TOO BIG A JOB?

The church's response to the sexual abuse crisis has been hindered partly because bishops haven't been trained for the job. Historian R. Scott Appleby believes the bishops need to delegate and tap the laity's gifts in governing the church.

DAYTON, OH (Sept. 21, 2004) -- The Catholic Church is not well prepared to deal with the sexual abuse crisis in part because bishops have not been trained for the complex demands of their positions.

"We have men ordained in religious life put into positions they're not trained for," historian R. Scott Appleby said at the University of Dayton Sept. 20. He described the problem as a Catholic version of the Peter Principle — the management theory that employees rise to and remain at a level of incompetence.

Emphasizing that he was not implying that the bishops are incompetent, Appleby said, "The role of Peter, or the bishop, has grown so big that it's very difficult for one person, however gifted, to command the array of competencies of tasks" the job requires. "It’s very difficult to ask someone to be teacher, pastor and governor," he said, especially given the challenges of governing in a 21st-century multinational organization.

Appleby, the John M. Regan Jr. Director of the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame, spoke as part of the University of Dayton's three-semester lecture series, "The Wounded Body of Christ: Sexual Abuse in the Church."

Structurally, "the church is dedicated to the preaching of the gospel, proclaiming the good news of Christ, to serving the poor, to living the path of holiness," he said. "The church is not geared to managing a national crisis."

Invited to speak at the U.S. Catholic Bishops' Conference on Sexual Abuse in Dallas in 2002, Appleby said then, "bishops and priests must trust the laity, appropriately share authority with them, and open their financial, legal, administrative practices and decisions to full visibility. They must give a compelling account of the faith that is within them and address controversial issues directly, in an open and collaborative spirit."

In his UD presentation, Appleby acknowledged, "The authority to govern the church rightly resides with the bishops. … But one can say there can be a share in that authority without usurping the right to governance, because administration and governance are two different things. Accountability, transparency are part of governance in our age. They have to be."

He noted that in order to operate charities, educate children, celebrate the sacraments and keep the parishes open, the church has recognize its complexity and the need to incorporate the laity. "What people are calling for is a recognition that the laity have certain gifts that are not in competition with the bishop," Appleby said, noting that two dioceses, most recently Tucson, have filed for bankruptcy.

"Lay Catholics are concerned about the church and want to help, but don't know how best to do it," Appleby said. "They haven't been called on for assistance by the hierarchy."

Appleby's lecture was the first of several planned during the fall semester in the Wounded Body of Christ series at UD.