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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 November 2024
The institutional model of the church has fallen into disfavor as a means for ecclesiological investigation because Avery Dulles, SJ, regarded it with suspicion because of its association with the notion that the church is a perfect state and the ways that institutionalism encourages clericalism. At the same time, there has been an ongoing debate as to the value of models for addressing the concrete reality of the church and for engaging the social sciences. Engaging economics as a dialogue partner, the author considers how the institutional model can be understood in terms of a fragile state instead of a perfect society to explain the persistence of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church and to suggest a strategy for institutional reforms.
1 See Avery Dulles, SJ, Models of the Church, rev. ed. (New York: Image, 2002).Google Scholar
2 Dulles, Models of the Church, 3.
3 Dulles, Models of the Church, 5.
4 See Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium), §8, in Norman P. Tanner, ed., Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, 2 vols. (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 1990), 2:854. All citations of the Second Vatican Council in this current article are from this volume and will be identified by documents’ Latin titles followed by the section and page numbers in the Tanner edition.
5 Dulles, Models of the Church, 27.
6 See Dulles, Models of the Church, 35. As we shall see, there is a historical connection between the model of the church as a perfect society and an effort to free the clergy from secular or lay oversight.
7 See Dulles, Models of the Church, 29–30, 35.
8 See Dulles, Models of the Church, 9.
9 Dulles, Models of the Church, 2–3.
10 Dulles, Models of the Church, 36.
11 See Raby, Elyse J., “The Potential for Ecclesial Metaphors in Systematic Theology,” Horizons 49, no. 1 (June 2022): CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
12 Raby, “The Potential for Ecclesial Metaphors in Systematic Theology,” 57–58. Neil Ormerod critiqued ecclesial models as ignoring “the discrepancy between the idealized form and historical facts” in “The Structure of a Systematic Ecclesiology,” Theological Studies 63, no. 1 (2002): 5. Joseph Komonchak argued that models are a form of first order discourse rather than a second order discourse such as theology in “History and Social Theory in Ecclesiology,” Foundations in Ecclesiology, ed. Fred Lawrence, suppl. issue Lonergan Workshop, no. 11 (Boston, MA: Boston College, 1995), 12.
13 Raby, “The Potential for Ecclesial Metaphors in Systematic Theology,” 51–52. Raby cites Flanagan, Brian P., “The Limits of Ecclesial Metaphors in Systematic Ecclesiology,” Horizons 35, no. 1 (Spring 2008): 52Google Scholar.
14 See Raby, “The Potential for Ecclesial Metaphors in Systematic Theology,” 56. She cites Healy, Nicholas M., Church, World and the Christian Life (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 31–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15 Martin Soskice, Janet, Metaphor and Religious Language (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985)Google Scholar.
16 See Finn, Daniel K., Moral Agency Within Social Structures and Culture: A Primer on Critical Realism for Christian Ethics (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2020), CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Gaillardetz, Richard R., “The Chimera of a ‘Deinstitutionalized Church’: Social Structure Analysis as a Path to Institutional Church Reform,” Theological Studies 83, no. 2 (June 2022): CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
17 See Finn, Daniel, ‘What Is a Sinful Social Structure?’, Theological Studies 77, no. 1 (March 2016): CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Richard R. Gaillardetz, “The Chimera of a ‘Deinstitutionalized Church’: Social Structure Analysis as a Path to Institutional Church Reform.”
18 See Pritchett, Lant and de Weijer, Frauke, “Fragile States: Stuck in a Capability Trap,” World Development Report 2011: Background Paper, November5 , 2010, https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/681031468337197655/pdf/620080WP0Fragi0BOX0361475B00PUBLIC0.pdfGoogle Scholar.
19 Augustine, De doctrina Christiana, 3.34.47–3.34.49. The critical edition is Augustine, De doctrina Christiana, ed. J. Martin, Corpus Christianorum Latinorum 32 (Turnholt, Belgium, 1962) 1–167. I am working from the translation: Augustine, Teaching Christianity: De Doctrina Christiana, ed. Rotelle, John E. OSA, trans. Edmund Hill, OP (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 1996)Google Scholar.
