For six months since reporters confirmed that a pedophile priest in the Boston archdiocese had been repeatedly reassigned by the archbishop, no other story about American religion has been able to get much of a hearing. Newspapers, television, and radio talk shows have been highlighting the involvement of a sizable number of Catholic priests-and some bishops-in sexual crimes that have shocked church members and outraged outside observers. Time magazine asked on its cover what many have been thinking: "Can the Catholic Church Save Itself?" (Apr. 1, 2002).
Pedophilia-the sexual abuse of children-is not a new disorder, and it is certainly not confined to church settings. What is new is that church leaders of all denominations are discovering that it is no longer possible to sweep episodes of sinful and criminal abuse under the carpet of ecclesiastical concealment. Rupturing the dam of traditional secrecy in which especially Roman Catholicism has operated has released a tidal wave of abuse cases, including a backlog of allegations of priestly abuse in some cases now more than 30 years old.
First of all, the sheer number of alleged pedophilia cases makes the Catholic episode unique. In fairness, we must see the problem in its proper statistical setting: the Roman Catholic Church is the largest denomination in the United States (more than 60 million members) and has many more priests or pastors than do other denominations. The head count of predatory priests will thus be proportionately higher. In the future, after additional research and after more light has been shed on the magnitude of the problem across all denominations, we will have more accurate statistical comparisons at our disposal.
A second unique feature of the Catholic Church's problem is the number of individual priests involved in multiple cases of pedophilia and abuse. These men have been moved to different parishes in the hope that professional counseling, reformation, and rehabilitation would bring about change, allowing them to continue functioning as priests. This matter is of considerable practical importance to the church hierarchy because of the acute shortage of Catholic priests in the United States and many other countries.
Dealing With Scandal
A third important difference is the great length to which the Catholic Church has been willing to go to protect itself, as the expression has it, "at all costs." It's true to say that all churches, including the Seventh-day Adventist Church, want to protect the good name and reputation of the denomination. Everyone who has sat on church boards and committees knows this, and in a way, this is a desirable and worthy intention. But that which is laudable in protecting the good name of the church is pushed much further in Catholic thinking: in Catholic theology the "Church of Rome" does not sin, though it is acknowledged that leaders, including the pope, can sin and have sinned and made mistakes.
In recent years the news media have given significant coverage to a number of striking apologies by the pope and other Catholic leaders. But it's interesting to note that these apologies for past actions are often prefaced by the preposition "if": "If our members or leaders have acted in the past in ways not in harmony with the gospel." The apologies, quite praiseworthy in themselves, are for acts of people, but not for the Catholic Church as such. Theologically, Catholic doctrine teaches that the "body of Christ" does not sin. Individual leaders may err, but the church cannot. This goes a long way in explaining the intensity of the Catholic hierarchy's attempts to keep the scandal from touching the church itself.
A fourth factor in the current situation is the high pedestal on which priests and bishops have been placed by both doctrine and practice in the Catholic Church. The reputation of the priests is related to the reputation of the church; the regard for priests thus needs to be protected. Roman Catholic priests are given remarkable status in that faith community. They are believed to have mediatorial function; they give absolution; they have the powerful role of participating in recreating the body and blood of Christ, and reenacting the sacrifice of Jesus at the Mass and making the life-giving sacrament of the Eucharist available to the members. In explaining his desire to become a priest despite the current adverse publicity, a newly ordained priest is reported to have referred to the privilege "to become Christ for the people as a priest."1
The status of priests and bishops is further enhanced through the church's concept of "apostolic succession." This teaching maintains that by the laying on of hands in what is claimed to be an uninterrupted physical chain of ordination or consecration dating back to the apostles, the legitimacy of priestly ministry is "guaranteed" through the apostolic succession of the bishops. The cases of "fallen priests" create both theological and practical troubles: these men cannot be "unordained"; only the exercise of priestly function can be suspended. Strenuous if misguided efforts have thus been made to redeem and perhaps reassign such priests, hoping that treatment, a new location, and new challenges may promote healing or even a cure. Sadly, as has been seen in the Boston cases and too many others, curing pedophilia seems beyond the reach of the most skilled psychiatrists.
A Culture of Secrecy
Many observers have pointed to a pervasive culture of secrecy within Roman Catholicism as yet another reason the current crisis is so intense and so prolonged. Secrecy has in many times and many places been normative for the Catholic Church, not the least in the Vatican and the higher echelons of the church. Prior to the Second Vatican Council in the early 1960s, Catholic laypersons weren't really defined as "the church" (which seemed to be essentially the hierarchy) and were sort of expected to "pray, pay, and obey" (to use a phrase heard at Vatican II). The Second Vatican Council recognized that the church is the people of God, the whole congregation, priests and people. Conse-quently, Catholic laypeople now expect a greater voice in running their church. The past secrecy, staying quiet when there are improper and even criminal acts, is no longer acceptable to many Catholics, especially in the United States and other Western democracies. As dozens of bishops are learning to their sorrow, secret financial settlements in sexual abuse cases can now only with great difficulty be kept out of the press.
