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Restoring Trust in Church Leadership:
A Woodstock ForumThe Woodstock Forum summary | The Woodstock Occasional Paper | Spiritual Exercises for Church Leaders books
Restoring Trust in Church Leadership was the title of Woodstock Forum held on May 22, 2003, that brought together three speakers - journalist and commentator Margaret O'Brien Steinfels, pastor Daniel Pakenham, and canon lawyer Sharon Euart, R.S.M. - to address this crisis from different perches within the Church. Moderating the discussion was William J. Byron, S.J., author, educator, and pastor.
The Forum has yielded two publications:
An abbreviated summary of the panelists' presentations, which is contained on this page. (This originally appeared in Woodstock Report No. 75, October 2003).
- A Woodstock occasional paper, with the full text of the presentations, as well as a transcript of the dialogue that followed. An online version of of this full paper can be found by clicking here. Printed copies of the occasional paper are also available by calling the Center at 202 687-3532 or e-mailing woodstock@georgetown.edu.
Readers who are interested in the Woodstock Forum on "Restoring Trust in Church Leadership" may also be interested in the two volumes on Spiritual Exercises for Church Leaders produced in 2003 by Woodstock's Church Leadership Program.
The Varieties of Trust and Mistrust in the Church
by Margaret O'Brien Steinfels
Margaret O'Brien Steinfels is the former editor of Commonweal, a position she held for fifteen years. She lectures frequently on topics related to faith, culture, religion, and the Church. The Catholic Church is like the proverbial fish that grasped how desperately it needed water only when it landed in the bottom of a boat on the end of a hook. So too we Catholics have only grasped how much the Catholic community rests on trust now that we have so little of it.
What the sexual abuse scandal has done, I think, is first make manifest an ongoing erosion of trust and then second, exacerbated that and focused our Church-wide malady on the bishops.
Seven Points about Trust. First, trust is a social practice. We humans are social beings and we swim in a sea of trust. When that sea of trust drains away, as it has in the Church, we become skeptical, maybe cynical, and perhaps even paranoid.
Second, there are different forms of trust. There is Erik Erickson's notion of basic trust, which is foundational to all other forms. And then there is blind trust; there is learned trust based on experience; there is earned trust based on mutuality and reciprocity. If we Catholics have lost one expression of trust, that doesn't mean there are not other forms for us to pursue. I suggest that we have lost a residual form of blind trust and that probably that is a good thing.
Third, the Catholic practice of hierarchy, or at least the current practice, makes it difficult for our hierarchy to function properly. We have a Church in which everything comes down and nothing goes up. Not only do we not elect our leaders, it is virtually impossible, unlike other hierarchies, to depose or thwart them.
Fourth, a celibate clergy and episcopate have, or appear to have, a very different view of the social world in which we all live. As positive as they may be about unborn life, about Catholic schools, and the lives of children, in fact their actual lives are remote from the lives of children and families - in normal patterns of empathy and concern, which in most of our lives, put children first.
Fifth, these mistakes were made, not only by some bishops, but also by some lawyers, some therapists, and even perhaps by some parents. I say this not to exonerate the bishops or to blame others, but to emphasize that we will never have trust in one another if we fail to understand what actually happened, when it happened, how it happened.
Sixth, having said that, the responsibility for resolving or moving beyond this crisis, nonetheless lies primarily with the bishops. With our ecclesiology, how could it be otherwise? This matter cannot be resolved without them. As for the legal issues and civil settlements, I myself have come over the last year to have a good deal of skepticism about the motives of plaintiffs, lawyers, and victims' groups. I genuinely doubt that they have the good of the whole Church, the people of God, at the forefront of their attention. There will be large settlements that draw deeply on precious resources. We should not assume that those will finally bring comfort and justice to the most seriously suffering victims. They may need more from us than money.
And seventh, we are at an impasse. The Church is suffering a form of paralysis. We are in a state of waiting and watching. The people who can do something, namely the bishops, it appears to me, have done all they want to do or think they can do as a group. Those who want to do something to help to move things on, namely the laity and the clergy, have no real vehicles for doing it. Somewhere, somehow, some bishops and some laity and priests must begin talking - not just about this crisis, but about the crisis that has been and will be with us for some time to come. I think the word we want here is a word widely celebrated after Vatican II, namely dialogue. For unless and until those who love the Church, leaders at every level, and of every kind, can talk candidly and compassionately with one another, it will be difficult to earn trust. And without trust, there can be no growth or development.
A View from the Parish: Living with the Laity
by Rev. Daniel Pakenham
Rev. Daniel Pakenham is former director of the Secretariat for Priestly Formation at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Currently he is pastor of St. Mary's Church in Elm Grove, Wisconsin. We preached about the immediate crisis in our parish. I could barely bring myself to do it, to say anything without simply falling apart. We have a family across the street from the school: nine children, with four boys. They were all abused by the same priest, starting when they were about 8-years old. The priest is now retired and lives in a lake cottage. You could imagine the anger that escalates to fury, the dismay and disappointment. I'll say this, a lot of us celibate priests and bishops aren't well equipped to deal with the emotional aspects of this at all. And because of that, we turn away.
From Fidelity to Loyalty. Years ago, I was expected to be a faithful priest. And today, I'm expected to be a loyal one. And, my friends, there's a real difference between the two.
This goes beyond the feelings of priests. I wrote a series of letters to the members of our parish over the course of last spring and summer about all of this. I got letters back saying, "Thank you for writing. It was like getting an OK to talk about this and not feel we were being disloyal to our faith and the Church." It is vital for Catholics and we as a community to offer a healthy critique of things, to make suggestions, and not feel we are disloyal or not be accused of disloyalty.
