Lead story
‘The Way I See It’: The Problem of Clericalism
Gerald Archibald, PhD, Edmonton
Volume 33 Issue 10, 11 & 12 | Posted: December 19, 2019
Introduction
Introduction
I have the honour of writing a column for the Island Catholic News (ICN). This will be my first column. I would like to make a few comments at the beginning so you will get to know a little about me.
I live in Edmonton, Alberta and have been a supporter and advocate for Island Catholic News since the Prairie Messenger ceased publication, approximately two years ago. I believe strongly in Catholic journalism, but in the kind that covers the widest range of topics that should interest Catholics and other interested readers without the fear of being heavily edited or rejected as being irreverent or ‘radical’. That is why I believe strongly in ICN.
I am married to Joanne, and we have four adult children and 14 grandchildren ranging from two years of age to 29. Family functions are a priority for us, and we do our share of transporting kids to various sporting events when their parents are unable to do so. We feel a very close connection with our children, their spouses, and our grandchildren.
I am officially retired but do some volunteer work as well as reading current books and articles, both spiritual and secular. I also write articles pertaining to current issues for various newspapers.
I was raised in an Irish Catholic home and attended Catholic schools until university. One of those years was with the Franciscans for my grade 11 at St. Anthony’s College (Boarding School/total immersion). To this day I have a deep love for the Franciscans. My year with them changed my life.
After high school, I joined the Redemptorist Congregation, and studied in Edmonton (both with the Redemptorists and University of Alberta), Keswick, Ontario (Novitiate), Windsor, Ontario (Major Seminary and University of Windsor), and Aylmer, Quebec (Major Seminary).
I took temporary vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience but left the seminary just prior to taking final vows. I ended up with a Bachelor of Arts (honours) and three years of theology. Vatican II was taking place during my time in Windsor and Aylmer, and I became an ardent student and follower of Vatican II proceedings, which has continued to this day.
I had several careers in my lifetime, ranging from being a social worker, to CEO of the Grey Nuns of Alberta (12 years), as well as having my own consulting firm, part of which involved conducting many workshops on mission integration for Catholic hospitals in Alberta. I was also Chairperson of the Edmonton Community Board for Persons with Developmental Disabilities for five years. During my working career, I managed to complete a Doctorate Degree in Public Administration.
But I would like to stress that my years with the Franciscans, Redemptorists, and Grey Nuns helped shape my spirituality, attitudes, and directions in life. I met so many dedicated authentic people during those years. I keep in close contact with many of them.
I should note as well that I will be coming back to various topics that I may have touched upon in an earlier column. Some of the topics I would like to cover are extensive and complicated in nature. For example, Vatican II could never be adequately treated in one part of one’s column let alone in three or four books.
My columns and messages within them are mine only, and are meant to be current for the times we live in. I only ask that readers suspend judgement of any message until the whole article has been read. And perhaps not even then…just thinking about them with an open mind would be a grateful recommendation.
Followers of Jesus
The earliest reference to Jesus in historical terms (not including the gospels) was by Flavius Josephus written about the time when the gospels were written. It is a stunning statement which described the followers of Jesus: “those that have loved him at the first and did not let go of their affection for him.” What powerful words indeed. Are we those types of followers of Jesus? Can we be? Words and questions for serious meditation!
Pope Francis clearly is a follower of Jesus and is doing his best to bring about some very basic changes to the Church. So often in his morning mass homilies and during homilies to larger audiences, he refers to the underlying problem in the Church as being clericalism. Clericalism is rampant and leads to an endless array of problems which end up as scandals throughout the church.
The other exhortation he often makes is that ordained ministers (priests, deacons, bishops, cardinals, and the pope himself) could do infinitely more to mix with people, both those who may have some attachment to the Catholic church and those in the larger society. His famous phrase of ‘smelling like sheep’ is what he is driving at. This is clearly referenced in Vatican II in the document “The Church in the Modern World”. The Church must adopt a ‘servant leadership’ approach to truly be followers of Jesus.
Even some nonreligious large corporations are promoting this type of leadership in the secular world. When I was in the consulting field, I witnessed this trend and helped some organizations adopt such leadership. How do we get to the point where clericalism is eradicated and a servant leadership ‘smelling like sheep’ mentality is achieved? I will touch upon many aspects of this in future columns but will only reference clericalism and priestly formation as keys to truly adopt servant leadership.
Clericalism
Since the time of Constantine when Christianity became the state religion, clericalism began to take hold. This is the notion that anyone in the hierarchy of the church, ordained or not, or members of a religious order behave in such a way, however minor, that they have something more special than lay people.
Members of the laity enable this attitude very easily because it is so often expected by members of the hierarchy. Lip service can easily be given to the notion of equality, but it is most often not the case. As we all know, the Church has experienced tremendous scandals relating to child sexual abuse. It has since been proven that many of these abuses were covered up by priests, bishops, and cardinals. What is at the root of this?
James Carroll in his explicit and damning article in the June edition of The Atlantic has this to say:
“Clericalism, with its cult of secrecy, its theological misogyny, and its hierarchical power, is at the root of Roman Catholic disfunction… clericalism is both the underlying cause and ongoing enabler of the present Catholic catastrophe”
I have done much reading on this subject, and from my viewpoint, until the Church rids itself of any form of clericalism and inegalitarianism, it will continue to lose members upon members and become more and more irrelevant in the modern world.
I certainly don’t profess to have all the answers on how seminarians can be better equipped for their role as priests in a complicated modern world. Thomas Reese, in the February edition of the National Catholic Reporter, says that the seminaries in the US need reform, plain and simple. He says:
“Sadly, in recent decades, too many of the priests coming out of these seminaries have been trained to be authoritarians with few pastoral skills. Some of them come to seminary with an authoritarian mindset, but faculty at today’s seminaries often do little to change that. Some faculty members even foster it, teaching their students that they have all the answers and that their job is to kick the laity into shape. In these cases, seminarians are not taught to listen, to delegate, to work with committees or to empower the laity, especially women…The documents of the Second Vatican Council are either downplayed or interpreted through a conservative lens” (see "What U.S. Bishops Need Learn From the Amazon Synod" in Other News)
He goes on to say this has been going on since the mid 1990s after conservative bishops had consolidated their control of seminaries. “The result is that many parishioners are unhappy with their pastors.”
At the very least, I can say that most discerning Catholics in my opinion would agree 100 percent that servant leadership and anticlericalism must be the underlying philosophies of modern-day seminaries. Gone are the days where a priest can simply refer to the Catholic Catechism or Canon Law with their ‘black and white’ answers.
Seminarians must be taught to serve all as equals and be able to relate and engage people with the utmost respect. This is a very broad topic, and much more will be said in future columns.
Gerald Archibald, PhD, Edmonton