20 Gregory wrote: “Haeretici quippe cum sanctae Ecclesiae facta considerant, oculos levant, quia videlicet ipsi in immo sunt et cum eius opera respiciunt, in alto sunt sita quae cernunt; sed tamen hanc in dolore positam non cognoscunt. Ipsa quippe appetit hic mala recipere ut possit ad aeterna remunerationis praemium purgata pervenire. Plerumque prospera metuit et disciplina eruditionis hilarescit. Haeretici igitur, quia pro magno praesentia appetunt, eam in vulneribus positam non cognoscunt. Hoc namque quod in illa cernunt, in suorum cordium cognitione non relegunt (Moralia, 3.24.47).” The English translation is in Moral Reflections on the Book of Job, vol. 1, trans. Brian Kerns, OCSO (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2014), 219: “To be sure, heretics lift up their eyes to consider what Holy Church does: obviously they are below, and when they look at what the church does, what they see is situated in a higher region. For all that, they do not recognize her in her painful position. She indeed wishes to experience misfortune here, that she may be purified and reach the reward of eternal life. She often fears prosperity and is gladdened by discipline and instruction. The heretics love the present life very much, and that is why they do not recognize the church when she is covered with wounds. What they do see in her they do not reflect upon in the thoughts of their hearts.”
21 Catherine of Siena, The Dialogue, trans. Suzanne Noffke (New York: Paulist Press, 1980), 50. The critical edition is Il Dialogo della divina Provvidenza: ouvero Libro della divina dottrina, 2nd ed., ed. Guiliana Cavallini (Siena: Cantagalli, 1995). For a more recent example of the metaphor see de Lubac, Henri, SJ, Catholicism: Christ and the Common Destiny of Man, trans. Sheppard, Lancelot C. and Englund, OCD, Sr. Elizabeth (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 1988), 68–69Google Scholar: “The one metaphor of the Bride conjures up two contrary visions, both founded on Scripture and both frequently portrayed: the wretched being on whom the Word took pity and whom he came to save from prostitution at his Incarnation; on the other hand, the new Jerusalem, the bride of the Lamb ‘coming out of heaven from God’ (Rev 21:9): the daughter of strangers or the daughter of the king.”
22 Francis, Christus Vivit (March 25, 2019), §98, https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20190325_christus-vivit.html. The quotation within the quote is from the Address at the Opening of the XV Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops: L’Osservatore Romano (October 5, 2018), https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2018/october/documents/papa-francesco_20181003_apertura-sinodo.html.
23 Congregation for the Clergy, The Gift of Priestly Vocation, L’Osservatore Romano (December 8, 2016), 19, https://www.clerus.va/content/dam/clerus/documenti/ratio-2026/Ratio-EN-2017-01-03.pdf.
24 Leo XIII, Depuis Le Jour (September 8, 1899), §26, https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_08091899_depuis-le-jour.html. Leo XII wrote: “The Church historian will be all the better equipped to bring out her divine origin, superior as this is to all conceptions of a merely terrestrial and natural order, the more loyal he is in naught extenuating of the trials which the faults of her children, and at times even of her ministers, have brought upon the Spouse of Christ during the course of centuries. Studied in this way, the history of the Church constitutes by itself a magnificent and conclusive demonstration of the truth and divinity of Christianity.”
25 See Wilson, George, Clericalism: The Death of the Priesthood (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2010), Google Scholar. See also Geoffrey Robinson, Bishop, “Changing the Culture,” in Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church: A Decade of Crisis, ed. Plante, Thomas G. and McChesney, Kathleen L. (Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2011), 91–102CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Gaillardetz, Richard, “A Church in Crisis: How Did We Get Here? How Do We Move Forward,” Worship 9 (January 1 , 2019): Google Scholar.
26 Faggioli, Massimo, “The Catholic Sexual Abuse Crisis as a Theological Crisis: Emerging Issues,” Theological Studies 80, no. 3 (Spring 2019): Google Scholar.
