- First in the series
- Second in the series
- Third in the series
- Fourth in the series
- Fifth in the series
- Sixth in the series
- Seventh in the series
First in the series
Some reflections on the current crisis
In recent months, a historic crisis has entered the life of the Catholic Church, bringing with it many questions. It is a sign of faith that, at a time like this, Catholics turn to their bishop in the hope that he might be able to shed the light of truth on the matter at hand.
It is for this reason that I have decided to prepare a series of reflections on the many questions that surface each day with ever-increasing momentum. Also, as these articles are published, I will make myself available to the various media outlets throughout the diocese. While it is true that the constancy of the media coverage has intensified the crisis, it can also be said that the situation is grave indeed, and the questions are serious ones.
A purification
First, let me say that, as a believer and as a priest for 45 years, I am convinced the church is undergoing a great purification. These abominable acts that have been reported as taking place, most many years ago and some more recently, are offensive to all good people and have brought special outrage to those who are parents. A purification can come from this for the church and for the priesthood.
Pope John Paul II, in his message as we approached the millennium, said that there would be a "new springtime for the church" if we are open to the Holy Spirit. Sometimes there is a late winter storm before the spring. If those in leadership in the church do the right thing, this storm will ease and we will be purified. But it is not automatic. God has promised to be with the church, but we must cooperate with the light and grace that he gives us. While prayer is essential, we must not spiritualize this crisis. We must face it with the light that comes from faith and reason leading to wise decisions.
Some questions that arise
Important concerns and questions arise daily. We read of priests who have seriously violated their commitment to a life of chastity and have harmed innocent children, especially teen-agers. Have there been any such events in this diocese? Are there any such priests now active in priestly ministry in our diocese? Does the diocese have policies to address these situations should they arise, whether the alleged perpetrator is a priest or a layperson? What are these policies? The ancient tradition of the church in the West requiring celibacy for priests, which goes back almost a thousand years, and longer in some regions, is now being questioned. Does celibacy have anything to do with this recent disorder as some are claiming?
Also, the growing national scandal quite rightly draws our people to ask questions about the screening of candidates for the seminary and about seminary formation. I am especially eager to share with our people our policies concerning the screening of candidates before entrance into the seminary, during the time of formation and even the moment just prior to ordination. What is the basis for the decision to grant holy orders?
This is an area in which I have been involved for about 30 years. In 1978, I chaired a committee that prepared a document on this very question. I wrote most of the document, and that document guides the selection of candidates in this diocese. I will share with you the principles in this document which guide us in selecting some candidates and in leading others to another way of life.
Because of some comments in the press, confusion has also arisen about the appointments of bishops and the role of the Holy Spirit in these appointments. The work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the church and in the appointment and ministry of bishops is a central truth of our faith, and I will comment on this as well.
Let me respond to one critical question in this first article. To the best of my knowledge, there is no priest serving in this diocese and performing priestly functions on behalf of the diocese against whom a credible allegation of abuse of a minor has been made.
The question is asked then if there have ever been such allegations. The answer is "yes." Most of them were reported in my early years as your bishop. All have been addressed through the firm and careful use of policies that we began to establish during my first years as your bishop. These policies have been refined over the years and, as this series moves along, I will share them with you.
The course I have chosen
Let me add one more thing in this my first column on this issue. I treasure the fact that I served many years as a seminary spiritual director, a post I accepted in 1968 after receiving a doctorate in theology. It was there that I became convinced that the church in our time bears a great responsibility in determining if a man has the requisite emotional and spiritual maturity to live out his priesthood in a way that brings honor to the church, spiritual growth to his people and joy to his own heart. Not everyone can live this life. Not every young man who seeks admission to the seminary has a true vocation.
The church, and especially the bishop, bear special responsibility to see if this capacity is present. This is a work of vocational discernment. To do it well, a bishop needs the help of professional psychological testing. Indeed, church documents have been calling for great care in this matter for decades. Let me cite just a few places:
" The choice of priestly celibacy does not interfere with the normal development of a person's emotional life, but on the contrary it presupposes it."
" A priestly vocation demands human and Christian maturity so that the answer to the divine call may be based on faith, and so that the seminarian may be able to understand the sense of a vocation from God and realize what it demands."
" This (maturity) is all the more applicable when one is dealing with the formation of students in a seminary. This is because God calls real men and, if there are no real men, there can be no call."
("A Guide to Priestly Formation and Priestly Celibacy," Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education, April 1974)
" The life of the celibate priest, which engages the whole man so totally and so delicately, excludes in fact those of insufficient psycho-physical and moral balance. Nor should anyone pretend that grace supplies for the defects of nature in such a man."
(Pope Paul VI's encyclical letter on priestly celibacy, 1967)
We do not have enough priests to staff our parishes, and we do not have enough young priests. However, the young priests I have had the privilege of ordaining in recent years have been exemplary and a source of joy and hope for our people. I am convinced that they in turn will draw other men of good quality.
