Confronting a Church in Controversy

In this book the clergy sex abuse controversy is considered in light of three basic faith convictions that have been brought into clearer focus during and since the Second Vatican Council. The first guiding claim builds on Vatican II's teaching, now championed by Pope Francis, that through the anointing of the Spirit of God the baptized are gifted and summoned to live out the prophetic office of all the faithful people of God by actively participating in the life and mission of the church. This is achieved through personal and collective discernment by means of synodality, that is, as all the members of the church "we" are finding our way together. The prophetic gift and office guide this journey by providing a sense of the faith in all the faithful not only to recognize, receive, and witness to the Word of God, but just as important in our endeavor in this book, to heed, receive, and respond to the voice of the Spirit perceived in the laments of victims grieving their violations, their wounds, and the disfunctions at all levels of the church made manifest in the clergy sex abuse. This requires a deeper assessment of these issues provided by post-Vatican II clarifications of social and structural sin based on a realistic assessment of the sources of the laments and conflicts, the wounds and disfunctions in the church that provide the impetus and conditions for genuine church reform. These claims will provide the theological framework of the book.

Praise for Confronting a Church In Controversy

"The definitive overview of the history and theological implications of the clerical sexual abuse crisis in the United States. Hinze outlines in one volume the tragic sinfulness of church leaders' enabling the sexual abuse of minors by clergy, the prophetic voices of victim-survivors and others whose calls for truth telling exposed these crimes, and the possible ways forward in which the church can journey in lament, repentance, and pursuit of justice."
-Brian P. Flanagan, associate professor of theology, Marymount University, Arlington, Virginia; president, the College Theology Society (CTS)

"Hinze centers the voices and experience of victim-survivors; he weaves together the insights of historians, psychologists, and journalists. In doing this, he produces a volume that is an unflinching, granular look at how and why the church failed to protect the most vulnerable. This examination invites readers to consider how the sexual abuse crises in the church persist in the forms of clericalism, hierarchicalism, and authoritarian stances on contested moral issues. Rather than end his exploration there, Hinze provides readers with concrete paths forward that prioritize justice, dialogue, and lay empowerment. In short, this book made me feel hopeful about the church's future."
-Natalia Imperatori-Lee, professor and chair, Religious Studies Department; director, Catholic Studies Program, Manhattan College

"We are all in Bradford Hinze's debt. Taking on a distasteful but profoundly necessary task, Hinze's sober and well-documented treatment of the history of clerical sexual abuse of minors in the United States is a copybook example of how to address emotionally difficult issues. No one who reads this book will need to look any further for the history or, more importantly, for an account of the theological issues that it raises."
-Paul Lakeland, Aloysius P. Kelley, SJ, Professor of Catholic Studies; director, Center for Catholic Studies, Fairfield University

Table of Contents

 Preface ...... ix
 Acknowledgments ...... xv
 Chapter 1: Begin with the Laments of the Wounded ...... 1
 A Narrative Portrait of Violations ...... 3
 A Statistical Portrait ...... 11
 A Deeper Pedagogy: What Trauma Theory Teaches ...... 15
 The Groaning of God's Spirit in the Wounded ...... 18
 Conclusion ...... 23
 Chapter 2: The Anatomy of a Pathology ...... 26
 Interdisciplinary Assessments ...... v27
 Theological Diagnoses ...... 44
 Conclusion ...... 56
 Chapter 3: Prophetic Voices, Protests, and Movements ....... 57
 Speaking Out: Prophetic Parrhesia ...... 59
 Victim- Survivors: Networks of the Abused ...... 61
 Allies: Voice of the Faithful ...... 66
 Witnesses: Investigative Journalists ...... 71
 Advocates and Arbiters of Justice: Grand Juries ...... 76
 Conclusion ...... 83
 Chapter 4: The Responses of Bishops ...... 84
 Disparate Reactions before 2001 ...... 86
 The Dallas Charter in 2002 ...... 91
 The Return of Crisis Management in the Summer of 2018 ...... 95
 The Responses of Three Bishops of Rome ...... v96
 Francis Convenes a Summit in 2019 ...... 107
 Conclusion ...... 110
 Chapter 5: Changes Long Resisted ...... 114
 Fully Recognizing the Equality and Authority
of All the Baptized ...... 115
 Reconsidering Priesthood ...... 120
 The Neglected Need: A Realistic Theology of Sexuality
 and Gender ...... 133
 Conclusion ...... 136
 Chapter 6: Can We Find a Way Together? ...... 137
 The Synodal Way ...... 140
 The Way of Restorative Justice ...... 150
 The Way of Seekers at the Margins ...... 154
 Conclusion ...... 159
 Notes ...... 161
 Index ...... 183