27 The Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Final Report: Religious Institutions 16, no. 1 (Commonwealth of Australia, 2017): 43, https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/final-report.
28 The Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Final Report: Religious Institutions 16, no. 1, 41.
29 The Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Final Report: Religious Institutions 16, no. 1, 43.
30 See North, Douglass C., Institutions, Institutional Change, and Economic Performance (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For a brief history of the study of institutions, see Hodgson, Geoffrey M., “What Are Institutions?,” Journal of Economic Issues 40, no. 1 (March 2006): 1–21CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Hodgson also provides a critique of several aspects of Douglass North’s position, particularly the distinction between organizations and institutions, though he largely accepts North’s overall approach.
31 Douglass C. North, “The Role of Institutions in Economic Development,” United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Discussion Papers Series (Geneva: United Nations, 2003), 4, https://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/oes/disc_papers/ECE_DP_2003-2.pdf.
32 North, Institutions, Institutional Change, and Economic Performance, 3.
33 Heiner, Ronald, “The Origins of Predictable Behavior,” The American Economic Review 73 (September 1983): Google Scholar; North, Institutions, Institutional Change, and Economic Performance, 22–24.
34 See Anuradha Joshi and Becky Carter, “Public Sector Institutional Reform: Topic Guide” (Birmingham, UK: GSDRC, University of Birmingham, 2015), 4, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/57a08992ed915d622c0002ad/PSIR_TG.pdf.
35 Hodgson, “What Are Institutions?,” 6.
36 See Adrian Leftwich and Kunal Sen, “Beyond Institutions: Institutions and Organizations in the Politics and Economics of Growth and Poverty Reduction—A Thematic Synthesis of Research Evidence” (Manchester, UK: DFID-funded Research Programme Consortium on Improving Institutions for Pro-Poor Growth, University of Manchester, 2010), 16–17, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/57a08b00e5274a31e00008e8/8933_Beyond-Institutions-final.pdf. See also Collins, Kathleen, “Clans, Pacts, and Politics in Central Asia,” Journal of Democracy 13, no. 3 (July 2002): CrossRefGoogle Scholar, http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_democracy/v013/13.3collins.pdf.
37 Leftwich and Sen, “Beyond Institutions,” 16–17. See also Collins, “Clans, Pacts and Politics,” 137–52.
38 See Hodgson, “What Are Institutions?,” 10.
39 See Hodgson, “What Are Institutions?,” 10.
40 See Hodgson, “What Are Institutions?,” 13–16.
41 Pritchett and de Weijer, “Fragile States,” 1–2.
42 Pritchett and de Weijer, “Fragile States,” 6–7. The seminal article on institutional isomorphism is DiMaggio, Paul J. and Powell, Walter W., “The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organizational Fields,” American Sociological Review 48, no. 2 (1983): CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
43 Pritchett and de Weijer, “Fragile States,” 27.
44 Pritchett and de Weijer, “Fragile States,” 2.
45 Pritchett and de Weijer, “Fragile States,” 6.
46 Pritchett and de Weijer, “Fragile States,” 2.
47 See Matt Andrews, Lant Pritchett, and Michael Woolcock, “The Challenge of Building (Real) State Capability,” working paper no. 306 (Center for International Development at Harvard University: December 2015), 22, https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/37366338.
48 Andrews, Matt, Pritchett, Lant, and Woolcock, Michael, “Escaping Capability Traps through Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation,” World Development 51 (November 2013): .CrossRefGoogle Scholar
49 See Andrews, Pritchett, and Woolcock, “Escaping Capability Traps through Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation,” 240.
50 See Andrews, Pritchett, and Woolcock, “Escaping Capability Traps through Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation,” 240.
51 See Pritchett and de Weijer, “Fragile States,” 2.
52 Lant Pritchett, Michael Woolcock, Matt Andrews, “Capability Traps? The Mechanisms of Persistent Implementation Failure,” working paper no. 234 (Washington, DC: Center for Global Development, 2010), 37, https://www.cgdev.org/sites/default/files/1424651_file_Pritchett_Capability_FINAL.pdf.