On the other hand, if we send into the ministry men with pathologies, serious personality problems or an incapacity for true pastoral love, they will draw the same kind of men. Thus, the path to more vocations to the priesthood, which are so desperately needed, lies not in lowering the bar but raising it to where the church in its documents always said it should be. That is the path on which I have led our diocese during my time as your bishop.
I would like to conclude this first presentation with the words I wrote about 25 years ago for the bishops of New England, addressed to seminarians, and which I am convinced came from the light of the Holy Spirit:
" If a seminarian experiences a faculty which he respects but a student body filled with serious weaknesses, he will tend to see a mature priesthood as a thing of the past and not the present or future. In addition, if we ordain young men who are basically self-centered (however veiled or hidden this may be), these men will not attract others to be priests — or they will attract inferior types. Thus, we feel that low admission standards and low standards of evaluation will in the long run magnify our present admittedly difficult situation. We wish that we had a larger number of candidates to send to you. But the path to a real increase does not lie in relaxed standards. It lies through ordaining only men who are unselfish, strong and spiritual enough to live the life of the celibate priesthood with joy and effectiveness. We want to take that path and only that path with you. We recognize that it may even be that those who come after us will reap the harvest of more vocations and better vocations. We leave that to God. We can only face the task he presents to us."
This is the policy I have followed as your bishop, and I am convinced it will bring — indeed is already bringing — blessings upon our diocese.
As stated above, there are many other questions arising that must be faced. I intend to address each of them in the weeks ahead.
April 14, 2002 - Second in the Series
Principles that guide seminary formation
In my second presentation to the people of the diocese through our newspaper, Today's Catholic, and newspapers in our community that have graciously agreed to print these articles, I would like to take up the question of seminary formation.
Many are missing one of the key points in this current serious crisis. If men with serious pathologies have been ordained to the holy priesthood, then our seminaries have, to some extent, failed. Yet it must be said that it is the bishop who ultimately makes the decision as to whether or not a man should be ordained a priest. While we, as bishops, rely heavily on the recommendations we receive from seminaries, we cannot lay aside our own responsibilities. I would like the people of this diocese to know something about the principles that guide me in this matter.
A pastoral letter
While I was auxiliary bishop in Boston, I chaired a committee that wrote a pastoral letter on priestly formation. To a great extent, it was the fruit of my experience in the seminary. I was a parish priest for nine years and then achieved a doctorate in spiritual theology in Rome. Returning to the seminary as spiritual director in 1968, 11 years after being ordained a priest and with the Vietnam War raging, it was clear to me in a short time that the culture of seminaries had changed, and that those of us in seminary formation had to be more clear about screening at the point of admissions and vocational discernment during the years of formation.
After becoming a bishop in 1975 and continuing to serve for several years more as seminary spiritual director, I proposed to the New England bishops this pastoral letter, chaired the committee and wrote most of the letter. Here are some key points in that letter that guide me within this diocese. While psychological testing, counseling and screening had been going on, this letter took a forward step by helping seminary faculty, as well as the professional screeners, determine what kind of men we believed should be ordained and who should be guided to another walk of life. Here are the guiding principles taken from the letter and which form the basis of my decisions on accepting candidates for the priesthood.
Undesirable candidates
Young men who are excessively weak in personality development — especially those who are deeply and intractably egotistical — would not be deemed acceptable.
Young men who show signs that they will not be able to integrate their sexuality into the priestly vocation should not be admitted until there are such positive signs. Thus, there must be evidence that a man will be able to resist the need for sexual gratification without suppressing any area of his humanity. So a man who seems unable to come to heterosexual maturity should not be admitted.
Young men who are truly homosexual should not be admitted. We recognize that there are degrees of homosexuality and that generalizations cannot easily be made. We include in this statement anyone who, while not engaging in homosexual activity, is psychically homosexual and thereby unable to tolerate the demands of a celibate priestly ministry or rectory living.
Young men who have not had any satisfying or positive relationships with young people should not be admitted or, at least, their admission should be postponed until such relationships have been able to take place.
Young men who are excessively effeminate should not be admitted.
Young men who are excessively hostile and angry — especially at authority — should not be admitted. We recognize that this is not always able to be determined easily. But we do feel that in most cases deep unconscious anger can be uncovered with proper inquiry.
("Letter on Priestly Formation," New England bishops, 1979)
This pastoral letter, prepared over the course of two years, also contains a more positive emphasis. The letter outlines the type of candidate that we do want to encourage.
Desired candidates
A man should be admitted to the seminary if he is thought capable of growth toward unselfish living; that is, a man who evidences the potential to reach a stage of growth where he has moved out of the narrow circle of self-preoccupation to a place where his main concern is the welfare of others. We realize that we cannot expect a young man seeking admission to have attained this. But are there signs that he will attain it? In most cases, a sound judgment can be made as to his potential for such growth.
