written in the 1980’s) are models of effective engagement. “Now we do not engage our people well enough so that they feel they are part of the response.” The ultimate question is “Who really makes up the Church? By right, that includes everyone who is a member of the Church. If we are going to be open to the Spirit, then I think a full-blown discussion will give us that opportunity (for meaningful engagement). The Terry Schaivo case pointed to the need to bring together the various principals of moral decision-making. It’s a medical problem, a moral problem, and a human problem. We need to engage the parties to discuss the benefit/burden of the issues. This is a way of giving people the necessary tools for making moral decisions.”

2. Address the issue of social injustice. “I don’t think the Church ought to back off the social issues. If you do that, you’re turning your back on Gaudium et Spes. There are certain negative attitudes among certain people about Gaudium et Spes. They think it’s too dreamy, etc. I disagree with that.”

3. Persuade don’t mandate. One Archbishop referred to high profile issues in the media, such as same sex marriage, mandatory celibacy and women’s ordination. In regards to the same sex marriage issue he described his approach in the diocese. “We would address the issue but not become involved in any (election) campaign.” He expressed “very serious questions about how active the church should become in political campaign. “I’ve never told anyone how to vote. I would be quite clear where the church stood and where I stood.” He also quoted Pope John XXIII who stated that the church must persuade not mandate. “We can’t tell people how to vote. Our responsibility is to persuade people.” He noted that he thought it was a major mistake for some bishops to tell people they could not take communion if they voted for John Kerry in the 2004 Presidential campaign.

4. Engage the world and avoid a fortress mentality. “Engage the world. The Church should engage the world rather than become a fortress against it. The Church’s rich tradition and treasury of wisdom are a gift to the world. Openness, advocacy of transparency, and a desire for engagement, will allow us to think creatively, to reconsider long held beliefs in the face of change. Do not allow those who seek to challenge or compromise authority to threaten us. Ultimately, the Bishop has to make the final decision. He is the boss. The people look to him for leadership. Many of today’s issues are complex; therefore, they require wisdom from many different sources, the application of many principles, and the wisdom and heritage of the church.”

One Archbishop reported that he tried to speak publicly about social issues of the time in the state and in the city. “I think that is one service that you can give. I tried to stay within my religious role, and not get into political things, strictly political things. Sometimes people came to see me and asked for an endorsement. I never would do that. My relationship with the mayors differed and depended on who the mayor was at the time.” He tried to work with the mayors. “Some of the mayors were not as cordial to work with. One in particular was very difficult to work with. I tried not to compromise my religious role and to keep my religious role as a focus.”

5. Emphasize the balance to serve the world and learn from the world. “It would be helpful if we could focus more on the attitude of the Second Vatican Council, which stressed the need for the Church to serve the world. Now, it is true that the Church serves the world by the annunciation of the truth. That’s a great service to the world. The Bank of America is not giving that service to the world. It may do other service. But the contribution of the church is to speak the truth about matters of justice. But I think it would be helpful if the Church could be clearer that it is also there to serve the world. And that the Church is there to learn from the world, and receive from the world. The Church does receive from the world at times. There isn’t an antithesis—church and world—but a comradeship without the Church compromising its religious role.”

6. Combine tact and contact. “When I was a seminarian and I was studying about preaching, the priest who taught us said if you’re going to preach well you have to have two things, tact and contact. And I think that’s necessary for someone in a public role. As a bishop you have to have tact and contact, but it has to be within the framework of the religious role of the Church and your religious role as a person, as a bishop. It’s not about having your picture in the paper and being quoted. It’s about where you can help and be of service to the city or the state, or whatever it is. You have to have certain contact, if you will. But it’s risky business because it can be heady and one can be charmed by this. There are those who are. It’s not easy to maintain the balance. The social issues are very important to speak about to leadership.”

A Recommendations

1. Be honest. In regards to the sexual abuse acknowledge that we have sinned. Be assertive. Do not act defensively. “Church workers have taken advantage of families by abusing them. That was a horrible thing.”