53 See Pritchett and de Weijer, “Fragile States,” 28.
54 See Pritchett and de Weijer, “Fragile States,” 28.
55 Although there is an ongoing debate over whether the church can change or should adjust to the times, see Gaudium et Spes (December 7, 1965), §44, 1098–99, https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651207_gaudium-et-spes_en.html: “Since the Church has a visible and social structure as a sign of her unity in Christ, it can and does benefit from the development of human life in society, not in the sense that anything is lacking in the constitution given it by Christ, but in order to gain a deeper appreciation of that constitution and to express it in better terms and to adapt it more successfully to the present day.”
56 Recent magisterial documents such as Dominus Iesus continue to present the Catholic Church as necessary for salvation, though in a modified form. See Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Declaration Dominus Iesus on the Unicity and Salvific Universality of Jesus Christ and the Church (Rome: Offices of the Congregation of the Faith) §20 and §21, https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20000806_dominus-iesus_en.html. See also Lumen Gentium (November 21, 1964), §14, 860, https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html.
57 See North, Institutions, Institutional Change, and Economic Performance, 99.
58 See North, Institutions, Institutional Change, and Economic Performance, 99.
59 See North, Institutions, Institutional Change, and Economic Performance, 100.
60 See O’Malley, SJ, John W., “The Hermeneutic of Reform: A Historical Analysis,” Theological Studies 73, no. 3 (2012): Google Scholar. O’Malley’s discussion of institutional reform is consistent with North’s use of the term. For a recent study on Gregory VII, see Grant, Ken A., “Pope Gregory VII’s Idea of Reform,” in Reassessing Reform: A Historical Investigation into Church Renewal, ed. Bellitto, Christopher M. and Flanagin, David Zachariah (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2012), 61–83Google Scholar.
61 See Anderson, C. Colt, “Reforming Priests in the High Middle Ages: The Diverse Rhetorics of Ordination and Office 1123–1418,” in Priesthood and Holy Orders in the Middle Ages, ed. Peterson, Greg and Anderson, C. Colt (Leiden: Brill, 2015), 281–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
62 See Morris, Colin, The Papal Monarchy: The Western Church from 1050–1250 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989), 28–30.Google Scholar
63 One difficulty was the general attitude in the tenth and early part of the eleventh centuries that it was impossible to follow all the details of canon law. See Fichtenau, Heinrich, Living in the Tenth Century: Mentalities and Social Orders, trans. Geary, Patrick J. (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1991), .Google Scholar
64 See Morris, The Papal Monarchy, 60–62.
65 See Gregory VII, The Register of Pope Gregory VII 1073–1085, trans. H. E. J. Cowdrey (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), 392. This is letter 8.21 in the register. The Latin edition is Das Register Gregors VII, ed. Erich Caspar, in Monumenta Germaniae Historica (Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, 1920–23).
66 See Gregory VII, The Register of Pope Gregory VII 1073–1085, 392.
67 For more information see Roger E. Reynolds, “The Imago Christi in the Bishop, Priest, and Clergy,” in Priesthood and Holy Orders in the Middle Ages, 140–87.
68 See Blum, Owen J., St. Peter Damian: His Teaching on the Spiritual Life (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1947), 19–22.Google Scholar
69 Peter Damian, Letter 40.5. The English translation is from Peter Damian: Letters, vol. 2, The Fathers of the Church: Medieval Continuation, trans. Owen J. Blum and Irven M. Resnick (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1989–2005). This letter is more of a treatise than a simple letter and also was known as the Liber Gratissimus. For more context, see Anderson, C. Colt, The Great Catholic Reformers: From Gregory the Great to Dorothy Day (New York: Paulist Press, 2007), 45–48Google Scholar; Ranft, Patricia, The Theology of Peter Damian “Let Your Life Always Serve as a Witness” (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2012), .CrossRefGoogle Scholar
70 Gregory VII, The Register of Pope Gregory VII 1073–1085, 390.
71 The translation is from Leithart, Peter J., “The Gospel, Gregory VII, and Modern Theology,” Modern Theology 19 no. 1 (January 2003): CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Leithart argued that the term “lay” took on a negative connotation after Gregory VII. There is a relatively new critical edition Die Chroniken Bertholds von Reichenau und Bernolds von Konstanz 1054–1100, ed. I. S. Robinson (Hanover: Hahnsche, 2003).
