To be against clericalism is not the same as being anticlerical.
The
latter signifies strong secular resistance to the Catholic Church’s
social and political power.
Clericalism is about an excessive emphasis
on the role of the clergy in the Church’s internal affairs. It implies
clerical elitism, the superiority of the priesthood over the laity.
Anticlericalism, as a concept in Continental European politics, is some
way past its sell-by date.
But clericalism is very much still in
currency as a key concept in analysing the cultural factors that gave
rise to the clerical sex-abuse scandal inside the Catholic Church.
It
has almost become de rigueur for church leaders to say they are against
clericalism in this context.
Clericalism was dealt a heavy blow by the emphasis in the teaching of Vatican II on the priesthood of all believers and on common baptism. But there is evidence of a clericalist backlash among some of those undergoing training for the priesthood or recently ordained.
Clericalism was dealt a heavy blow by the emphasis in the teaching of Vatican II on the priesthood of all believers and on common baptism. But there is evidence of a clericalist backlash among some of those undergoing training for the priesthood or recently ordained.
In dress and attitude, some of them appear to hanker –
almost narcissistically – after a restoration of the priest’s elevated
status that characterised parish life in the 1950s.
A softer form of
clericalism is still apparent in diocesan structures and in the Vatican
itself, where few lay people are to be found, and usually in relatively
junior positions.
And clericalism automatically marginalises or excludes
women.
It is also sometimes implicit in the motivation of those who are pushing for the return of the Tridentine Rite to general use. While the post-Vatican II new-rite Mass emphasises the Eucharist as an activity shared by the whole community, the Mass named after the Council of Trent puts more weight on the separation of roles, with the priest active and the congregation passively watching.
The Vatican is continuing to put ammunition in the hands the pro-Tridentine lobby in the Church, as in the latest instruction, Universae Ecclesiae, issued by the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei.
Does it not realise how much
this will encourage divisive tensions in the Church and a spirit of
reactionary rebellion against local episcopal authority, not to mention
the revival of a misogynistic and elitist clericalism?
The reinstatement of the Tridentine Rite was intended to unify the Church and reconcile those alienated from it; there is a real danger of it having the opposite effect. If bishops are not alarmed by this, they should be.
The reinstatement of the Tridentine Rite was intended to unify the Church and reconcile those alienated from it; there is a real danger of it having the opposite effect. If bishops are not alarmed by this, they should be.
Meanwhile, the latest instruction from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) regarding the handling of clerical abuse allegations moves in the opposite direction.
It recognises that
while bishops cannot shirk their responsibilities, they cannot be a law
unto themselves in such matters.
National episcopal conferences are
being required to draw up guidelines and submit them to the Vatican.
The
importance of cooperation with secular authorities such as the police
is emphasised, though curiously the CDF only stresses the duty to report
all cases where that is already required by law.
It needs to be more
general than that: in many countries there is no obligation to report a
crime.
That apart, the instruction moves the Church into the real world,
with best practice (as in England and Wales, perhaps) being made the
common standard.
As a result, the Church will be that much less clerical
– and safer.