We want a man who has the potential for sufficient growth so that he will be able to go beyond a narcissistic self-centered approach to that point where he will be able to give and receive love. We wish to make the following point as strongly as possible. Often, this narcissism is hidden. What seems to be zeal is in reality a seeking of the limelight — a drawing of people to oneself. It is using people. Such men will use the priesthood. As you well know, this kind of narcissism is not readily apparent. It takes experience and careful inquiry to find it. But with the tools available to us today — both psychological and spiritual — it can be discovered even at the time of admission.
We are seeking men for the seminary who are capable of trusting others. We also wish to find men who are able to look honestly at themselves and see their own strengths and weaknesses. Some define maturity as "the ability to take counsel with oneself"; the beginnings of such activity should be sought. Moreover, the candidate should have a history of basically sound and rewarding peer relationships. He should have a reasonably normal and healthy relationship with his parents and the beginnings of openness to growth in faith should be present. It should be required that the candidate will have lived a true spiritual life with regular attendance at the sacraments and a habit of prayer.("Letter on Priestly Formation," New England bishops, 1979)
We have strict psychological screening under the guidance of Dr. Susan Steibe-Pasalich, a trained clinician who is associate director of counseling at the University of Notre Dame. Several years ago, when reports of terrible acts of sexual advances by priests was becoming known, Dr. Susan and I agreed that she should visit St. Luke's Institute in Silver Springs, Md. St. Luke's has worked with religious and priests with addictions for many years. I had asked Father Stephen Rossetti, himself a doctor of clinical psychology and president of St. Luke's, what they had learned over the years. I understand that this is an inexact science, but were there not red flags which, with the help of a skilled and trained professional, would help us discover serious problems? The bishop can thus be helped in his decision. Dr. Susan attended an extended seminar on this, which has been helpful to her and to me as we interview these candidates.
However, it should not be thought that any psychologist or professional makes the decision as to whether or not a man enters the seminary. I alone make that decision. I interview each candidate only after I receive a full folder, which includes the psychological testing, and only after extended interviews by our director of the Office of Vocations. The bishop has the grace of state for making this decision, but he has to use human means that scientific advances provide.
In my next article, which I hope will be next week, I will speak about this diocese. Have there been credible allegations in this diocese and how have they been addressed? I will also make public the diocesan policies we have in place to address allegations. Thus, you will see the two-pronged effort in our diocese. First, in the careful screening of candidates from the moment of admission through the seminary. Secondly, our full and firm response when any priest, layperson or anyone in a position of ministry is accused in a way that is credible.
In the following weeks, I will address the other questions that have been raised and which I outlined last week.
April 21, 2002 - Third in the series
Diocesan policies for dealing with abuse of minors
This is the third reflection, which I am presenting in our diocesan newspaper, Today's Catholic. I am most grateful that all the major newspapers in our diocese are publishing these articles in a timely fashion. This has enabled me to reach out to a much wider group of people throughout the 14 counties of our diocese concerning the present serious situation in the Catholic Church.
Accepting the good advice of one editor to strive for brevity, I have decided that this week I will simply present the policies of our diocese on the matter of accusations of sexual abuse against a priest. We also have very similar policies for our laity, especially for our schools. Accordingly, next week I will present a reflection concerning the implementation of these policies during the 17 years I have been your bishop.
Origin of these policies
The question arose: How long have these policies been in play? I began with my advisers, both pastoral and legal, to craft these policies shortly after my installation as bishop. I believe it is fair to say that the essence of these policies has been part of our operation since shortly after my being installed as your bishop on May 1, 1985. These policies have been refined and improved over the years; some changes were forged on the anvil of difficult and painful issues arising here and elsewhere over the years.
In answer to another question that has arisen, no changes were made in these policies as a result of the recent, painful, widespread allegations beginning in the Archdiocese of Boston and spreading throughout the country. Here are our policies:
DIOCESAN PROCEDURES
If a priest is accused of child abuse
- A vicar general shall immediately interview the person who brings this complaint. All people who claim or are claimed to have knowledge of this alleged perpetration must be interviewed by the same vicar general.
- The allegations will be examined by the vicar general and Bishop John M. D'Arcy. A diocesan attorney will also be consulted.
- After reading the testimony and evaluation, if the testimony seems credible, Bishop John M. D'Arcy will immediately assign a group of priests, including the vicar general, who will visit the priest involved and question him about the matter. The priest will be asked to leave the parish the same day so the investigation can continue.
- All statutory laws will be followed. If a law requires reporting to the civil authority, this will be done.
- The vicar general will then contact Saint Luke Institute in Washington, D.C., to see about an appropriate evaluation of the priest involved. While the priest is awaiting this evaluation, he shall be under the supervision of the vicar general and may not exercise priestly ministry.