72 See Hugh of St. Victor, De Sacramentis Christianae fidei 2.2.4; Gratian, Decretum C12.q1.c.7 and D96.c.9–10.
73 The texts of these canons can all be found in Norman P. Tanner, Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, 1: 190–91, 194, 197–98, 202, 214-15, 217, 242, 264–65. For those without access to the Tanner volume, I list the canons as well. Canons against lay investiture: First Lateran Council, Canon 18; Second Lateran Council, Canon 25; Fourth Lateran Council, Canon 25. Canons against simony include: First Lateran Council, Canon 1; Second Lateran Council, Canon 1 and Canon 2; Third Lateran Council, Canon 7; Fourth Lateran Council, Canon 63, Canon 64, Canon 65, and Canon 66. Canons against clerical marriage and concubinage were also repeatedly passed: First Lateran Council, Canon 7 and Canon 21; Second Lateran Council, Canon 6 and Canon 7; Third Lateran Council, Canon 11; Fourth Lateran Council, Canon 14.
74 See Morris, Papal Monarchy, 100: “There is little in the whole literature of the papal reform movement about the need to make the clergy personally more devout, to build up their character, or to provide better instruction or pastoral care for the laity. Indeed, there is only a limited amount of discussion designed to define the priestly office in its inner character. These things do indeed become important in the thirteenth century, but in the age of Leo IX and Gregory VII we are still in a primitive society, in which it is more accurate to think in terms of cultic reform.”
75 Fourth Lateran Council, in Tanner, Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, 1:237. Cited herein as Fourth Lateran.
76 See Fourth Lateran Council, in Tanner, Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, 1:238.
77 See Fourth Lateran Council, in Tanner, Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, 1:238.
78 See Fourth Lateran Council, in Tanner, Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, 1:238.
79 Fourth Lateran Council, in Tanner, Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, 1:238.
80 See Fourth Lateran Council, in Tanner, Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, 1:238.
81 See Fourth Lateran Council, in Tanner, Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, 1:238.
82 See Fourth Lateran Council, in Tanner, Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, 1:255.
83 R. W. Dyson, ed., Giles of Rome’s on Ecclesiastical Power: A Medieval Theory of World Government, trans. R.W. Dyson (New York: Columbia University Press, 2004), 26–27. The Latin edition is Scholz, Richard, ed., De Ecclesiastica Potestate (Weimar: H. Böhlaus Nachfolger, 1929).Google Scholar
84 Dyson, Giles of Rome’s on Ecclesiastical Power, 11.
85 See Brian Tierney, The Crisis of Church and State 1050—1300 (New York: Prentice-Hall 1964; repr., Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1988), 189.
86 See Bellitto, Christopher M., “The Reform Context of the Great Western Schism,” in A Companion to the Great Western Schism (1378–1417), ed. Rollo-Koster, Joel and Izbicki, Thomas (Leiden: Brill, 2009), Google Scholar. This article was my original impetus for studying how institutions are understood in disciplines such as political science and economics.
87 See Ladner, Gerhart B., The Idea of Reform: Its Impact on Christian Thought and Action in the Age of the Fathers (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1959).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
88 See Pascoe, SJ, Louis B., Church and Reform: Bishops, Theologians, and Canon Lawyers in the Thought of Pierre D’Ailly, 1351–1420 (Leiden: Brill 2005)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Stump, Phillip H., The Reforms of the Council of Constance (1414–1418) (New York: Brill, 1994).Google Scholar
89 For a concise history, see C. Colt Anderson, “Reforming Priests and the Diverse Rhetorics of Ordination and Office from 1123–1418,” in Priesthood and Holy Orders in the Middle Ages, 281–306.
