Book Review
Associate Professor of Psychology
St. Thomas More College, Saskatoon, Canada
The Courage to be Catholic: Crisis, Reform, and the Future of the Church
George Weigel (Basic Books, New York, NY: 2002), $22.
Over the past few months, George Weigel`s text, The Courage to be Catholic, has received some favorable reviews as a tonic for the sexual abuse crisis with which the Catholic church has been coping. Forthright and, at times, captivating, the text situates the current crisis of the Church in the context of past crises, pointing out that during trying times, return to roots and fidelity is what ultimately has both strengthened and saved the Church from peril. While there is no doubt that George Weigel has a tremendous knowledge about the history and nature of the Catholic church as well as moral theology, Weigel`s arguments are based on assumptions about sexual abuse perpetration that are misguided. If clergy are to seriously begin to address the problem of sexual abuse, effective problem solving must start with careful and competent understanding of the nature of the problem, not just as one of morality but as one of mental disorder and criminal behavior.
Weigel and others have recently made a point of distinguishing between "ephebophilia" and "pedophilia," although the two terms refer to essentially the same "paraphilia," which is a type of mental disorder. The difference between ephebophilia and pedophilia lies in the maturational level of the child, pedophilia referring to sex with a prepubescent child and ephebophilia referring to sex between an adult and a child who has entered puberty. [1} Ephebophilia is not by any account a commonly used term in most lay or professional circles, pedophilia being the commonly used term. Weigel describes pedophilia as "sexual attraction" to prepubescent children. However, sexual abuse is not about "attraction" but about physiological arousal in relation to disturbed desires for power, control, manipulation, and abuse of a vulnerable human being.
Weigel wants readers to believe that the crisis in the Church is not one of pedophilia but of ephebophilia, which he equates in "normal English" as "homosexual molestation" (p. 20), ignoring altogether the fact that ephebophilia could also apply to the abuse of adolescent girls. Weigel`s argument leaves readers with the impression that he considers it somehow better or less heinous for priests to have had sexual relations with adolescents in school settings or seminaries rather than with children. The implication of Weigel`s logic is that adult-adolescent sexual relations may imply less heinous behavior as well as homosexual relations between mutually consenting partners. The thrust of his argument is that it was gay culture and the Church`s tacit acceptance of homosexuality that caused the sexual abuse crisis within the Church.
Weigel blurs this distinction between sexual misconduct (vow violation) and sexual abuse, normalizing the concept of adult-adolescent sexual relations as simply one form of sexual misconduct on a continuum of sexual misconduct types that can and do occur both in the priesthood and amongst seminarians. In other words, he makes sexual abuse not an issue of crime and mental disorder but of sin and a violation of vows. Assuredly, sexual abuse is a form in which some clergy violate their vows, but it is also much more than that.
Weigel`s moral and rhetorical stance that homosexuality is "sign of spiritual disturbance" (p. 77) makes it simple for him to say that the gay subculture in the Church is directly responsible for the sexual abuse of children and adolescents. However, it is not at all just to equate homosexuality or "gay culture" with child abuse. The North American Man-Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) promotes adult-youth sexual activity, but they are in no way representative of the entire gay community. The problem with both NAMBLA`s and Weigel`s arguments is that they presuppose that consensual sexual relations can occur between and adolescent and an adult, when, given the developmental status and level of most adolescents, it cannot. Even the mental health professions have had their share of dissent and discussion regarding the issue of adult-adolescent sexual relations because some researchers have ignored the fact that adolescent boys are vulnerable due to their developing sense of identity and their relative level of immaturity in comparison with the average male adult. This immaturity makes it impossible for most youth to be able to give true consent to sex with an adult.
Although Weigel keeps using the term "homosexual molestation," his arguments within this book leaves the impression that it is not molestation because priests are having sex with teenagers, but it is molestation because it is sinful "gay sex." Weigel likely would be horrified if his ideas were in any way associated with NAMBLA. Nevertheless, his turning to the ephebophilia argument also turns him to the same line of reasoning that supports NAMBLA`s stance on adult-adolescent sexual relations.