2. Develop adequate structures with teeth. When the abuses first became apparent in the early to mid-eighties, one Archbishop proposed that review boards be established on the suffragan level as a way for people to appeal cases that were not handled satisfactorily by their dioceses. He envisioned the Archbishops appointing priests, criminal lawyers, circuit court judges and other experts to the review board to decide on the merits of cases. The proposal wasn’t accepted because it was seen as infringing on the rights of the other bishops, even when some bishops had done nothing about the abuse cases.

3. The lack of USCCB authority over it members creates problems. “We made an egregious mistake taking the sexual abuse problem to Rome. The Bishops in the United States should have handled that; solved our own problem. But since the Bishops Conference has no authority over its own members, going to Rome was the only way to get a response that would commit everybody.” This in turn led to the notion that there is no room in the priesthood for anyone who had ever been involved in sexual abuse. “But what about the person involved in an abusive situation 20 or 30 years ago who straightened out his life and had been a good priest ever since? Because of zero tolerance there was no recourse but to remove him.

4. Involve the laity in more honest ways. One Archbishop speculated that he thought it would be interesting to see how many Catholics would have stepped forward in such cases to say, “we want our priest back. We believe in forgiveness. We believe in reconciliation.” Such “engagement” would have helped avoid the pitfalls of the sexual abuse scandal and the Bishops response at their Dallas meeting in 2002. He believes that one of the Bishops’ major problems is that “we do a lot of consulting but don’t strategically engage the person being consulted.”

5. The bishop should be concerned about both the victim and the perpetrator. “The question in the past for a bishop, with regard to priests in this kind of behavior (sexual abuse), was ‘How can I help this priest? How can I help him to save his vocation? What must I do to do that?’ The thought of the parents would be ‘How can I be sure that my child is safe?’ That’s the question of the parent. Bishops are not married men, they do not live in families, and they don’t think in terms of the children. But the parents do. There are just two different perspectives at work. But had they been brought together something better might have happened. I don’t mean to say that bishops in past years were, or should be considered reprehensible because bishops did not know about these psychological questions, or pedophilia.”

“The parents aren’t thinking about how can we save this priest? They’re thinking how can I be sure my child is safe. There are two distinct questions. It would call for the bishops to ask the same question ‘how can I make sure that the children are safe? Also, how can I help the priest because he too is a member of the church?’ And why that priest behaves that way is another matter that must be examined and he should be helped too. I’m not saying the priest should be treated harshly or cruelly, but he should be helped to the degree possible. He should be encouraged and supported. And whether he can continue in the priestly ministry is another matter and (if) that’s not possible, determine how to help him”.

6. The issue is one for the entire Church, not just the Bishops. “These are church issues, not just issues for the bishops. The whole church is suffering. We should respond as church rather than responding as bishops.”

7. The starting point must be forgiveness and reconciliation. “The bishops, as church leaders, should have started from the position of forgiveness and reconciliation. I proposed we have a pubic penitential service. Reconciliation should have been the basis for our response. We did not come from whom we are. We are charged with the mission of reconciliation. Ultimately the victim and the abuser have to be reconciled.”

8. Most people have been poorly trained to understand the issue of pedophilia. “Even the health care professionals—psychologists, psychiatrists, and so on –knew very little about pedophilia. Virtually nothing. And until, 18 or 20 years ago there wasn’t even a single question on the state qualifying examinations for these people about this matter. I asked a psychiatrist I know if he studied anything about pedophilia in his training. He said ‘that as I recall we had maybe one hour, two at the most, on this subject in all of my education.’ After he became a practicing psychiatrist he had to learn more about it. Even more so, bishops knew very little about this subject. So I don’t consider the way they dealt with it in the more distant past, let’s say prior to 1985-86-87 when the knowledge began to emerge, I don’t think that they can be considered so reprehensible.”

