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Tip
Sheet: Culture & Living Tip sheets highlight timely news and events at Washington University in St. Louis. For more information on any of the stories below or for assistance in arranging interviews, please see the contact information listed with each story. For comments on the Culture & Living news tips service, please contact the editor, Sue Killenberg McGinn at (314) 935-5254 or susan_killenberg_mcginn@aismail.wustl.edu. Severe priest shortage cause of 'sweeping wrongdoing under the rectory rug' Media assistance: Neil Schoenherr - (314) 935-5235 Source: Frank K. Flinn's Web site - (314) 935-7752 Source: Brief biography of Frank K. Flinn [St. Louis, Mo., April 2002] - The ongoing crisis in the Roman Catholic Church involving alleged and substantiated cases of sexual abuse and pedophilia by priests is creating a feeling of unease among parishioners. New cases from throughout the country and abroad are coming to light on nearly a daily basis.
"There are not enough young men entering the priesthood," says Frank K. Flinn, Ph.D., adjunct professor of religious studies in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. "So when a priest commits one of these terrible acts, the church feels it must keep him employed, and thus moves him to another parish, effectively sweeping his wrongdoing under the rectory rug. "For years the church cajoled, shamed and bribed the victims and their parents into silence with hush money," continues Flinn. "Meanwhile, abusive and pedophile priests were shifted from parish to parish, diocese to diocese, to spread their malfeasance. Authorities in the church were more interested in retaining priest quotas than the well-being of their weakest charges." The shortage of parish priests creates a Catch-22, says Flinn. "The social network supporting a celibate male priesthood has disintegrated," says Flinn. "Parishes no longer have three, maybe four priests living under one roof. What we find is a disconnected association of priestly loners who get lost in the swirl of modernity." In 1999, more U.S. priests died than were ordained -- which left 2,334 parishes out of the approximately 19,000 without a resident pastor -- according to a two-year study presented at the National Conference of Catholic Bishops in June 2000. "Dioceses are closing parishes right and left, not for want of people but for want of celibate priests," says Flinn. "This ecclesiastical crisis will not go away once the tabloid notoriety of the pedophile priests abates. The church is in sacramental default and that default is being caused by policies upheld by the Bishop of Rome." Flinn says the fact that the Catholic church does not ordain married men or women contributes to what he says will be an ongoing problem. "The church is very adamant that it will not allow married men and women to become ordained. Meanwhile, major Catholic theologians assert that there is no theological reason why a woman can't be ordained. "Allowing married men and women to be ordained would help increase the numbers of priests, and would allow the church to openly and properly deal with those who break the law," he adds. He points out that the leading biblical scholars and theologians have all but demonstrated that the terms "disciples" and "apostles" in early Christianity applied equally to men and women so there is no foundation for claiming "apostolic succession" exclusively for men. |
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