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

y law, and other Christian faithful, who are called laity. 357
The “specialness” of the priesthood and episcopacy in particular is supported in
other ways, such as the ceremonial reception of holy orders. People become Catholics
through baptism, a fairly simple ceremony that is usually attended by family and a few
friends. By contrast, the ceremonies of ordination to the diaconate, priesthood, and
bishopric are richly ornate. In spite of the theological and liturgical assertions that the
Mass and other ceremonies are community observances, the priest continues to be the
centerpiece of the Mass. When the liturgical reforms were being worked out during and
after Vatican II, segments of the clerical world waged a mighty battle resisting the
reformers’ attempts to include lay persons in liturgical roles. 358
Although the post-Vatican II era has witnessed a multitude of growth-producing
changes in the Catholic Church, and a significant reduction in the mysterious distance
that existed between the minuscule minority of the clergy and the vast majority of lay
people, there remain several destructive aspects of clericalism.
The clerical world is shrouded in secrecy. The Catholic Church’s governmental
circles have always been obsessed with secrecy, an obsession that rapidly intensifies the
higher one moves in the clerical world. 359 Office holders and other functionaries in
chanceries and in the Vatican are obliged to maintain secrecy about their duties. 360 The
ascendancy process whereby clerics are appointed to positions of power is marked by
secrecy. Appointees, especially to the office of bishop, have no idea that they had been
357
1917 Code c.207.
358
See Bernard Botte, From Silence to Participation: An Insider’s View of Liturgical Renewal (1988);
Anibale Bugnini, The Reform of the Liturgy (1948-1975) (1990). For an expression of extreme
conservatism see Paul Likouodis, Liturgical Renewal Has Been Run by Sexual Liberationists, in The
Wanderer 1, 6 (2000).
359
Luigi Marinelli & The Millenari, Shroud of Secrecy 151-156 (2000).
360
1917 Code c.127.
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