90 Olin, John, Catholic Reform: From Cardinal Ximenes to the Council of Trent (New York: Fordham University Press, 1990), Google Scholar. See also Olin, John C., The Catholic Reformation: Savonarola to Ignatius Loyola (New York: Fordham University Press, 1992), xvi–xixGoogle Scholar.
91 Council of Constance, in Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, 1:408.
92 See Council of Constance, in Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, 1:447–50.
93 Council of Constance, in Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, 1:439.
94 See Bellitto, “The Reform Context of the Great Western Schism,” 330.
95 See Council of Basel-Ferrara-Florence, in Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, 1:453.
96 See Council of Basel-Ferrara-Florence, in Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, 1:456–57.
97 See Ozment, Steven, The Age of Reform 1250–1550 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 190), .Google Scholar
98 Jedin, Hubert, A History of the Council of Trent, vol. 1, trans. Graf, Dom Ernest (London: Thomas Nelson, 1963), .Google Scholar
99 See Schimmelpfennig, Bernhard, The Papacy, trans. Sievert, James (New York: Columbia University Press, 1992), .Google Scholar
100 See Ozment, The Age of Reform, 188.
101 See Gregory XVI, Mirari Vos, §10. The Latin text can be found in Acta Gregorii Papae XVI, vol. 1 ed. A. M. Bernasconius (Rome, 1901), 169–74.
102 Pius IX, Pii IX Pontificis Acta, pars prima, vol. 3 (no date), 701–17; Pius X, Sacrorum Antistitum, http://www.vatican.va/content/pius-x/la/motu_proprio/documents/hf_p-x_motu-proprio_19100901_sacrorum-antistitum.html.
103 Bellitto, “The Reform Context of the Great Western Schism,” 304. Bellitto provides a historiographical review of the literature on ecclesial reform in the late Middle Ages in this article.
104 The translation is from Wirenius, John F., “Command and Coercion: Clerical Immunity, Scandal, and the Sexual Abuse Crisis in the Roman Catholic Church,” Journal of Law and Religion 27, no. 2 (January 2011): Google Scholar. John Paul II, Codex Iuris Canonici (New York: P. J. Kennedy, 1918), canon 120, §1: “Clerici in omnibus causis sive contentiosis sive criminalibus apud iudicem ecclesiasticum conveniri debent, nisi aliter pro locis particularibus legitime provisum fuerit.”
105 See Wirenius, “Command and Coercion,” 468. See John Paul II, Codex Iuris Canonici, canon 2334, §§1–2: “Excommunicatione latae sententiae speciali modo Sedi Apostolicae reservata plectuntur: §1 Qui leges, mandata, vel decreta contra libertatem aut iura Ecclesiae edunt; §2 Qui impediunt directe vel indirecte exercitium iurisdictionis ecclesiasticae sive interni sive externi fori, ad hoc recurrentes ad quamlibet laicalem potestatem.”
106 Instructio de Modo Procendi in Causis Sollicitacionis, §33; English translation at https://www.vatican.va/resources/resources_crimen-sollicitationis-1962_en.html. See Wirenius, “Command and Coercion,” 473–74.
107 See Instructio de Modo Procendi in Causis Sollicitacionis, §33. For more information see Wirenius, “Command and Coercion” 470–71.
108 See Kieran Tapsell, “Canon Law: A Systemic Factor in Child Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church,” Submission to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (August 10, 2015), 94, https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/SUBM.2398.001.0001.pdf.
109 Tapsell, “Canon Law,” 95. See John Paul II, Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela, article 5, §§1–2, and article 25, §1, http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/243690-10-sacramentorum-sanctitatis-2001-with-2003.html.
110 See Francis, Vos Estis Lux Mundi, article 2, §2, https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/motu_proprio/documents/papa-francesco-motu-proprio-20190507_vos-estis-lux-mundi.html.
111 See Francis, Vos Estis Lux Mundi, article 19.
112 Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. (Rome: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2000), §878, https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM.
