How to clean the Catholic clergy (F. Brassard)
Calgary Herald (Ladysmith, B.C.)
March 3, 2002
How to clean up the Catholic clergy: Those the system has rejected feel they can help stamp out pedophilia and abuse inside the church. Married priest,
Francois Brassard, explains.
By Francois Brassard
How does one explain and resolve clergy sexual abuse in a few crisp words or actions? First, this whole "crisis" is not exaggerated by the media.
However, the sensational quality of the accusations may lead the public to tar all priests with the sins of a few. This can have disastrous, demoralizing effects both on the many good priests who generously model Jesus' message of
love and on the faithful who need the encouragement of devoted leaders in order to live the Gospel message in the day-to-day world. Clergy sexual abuse cannot be blamed on a particular sexual orientation. Indeed, sociological
research (A.W. Richard Sipe, The Secret World) indicates not only a far greater incidence of the sexual abuse of women by straight priests than of children, but that both gay and straight priests have been involved in the
sexual abuse of children. Nor can you blame this evil on mandatory celibacy or a "culture of secrecy within the hierarchy," though both are partially involved. In the view of most knowledgeable men and women in the church
renewal movement, the real culprit is a "clerical system" so entangled in a complex web of history, culture and theology that it is not free to pursue and embrace the discoveries of the modern world. This is a celibate, male-dominated, autocratic system. The men who run this system, well
intentioned as they may be, do not really understand the significant nature of democracy and sexuality. True democracy requires trust and respect for all
members of society and it presumes that the dialogue that flows from those two virtues will benefit society. And the Christian further believes that dialogue will also advance "God's eternal plan" (the Kingdom of God). Modern
research of sexuality has revealed that human sexual pleasure is good, that one's sexuality is a complex mix of factors, that it is designed for interrelationship, that when shared caringly, it leads to intimacy that is productive of joy and creativity. And from a Christian point of view, when
one adds consistent personal commitment to this sharing, one begins to touch "the face of God." God's creative spirit is powerfully released, and God's plan is made manifest. A heightened sense of the value of sexuality in society has increased the awareness of what enforced celibacy imposed from above, chiefly for reasons of power and control, denies to the Catholic clergy. Add to this, the increased pastoral burdens and aloneness of priests
brought on by the priest shortage, as well as an escalating lack of appreciation for the priestly role due to many factors (arrogant autocratic behaviour, indifference to women's issues, public awareness of clergy abuses). All this has contributed to powder-keg feelings of frustration,
demoralization and anger which too often gain expression in addictive behaviour of varying degrees of aberrancy. Unfortunately, in terms of sexual addiction, it is the least powerful members of the Church, women and
children, who become the victims of exploded feelings. What can be done to correct clergy sexual abuse? Briefly, the clerical system needs to be dismantled and leadership freed from the chains of the past and renewed
according to the Gospel principles of respect and caring love. This requires a two-pronged effort of education and action directed not at the hierarchy, but rather at the grassroots faithful. Why? Because the hierarchy is
entrenched and because, historically, almost all church renewal has come from the base, starting with Jesus himself, who confronted the leadership of his
time and initiated a lay movement in favour of the Kingdom of God. The main obstacles in the way of change both in the time of Jesus and today is a lack of information and an attitude of subservience or deference on the part of
the faithful vis-a-vis the powers that be. The present crisis is providing a sad opportunity to correct that situation. More happily, it is being corrected by a number of church renewal groups with specific interrelated objectives that have arisen since the Second Vatican Council (1962-65).
These groups say what they would like to see changed, and why that change is necessary. Until recently, these groups tended to work separately and, for the most part, lobbied the hierarchy to adopt their programs. Hierarchical
indifference and intransigence caused these groups to work co-operatively on the one hand (Catholics Organized for Renewal -- COR -- about 35 groups), and
to direct their programs to "Joe and Mary Catholic" on the other hand. Their hope is that simple, clear information will lead to less deference and more concrete action for change. Some of these groups who seek multiple
structural changes are: the Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church, Call To Action, Catholics Speak Out, We Are Church and Challenge the Church.
Other groups with a specific renewal agenda are Catholics for a Free Choice (dealing with questions of sexual morality) and Women's Ordination Conference, Women's Ordination Worldwide and Future Church (dealing with
questions of priest shortages and women's ordination). Other groups seeking an optional married priesthood are Corpus Canada and CITI Canada (Celibacy Is
The Issue). The former is a support and advocacy group for married Catholic priests, the latter a lay organization concerned about the lack of spiritual ministrations available to Catholics because of the priest shortage. Members
of the above two groups in Canada and the U.S. have spawned other small groups labouring to correct aspects of clergy sexual abuse. Two such groups are: Good Tidings and Holy Innocents, which provide support to women
impregnated by priests and bishops and offers personal discernment retreats to priests and women in relationships. Holy Innocents provides support and material needs to children who have been abandoned by their priest fathers;
The Linkup provides support, an annual conference and retreats to victims of sexual abuse by clergy or others. These two nonprofit, charitable groups and other individual married Catholic priests who provide varied counselling
services operate on a shoestring with little or no office assistance and no ability to obtain foundation grants because they have been considered controversial by the very same foundations that support the institutional
Church. I would also like to say something about my own faith journey as a married Catholic priest, long involved in married Catholic priest organizations, regionally, nationally and internationally. I have long supported an optional married priesthood of both men and women, regardless
of sexual orientation. I have also been involved in providing a sacramental ministry to Catholics who have been marginalized by questionable church rules. For me, this has been a spiritually enriching experience, one that has
enabled me to redeem my God-given priestly vocation, after the hierarchy took it from me because I chose to receive God's sacrament of love, holy matrimony. Why cannot the two vocations be embraced? Surely if ever there
were a need for models of priestly married love, now is the time. Another faith enlightening and encouraging experience for me has come through my contacts with many resigned priests, married or not, who do what I call
priestly prophetic work outside the jurisdiction of the institutional Church.
It is not sacramental ministry in the narrow ecclesiastical sense; however, their work-a-day witness to the Gospel message of caring love is truly sacramental, for it too profoundly connects one and all to the divine
presence in our midst. I think of those priests involved in counselling, in prison work, in hospice work, in soup kitchens, in self-help groups and in Third World development. Most of these priests have no interest in renewing or reforming the traditional priesthood, and they have little or no interest in connecting with the institutional church, particularly with regard to the caring work they do; they choose to live the Gospel simply and honestly. I
would like to promote the recognition of these resigned priests as prophetic models of the priesthood that Jesus truly intended. Why? So as to encourage many more of the non-ordained to do more of the same. It's like having
living saints to look up to. I know that many non-ordained men and women, Christians or otherwise, have done this in centuries past, as well as today. That's good. I just feel that we need to promote as many examples of Gospel living
as we can, and these resigned priests are good Jesus models to follow.
Catholics need to support both an optional married ordained priesthood and the priesthood of all the faithful. Can you think of a better way to resolve the issue of clerical sexual abuse, to restore the credibility of church leaders, and, more importantly, to build the global Church of the future based on the Gospel values for which Jesus willingly gave up his life?
Francois Brassard was ordained to the priesthood in Lyons, France March 29, 1961, received from the Vatican an Indult of laicization in 1971 and married Connie Kurtenbach (formerly Sr. Loyola of Sion) in 1980. Besides several bachelor degrees, he holds an MA in History and a diploma in Psychotherapy.
For many years he taught Social Sciences in French Immersion programs at the high school level.