- If he refuses to go, he will be suspended and his faculties will be taken away.
- When Bishop John M. D'Arcy has received the report from Saint Luke Institute, a judgment will be made based on their professional advice as to what shall be done next. If the advice is for a more prolonged period of evaluation or in-patient therapy, that will be followed to the letter, subject to civil law obligations.
- When Saint Luke Institute requests it, Bishop John M. D'Arcy will visit the clinic, or ask the vicar general to make the visit. The advice of the professionals will be heard. Bishop John M. D'Arcy or the vicar general will also speak directly with the priest involved.
- Bishop John M. D'Arcy, having evaluated the professional advice, as well as legal advice, and the advice of other priests, if necessary, will then make a judgment about the future of the priest.
- This judgment could result in: (a) a request for resignation; (b) a request of laicization from the Holy See; or (c) restoration to priestly service, if such is appropriate. Bishop John M. D'Arcy will convey the decision directly to the priest. No priest will be restored to service as a priest within the diocese unless there is solid and compelling evidence that the alleged event(s) did not happen. Any priest who is not restored to priestly service as the result of a credible or undenied allegation of abuse of a minor shall be prohibited from engaging in any activity on behalf of the diocese either as a paid person or volunteer in any of the external works of the diocese.
- If the priest is diagnosed as a pedophile or an ephebophile, or as having some equally unacceptable disorder, he will not be returned to priestly service.
- In any case where there exists credible or undenied allegations that abuse of a minor has taken place, pastoral and appropriate professional assistance will be offered to the victim involved and also to the family of the victim.
- In all cases, no diocesan representative or agent shall ever request or suggest that the victim or the victim's family refrain from or delay in exercising or pursuing any right available under civil law. The diocese respects the right of the victim to engage in such processes.
These policies have been developed over the years and have been followed closely. I believe such policies are necessary and give us sure guidance. In developing and implementing these, the bishop must always have before him the spiritual and emotional well-being of all concerned, and must be guided by justice, faith and truth.
I will continue this series next week so our people can be fully informed.
April 28, 2002 - Fourth in the series
A look at past allegations of sexual misconduct in diocese
This week, as this series of articles continues to unfold, I would like to share with our readers some of what we have had to face in this diocese on the painful matter of allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct by men who betrayed the trust inherent in their vocation.
I was installed as bishop of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend on May 1, 1985. Most of the cases with which we have had to deal came to my attention in my first years as your bishop. Most, but not all, of the allegations concerned offenses that were claimed to have happened many years ago. Misconduct by at least one priest was alleged to be ongoing when it was brought to my attention.
In every case, the priest was removed from his parish and sent for evaluation, which usually consisted of a week to 10 days. Following this, recommendations usually came for an extended period of therapy, sometimes as long as six or seven months. I soon determined that St. Luke's Institute, now located in Silver Springs, Md., provided the best and most accurate diagnosis.
In working with St. Luke's or any such institution, we are working with clinicians, men and women of exemplary character and strong professional backgrounds. However, especially in the early days, the report would often include recommendations that the priest could be returned to ministry, with certain significant limitations and restrictions.
One year, in Baltimore, I met with a distinguished psychiatrist who came with an accused priest finishing his therapy, and it was recommended that the priest could be returned to ministry within certain parameters. This recommendation was refused, as I had refused similar recommendations prior to this.
From the Holy Spirit came the light to realize that the bishop should not forfeit his pastoral judgment to these professionals, no matter how sincere and competent they were. It became necessary in some cases in those early days to overrule recommendations and inform the priest he simply could not return to ministry.
Whatever the value of their insights, in certain cases, it was my best pastoral judgment that I simply could not be morally certain that all the restrictions would be observed. It remains my judgment that most of the priests who were accused had no right to be priests.
The grace of state
There is something in our Catholic spiritual tradition called the grace of state. Married people, for example, from the sacrament of matrimony receive the light and strength to live up to the promises they made on the day of their marriage.
The bishop, who is above all a pastor, is promised on his day of episcopal ordination the light and wisdom and strength he needs to make those decisions that are right for the spiritual growth of his flock. He must make those decisions before God.
In the difficult pastoral judgments made on these problems, on which I even had to overrule the experts, I always found this special grace to be clearly present.
Some misunderstanding
This often brought about severe criticism. In one case, a priest brought forth canon lawyers and his own civil lawyers with attacks on the diocese, the office of bishop and personal attacks as well. In that case, and in others as well, the laity in the parish were misinformed by the priests in question, and I received many critical letters about my decisions.
I was still relatively new and often priests, not knowing the situation, did not understand why men were not returned to ministry. However, when priests were taken into confidence and the matter shared in general terms, they were unanimously supportive of the action taken. Indeed, the support of our priests has been a source of strength on this and all matters these past 17 years.