113 Catechism of the Catholic Church, §888. The source is Lumen Gentium §25, 869. I cite the catechism to indicate how widely diffused these ideas are. The catechism shapes what Catholics are taught to think about the church and holy orders from an early age.
114 Catechism of the Catholic Church, §896. This is drawn from Lumen Gentium, §27, 872.
115 Catechism of the Catholic Church, §757 and §796. The source is Lumen Gentium, §6, 852.
116 See Catechism of the Catholic Church, §825 and Lumen Gentium, §48, 888.
117 Wuerl, Cardinal Donald W., “Reflections on Governance and Accountability in the Church,” in Governance, Accountability, and the Future of the Catholic Church, ed. Oakley, Francis and Russett, Bruce (New York: Continuum, 2004), Google Scholar. See also Richard Gaillardetz, By What Authority? Foundations for Understanding Authority in the Church, rev. ed. (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2018), 22.
118 See Lumen Gentium, §8, 854. In a similar vein, De Lubac warned against deifying the church’s visibility and rejected what he called a monophysite ecclesiology in Catholicism, 74–75.
119 See North, Institutions, Institutional Change, and Economic Performance, 100. During the period from 2017 to 2021, dioceses and eparchies spent more than $1.29 billion on sexual abuse allegations, which fits the definition of an unproductive path. These sums are from the Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection, 2021 Annual Report: Findings and Implications (Washington, DC: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2022), 39.
120 For example, norm 235:5, which is related to fraternal correction in the Society of Jesus, directs superiors to “not lightly give credence” to a member reporting another member and instructs the superiors to listen in particular to the one reported. If the subject of the report is found innocent, the one who reported “is to be reprehended or punished.” See the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms (Saint Louis, MO: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1996), 263.
121 I conducted interviews using questions generated by institutional analysis. I interviewed thirty-nine people who work for Catholic and Jesuit educational organizations or youth groups to identify institutions guiding disciplinary decisions, the role of patronage, the importance of reputation, the existence of mimics, and so on. I hope to publish the results next year.
122 Francis, Vos Estis Lux Mundi (May 7, 2019), prologue, http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en//motu_proprio/documents/papa-francesco-motu-proprio-20190507_vos-estis-lux-mundi.html.
123 Francis, Vos Estis Lux Mundi, prologue.
124 Secretariat of State of the Holy See, Report on the Holy See’s Institutional Knowledge and Decision-Making Related to Formal Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick (Vatican City State, 2020), https://www.vatican.va/resources/resources_rapporto-card-mccarrick_20201110_en.pdf.
125 See National Review Board for the Protection of Children and Young People, “2019 Progress Report to the Body of the Bishops,” June 2019, 3, https://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/child-and-youth-protection/upload/2019-Annual-Progress-Report-6-4-2019.pdf; Tom Reese, SJ, “U.S. Catholic Bishops Adopt Process for Reviewing Misconduct of Bishops,” National Catholic Reporter, June 17, 2019, https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/signs-times/us-catholic-bishops-adopt-process-reviewing-misconduct-bishops; John L. Allen, “Thoughts on Populism, Liability, and Unfinished Business on Abuse Norms,” Crux, May 12, 2019, https://cruxnow.com/news-analysis/2019/05/thoughts-of-populism-liability-and-unfinished-business-on-abuse-norms; J. D. Flynn, “Analysis: Is Pope Francis’ New Abuse Plan the Answer Catholics Are Looking For?” Catholic News Agency, May 9, 2019, https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/analysis-is-pope-francis-new-abuse-plan-the-answer-catholics-are-looking-for-32480.
126 United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, Revised 2018, 4, https://www.usccb.org/resources/Charter-for-the-Protection-of-Children-and-Young-People-2018-final%281%29.pdf.
127 Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection, 2021 Annual Report: Findings and Implications, 14–15, https://www.usccb.org/resources/2021%20CYP%20Annual%20Report.PDF%20(1).pdf.
128 See Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection, 2021 Annual Report: Findings and Implications, 15.
129 See Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection, 2021 Annual Report: Findings and Implications, 15–16.
