(In)fallibility of the Catholic Church

With the scandals facing the Roman Catholic Church of today including molestation, homosexuality, and pedophilia, it is obvious that the viewpoints of many of the church's devoted parishioners have drastically changed towards a sentiment of fallibility within the church. From anti-Judaism and anti-Semitisms to the crusades and the Church's role in the Holocaust, the Catholic Church is no stranger to controversy. Many regard the church itself to be at fault and responsible for much of the anti-Judaism, and later anti-Semitism, which led to the Holocaust. However, the Catholic Church teaches that the church itself has always been pure and without fault. They believe that it was created by Christ and is maintained by God, free from error. They believe that it is only individual church members and leaders who have sinned. While this may be truth in part, the rising sentiment of distrust has drastically increased due to controversies that have occurred lately.

Scandals are bound to arise, but woe to him by whom they
do arise! It would be better for him if a millstone were
hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea, than that
he should cause one of these little ones to sin. (Luke 17:1-2)
Thus read the sobering words of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke,
and they have certainly proved to be true, at least if applied to
scandals arising in the Roman Catholic Church, for scandals
have arisen, from the accusations made against Pope Callistus
in the early 3rd century, to the conduct of such figures as
Alexander VI among the Renaissance popes, to the current
scandal that has emerged over sexual misconduct with minors
by members of the priesthood. (Cavadini, 1)

According to church beliefs, the infallibility of the pope is not a dogma that suddenly appeared in church teaching, but a doctrine that was implicit in the early church. An infallible pronouncement-whether made by the pope alone or by an ecumenical council-usually is made only when some doctrine has been called into question. The large majority of Catholics has never doubted most doctrines.

Catholicism has two main ecclesiastical meanings, described in Webster's Dictionary as: a) "the whole orthodox Christian Church, or adherence thereto." The term comes from the Greek katholikein meaning "general" or "universal". (Webster's Dictionary)

Most of the Catholic Churches share certain essential
distinctive beliefs and practices. The early Christian
Church came to be organized under five patriarchs, the
Bishops of Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople,
and Rome. All the Patriarchs recognized the Bishop of
Rome as "the first among equals," with doctrinal or
procedural disputes often referred to Rome for an opinion,
but with no statement of monarchical ecclesiastic status for
Rome. When the Imperial capital moved to Constantinople,
papal influence was often challenged. While Rome claimed
special authority descending from St. Peter and St. Paul, who
died in Rome and were buried there, Constantinople who had
Become the residence of the Emperor and the Senate. Likewise,
the churches of Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria were all
older than Rome; the Antioch had also been founded by St. Peter
-earlier than the Church at Rome was founded. (Word IQ)

The true meaning of infallibility starts by stating the ecclesiological truths that are assumed to be established before the question of infallibility arises. These are assumptions that Christ founded His church as a visible and perfect society that he intended it to be absolutely universal, He wished this church to be one, with a visible corporate unity of faith, government, and worship, and he bestowed upon his apostles to teach and govern. It might be best to mention that infallibility means more than immunity from actual error; it means exemption from the possibility of fault. Therefore, according to dogma, there is no possibility of the church or the Pope being mistaken.

The Vatican Council as a divinely revealed dogma defines the explanation of the Pope being infallible and the infallibility claimed for the Pope is the same as claimed for the Church. The Catholic Church believes that this infallibility of both the Pope and the Church is proven in the scriptures. Yet, transgressions have occurred in the past and in the current Catholic Church.

Two of the most familiar past contraventions of the Catholic Church would be the Crusades and the Inquisition. The Crusades were wars between Christians and Muslims and the first one was fought in 1071. Thousands of Hungarians, Greeks, Jews, and Germans were killed and the crusaders set up kingdoms along the coast of Palestine and Syria to defend the land they had acquired. There were a total of eight crusades although many of them failed. Just a couple of hundred years later, Pope Gregory IX set up a church court (inquisition) to end heresy. Heresy was beliefs that the church thought was wrong. Heretics could be any number of things including a person who believed in the coexistence of two ultimate principles, good and evil for example. People accused of heresy had one month to confess; those people came up before the Inquisition until they admitted or acknowledged what they were accused of. They were punished by being whipped or sent to jail, but were nonetheless welcomed back into the church. Another example of discontent within the Catholic Church and its members would be the church's role in the Holocaust.

