Clericalism Part Three: Priestly Office and Person

 Co-dependence: The (Con)fusion of Priestly Office and Person

In the not too distant past the social and religious environment colluded to keep the priest coddled and comfortable because of his office and status.  Salary, stipends, pension plan, standard of living, medical insurance, rectory living, vacations, social standing, in short all he needed was handed to him on a silver platter with ordination. Only Grace could keep it from going to his head. Eventually he would get seduced by the arrangement and take advantage of it to some degree or another. Those who serve the greater cause live off the cause they serve. This seems to be a natural corruption of Christ’s saying that the laborer is worthy of his hire.  As the popular quotation by Lord Acton reminds us, “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Nature, especially weak human nature, takes the course of least resistance.

             Office and the person fuse into one in the person of the priest. Priest and people may be aware of the distinction between the office and person in theory, but that does not mean they apply it in reality. Clericalism conditioned people to see Father as more than what he was as a person because of his office, and treat him as more. The priest was going to see himself as more than what he was because of his office and think he was more. This idealization on both sides led to the privileges and honors of Clericalism, and eventually to rage and resentment when its bankruptcy was exposed. How could the priest not think he was more than he was, when the society and culture inflated his ego balloon and puffed him up? How could the laity not feel betrayed and angry when he did not live up to their expectations? True, he the priest should have had more sense to begin with. But the red carpet treatment is heady, intoxicating, and seductive.

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All noble professions become sacred cows at one time or another. Successful doctors, lawyers, statesmen, teachers, etc. are presumed to be worthy of esteem and respect because of the profession they are in. There is naturally shock and scandal when an idolized person is shown to have clay feet. People rightly get angry when the banker or financier they thought honest is found guilty of embezzling funds. Understandably, the anger turns into rage when the perpetrator is a priest who betrays the people’s trust by sexually abusing minors. But something more is involved than the fall of an idol.

The sexual nature of the crime, the fact that a priest is the perpetrator, the betrayal of a sacred trust, the lifelong harm done to the individuals who have been abused, all these contribute to the public outrage. Yet I believe another factor also comes into play and it is all the more influential because it is the least recognized: The widely used, socially acceptable defense mechanism of Clericalism has broken down.  The spiritual Berlin Wall is blown to pieces. No insulation remains to protect people from the intrusion of the Divine. This creates a fury against the clergy. The problem is not only the sin and the crime, nor the harm it has done, but that the sin demolishes the buffer zone, the last cultural defense, between man and God.