130 See Reese Dunklin, Mitch Weiss, and Matt Seden, “Catholic Boards Hailed as a Fix for Sex Abuse Often Fail,” Associated Press, November 20, 2019, https://apnews.com/article/wa-state-wire-mi-state-wire-id-state-wire-ct-state-wire-wv-state-wire-66ffb032675b4e599eb77c0875718dd4.
131 See Dunklin, Weiss, and Seden, “Catholic Boards Hailed as a Fix for Sex Abuse Often Fail.” The process that religious orders follow is similar; see Praesidium, Accreditation Standards for Catholic Men’s Religious Institutes 2020, https://www.jesuits.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Accreditation-Standards-for-Religious-Institutes_2020.pdf.
132 See Christopher Reed, “Archbishop Paul Marcinkus,” Guardian (February 22, 2006), https://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/feb/23/guardianobituaries.religion. See also Allen, John L., “Vatican Bank Transactions Subject of Italian Probe,” National Catholic Reporter 46, no. 25 (October 1 , 2010): Google Scholar.
133 See Allen, John L., “Scandal and Reform Swirl around Vatican Bank,” National Catholic Reporter 49, no. 20 (July19 , 2013): .Google Scholar
134 See Allen, “Scandal and Reform Swirl around Vatican Bank,” 14.
135 See Maria Tadeo, “Scandal Hit Vatican Bank Turns to French Financier for Redemption,” Independent (July 10, 2014), https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/scandalhit-vatican-bank-turns-to-french-financier-for-redemption-9594796.html.
136 See Tadeo, “Scandal Hit Vatican Bank Turns to French Financier for Redemption.”.
137 See Junno Arocho Esteves, “In Corruption trial, Vatican Bank Chief Says His Office Refused to Bail Out Real Estate Deal,” Religion News Service (February 17, 2023), https://religionnews.com/2023/02/17/in-corruption-trial-vatican-bank-chief-says-his-office-refused-to-bail-out-real-estate-deal/.
138 See Thomas Reese, SJ, “Vatican Financial Scandals: Corruption, Stupidity, or Both?” National Catholic Reporter (August 3, 2023), https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/guest-voices/vatican-financial-scandals-corruption-stupidity-or-both.
139 Francis, “Address of His Holiness Pope Francis to the Staff of the Office of the Auditor General,” Holy See Press Office Bulletin (December 11, 2023), https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2023/december/documents/20231211-ufficio-revisoregenerale.html.
140 See Andrews, Pritchett, and Woolcock, “Escaping Capability Traps through Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation,” 234–44.
141 See Andrews, Pritchett, and Woolcock, “Escaping Capability Traps through Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation,” 238–39.
142 See Andrews, Pritchett, and Woolcock, “Escaping Capability Traps through Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation,” 237.
143 See Andrews, Pritchett, and Woolcock, “Escaping Capability Traps through Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation.”
144 See Andrews, Pritchett, and Woolcock, “Escaping Capability Traps through Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation,” 238.
145 See Dulles, Models of the Church, 21.
146 Neil Ormerod sees the methodological diversity of the social sciences as requiring a clear criterion for opting for a particular social science in order to avoid implicit assumptions on the part of the theologian as to what society should look like; this is only true, however, if a theologian chooses one social science to the exclusion of others or attempts to hierarchize the sciences and their methods. Although I agree with him on the need to incorporate the social sciences into ecclesiology, I understand this in terms of an ongoing and mutual dialogue. One of the benefits of dialogue is that participants come to recognize their own assumptions more clearly. See Neil Ormerod’s essay, “A Voice Cries in the Wilderness: The Place of the Social Sciences in Ecclesiology,” in A Realist’s Church: Essays in Honor of Joseph A. Komonchak, ed. Denny, Christopher D., Hayes, Patrick J., and Rademacher, Nicholas K. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2015), Google Scholar.
147 In this paragraph I am paraphrasing George Tavard, AA. See Tavard, George H., AA, The Pilgrim Church (New York: Herder and Herder, 1967), .Google Scholar
148 Dulles, Models of the Church, 5.
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