Opus Bono Sacerdotii Policy
on Involuntary
Laicization
From
the Vatican:
While
drawing on the experience of U.S. bishops in confronting sexual
abuse, the report made a case against the U.S. policy of "zero
tolerance" for clerical abusers. It suggested that the church
and society are better off when abusive priests are kept in the
priesthood but away from children.
The report, to be published by the Pontifical Academy for Life, was based on
a Vatican-sponsored symposium of scientific experts held last April. (CNS 2/14/04)
Opus Bono Sacerdotii's Comments:
Like Jesus, the Church
never rejects a contrite heart. Divine mercy is at the heart of the
Gospel. Pope John Paul II, in his encyclical Dives
in Misericordia (“Rich in Mercy”), speaks of Christ
as the “incarnation of mercy ... the inexhaustible source of
mercy”(par. 8). He emphasizes that “Christ’s messianic
program, the program of mercy” must be “the program of
His people, the program of the Church.” (par. 8). “The
Church, writes Pope John Paul II, “must consider it one of
her principal duties – at every stage of history and especially
in our modern age – to proclaim and to introduce into life
the mystery of mercy supremely revealed in Jesus Christ.” (par.
14).
When Jesus taught about
the mercy of God, people were scandalized. In Jesus’ parable
of the Prodigal Son, the older son was angry with his father for
celebrating the return of the younger, prodigal son. In the parable
of the Good Shepherd, the Good Shepherd leaves the 99 sheep in the
flock to search out the one who is lost; having found him he rejoices.
When the crowd was ready to stone to death the woman caught in adultery,
Jesus said, “Let the one who is without sin cast the first
stone.” The scandal
of mercy challenges the world’s notion of retribution and offers
a different perspective on sin, grace, and redemption.
No sin, no matter how grave,
cannot be forgiven. No forgiven sin, no matter how grave, renders
a priest unfit to continue as a priest. In Pope John Paul II’s
remarks to the meeting of Cardinals on April 23, 2002, he said: “There
is no place in the priesthood or religious life for those who would
harm the young.” But he also said, “At the same time
... we cannot forget the power of Christian conversion, that radical
decision to turn away from sin and back to God, which reaches to
the depths of a person’s soul and can work extraordinary change.”
In recent times, Archbishop
Milengo committed apostasy and married. When he repented he was welcomed
back into the fold of the Church and now conducts pontifical ceremonies
in Rome. This stunning example exemplifies the deepest truths of
the gospel.
If a priest has committed
the sin of sexual abuse of a minor and has been rehabilitated, his
bishop has a number of ways of ensuring that the priest does not
present a danger to minors. The priest can be assigned to a ministry
in which he is not working with minors. If circumstances indicate
that the priest could return to parish ministry, a system of monitoring
could be put in place. If a repentant priest has a diagnosed psychological
problem, which would create a danger to children, his bishop could
invoke canon 1044 §2, 2° to declare that the priest is impeded
from the exercise of his orders for as long as the priest suffers
from this psychiatric illness.
Finally, minors would be
at greater risk if the Church laicizes a priest who is guilty of
the sexual abuse of a minor. If a priest is laicized, he is thrust
back into society without the safeguards, spiritual help and human
support which the Church should provide.