Weigel mentions that seminary reforms "seem to have proven effective in preventing sexual abuse" (p. 50), a grandiose claim at best, but then focuses on the rejection of homosexuality as the primary problem underscoring present problems relating to sexual abuse. Rather than focusing on homosexuality, Weigel would do better to understand that people who have a homosexual orientation are not de facto child and adolescent sexual predators. Instead, he blames the Church for not having better seminary discipline and for failing to address issues of gay lifestyle amongst its seminarians, faculty, and clergy. He also places blame squarely on the Church for either accepting or failing to address the sexual revolution of the mid-twentieth century, as if somehow both gay culture and the sexual revolution are at fault for the occurrence of child and adolescent sexual abuse within North American society. This is like blaming democracy for crime.
In addition, Weigel contradicts his own very astutely made point that homosexual behavior in the Catholic priesthood was noted as a problem as far back as eleventh century, suggesting that the current crisis is not one that has been caused by the modern system of formation and conversion of candidates. Engagement in sexual relations with other adults is a violation of the vow of celibacy. Engagement in sexual relations with children and immature adolescents is a crime, a mental disorder, and the fault of individual sexual predators, not the Church or the gay community or the celibate lifestyle. Nevertheless, failure to address a known problem in a responsible manner surely is the fault of the episcopate.
Rather than blaming the culture of therapy for episcopal failure, Weigel might have recognized that bishops who moved pedophiles from parish to parish likely were acting within the scope of their own authority and not on the recommendation of a psychologist or psychiatrist who is competent and experienced in working with pedophiles. It is very unlikely that a psychologist experienced in working with pedophiles would ever have recommended that a person at high risk for re-offense be transferred to another position of trust and authority over children and youth. For a psychologist knowingly to do so would constitute a breach of their professional duty to protect children and youth from imminent harm. People in authority within spiritual communities, therefore, have a special duty to ensure that they are working with and being advised by competent, trained professionals, not just "therapists," which could refer to nearly anyone with or without proper training and experience.
Furthermore, Weigel identifies "sexual misconduct by persons placed in positions of trust and responsibility for the young" as being "wicked and scandalous" (p. 21). Sexual abuse being more than misconduct, it is also more than just wicked and scandalous-it is a mental disorder and a crime of high recidivism, particularly when it occurs between adult men and boys. Therefore priests have a special and particular duty-exactly like that of physicians, psychologists, and psychiatrists-not to engage in sexual relations with their parishioners or others who are involved with them as a consequence of their clerical role. In addition, Weigel`s claims are wholly unsatisfactory because he implies that formation and conversion are primary forms of prevention for both mental disorder and criminal behavior by priests, ignoring the need for careful psychological screening of candidates as well as treatment, rehabilitation, accountability, and ultimately, redemptive grace for those who fall.
Weigel also misses the incest analogy that is apparent when we consider the priest as pastor or father to the people in his community and parish. The incest analogy of sexual abuse applies due to nature of the priest-parishioner or shepherd-flock relationship and is even more poignant when the vulnerability of children and adolescents is considered. Discussion of sexual issues in parishes is a crucial starting point. Strong pastoral leadership, just like strong parenting, gives good moral direction and decision making around sexual issues and does not "keep things silent" in the family, which is more the hallmark of incestuous relationships, parental ineffectiveness, or spousal/familial over-control.
Priests must be held to a higher standard of behavior (like psychologists and medical doctors), and churches must take the problem of pedophilia`s chronicity and recidivism seriously. The challenge to church leaders today is not to take responsibility for the crimes and sins of individual priests but to deal effectively with those crimes and sins as leaders of a faith community. Allowing secular authorities to deal with violations of secular law according to principles of due process and the rule of law would enable church leaders to focus on the salvation and ministerial issues as well as canon law and the proper shepherding of their flocks.
[1] Age difference between the persons involved is also taken into account, with two or more years typically considered a clinically and, often, legally significant age difference.
