The Need for Transparency in Church Reform

In an interview in January 2018, Pope Francis was asked by reporters about cases of abuse of minors in Chile, and why he had not intervened to settle these cases and hold the bishops of that country accountable. Pope Francis responded that it was calumny to raise these questions in public and that there would need to be proof for him to act. (1) After substantial criticism was raised against Pope Francis around the World, Sean Cardinal O’Malley, a close friend and advisor of Pope Francis, criticized these comments. Pope Francis recanted his previous statement and ordered an investigation to be done in Chile over the abuse of Fr. Karadima, a serial child abuser. The investigation raised many concerns about the Church’s leadership in Chile, and Pope Francis apologized publicly to the victims and ordered the bishops of Chile to submit their resignations after he discovered the extent of the abuse and cover-ups. (2) Although Pope Francis apologized and righted the wrong as best he could, it is important to focus on a comprehensive reform to rid the vices of corruption out of the Church. It is important to recognize both the causes of the abuse crisis in the Catholic Church and the means that can be used to eradicate a culture of complicity and deception. All members of the Church must be tasked to help the Church reform from within to reflect the values of the Gospel and the integrity of Christ our Savior.

The scope for this article is not to review the entire history of the Church’s abuse crisis. The events and causes leading to the scandal are too massive to cover here. What is important to know is why abuse occurred in the Church to begin with and what factors led to it coming to light. From this point, the inquiry can focus on ways to build greater transparency within the ecclesial culture of the Catholic Church and all Christian denominations. 

Good Faith Reasoning

Throughout the constant strain of abuse revelations that came to the surface, one theme continues to surface in regards to the execution of cover-ups, Bishops and clerical curia often made decisions based on a good faith presumption. Good faith reasoning is to assume the good will of another when making a judgment in regards to an action or course of action. It is meant to nurture good feelings in others in light of wrongs or to heal wrongs done. When a good-faith assumption is made by a leader, the hope is to heal a relationship and right a wrong without resorting to fighting or accusations. 

Good faith arguments were used to justify reinstating priests who were proven to be child abusers. Good faith is also a justification for keeping cases of abuse or other scandals out of the public eye. Whatever the reasoning, these decisions that defended abusers, made in secret, ultimately led to the Church’s worst scandal in centuries. Creating a better culture within the Church to heal the trust that was broken means moving away from good faith reason to more transparent decision-making.

Pope Francis himself, although willing to punish complicit leaders along with abusers, still seemed to operate within a framework of good-willed secrecy in decision-making. His motu proprio, Vos Estis, (3) set up a standardized process to investigate alleged cases of child abuse and episcopal failure. This, too, was done without any mandate for public transparency. While Vos Estis was a step towards holding bishops accountable and rebuilding trust in the Church, it did not call for total transparency in the reporting and investigating of abuses of people and the abuse of power. It is, most importantly, not aimed at changing the culture of secrecy that enabled the abuse crisis to metastasize into a decades-long scandal.

The Pathology of Manipulation

Let us explore briefly the pathology of an abuser. Different types of abusers exist in humanity, and abuse occurs for different reasons. A narcissist will commit abuse differently from a child molester. A common denominator for any abuser or predator is their need to protect their reputation. That is why abusers thrive in a culture of secrecy. They want people to give them blind trust and deference. In this way, the abuser covers their tracks by getting people to go along with their narrative. You have to see things their way. Their manipulation is premised on the reality that, without their outer image, they cannot survive. So abusers of any stripe will invest enormous amounts of time and personal energy into ingratiating themselves with others to like them. When the façade lifts, you see that it is a ruse. 

In a church setting, an abuser will use the name of God to protect themselves. Whether for power, manipulation of the vulnerable, or for financial gain, the abuser wants people to submit to their perceived “authority” to get their way. That makes transparency the utmost important way to rid abuse in the Church. It means that all things should be made public for the Church that affects other people. Private issues are another matter entirely. When someone acts in the name of the Church to manipulate and extort others, it becomes a public affair. The pathology of manipulation subverts this idea and thus needs to be countered with higher resiliency so that the resistance to change can be overcome.

