Abstract
In this article, Erik Erikson’s and subsequent researchers’ ideas on generativity are applied to “the clerical abuse crisis,” in which 111 U.S. Roman Catholic bishops protected priests rather than safeguard children. The goal was to discover what psychological dispositions led bishops to act in the manner they did. A case is made that pre-existing tendencies coupled with an all-male, celibate environment and formation indoctrination led to deficits in psychological development, moral judgment and leadership capacity, revealing an Episcopal subculture characterized by pseudo-speciation and authoritism.
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Notes
ZENIT (2003), Cardinals’ Oath on Receiving Biretta: “I [name and surname], Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, promise and swear to be faithful henceforth and forever, while I live, to Christ and his Gospel, being constantly obedient to the Holy Roman Apostolic Church, to Blessed Peter in the person of the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II, and of his canonically elected Successors; to maintain communion with the Catholic Church always, in word and deed; not to reveal to any one what is confided to me in secret, nor to divulge what may bring harm or dishonor to Holy Church; to carry out with great diligence and faithfulness those tasks to which I am called by my service to the Church, in accord with the norms of the law. So help me Almighty God.” Available from http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news/2003_10_21_Zenit_CardinalsOath.htm.
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C. McGrath-Merkle, OCDS, MA, MTS.
An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10943-009-9315-1
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McGrath-Merkle, C. Generativity and the U.S. Roman Catholic Bishops’ Responses to Priests’ Sexual Abuse of Minors. J Relig Health 49, 73–86 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-009-9288-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-009-9288-0