1 1 Catholic Clergy Sexual Abuse Meets the Civil Law by Thomas P ...

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degree, they shall be suspended, declared infamous, deprived of every office, benefice, dignity or position that they may hold, and in more grievous cases, they shall be deposed. If they have sinned against the sixth commandment in other ways, they shall be corrected with appropriate penalties in proportion to the gravity of their sin, even with deprivation of office or benefice, especially if they have care of souls. 158 The official sources for the content of the canon also reveal references to the problem of clergy sex abuse. Those listed for canon 1395 in the 1983 Code refer back to canon 2359. 159 The sources for the older canon include references to medieval law and several papal documents issued through the centuries. These form the basis for an examination of legal and theological texts, which reveal the historical development of the church's treatment of clergy sexual abuse. 160 A clear understanding of medieval and pre-medieval terminology is essential to an accurate appreciation of the historical context. Clergy sexual misconduct has involved male and female victims, including underage and adult individuals. Yet the contemporary focus has disproportionately been on underage male victims, while this was not the case throughout history. Though early and medieval Church leaders were also concerned with clergy abuse that was homosexual in nature, it was not to the exclusion of inappropriate or abusive behavior that involved women. 161 The word “homosexual” did not exist, and is not found in any medieval or pre-medieval 158 Rev. Stanislaus Woywood, O.F.M., L.L.B., A Practical Commentary on the Code of Canon Law 550, Canon 2359 (1 st ed., Rev. Callistus Smith, D.F.M., J.C.L., tran., Joseph F. Wagner 1952). This canon, 2359, applies to clerics in “major orders” meaning deacons, priests or bishops. The third paragraph refers to “care of souls” which is a canonical term referring to ecclesiastical position with direct responsibility over lay people. Examples are pastor, assistant pastor, and chaplain. Id. 159 Id. 160 See id. 161 Vern Bullogh, Sexual Variance in Society and History 358-60 (1980). 30 30
literature. The term “homosexual” was first used in 1869, 162 while the use of the word “gay” is an even more recent term, used to describe persons sexually attracted to members of their own gender. 163 Rather, historically the term used was “sodomy” and its variants. Ecclesiastical literature used the Latin word sodomia to mean homosexual behavior. 164 It was also previously referred to as luxuria, meaning “lust” or “lechery”, and as a peccatum contra naturam or “sin against nature.” 165 The ecclesiastical and secular literature of the time did not distinguish between pederastic homosexual behavior, and homosexual behavior between adults. The presumptive form of homosexual behavior was what we would today call “ephebophilic” behavior or sexual behavior between adults and young adolescents of the same gender, 166 because that same-sex interplay in the ancient world was ninety percent adult-adolescent, or pederastic, as opposed to adult-infant, or pedophilic. 167 This trend may have continued into the late middle ages, and beyond. 168 Consequently, when the medieval ecclesiastical literature refers to clerics committing sodomia, it is most probable that the reference is to sexual relations with young adolescent boys, not reference to sex with infants, or “pedophilia,” as we call it today. The historical development of the Church’s approach to clergy sexual misconduct is based on a variety of sources, including church laws enacted by Popes, bishops, bishops’ 162 John Boswell, Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality 42-43 (1981). 163 Id. 164 See Mark D. Jordan, The Invention of Sodomy in Christian Theology 29 (Univ. of Chicago Press 1997). The author attributes the invention of the word “sodomia” to St. Peter Damian (11th century). Id. 165 Warren Johansson & William Percy, Homosexuality, in Handbook of Medieval Sexuality 156 (Vern Bullough & James Brundage eds., Garland Publ’g 1996) [hereinafter Johansson & Percy]. 166 Id. at 158. 167 Id. at 159. 168 Id. at 159, 165-72. 31 31
Page 1 and 2: Catholic Clergy Sexual Abuse Meets
Page 3 and 4: clerics have received sentences thr
Page 5 and 6: victims from among their congregant
Page 7 and 8: their families were generally const
Page 9 and 10: in the institutional Church, as set
Page 11 and 12: The Church’s failure to utilize t
Page 13 and 14: Turning to a profile of the victims
Page 15 and 16: differential, and perpetrator aggre
Page 17 and 18: himself. In many cases, victims acc
Page 19 and 20: evolution of the 1960s and 1970s, a
Page 21 and 22: psychiatric difficulties, while six
Page 23 and 24: and supervision during their format
Page 25 and 26: Until very recently, sexual dysfunc
Page 27 and 28: therapeutic process, which sometime
Page 29: of the sexual disorders in question
Page 33 and 34: from the body of penitential litera
Page 35 and 36: mind. 192 The sacral offense entere
Page 37 and 38: stringent moralist and harsh critic
Page 39 and 40: care of a spiritual elder, remainin
Page 41 and 42: cutting them off from all financial
Page 43 and 44: The first incidences of clergy sexu
Page 45 and 46: has abandoned its hesitation to pre
Page 47 and 48: ackroom gossip. What many “good C
Page 49 and 50: Amendment. Church attorneys argue t
Page 51 and 52: closer touch with the Almighty lead
Page 53 and 54: (bishop, priest, deacon) is derived
Page 55 and 56: eligious elite claim a disproportio
Page 57 and 58: against a priest or a bishop. 316 T
Page 59 and 60: instituted by God Himself and was e
Page 61 and 62: which outlined the many privileges
Page 63 and 64: close to God as you could get witho
Page 65 and 66: y law, and other Christian faithful
Page 67 and 68: On the diocesan level, the bishop e
Page 69 and 70: sexual abuse. 371 Lengthy delays ha
Page 71 and 72: happen to me, and I can never be re
Page 73 and 74: appearance of tacit approval by Chu
Page 75 and 76: eaction of the community. 402 When
Page 77 and 78: handle the problem. Some have been
Page 79: abuse by a cleric, or the judge who

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