Secrecy Protects the Wrong People

There was a recurring argument to justify the readmission of abusers into the Church’s clerical order. It was for the priest’s good, and of the victim, to settle a case of abuse in secret to protect both the victim and to give the accused a chance to change and clear his good name. The Church learned through hard reckoning that this reasoning did not help the Church. First, it was wrong and frankly, dishonest, to promise to handle abuse without harm to the victims and to then return the abuser to sacramental ministry without protecting parishioners. The silent referral of victims to handle their trauma quietly betrayed their trust and that of people in the pews. Secondly, secrecy did not protect victims. To order a victim to keep silent was another ordeal on top of their already existing trauma. Favoring reputation over trauma enabled the offending behavior to continue. In this aim, we must seek to remove secrecy from the Church’s policies, both in terms of priests and business dealings.

To clarify this idea further, privacy is still important for the Catholic Church. Any policy that violates the sanctity of confession or the pastoral relationship between pastors and the souls entrusted to them cannot be accepted. Privacy is not something bad in itself. When someone has a private struggle, such as a struggle in faith or a struggle with depression, that is something they are not obligated to share or be forced to divulge. Secrecy is a different affair entirely because it concerns the whole Church. Lay people had the right to know what was going on in the scandal, and there is no real justification for secrecy in regards to child abuse and the use of the Church’s resources. All the issues raised in this issue demonstrate the need for the Church to be above board in all its policies and actions. This transparency in its affairs will help it grow and heal beyond the rift created between the Church and its faithful believers.

Authority does not absolve any leader from responsibility

When we discuss the importance of transparency and removing the wall of institutional secrecy, we inevitably run into the question of authority. Authority is the right to lead and command others, and the credibility that goes along with it. I don’t want to question authority in its legitimate forms. Any leader, rightly appointed, ought to be listened to. Let us remember the injunction given ruefully by Jesus about the Pharisees. He recognized their authority as rightfully sitting on the “chair of Moses.” However, he warned others not to follow their example in their own actions. This is, in fact, the crux of the matter. Authority is a good thing when it is exercised with justice, prudence, and served in charity. Authority is not a right to total impunity. Many priests, bishops, and Church curia serve with such charity that no one can fault their service and character.

Their rightful authority is respected by the Church. The ordained priests of the Church are consecrated in persona Christi, in Christ’s very person. A priest is a custodian of the Church’s Sacraments, officiating these holy signs for sanctification of souls, and a priest teaches formally on matters regarding faith and doctrine. The sacramental identity of the priest is geared towards service, not domination or subversion. The Church cannot authentically exist without proper justice applied in its practices. Let this be stated again: the Church needs justice and cannot serve faithfully without it. It is most tragic that some in the Church favored reputation over justice and deception over transparency. As Jesus the master chose to serve, all in the Church cannot avoid the mandatum of the master. Christians are called to serve, without exception. Service requires accountability in the Church. No authority or sign of honor exonerates a leader from their responsibility. We are right to expect are leaders to act faithfully and with responsibility in governing the Church, because the Church’s moral authority relies totally on trust.

Church’s Moral Witness relies fully on trust

The Church gives moral teaching as part of its Gospel proclamation. The faithful of the Church are meant to turn to its Magisterium for guidance on matters of faith and Christian living. The Magisterium is made up of the Pope, Bishops, priests, and theologians. What is important, what needs clarification, is the new parameters of the Church’s moral landscape in a post-Dallas American Church. How is the Church defined as a moral voice after so much trust has been lost? Let it be said, I am not questioning the Church’s moral authority; I am calling upon Catholics to understand where the landscape shifted over the last twenty years and to seek to understand how we are to navigate it as faithful believers.

First, the Church needs to prize trust over authority. Authority, as said before, is important to any organization that exercises serious responsibility in any domain. Rightful authority ought to be respected and not discarded out of hand. However, authority means nothing without trust. To place trust in any organization means that you believe in its purpose and you trust the organization to fulfill its stated purpose. For the Catholic Church in the United States, trust needs restoring. It cannot be ignored that the institution lost a great many believers because of this credibility gap between the Church’s mission and how it handled the scandal. Trust is like the bedrock that holds the Catholic Church steady. She cannot stand without it. It is that simple, and also that challenging. 