Counseling
To the best of my knowledge, in every case, counseling was offered to those who claimed they had suffered. In one case, we offered counseling to a person who came forward with claims who did not even know the identity of the alleged perpetrator. In every case, Indiana statutes were followed. It should also be mentioned that there were cases over the years of priests accused of being involved in other difficulties not associated with minors but totally unacceptable for a priest. All such cases that came to our attention have also been addressed, consistent with diocesan policies.
Costs: Financial and personal
The cost to the diocese has been relatively modest. Our insurance has covered a significant part of the cost. In largest part, these costs have consisted in counseling fees for those who claimed to have been victimized or hurt, evaluation and therapy for the priests involved, as well as legal fees. No money has ever been taken from a parish account for these payments. Nor have funds been taken from the Annual Bishop's Appeal. Also, in answer to a question that has arisen, no diocesan funds are being given to other dioceses to pay for their settlements, and no such costs will be paid in the future.
What cannot be estimated is the cost to those who have been hurt. People in the Catholic Church tend to give their priests instantaneous trust. This trust has been built up by exemplary priests over the years. The wounds, both spiritual and emotional, experienced by some people are severe. Those of us in leadership in the church must do everything we can to see that such offenses are never repeated. I believe we have been guided by the Holy Spirit and the intercessory prayers of Our Lady, the patroness of our diocese, on these matters during my 17 years as your bishop.
As this purification continues, I ask the prayers of everyone that the priesthood in this diocese, and indeed all in our diocese, will grow stronger in holiness, and that events such as these may never tarnish our church again.
In the present, intense publicity, many have raised questions about the age-old practice of requiring celibacy for priests. I will address that question next week.
I continue to thank all the major newspapers of our diocese for reprinting these articles.
May 5, 2002 - Fifth in the Series
Addressing comments made about the celibate priesthood
Some have linked the present crisis in the church with the requirement of celibacy for priests. For some, this is a serious concern. For others, it is rooted not in a hope for true and serious reform, but in a personal agenda. Still, the question requires examination.
Some history
As early as 306 A.D., the Council of Elvira in Spain mandated celibacy for the clergy, and other local synods or councils did as well. Many of the Church Fathers spoke approvingly of celibacy for priests. Among them were St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St. Augustine and St. Jerome. However, it was not universally mandated for priests until the Second Lateran Council in 1139. The Council of Trent (1546-63) affirmed this, and it has been a requirement in the Western Church since that time.
Celibacy is also honored in the Eastern Church. While in that tradition, in both the Orthodox and Catholic communities, married men may be ordained, there is no tradition of allowing ordained priests to marry. In both the East and West, celibacy has always been required for bishops.
Respect for celibate love as a way of life is rooted in the example of Christ, who lived this way. It is to him that the life of the priest must be deeply linked.
Questions that have arisen
It seems that a helpful way to address this issue might be to respond to some questions that have been raised in recent months, though certainly not for the first time.
- Is celibacy related to pedophilia? Pedophilia is a pathology which has nothing to do with celibacy. Most pedophiles are married. Tragic as it may seem, much abuse of small children comes from relatives, even parents. Most of the cases reported about failures in the priesthood are not pedophilia — sexual abuse of pre-pubescent children — but ephebophilia; that is, sexual relationships with teen-age boys. Both are reprehensible. Ephebophilia is homosexuality, and bishops must face this fact with courage in their seminary admission policy.
- Why does the church ask such a sacrifice? Celibacy, while not essential to the priesthood, is congruent with the priestly life. The priest is not simply a functionary. Rather, his life is a sign of Christ, the Good Shepherd, who gave himself totally in sacrifice for the redemption of mankind. This is brought out clearly on the day of his ordination, when a priest is instructed about his ministry at the Eucharist in these words:"Understand what you are doing. Imitate what you handle. Model your life on the Lord's cross."
The Catholic Church is a church of word and sacrament. As a sacramental church, it is a church of signs. The marriage covenant is a sign of Christ's fidelity to his people. The celibate priesthood, if lived joyfully, truthfully and as a way of love, is a visible sign of Christ, the Good Shepherd, who laid down his life for his flock. The church asks the priest to give up one of the most beautiful and profoundly human of all realities: marriage, a lifelong relationship with a good woman, and the beauty of family, children and grandchildren.
The church asks this for the people so that the sign of Christ, the Good Shepherd — indeed his very presence — will be among them and close to them. One tragedy of the present crisis is the violation of this commitment, the rupture of this sacred sign. While the percentage of priests who have harmed children is small, the pain is great. - It seems that this was possible in the past but is no longer possible, given the present culture. This position is theologically untenable. It implies that God's grace was sufficient at one time but is no longer so. The marriage covenant cannot be lived without grace and neither can the celibate priesthood. But the grace is there if we are open to it and, in the case of the priesthood, if the man has a true vocation. This is part of the problem that confronts the church. Men with serious pathologies and without a true call from God have been ordained. Also, this question implies that the church should change because of the culture; in this case, the culture of sexuality has changed. But the Gospel often requires us to resist the culture of the times, and even to change it.
