Roman Catholic Clericalism: Three Historical Stages in the Legislation of a Non-Evangelical, Now Dysfunctional, and Sometimes Pathological Institution

THE CLERICAL SCANDAL OF SEXUAL-ABUSE and coverups, caused by a significant minority of the episcopacy and presbyterate of the Roman Catholic Church, has precipitated a strategic intellectual debate. On one side, the so-called 'conservative' intellectual diagnosis blames what some see as a broad presence within the contemporary Western Roman Catholic clergy of persons with homosexual tendencies. On the other side, the so-called 'progressive' intellectual diagnosis blames "Clericalism," which it sees only as a problematic psychological attitude, or an authoritarian, non-transparent, and unaccountable organizational culture, or both. This small book has not been written to defend either side of that debate, but rather to understand how Roman Catholic Clericalism is a systemic institution. Even so, it is important to state that any 'conservative' scapegoating of persons with a homosexual orientation for the clerical sexual-abuse and coverup scandals, as if homosexuality itself were the cause, blasphemes the image of God in those among us with a homosexual orientation. All human persons, regardless of sexual orientation, carry the beauty and dignity of our loving Creator's sacred image. It is also important to state that, while the 'progressive' diagnosis is correct at the surface level, it nonetheless fails to unveil the deep root of Clericalism as an historically legislated and non-evangelical institution, which inevitably regenerates problems and even pathologies for each successive clerical generation. The 'progressive' diagnosis also fails to explore how the non-evangelical institution of Roman Catholic Clericalism was historically constructed by imperial, papal, and conciliar legislation over more than a millennium and a half, and how it is now undermining the Western Catholic evangelization. Deepening the analysis of Clericalism to its foundational and tenacious institutional level is the purpose of this small book. JOE HOLLAND is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy & Religion from Saint Thomas University in Miami Gardens, Florida. He is also President of Pax Romana / Catholic Movement for Intellectual & Cultural Affairs USA, based in Washington DC. The author of 17 other books, he holds a PhD, from the University of Chicago.