On a second point, the Catholic attitude is recognized now as referential, not deferential. To give deference to someone is to give them unbridled respect or control. While many faithful Catholics refer to the Church concerning their faith and how they practice it, the main culture of deference to the clergy in all things is now gone. One can turn to the Church for guidance on how to find God in their lives and for the betterment of their spiritual lives. The priest or Church official does not exert control over every aspect of someone’s life. You can take your car to drive to Church for confession, but the priest cannot take your car because he says so. 

All joking aside, the referential attitude in the Church marks serious boundaries for how the ordained clergy and the laity interact. It is not necessarily the priest’s decision on every business matter in the Church, as it is not anyone’s place to micromanage the priest in his sacramental work. A referential attitude includes mutuality and equality between the priests and those whom they serve. Incorporating this understanding into seminary formation will help the leaders we are forming for tomorrow. 

Finally, moral witness means owning up to the scandal with all humility, and still, new hope. The Church can witness to right and wrong because she has hope, and not just any hope. She has eternal hope in Christ Jesus. She can move forward because her hope in Christ is stronger than what has come before. No scandal robs the Church of its progress towards a Christian witness which is more pure. 

You are the light of the World

I do not want to sound overly critical of the Church. The leaders in the hierarchy and the people of God practicing their faith have created significant reform in the Church. There are more than a few people who have sacrificed everything to bring back Catholicism to a point of spiritual and moral integrity. I want to speak in gratitude for Pope Francis’ integrity in leadership and the need to constantly grow and reform as the Body of Christ to witness faithfully to the Lord. Pope Francis himself spearheaded the needed reform that led to changes to move past the scandal. After Pope Francis’ comment on the need to show proof when making an accusation, an investigation was started at Francis’s behest that went to Chile. Vatican-appointed investigators spoke with victims in Chile, and Pope Francis called upon all the bishops in Chile to submit their resignations to the Vatican, which all the prelates of Chile did. Francis had three bishops resign, including Archbishop Juan Barros, who had ties with the abuser Fr. Karadima. Overall, it was a rocky chapter in the Argentine’s pontificate, and still, he made amends as best he could. Pope Francis is responsible for taking measures to hold the Church accountable for protecting the vulnerable and voiceless. That is not the end of the story, though.

The responsibility to listen to victims and the marginalized is not only for the Pope and the bishops. All Christians are called to hear their voice, no matter how hurt or forgotten they are. It is when we are receptive to the truth that we can then act in right judgment. From this receptivity, the groundwork is laid for a stronger structure in the Church, one that withstands the vicissitudes of a changing world and yet is flexible for adaptation to the circumstances of the times. It goes beyond any formal policy or pathway to litigation. We are called to be the light of the world in this time. That also means being a light for truth within the Church. No Christian can ignore Christ’s call for justice in the face of evil and indifference. We need to call on the Church to constantly grow, tell the truth, and change its ways when needed. Here we are again, at the crossroads of history. Here we are, faced with a call to reform. Will we succeed in developing meaningful reform, or will we fail to meet the demands of the moment, to read the signs of the times? We must remember always, “You are the light of the world.”

¹ Pope Francis Accuses Bishop’s Critics of Slander, Riling Sex Abuse Victims In Chile, Bill Camppell, NPR online, 19 January 2018, https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/01/19/579079786/pope-francis-riles-many-in-chile-by-accusing-bishops-critics-of-slander.

² Pope Apologizes For ‘Serious Mistakes’ In Handling Of Chile’s Sex Abuse Scandal, Scott Neuman, NPR Onlne, Sylvia Poggioli, 12 April 2018, https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/04/12/601742861/pope-apologizes-for-serious-mistakes-in-handling-of-chile-s-sex-abuse-scandal.

³ Vos Estis Lux Mundi: Moto Proprio, Pope Francis, Copyright © Dicastero per la Comunicazione – Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 7 May 2019, https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/motu_proprio/documents/papa-francesco-motu-proprio-20190507_vos-estis-lux-mundi.html