- If celibacy remains a requirement for priestly ordination, then the church is limiting itself to a rather small segment of humanity, and so we tend to bring in those who are not qualified. The premise, which has been presented by recognized theologians, is false and the conclusion must be opposed. We recruit widely and seek out interest among many. But then we narrow our focus to those who have a true vocation. The call comes from God, but the church has the light and the wisdom to determine when the call is truly present. One sign of a true vocation is a man's willingness and ability to give up something very beautiful — family life — for something that is also beautiful and necessary for the church: the ministerial priesthood.In addition, there is something implicit in this question which is also theologically untenable; namely, that Christ is not giving this call to enough people. But Christ is calling a sufficient number of men to the priesthood. The Second Vatican Council confronted this question in an act of trust.
" Notwithstanding the regrettable shortage of priests, due strictness should always be brought to bear on the choice and testing of students. God will not allow the church to lack ministers if the worthy are promoted and those who are not suited to the ministry are guided with fatherly kindness and in due time to adopt another calling. These should be directed in such a way that conscious of their Christian vocation they will zealously engage in the lay apostolate."
(Second Vatican Council, "Decree on the Training of Priests")
What is not yet fully embraced is the call of Pope John Paul II, which reflects the Second Vatican Council, that every diocese and every parish must create a culture of vocations. This work is well begun in our diocese. It is the laity in various parishes — through the vocation committees, the Serra Club and many other pastoral efforts — that are fostering initiatives to create this culture of vocations, so that more young men may hear this call to the priesthood and that young men and women may hear the call to the religious life as priests, brothers and sisters. When the whole church sees itself as called by God, a sufficient number will hear Christ's unique call to be priests. - Is it really possible in these times to live a celibate life as a priest with joy and effectiveness? Absolutely. Thousands of priests prove it every day. I have been blessed in many ways as a priest. One great blessing is that I have given more than 50 retreats to priests and bishops around the country. On a retreat, one sees the inner life of the priest and bishop. I know that the vast majority of priests are living this life as a way of love and with joy and great integrity.One of the great popes in memory was John XXIII, beloved by Catholics and non-Catholics. I make my own his magnificent statement given to the synod of the Diocese of Rome, which he called at the beginning of his papacy.
" It deeply hurts us that . . . anyone can dream that the church will deliberately or even suitably renounce what from time immemorial has been, and still remains, one of the purest and noblest glories of her priesthood. The law of ecclesiastical celibacy and the efforts necessary to preserve it always recall to mind the struggles of the heroic times when the church of Christ had to fight for and succeeded in obtaining her threefold glory, always an emblem of victory, that is, the church of Christ, free, chaste and catholic."
Next week, I will address this question: What are the necessary components that must be part of the priestly formation, from admission to ordination and beyond, to ensure a mature and faithful presbyterate for a diocese? The following week, in the final article in this series, I will address the appointment of bishops and various claims made about my appointment here in light of my 1984 letter of warning about John Geoghan.
May 19, 2002 - Sixth in the series
Priestly formation requires careful supervision
Although the present crisis has brought much pain upon the Catholic Church and on those who wish her well, some positive results are beginning to appear. One of these is the concern of the laity about areas such as priestly formation. In the spirit of accountability, I wish to outline key areas of growth which, if properly understood and followed, give positive assurance of a healthy, noble, celibate priesthood.
Key areas of growth
As with married people and consecrated religious, a priest must bring to his vocation emotional or affective maturity, which is necessary for him to grow out of the narrow circle of his own self-preoccupation and become able to give and receive love. Sometimes called "oblative love," this enables one to make a gift of himself to another. This is achieved not by suppressing one's emotional and human needs, nor by allowing them to control one's life. Our emotions, after all, are a gift from God. God wishes us to guide and respect our emotional life, not suppress it. Earlier models of priestly formation sometimes failed in this area.
This must be accompanied by a growing maturity of faith and vocation. A man must know why he is a priest. The priest is part of the church's apostolic mission. We read of the apostles that Jesus called them by name, and called those he "desired." Or in another translation, "those he himself had decided on" (Mark 3:13). The gift of believing that Christ called him by name to be a priest is essential to the priest's maturity and to happiness. It is a gift that demands cooperation through prayer, sound theological study and competent spiritual direction.
One of the ones "he desired." But desired for what? The candidate is preparing to give up something profoundly human, which both responds to basic human need and is also very beautiful. He must believe that he is giving it up for the highest of reasons: because God has called him to it, because he sees the inner beauty of the priesthood, and so he embraces it freely and out of love.
