20AR25-17

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AR 25:17 - The bills for Catholic clerical sex abuse are coming due

In this issue:

APOLOGETICS - meeting faith's enemies "on their own ground"

PSYCHOLOGY - "a tool useful for finding the meaning of life"?

ROMAN CATHOLICISM - "the impact of the church's policy failures"

Apologia Report 25:17 (1,474)

April 30, 2020

APOLOGETICS

Having recently come across this 1939 call to apologetic ministry, we felt it quite appropriate to share with you: "To be ignorant and simple now - not to be able to meet the enemies on their own ground - would be to throw down your weapons, and to betray the uneducated brethren who have, under God, no defence but us against the intellectual attacks of the heathen. Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered. The cool intellect must work not only against cool intellect on the other side, but against the muddy heathen mysticisms which deny intellect altogether. Most of all, perhaps, we need intimate knowledge of the past. Not because the past has any magic about it, but because we cannot study the future, and yet need something to set against the present, to remind us that basic assumptions have been quite different in different periods and that much which seems certain to the uneducated is merely temporary fashion. A man who has lived in many places is not likely to be deceived by the local errors of his native village: the scholar has lived in many times and is therefore in some degree immune from the great cataract of nonsense that pours from the press and the microphone of his own age." C.S. Lewis, "Learning in War-Time" <www.bit.ly/32ZnNpH> (Part 7, page 584)

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PSYCHOLOGY

"Does Spiritual Intelligence (SI) Exist? A Theoretical Investigation of a Tool Useful for Finding the Meaning of Life" by Katarzyna Skrzypińska (Journal of Religion and Health, Feb '20) -- the abstract reads in part: "For years, spirituality and finding the meaning of life have been considered essential phenomena in the context of human existence. [Danah] Zohar <www.bit.ly/2KPjtRW> introduced the term spiritual intelligence (SI) <www.bit.ly/2SncCDr> in 1997, and since that time researchers have been seeking to clarify the concept. ... In recent years, several efforts to conceptualize and measure this construct have joined the body of related literature.... In this project, I review psychological literature relevant to the debate on the validity of SI as a psychological construct. The literature offers many examples that demonstrate a relation between SI and other phenomena that are important for human functioning - well-being. Results of the analysis support theoretical considerations for viewing SI as facilitating the ability to search for the meaning of life and provide directions for future study." <www.bit.ly/2VzjYo5>

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ROMAN CATHOLICISM

"The Global Consequences of Catholic Clerical Sexual Abuse" -- this editorial <www.bit.ly/3clNSD9> introduces the theme of the latest Journal of Church and State (62:1 - 2020) and is written by Jo-Renee Formicola, Professor of Political Science and Public Affairs at Seton Hall University. Formicola begins: "The Catholic Church has failed to protect children from sexual abuse around the world. Its officials, for many reasons, have played a part in damaging the church by their failed attempts to manage the clergy, survive civil investigations, halt the criminal prosecution of priests, and quell public scandals. Coupled with financial bankruptcies in many dioceses and scathing media revelations, the church has also been declared guilty in the court of public opinion.

"Three different popes ... have responded in profoundly similar ways to the scandals: theologically; and with defensive, confused, and, ultimately, ineffective policies. The hierarchy and the bureaucracy of the church ... have been unable to do any better. Their varied tactics to deal with clerical sexual abuse have lacked both consistency and efficacy.

"After almost four decades since the clerical sexual abuse crisis became public, there are still no systematic mechanisms in place within the Holy See to assure institutional transparency or accountability for priestly predatory behavior, no official papal apology to those abused, no standard means to provide justice for victims, and no pragmatic, organized plan to bring an end to global clerical sexual abuse. Lacking the will and/or ability to develop such processes, the popes and other officials of the institutional church have been treading on a path toward political and moral irrelevance in much of the world. ...

"The purpose of this special edition of the Journal of Church and State, then, is to articulate the impact of the church's policy failures, to analyze the consequences of them on global relations between the Catholic Church and state, and to make recommendations to heal the crisis that has been its greatest, modern religious, and political challenge."

Included are articles which variously:

* - take an institutional approach

* - provide a "broad overview of the clerical sexual abuse cases

* - compare related Italian and American case law

* - review consequent changes in Irish church-state relations

* - examine policies in Poland dealing with related abuse claims

* - and review how church authorities have continually justified their sole right to adjudicate these allegations

Another "global consequence" of the Catholic clerical sexual abuse crisis is seen in this day-before-Easter opinion piece for The Guardian titled: "The global crisis hammers home this truth: people matter more than religion" by Brad Chilcott. The big picture here: "We are slowly waking up to the reality that we will thrive only when authentic concern for people drives every aspect of society."

A photo caption summarizes: "Trust in traditional institutions - both government and religious - is collapsing. The church of Jesus protects abusers instead of children. Political movements abandon accountability and democratic principles to maintain the power of an insecure cabal."

Chilcott continues: "Ideologies and institutions that do not retain the wellbeing of others as their driving principle will always end up harming people and eroding the common good." His religious complaints target "paedophile priests" and the "churches of all traditions avoiding scandal....

"The narratives of Jesus in Christian scripture describe an attempt to remind us that it is love of people that really matters. But around this idea humanity built a religion and made that religion matter more than people.

"We've seen this in the response to the Covid-19 crisis: pastors in the United States determined to gather in crowds on Sundays at risk of arrest; churches in Australia going to the very limits of government advice, operating as though participation in the rituals of religion are its purpose instead of adaptable tools designed to mobilise followers towards the renewal of a world ravaged by greed and systemic injustice.

"This trajectory isn't unique to religion. Political movements, social theories and economic philosophies across the ideological spectrum are guilty of falling into a similar trap. ...

"A gospel that ends up protecting the power and prestige of the church at the expense of children is no gospel at all. ...

"The gospel - or good news - that Jesus lived and preached was that love of people and not the preservation of religion was the primary outcome of faith. His statement that 'the sabbath was made for people, not people for the sabbath' carries the idea that religious ideology is only useful to the point where it enables all people to flourish in a just and equitable society."

Things take a curious turn with this remark lumped in with an equal amount of general anti-government criticism: "We can feel that the end goal of capitalism isn't our collective health and wellbeing."

The piece ends: "Brad Chilcott is a pastor at Activate Church and founder of Welcoming Australia. Join him and others at 1pm for Australia at Home at Church – Easter Sunday Reflection" (featuring "Australia's first openly transgender licensed priest") <www.bit.ly/2RKftpy>

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