B. Challenges

1. To have a pastoral concern for the victim and the priest. Protect the victims of sexual abuse, while protecting the rights of the priests who have been accused. “We must be concerned, not only with the victim, but also with the priest. We don’t want to neglect the Lord’s command for forgiveness. Keep in touch with them.”

2. Provide better formation in the seminaries. “The publicity occasioned by the sexual abuse scandal helped us to realize the seriousness of abuse and its history. It helped to bring to consciousness a cancer that we didn’t realize existed. I had not even heard of pedophilia until the mid-eighties. Because we have become aware of this cancer, we have to address it with better formation. I believe it will take the church a couple of generations to recover from this scandal. Many of the sexual abusers have tried to deny the reality of what they did and the harm they caused.

3. Be stronger spiritual leaders and emphasize service. There should be implications at this time for both bishops and leaders of religious congregations. The bishops are being called to stronger spiritual leadership. “Religious life should be seeking quality, not quantity. Leaders must use better methods for screening, realizing that no method will be perfect. If we follow that course of action vocations will improve. Leaders will become more focused and realistic in providing good formation. We will attract older, more mature people to the priesthood and religious life. Religious congregations that emphasize service will be the ones that attract candidates.”

4. The Dallas decision has had a negative effect on the relationship between priests and bishops. Given the present climate, there is a concern that priests will be less likely to share important issues with his bishop.

1. The liturgy should be characterized by “a noble simplicity.” There is a need for improvement in the liturgy. There is a problem of poor preparation frequently. “I’m one who believes you don’t have to have a lot of devices in the liturgy. The Word of God can work in itself, if it’s given the opportunity to work. People have to be able to hear it and understand it and have time to take it in. You don’t have to have music playing, folk dancing, lights, and things going on. The liturgy doesn’t have to be greatly adorned. I think the Vatican Council’s idea of a noble simplicity (is good) because it permits a more contemplative participation.”

The present Pope has been very consistent from the time he came onto the public stage when he was named to the Congregation for The Doctrine of The Faith. From that time and even a little before it, he has been consistently focusing on the liturgy of the church. And I think there are very positive things going on in regard to the liturgy, but I think there are some things where we need to give a little more emphasis than we have. For example, one of the reforms of the Vatican council was the sacred silence in the liturgy. Almost no attention has been paid to that. I think that would be a very important factor in a deepening of people’s faith, and of a greater maturity of faith. I believe this would occur if we have a more consistent focus on the sacred silence, not only at the point recommended after communion, but also at the readings. We need to do much better in the training of lectors. Often the congregation cannot take in the riches of, the depths of, the word of God. I think the music, much of the music, has a near infinite banality to it. And it’s very narcissistic. It’s all about "I" and what "I" did and not about what God is doing at all. Overall I do believe that the reform of the Council has been very successful on the whole.”

2. Involve the laity in decision-making. “I don’t have any training or background in this field but, it would strike me that lay people ought to be involved in the decision making, where they have a real and meaningful role and not just a consultative role in the decisions, at least in some practical areas of the church’s life.”

3. There are good things happening. “I was recently at a center. There were 60 people at daily mass. It’s not a parish. They come there from different parts of the city. And 20 of them stay after Mass for Morning Prayer. Everyday! While that’s a not huge crowd, it’s a sign. In the past we would never have people praying Morning Prayer.”

4. Encourage people to pray, especially in our busy world of today. “We should lead people to prayer. We need, in season and out of season, to urge people to prayer. In our chaotic lives today…we used to hear a lot, a long, long time ago about morning prayers and evening prayers but it’s never mentioned now. We never hear it. It’s more needed now than it was in the past because people’s lives are so burdensome today. This commuting and the technology make…everything instant. They have to get an answer back right now. When e-mail comes in they feel a need to do something. Their lives are very burdensome. And the mother and father both work. Then they have to come home and clean the house, wash the dishes, press a shirt for tomorrow, get a dress out for tomorrow, help the children with their homework. It’s very intense. They need a source where God can put some peace into their lives and help them.”