The Summit's Lessons

For the sensation-hungry secular American media, the cardinals' summit in Rome on sexual abuse by U.S. priests must have been a major disappointment. No heads of American cardinals were served up on a platter to the waiting horde of reporters, and there was no instant “quick fix” on display at meetings' end. But for those looking for hope and direction from the Church, the gathering was anything but disappointing.

Pope John Paul II, whose own love and concern for youth is legendary, made it unmistakably clear that there is no place in the clergy for those who would misuse their priestly vocation to exploit young people sexually. Gone forever are the days when abusers could rely on a muddled understanding of sexual psychology to duck responsibility for their crimes.

A second unequivocal message was delivered, too. Rome has no intention of allowing Church dissenters to use the abuse scandal to launch an assault on priestly celibacy. Let no one claim that this is an example of the Church clinging to dead dogmas in the face of contemporary reality. As was repeatedly noted at the summit, there is no connection between a celibate priesthood and an increased risk of abuse. Indeed, all available data suggest that Catholic priests are considerably less likely than the general public to offend in this way.

As well, the rate of abuse among priests, at less than 2%, is only half that among married people — indicating that allowing more married men to become priests would yield no benefit in reducing such crimes.

Even less can the abuse scandal be used as an excuse to launch a new attack on the Church's immutable teaching that the gift of sexuality is expressed properly only within heterosexual marriage. If there is one thing that is crystal clear in this ugly mess, it is that reckless sexual behavior outside of marriage causes incalculable harm.

A key aspect of the Rome meeting was the growing consensus among Church leaders that the problem is primarily an issue of homosexual behavior, not of pedophilia. While the two highest-profile incidents in Boston involved predatory pedophiles who victimized scores of young boys, the vast majority of reported cases involve misconduct between homosexual priests and teenagers. This points toward action in two directions.

One, it is time to clean house vigorously in any seminaries that continue to admit homosexually inclined candidates and turn a blind eye to homosexual conduct among seminarians. U.S. seminaries must have zero tolerance toward disordered sexuality. The official Vatican communiqué issued at the end of the abuse summit instructed that bishops must visit seminaries to assure their fidelity to the Church's moral teachings and to study the “criteria of suitability of candidates to the priesthood.”

Two, the bishops must address the larger climate of dissent, within which prominent American Catholics have freely attacked Church teachings about homosexuality, abortion, contraception and other sexual issues. In this regard, the Vatican communiqué said that “the Pastors [that is, bishops] of the Church need … publicly to reprimand individuals who spread dissent and groups which advance ambiguous approaches to pastoral care.”

It will take time for the U.S. bishops to fully address these issues, but the housecleaning can begin right away.

Work also remains to be done to formulate national policies on implementing the new “zero tolerance” policy toward priests who commit sexual abuse.

Catholics can have faith that our bishops, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, will rise to the challenge. Lay Catholics can play a key role in the process by reaching out in charity to abuse victims, and by striving to unite themselves with the Church through prayer, penance and personal holiness.

Although this is a time of profound trial for the Church in the United States, let us also remember that we continue to celebrate the Easter season. We rejoice in the resurrection of Jesus and his triumph over sin — all sin, even that committed by his own priests.

And we can be confident that, in his own time, Jesus will lead us to the right solution to the scandal of sexual abuse — just as he has led his Church through countless other trials over the last two thousand years.

Of course, this attitude of patient trust isn't well suited to the needs of the news media, which require an unceasing stream of controversial soundbites for tonight's TV broadcasts and tomorrow's newspaper headlines.

But the Church has a different deadline — eternity. And, no matter what the circumstances, the Church proclaims the same Good News of salvation, purchased for every human soul through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.