Beliefs and feelings of the European Catholics toward
Jews varied considerably on the eve of the Holocaust.
anti-Semitism, it is true, was prevalent everywhere. But
the kinds and degrees of anti-Semitism differed widely
from east to west and from north to south. Scholars have
pointed to the vehement anti-Semitism of the church
fathers have drawn up concordances comparing anti-
Semitic policies of medieval Christian rulers with those
of the Nazis. Although these facts cannot be contested,
traditional Christian anti-Semitism did not cause the
Holocaust. However, along with more modern varieties
of anti-Semitism, it conditioned more European Catholics
to become part of Hitler's murderous machinery. (Phayer, 1)

Along with the past transgressions there is the current problem of sexual abuse in the church. Some believe that the celibacy requirement of priests in the church may contribute to the sexual abuse that has taken place. The Catholic Church has had a long tradition of requiring celibacy of its priests; however, priests were not always required of this. It was actually after the dark ages when a decline in morality ensued that Pope Benedict VIII brought in stronger laws to support celibacy. Given all these past violations, the church has had many crosses to bear, but the recent scandal has only added fuel to the fire that has been smoldering for years.

In the last couple of years, the Catholic Church has fallen under further scrutiny due to these recent allegations of sexual abuse by priests. What is more troubling, church officials supposedly covered many of the allegations up. According to a survey by the Washington Post, approximately less than 1.5% of the estimated 60,000 or so men who are or have been part of the Catholic Priesthood were accused of sexual abuse. However, the most troubling news came to many parishioners when the Bishops the Catholic Church had a meeting in November of 2003 and drafted a compromised version of the "zero tolerance" policy. What disturbs many people is the fact that the church covered up allegations of abuse for many years. This abuse was kept out of the public knowledge. Victims who came forward were ignored or paid off while the offending priests were transferred to another parish or sent for counseling, but never punished by a justice system. Even while the church had accumulated detailed information about the direst of offenders, it was years before those priests were even removed from the parish and then only after the public became aware of these offenses, not while it was secret within the church. Some people think that the rules on celibacy in the church should be changed. The principle of celibacy comes from a saying from Christ that reads, "Some have renounced marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 10:12). Yet, if celibacy was not a requirement for priesthood, might this change the abuse cycle? On the other hand, if there is no direct correlation between celibacy and pedophilia then isn't this an individual crime? Some have noted that perhaps the church is due for an overhaul, and it would be in its best interest to allow priests to marry and women to enter the priesthood. It would surely help with the shortage of priests in the church. A priest could still remain celibate if they so choose yet if they feel the calling to marry then they would not be breaking their vows. However, many pedophilias are married and women so perhaps it is more of an individual case study than a look at the entire hierarchy of the church.

The John Jay listed the main characteristics of the sex abuse incidents reported. These included:

-An overwhelming majority of the victims, 81 percent, were males. The most vulnerable were boys aged 11 to 14, representing more than 40 percent of the victims. This goes against the trend in general U.S. society where the main problem is men abusing girls.

-A majority of the victims were post-pubescent adolescents with a small percentage of the priests accused of abusing children who had not reached puberty.

-Most of the accused committed a variety of sex acts involving serious sexual offenses.

-The most frequent context for abuse was a social event and many priests socialized with the families of victims.

-Abuses occurred in a variety of places with the most common being the residence of the priest.

The response of the Roman Catholic Church to sex abuses by its priests involved numerous methods to avoid criminal prosecution of the priests. This led to the widespread scandal when the cases were made public. The priests were allowed access to children even after the allegations were made and because of this, the public was outraged. With priests being only counseled at best and simply transferred in most cases, catholic parishioners and the public alike could not understand how this could happen. There were even allegations of systematic plots to cover up evidence. "Like society at large, the Catholic Church has been slow, not only to recognize the prevalence of child abuse in its own ranks, but to realize the degree of trauma it causes to the victim." (Rossetti, 1)