A sixth reason for the depth and severity of the Catholic Church's crisis is the rule of celibacy applied to the Catholic priests of the Latin rite. Some observers, Catholic and otherwise, have insisted that the requirement of celibacy has produced in the Church of Rome the problem of pedophilia. I'm not a specialist regarding either pedophilia or celibacy, but it doesn't appear to me that celibacy is the root problem, though it may very well be that the celibate priesthood is attractive to individuals struggling with their sexuality and related identity. I believe that the Catholic Church would do well to remove mandatory celibacy, though I very much doubt that it will do so in the near future. But even if it did, cases of pedophilia would still occur. The real problem, in my judgment, is homosexuality. Most of the reported cases of sexual abuse by priests are of post-puberty boys in their early or middle teens. Because these boys are minors, the sexual contact is criminal, but the homosexual motivation is averted, and the offending priests are designated with the name of a compulsive disorder-pedophilia-suggesting that they are something less than fully responsible for their behavior.
What of the Future?
What does the future hold? Catholic dioceses in the United States are facing colossal financial costs, estimated in the hundreds of millions in the aggregate. New cases are constantly coming out of the rotten woodwork. The diocese of Boston had agreed to settle claims with 86 people, but as I write, another 150 abused claimants have emerged. Faced with this tremendous additional financial burden, the diocese withdrew its agreement to the settlement in order to be able to look at its total liability picture. News reports maintain that some bishops are adopting hardball tactics and aggressive litigation in place of quiet settlement. This use of legal power involves investigating the personal lives of alleged abuse victims in hopes of reducing settlements through fear of public exposure and humiliation. While this new strong-arm strategy may reduce the financial fallout for the U.S. Catholic Church, there will be a heavy public relations price to pay if the church is seen as protecting its financial hide rather than protecting its children and willingly compensating the victims of abusing priests.
Bad news for the Roman Catholic Church in the United States is likely to continue for the forseeable future. But bad news is still news, and gives the Catholic Church the chance to be seen and heard and present its viewpoint and good deeds. The news media, so vigorous just now in prosecuting a scandal, will soon find thoughtful Catholic leaders to praise for their skillful handling of the crisis. New heroes will be created, offering still more opportunities for the church to present itself and its message. In fact, the Catholic Church could very well emerge from the present crisis a stronger church, especially if suggested reforms are put in place.
The U.S. Catholic Church had the opportunity through its Conference of Bishops to reform some of its practices at its recent Dallas gathering in June. Though many Catholic lay members remain unsatisfied with the stance taken by the bishops,2 the leadership can point to a new intention to protect children, to eliminate from the active priesthood anyone involved in child sexual abuse, and to allow no coverups of priests' sexual immorality, including reporting priests to the police.
Along with other observers, I hope that the Catholic Church will undertake some reforms in its seminaries, especially in the admission screening of young students, in order to avoid opening the priesthood to sexually immature individuals and those not ready for priestly celibacy.
Yes, Rome will survive. It survived the struggle with the divine right kings and rulers, the Renaissance immorality (even at papal courts), the "deadly wound" of the French Revolution, and crises with the Italian state. It has survived secularism and Communism and the attacks of modern science.
Will some key episcopal leaders of the Catholic Church in the United States resign or be retired in the wake of the pedophilia scandals that happened on their watch? I seriously doubt that anything will take place immediately. The Roman Catholic Church tries to avoid the spectacle of bishops leaving under public pressure. Bishops must not be seen to be accountable to the church members. More likely, once the negative publicity has subsided and some reform and protective measures have been put in place, leaders such as Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law could be called away from their U.S. posts and appointed to offices in the Roman Curia, the hierarchy of the Vatican. To use a colorful Italian expression, this would help save "both the goat and the cabbages."
A Christian Spirit
Because of our historic perspective on the role to be played by Roman Catholicism in end-time events, Adventists will always pay keen attention to events occurring in the Roman Church, including the current crisis. But it behooves us to show a spirit of humility and Christian empathy as well. Our denomination is not immune to such problems: almost every region within U.S. Adventism has learned at least one painful story of abuse and broken trust in the past several decades. We must never appear to gloat over the problems of others. Satan is at work and wants to bring about the fall of God's very elect. So the biblical advice is both simple and profound: "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall" (1 Cor. 10:12).
In God's mercy, we may yet learn important lessons from a negative example. In so doing, we must commit ourselves-members, pastors, church leaders-to a culture of accountability and candor, in which the protection of the vulnerable is deemed our sacred responsibility.
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1 In USA Today, June 5, 2002, p. D1.
2 See the Washington Post, June 19, 2002.
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Bert B. Beach is the director of interchurch relations for the Public Affairs and Religious Liberty Department of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists in Silver Spring, Maryland.
HE DRUMBEAT OF REVELATIONS is strident and inescapable, advancing a story that seems to have no end. Night after night the images repeat: tearful young adult men, former altar boys or choristers, facing the cameras with painful memories of abuse at the hands of the priests they trusted. Resignations, reassignments, indictments, investigations: rarely has a religious entity in the United States seemed so besieged as the 
Nourished by both history and biblical prophecy, I have news for the editors of Time: The Roman Catholic Church will survive this fiasco!
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