Panel discusses future of the Catholic Church
Maria Smith
News Writer
Notre Dame professors confronted the issues of sexual abuse in the church, Catholic teachings on sexuality and the subject of a gay subculture in the priesthood during the Saturday Scholar Series lecture.
Theology professors Richard McBrien and John Cavadini and law professor Carol Mooney sat on this weekend's panel for "The Crisis Facing the Roman Catholic Church."
The latest policy of the Catholic Church promises to remove priests as soon they are accused, and they will not be allowed to continue in the ministry if they are found to be sexually abusive. McBrien said that there is a range of views regarding the new policy, but most people agree with the current changes.
The Catholic Church's course of action is to quickly remove accused priests, expel known abusers and screen candidates for the priesthood more thoroughly. They felt that most people supported this attitude put forth by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in June. The bishops ruled to bar priests who have engaged in sexual abuse from continuing in the ministry.
The panel, held in Hesburgh Center Auditorium, was the second lecture of the Saturday Scholar Series being held on home football game days. The lectures, covering a variety of topics, start 3 1/2 hours before kickoff. The series covers a variety of topics, including Shakespeare in Film and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.
Saturday, alumni and students listened to the lectures and asked questions regarding the Catholic Church's problems with sexual abuse of children in some priests and parishes and future preventative measures.
The panel dismissed the idea that the problem was with a lack of fidelity to the church's teaching on sexuality.
"The problem goes much deeper than a lack of fidelity to towards church teachings," said McBrien. "Pedophilia is a deeply addictive psychological behavior."
Panel member also did not feel that the root of the problem lay in a greater permissiveness in seminaries in the 1950s and 1960s. "Seminaries in the 50s and 60s were not open, where you could do anything you wanted, they were minimum-security prisons," McBrien said.
The panel also discussed the increasingly prominent number of homosexual priests, often referred to as a "gay subculture" in certain seminaries. Panel member stressed that homosexuals should not be blamed for the current crisis. "If there is a gay subculture, it is only more evident now than in the `60s,"said McBrien. "If there is a homosexual culture in some seminaries, it is because there are a smaller number of priests, so a larger percentage may be gay. There is nothing wrong with being gay and nothing wrong with gays in the priesthood."
The panel also explored the opinion of some bishops and Church members who said the Church needed systematic change. This might include allowing more participation of laity in policy making or allowing priests to be married. This step would probably increase the number of priests and aid priests who serve multiple parishes. The panel said these steps would be more controversial.
"The renewal of the Church should not be reduced to politics or political action," said McBrien. "However, there is a separable issue of governance — the real issue for the public is a lapse of governance."
All News Stories for Monday, September 16, 2002