Growth in these two areas helps the candidate become capable of achieving psychosexual maturity. The priest does not give us his sexuality, but he does give up, for the rest of his life, the physical expression of it. So, in fact, do married people except within their marriage. Thus, the seminarian sacrifices the beauty of marriage and family, not as an escape nor out of fear, but in response to God. The great priests I have known over the years were quietly convinced they would have been good fathers and good husbands. In fact, such a conviction is necessary for a joyful and mature acceptance of the priesthood and of celibacy, which is so congruent with it.
If all this is taking place, priestly celibacy does not impair the life of a man, but enriches it. People know when they meet such a priest and, most importantly, the priest himself knows it, and his life becomes filled with joy and purpose. Beginning with the Second Vatican Council and the documents that followed, the church has continually stressed such maturity.
" A priestly vocation demands human and Christian maturity so that the answer to this divine call may be based on faith, and so that the seminarian may be able to understand the sense of a vocation from God and realize what it demands."
("A Guide for Formation in Priestly Celibacy," Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education, 1974)
Means of ensuring such maturity: Admissions
The importance of seminary admissions cannot be overstated. An admissions policy, which includes — as the church has always insisted — psychological testing, interviews and investigation of family life, can find and eliminate at the very outset those with pathologies or other serious weaknesses, who by very definition do not have a vocation to the priesthood. A psychosexual interview should be part of this policy. Sound policies also ensure that the seminary itself will remain healthy. Such an assurance is necessary for the future of the church. Pope Paul VI grasped the importance of this in his beautiful encyclical on celibacy when he wrote these words, rooted in a truth prominent in Catholic spiritual tradition: that grace builds on nature.
"Those who are discovered to be unfit — either for physical, psychological or moral reasons — should be quickly removed from the path of the priesthood. Let teachers appreciate that this is one of their very grave duties. Let them not abandon themselves to false hopes and to dangerous illusions and let them not permit the candidate to nourish these hopes in any way, with the resultant damage either to himself or to the church. The life of the celibate priest, which engages the whole man so totally and so delicately, excludes in fact those of insufficient psychophysical and moral balance. Nor should anyone pretend that grace supplies for the defects of nature in such a man."
(Pope Paul VI, "Encyclical Letter on Priestly Celibacy," 1967)
Spiritual direction
There is one other means that is essential to priestly formation — spiritual direction. It is the church's "art of arts," and it is a prominent part of the great Catholic tradition of spirituality. A spiritual director who is well trained and who understands the nature of the emotional life, and at the same time is knowledgeable about the work of grace in the human soul, who does not simply encourage, but also confronts the candidate and who is able to see if a vocation is truly present and, also, when it is not present, is an essential presence in seminary formation. It was once my great privilege to be involved in such a ministry. Such priests play a role that cannot be replaced.
Following an international synod of bishops on priestly formation, Pope John Paul II presented a magnificent document with a title taken from the Scriptures, "I Will Give You Shepherds." It is a magna carta for seminary formation, and for the renewal of the church. The pope writes:
" The priest, who welcomes the call to ministry, is in a position to make this a loving choice, as a result of which the church and souls become his first interest, and with this concrete spirituality he becomes capable of loving the universal church and that part of it entrusted to him with the deep love of a husband for a wife."
(John Paul II, "I Will Give You Shepherds," 1992)
The policy and practice, which we are striving to follow in our diocese, is geared to accept and form such priests, and only such priests. May it be so everywhere.
May 26, 2002 - Seventh in a series
A few final reflections on the current church crisis
In this seventh and final article in a series in which I have tried to give light on the severe crisis that has fallen upon the Catholic Church, I would like to answer some questions that have arisen.
The Geoghan letter
As has been reported in newspapers and magazines, as well as on television and radio throughout the country, on Dec. 7, 1984, I wrote a letter to my ecclesiastical superiors in which, among other things, I gave warning about John Geoghan and urged that he not be assigned to St. Julia's Parish, Weston, Mass. The Boston Globe speculated that this letter was the reason for my appointment to this diocese. I can say with total certitude that this is not true. Such speculation created a further comment, which is not only untrue but theologically unsound and untenable.
I refer to a local commentator, a theologian, quoted in the March 15 Fort Wayne News-Sentinel with regard to appointments of bishops and specifically my appointment to this diocese. "Anyone who thinks it is the Holy Spirit is naive. It is a political process." Such a claim that the Holy Spirit has nothing to do with the appointment of bishops is cynical in the extreme. It is an affront to the Catholic faith as well as a denial of the teachings of the Second Vatican Council.
The council, faithful to revealed truth and to tradition, describes the human and the divine in the church as one interlocking reality. It shows clearly the presence of the Trinity in the life of the church. Were it not for the sustaining light and strength given by the Holy Spirit, the church would soon collapse.
Father Henri de Lubac, one of the great theologians of Vatican II, brought this comment to its logical conclusion when he wrote: "If the world lost the church, it would lose the redemption, too" ("The Splendor of the Church"). Such conviction, rooted in faith, remains our anchor and the reason for our hope as we go through this most painful time of purification.
