The hierarchy of the Catholic Church exhibits symptoms of a general schizophrenia. Even a staunch defender of Catholic clericalism and the status quo must admit that many bishops and their actions seem diametrically opposed to the lessons taught in the Gospels.
Catholic bishops have two distinct models from which to choose when making leadership decisions. One is spiritual and comes to us as the Holy Trinity. The other is secular, taking the example of the ancient Roman Triumvirate.
In our creed, we Catholics acknowledge an omnipotent father. We believe that his son, Jesus of Nazareth, incarnated in the world and that his death and resurrection afforded all men redemption. We also believe in a Spirit or Ghost (Modernist or Trad phraseology preference) who affords us a plethora of gifts that include wisdom, discernment, and courage, to name a few.
The other governance model, the triumvirate, made itself twice famous in ancient Roman history. Regardless of the number, the essence of the triumvirate model is power through collusion. The system is an autocracy that is unchecked by any other political entity.
The Trinity unites. One in three and three in one is the unifying mystery. It is an outstanding model of governance. However, both triumvirates devolved into suspicious rivalry and outright civil war, which resulted in dictatorship and a loss of individual freedom and liberty. (Some could opine that the current Vatican hierarchy and the state of division within the universal church mirrors the demise of the Roman Triumvirates. Can schism be on the horizon?)
Since Constantine, the governing style and culture of the Catholic Church, is surviving vestiges of the Roman Empire. Ancient Rome’s pantheon is alive in today’s Catholic Church. The large number of movements, either supported or tolerated by the Vatican, adeptly mimics the ancient’s preoccupation with cults and mysticism. Much of the Roman bureaucracy, legal tradition, and administrative customs were continued in the Catholic Church with only minor modifications. The triumvirate usurped democratic legitimacy by consolidating unchecked power into an autocratic class. In a similar fashion, the Vatican rules through an elite bishop caste and an ultimate executive, the pope. Along with unchecked power is the human foible that gives license to certain suspect behaviors. For the Roman Empire and the successor Catholic Church, financial and sexual liberties became perks for the ruling class. Homosexuality among the Roman emperors, senatorial class, and the equestrian class found approval. The only ancient Roman restriction on pedophilia depended on the status of the abused child. A free boy or girl was legally and by custom protected, whereas slaves were inconsequential for virtually any type of action or abuse.
On abuse, Catholic Church governance is worse than the triumvirates that ruled Roman society. Throughout its long history, the Catholic Church made little or no distinction between class statuses for abuse. In fact, the abuse of boys in Catholic monasteries actually reclassified free men into a subordinate status through the very act of sexual domination. While the same probably happened in Roman history, it was actually illegal and outside of the social norm. According to Dyan Elliott in her book, The Corruptor of Boys, the practice within the Catholic Church became licit in a de facto sense. Indeed, whereas Roman law clearly named the practice illegal, medieval Catholic adjudications actually named young boys as “tempters” of monks and subjected them to corporal punishment. The actions of many present-day bishops towards victims of sexual abuse show a similar dehumanizing attitude. The origins of this thinking originated in the ancient Roman Empire, adopted normalcy in the Church down through the centuries, and are still in place today within the Vatican. I will offer an example of such an action.
I have heard many homilies on Mt 3:37 exhorting me to strive for integrity and honesty in my dealings with others. These homilies are very much from the Trinity side of the ledger. The triumvirate sentiment is best exemplified by the Catholic Church bishops’ use of non-disclosure-agreements (NDAs) in dealing with abuse cases. Instead of hearing Jesus’ admonition to “let your yes be yes and your no be no,” the bishops listened more to triumvirate inspired lawyers who instead advise “let your yes mean sometimes and your no, mean maybe.”
The Lutheran martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote about this issue from the standpoint of cheap grace versus costly grace. For the Lutheran minister, cheap grace is like preaching of forgiveness without confession. (I’ve heard many Modernist homilies pose the following conundrum–“Just because there may be a hell does not mean that anyone has to be there.” Clearly, the classic Modernist favors cheap grace as a paragon.) Bonhoeffer compares the cheap version to grace with no discipleship, no cross. For Bonhoeffer, if our grace is not costly, it is not following Jesus. The Gospels address and teach grace as a costly endeavor. To follow the Gospel can cost a man his life, just as it cost God the life of his son. The Lutheran experienced this lesson intimately, and for it he gave the ultimate. His example is far from joining in with the triumvirate. I don’t believe many bishops can claim the same status on a wide variety of issues confronting the world today.
In the Archdiocese of Denver, circa 2011, I began an effort to remove Fr. James Moreno from ministry based upon reports of sexual abuse by parents who had observed him in action with their son. The vicar of priests in the Archdiocese of Denver, Monsignor Schmitz, stonewalled my efforts, telling me that the problem in our parish was me, not Fr. Moreno. At about the same time, the Vatican reassigned Archbishop Chaput to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. The Vatican named Bishop James Conley as the Denver apostolic administrator before Samuel Aquila replaced Chaput.
Since Chaput and Schmitz dismissed by efforts, I held hope that Conley, with a set of fresh eyes, would read the situation differently and act with logic. My letter to Conley outlining my concerns went unanswered. Two months later, I received a professionally written fundraising letter from Conley requesting donations for the archdiocesan annual campaign. After strategically stroking a check and including it with my letter, I sent it directly to Conley. After cashing my check, I finally received a note back. Conley thanked me for my donation, but he echoed Schmitz’s estimate that the only problem in our parish was me. (In 2012, Conley was named Bishop of Lincoln, Nebraska. Ironically, his chosen Episcopal motto was, “Cor ad cor loquitor.” Evidently, neither my heart nor the hearts of Moreno’s victims warranted discourse. For Conley, heart to heart discourse is meant solely for matters of the triumvirate.)
In 2020, the Colorado attorney general report on sexual abuse within the Archdiocese of Denver was published. James Moreno admitted to raping a young boy in a minor seminary sixty times over a three-year period. After plying the youth with alcohol and marijuana, Moreno shared the boy with other priests who, so far, the archdiocese refuses to name. I subsequently learned from reliable sources that during Moreno’s thirty-four-year career, the Archdiocese of Denver settled ten cases involving Moreno with NDAs. Moreno was the Archdiocesan judicial vicar for a portion of his career, and his position raises the specter of blackmail and coercion that may have protected his status during his tenure.
Collusion, blackmail, and intrigue show a triumvirate mind-set rather than Trinitarian. This is the historical reality in Denver. Former bishops have known of claims of Moreno’s abuse and yet looked the other way. Those bishops are James V. Casey, James Francis Stafford, Charles J. Chaput, James Conley, and Samuel Aquila.
James R. Golka has been appointed the new archbishop of Denver. As bishop in the diocese of Colorado Springs, Golka seems to have already chosen the triumvirate path of governance, something which probably does not bode well for Denver. In Colorado Springs, Bishop Golka laicized a Peruvian priest who, years earlier in his career, defended sexual abuse victims in Chiclayo, Peru. The sitting bishop of Chiclayo was Robert Prevost, who allowed the abuse to go unpunished while acting as a “protective” shepherd. Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, and Golka, as well as most bishops, remind us how the triumvirate functions. It seems the Trinity is relevant only with hand actions at the start and end of prayers. Oh, and also for synodal efforts when the bishops believe the Holy
Spirit is humanly controllable.
David Tracy is a Catholic Church critic addressing the problem of clerical abuse. He has published four books including, The World Youth Day Murders and his latest, Prohibition and the Priest. His books are available through Amazon and Barnes and Noble.