I operate out of the premise that in most cases, the Church is most alive in our parishes. And everything else in the Church is there to support this brilliant idea of parishes. The parish is there for people. It's to help them with their lives, to help people find a way to holiness. Now, if you reverse this process, as though there's some abstract Church out here that everything is for, we're going to mess this up terribly. When we remember that the hierarchy, the institutions of the Church, are there to serve parishes, and that parishes are there to serve the people of the Church, we're going in the right direction.
Learning from the Laity. Our spiritual quest is something that is mutual. As a parish priest, I am not there to be the vehicle of God's presence to everybody and make them holy. I'm not simply handing down the faith, as if to say, here it is, klunk! We are on a two-way street. The people I serve are my instrument for salvation, and I hope that maybe on a good day, I am for them.
And I think truly there has to be a better selection of priests and bishops. We try. But there's got to be broad support for this undertaking. I'll say also about bishops and priests, we're in real trouble. I think we need all the lay members of the Church. The people in my parish, they're my family. I think that's true for all of us and for bishops. Without their support, I'll never be a healthier, happier man. I simply won't. We have to understand the meaning of friendship in the context of faith. Many priests and bishops are afraid of relationships of affection, friendship, and love.
We need to do these things because we don't want to be a Church that's left in the lurch, a Church that is just out of it. If we're going to be mired endlessly in our internal operations, well, then what are we going to be for the world? The Church is a great gift to the world. There are a lot of things we're giving the world, and could be giving the world. We even should be offering a model on how to deal with sexual abuse of children, which is a terrible and serious problem in our society.
Ultimately, we're talking about the whole idea of servant leadership. It's a beautiful concept. It was Holy Thursday - Jesus teaching us the meaning of servant leadership. And through all of these trials, it has felt like Good Friday. We ought to go back to Holy Thursday and learn what it means.
A Canon Law Perspective: Broadening Participation Through Existing Structures
by Sister Sharon Euart, R.S.M.
Sister Sharon Euart, R.S.M., is a canonical consultant having most recently served as associate general secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops from 1988 to 2001. I want to suggest that before we begin thinking about or inventing new structures, we make the most of what already exists, namely opportunities for consulting the faithful; forums for listening to the voices of laity and clergy; and vehicles of communication for making the Gospel known to all. The Code of Canon Law can be helpful in this regard. The Code assists the Church in carrying out its mission in the world and in witnessing to God's presence in our midst.
Theological Foundations. The basis for structures of participation in the life of the Church is theological, rooted in the Church's teaching and expressed in fundamental principles found in several canons of the Code of Canon Law. As a basis for the active participation in the life and work of the Church, the call to mission in the Code is also a call for collaboration and shared responsibility in our Church. It is repeated specifically for lay persons in Canon 225, and is the basis for the right affirmed in other canons: "to form association, to assemble, to take initiative in Apostolic activity."
Consultative bodies in the Church are not a question of democracy or constitutional monarchy. These bodies are practical expressions of the reality that the Church is God's work through all the people of God, that the presence of the spirit dwells in our midst, and that the Church needs structures through which it stays in touch with that spirit.
The Structures. Many bishops view consultative structures as opportunities for dialog with their people, as structured settings in which a bishop shares his responsibility for the life of the diocese. Though most bishops seem to recognize the importance of consultation, I believe as a preliminary step to making these structures effective vehicles for participation of the faithful, it is crucial that the process for the selection and appointment of bishops and other church leaders give significant consideration to a candidate's understanding of and attitude towards consultation within the Church. We cannot lose sight of the Church's teaching that members have the right to express their opinion on matters that pertain to the good of the Church.
Still, many ask: Where is the accountability in all of this? Was the scope of the clergy sexual abuse crisis impacted by failure in accountability or in the procedures of some structures? For example, were finance councils aware of settlements made for cases of clergy sexual abuse? Do these questions suggest that our consultative structures might better serve the entire Church if their procedures were more widely known, their membership more representative of the local church, and our bishop and pastors more accountable to the faithful?
Consultative bodies in the Church are not designed for political confrontation, power plays, or for pushing hidden agendas. They are a structured manner in which the Church, all of us, attempts to listen to the Spirit who dwells in our midst.
Collaborating, and Speaking Up. It is important to re-member that the other side of shared responsibility is shared irresponsibility. Those who irresponsibly refuse to share their gifts and expertise, share responsibility for poorly made policies and decision because of our failure to participate.
For bishops who, for whatever reason, resist the call to a more collaborative and consultative Church, there is an urgency to see and understand the value of consultation as serving the Church's best interests. The grace of conversion enables us to let go of secrecy, mistrust, silence, fear, and to trust in God's goodness. And where efforts to initiate dialog and offer your opinion on matters pertaining to the good of the Church are trivialized or even rejected, do not remain indifferent, but speak up courageously and respectfully and let your voices be heard as the Church's magisterium has proclaimed. And above all, do not lose hope.
Spiritual Exercises for Church Leaders: A new publication of Woodstock's Church Leadership Program.
Woodstock's Church Leadership Program has produced two new companion books, Spiritual Exercises for Church Leaders, written by project director Dolores R. Leckey and freelance writer Paula Minaert. The books, which include a small-group facilitator's guide as well as a participant's book, offers a practical method of reflection geared especially to leaders at all levels of the church in these difficult times. Published by Paulist Press, it is the first publication of its kind to tap the considerable resources of Jesuit spirituality and theological discernment. To order copies of the participant's book ($9.95) and the facilitator's guide ($12.95), call 1 800 218-1903.