At the same time, the following question is legitimate. Do such things as human selfishness, ambition and egotism sometimes get in the way of the Holy Spirit? Yes. Such weaknesses, which we all have from original sin, sometimes get in the way of the work of theologians also who, like bishops, can come to their task, which is so central to the work of the church, with their own prejudices and preconditions.
That is why true holiness, a spirit of repentance, awe in the presence of God and a sense of vocation should be part of the life of both the bishop and the theologian. The work of bishop and theologian, separate and distinct yet intrinsically linked, calls for holiness. But to say that the Holy Spirit has nothing to do with the appointment of bishops in the church goes against the holy Scriptures, especially the teaching of the Acts of the Apostles and 2,000 years of church history.
The Lord has entrusted the work of the church to human beings, but has assured us of his help, and he works in spite of our weakness. A key word in the Catholic theology of grace is cooperation. We are called to cooperate, despite our weakness, with the Holy Spirit.
Christ's death and resurrection have sanctified the church and won for us the gift of the Holy Spirit. At Pentecost, a feast just celebrated, these gifts were showered upon the church, and they remain. The fidelity of the church to its apostolic origin is such a gift. The guidance of the church in the appointment of bishops is such a gift, even though political and human ambition can get in the way of grace. The light given to the individual priest as to whether he should accept this call to the episcopacy is also a gift, if he is open to it. He must discern, with the help of the Holy Spirit in faith, if this call is truly from God.
The ability of the church, under the power of grace, to purify itself is also a gift. This is the task that now remains before all of us. No one is excused; we all must bend to the task and take up this work of renewal and purification.
For myself, at the time of my appointment, I believed, and believe even more strongly now, my mission to this historic see is part of the mission of Jesus Christ, which he has received from the Father. This was explicit in the Gospel at Pentecost: "As the Father has sent me, so I also send you" (John 20:21). I expect to be judged by Christ at the end as to whether I have been a shepherd after his heart. I will rely on his mercy.
The media
I would also like to share what has guided me in my response to the media. I am most grateful to the major newspapers in our diocese that have printed these seven articles. In addition to these columns, I have done 15 television interviews, including some in depth, four newspaper interviews and three radio conversations. However, I have limited my contact with the media to this diocese. I have turned down media requests from the Boston Globe, New York Times, CNN, NBC, ABC, "Dateline," BBC and others. Why?
This diocese represents the portion of the vineyard the Lord has given to me. I have never had any desire to be a national figure, but I do have the serious obligation and responsibility to teach the people of the Fort Wayne-South Bend Diocese and, to the extent possible, to speak to the entire community from the Catholic perspective. The local media have made this possible. I am most grateful.
A final word
Two events, which are part of my springtime every year, are now taking place in our diocese. This year I will administer the sacrament of confirmation at 37 parishes. Everywhere I meet hard-working priests, pained deeply by recent events yet living out their vocation to the full. It is also a time when I meet with our Priests' Personnel Board to plan changes in assignments. This is one of the most important works of the bishop. In fact, the best thing a bishop ever does for a parish is to send a good priest as pastor.
In 17 years no priest now working in the diocese has ever refused an assignment. Harking back to the promise of obedience they made to the bishop on the day of their ordination, a priest picks up his belongings and sets his face for another parish where he does not know anyone. He is leaving his spiritual family. It is part of his mission and it is beautiful to behold. I find it inspiring, and see it as part of the cross of Christ that priests willingly embrace. I also see the great tradition of priests in this diocese in working with young people. This must never change. I honor the words of Walker Percy, a Catholic writer: "My hero is the parish priest." Mine, too. My priests are my heroes. Yours, too, I think.
Supposing you went to church on a Sunday and there was no priest and no Mass. No possibility of receiving the sacrament of penance. No priest to call upon in time of death. The priest, as Pope John Paul II has said, is not chosen by the community, but is a gift of Christ to the community.
This present purification, along with the light of the Holy Spirit, will show forth the Catholic priesthood once again in all its beauty. All of us can help this purification to come about through our prayers. I am optimistic because I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit to purify the church as the Spirit has done so many times over the centuries. I treasure words that the great Catholic saint of renewal, Catherine of Siena, wrote as coming to her from Christ during her time of prayer.
" I tell you, the more the mystic body of holy church is filled with trouble now, the more it will abound in delight and consolation. And this shall be its delight: the reform of good holy shepherds who are flowers of glory, who praise and glorify my name, offering me the fragrance of virtue rooted in truth. This is the reform of the fragrant blessing of my ministers and shepherds — not that the fruit of the bride needs to be reformed, because it never spoils or is diminished by the sins of its ministers. For I, Eternal Truth, promise to refresh you and, after your bitterness, I will give you consolation, along with great suffering, in the reform of holy church."
(Catherine of Siena, "Twelfth Dialogue")
With such words of trust, we go forward in hope.
