The Catholic Church has managed to survive for more than 2,000 years now. The institution knows a thing or two about self-preservation and defending itself from attacks from within as well as outside the church. Unfortunately, part of that self preservation involves protecting the institution at all costs and I mean at all costs. The church has learned that scandal can be very damaging to its image and may cause the faithful to wander away from the church. This has never been more evident in the recent sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the church the last decade or so. Similar to any great scandal such as Watergate or Iran Contra, the church sex abuse scandal is remarkable for two things: secrecy and cover-up.
In order to preserve the reputation of the institutional church, the clergy, especially the bishops and cardinals, kept secrets and covered their tracks as to how they dealt with sexually wayward priests. They developed a Morse code like language to talk about these priests. They would often be deemed alcoholic or immature. They would be sent away “for further study” or be determined to be “absent on leave”. When the notion of sexual acting out was mentioned, the bishops and cardinals spoke in terms of “particular friendship”.
In my next blog post on this subject, I’ll continue discussing this subject of secrecy and coverup by examining such items as the “Pontifical Secret” and the oath of secrecy each cardinal swears upon receiving the red hat of a cardinal. Then we’ll take a look at how individual bishops have attempted to cover up priest abuse and their efforts at secrecy.