Can the Catholic Church redeem itself to the world? At the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops a Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People was drawn up. The preamble included the understanding that the sexual abuse of minors and children had caused enormous pain, anger, and confusion. It acknowledged that secrecy had crated an atmosphere that inhibited the healing process for these victims. They acknowledged their mistakes as bishops and apologized. Was this enough to heal the hearts of people around the world? The articles included in the preamble were as follows: The diocese/eparchies will reach out to victims and survivors and their families and demonstrate a sincere commitment to their spiritual and emotional well-being, they will also put mechanisms in place to be able to respond quickly to any allegation where there is reason to believe the sexual abuse of a child has been committed, they will not enter into confidentiality agreements except for substantial reasons brought forward by the victims or survivors themselves, they will report all allegations of abuse to proper authorities, there will be clear and well publicized boundaries for priests, communication policy will be developed and many other various forms of commitment. Along with these articles, an Office for Child and Youth Prosecution will be established. A review board that will include parents will monitor this office. Also implemented was evaluation of background checks for all diocesan/eparchial and parish personnel who have regular contact with minors. No priest was to be transferred out of the parish if an act of abuse had occurred. This is something that had happened numerous times in the past and was a very important part of this preamble, as well as the other articles. However, this might have been a little too late for many members of the Catholic Church. Below is an example of this sentiment.

Voice of the Faithful, Inc is an organization composed of Catholics striving to be faithful to the teachings of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Recently, they conducted a survey on the feelings of Catholic Parishioners about the current scandal. The following results show that the public is not quite sure that things have been rectified within the Catholic Church.

Voice of the Faithful
State of the Crisis Survey Results

Agree Disagree

MOST of the damaging news about clergy 26% 74%
sexual abuse in the Catholic Church has
already been disclosed.

RESULTS of civil investigations into 79% 21%
clergy sexual abuse should be
released even if there was no criminal
indictments

THE BISHOP of my diocese is working 31% 69%
to restore trust.

CATHOLIC bishops are genuinely 23% 77%
committed to cleaning up the clergy
sexual abuse crisis.

THE VATICAN is genuinely committed 11% 89%
to cleaning up the clergy sexual abuse
crisis.

Obviously, Catholicism is undergoing a crisis of leadership. With numbers of members declining, it would seem relevant that the church find a way to build the trust of its members and the general public. One problem with the scandal is that when priests are ordained, it is a holy event and it takes an ecclesiastical action to defrock a priest. One cannot simple "fire" the priest. There is also the issue of accountability. The church may forgive the priest for their transgressions, yet the offender needs to be held accountable for their actions. Another dilemma with the public is that they may view sexual abuse by priests very differently from the same or similar crimes by non-Catholic clergy. The Catholic Church is generally seen as a monumental society with a clearly defined unyielding chain of command. Thus, a case of abuse becomes a scandal rather than a local parish problem. But, it becomes a scandal due to the fact that the issues were covered up. By covering up a serious scandal, the church only weakened itself in the eyes of everyone involved. Most will agree that "sweeping the scandal under the rug" was a bad choice when it comes to an establishment, which should be built on love, trust, and faith. If a moral panic develops, some negative impact could occur such as the vast majority of Roman Catholic priests who are ethical, dedicated, and celibate will be subjected to public suspicion, the good work of the Church will be ignored as overwhelming attention is paid to the moral panic, abuse by non-Catholic religious leaders may be largely ignored and victims of recovered memory therapy whose memories of abuse are unrelated to real events will be partly or completely disabled emotionally by false memories. With the past transgressions of the Catholic Church, this is a scandal that should not have happened. The abuse should have been swiftly taken care of and justice served instead of yet another issue of hiding the facts. Most people can forgive if given the option but how can one forgive if that issue is a secret from which they were kept? It's time for a change within the church so that infallibility is not questioned. However, it's safe to say that many people are leaning towards a definite sentiment of fallibility within the church. Simply stated, if the church and the pope is infallible yet church members know that hiding a severe crime is wrong, then they may be questioning the infallibility. How can an institution be flawless yet keep crimes against children hidden? Can an establishment be perfect and yet still made the wrong decisions? Many people think not. This is the very reason that the growing sentiment of church members and the public, if they even believed in infallibility of the church in the first place, is not shifting towards a feeling of fallibility, the very reaction the church would not want. If the Catholic Church wants to turn those emotions around they need to focus on the responsibility of infallibility, which means incapable of error and not liable to mislead, deceive, or disappoint. With the latest scandal, this is obviously a contradiction that has undeniably affected the public and church members.