9.  DISTRUST The hierarchy distrusts the truth, the world, and the core values of American democracy.   The hierarchy puts its trust in authoritarianism, clericalism, deceit, denial, secrecy, and cover-up.  It distrusts the truth, the modern world, democracy, the media, and basic management principles.     Why the Hierarchy Distrusts.  The church sees itself as God’s only voice crying in the wilderness. And often it is.  Yet, there’s a view that after St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas everything has gone down hill; that the 13th was the greatest of centuries (never mind the Inquisition). The modern world values democracy, openness, and independent oversight; the hierarchy doesn’t. What the Hierarchy Distrusts.  The hierarchy instinctively distrusts modernity’s discoveries of new ways to understand our world (Galileo, Darwin, Freud), new ways to govern ourselves (the Declaration of Independence, democracy, and the Bill of Rights), and news ways to manage (transparent finances, public ownership, risk management, performance scorecards, independent oversight). Rather than using a lens that facilitates seeing these new ways as evidence that points to God’s revealing Himself through history and to the universe’s evolving toward Jesus as the omega point of history, the hierarchy uses a lens that sees these modern ideas and advances as the enemy. This is the wrong lens. This distorting lens leads to an erroneous understanding of how God works in the world. The proper lens and a discerning mind help us to see the Spirit working wherever and through whomever He/She chooses, including the Boston Globe and CNN. The hierarchy distrusts: •        The Word and Jesus.  The Word and Jesus take a back seat to the pope, the Magisterium, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, canon law, encyclicals, and Cardinal Ratzinger.   •        The truth. The hierarchy proclaims the truth but practices deceit and denial. It keeps two sets of moral books. It spins. Like a top.   •        The world. The hierarchy distrusts the world even though God made the world and said it was good. •        The laity. The attitude is: we’re the shepherds; they’re the sheep. No matter that many sheep are smarter than the shepherds. •        Women. They were at the tomb, but can't be at the altar. •        Modernity and progress. The attitude is: if it’s happened since the 13th century, it’s bad •        Democracy and its fundamental premise that government derives its authority from those governed.   Democracy and core American values such as freedom of speech and a government checked and balanced with three co-equal branches are totally in opposition to the authoritarianism in the hierarchy and the elitism inherent in clericalism.   •        Free speech and dissent. The attitude is: free speech and dissent are something for Americans and other reduced forms. The attitude is: dissent is disloyalty, and serfs must be loyal to the vassals and lords of the manor. •        Science. The attitude is: philosophy yes; science, no. •        Social sciences. The attitude is: what do those psychologists know about abuse anyway? It’s all about sin and forgiveness. •        A dynamic or evolutionary model of reality. The attitude is: God doesn’t work through natural processes or secular institutions (e.g., the Massachusetts Attorney General), only through the church. •        The media. The attitude is: the media is out to get us. •        Lawyers. The attitude is: We don't trust "their" lawyers, the lawyers of abuse survivors. They're the bad guys. Our lawyers, who try to conserve our (not the people's ) money, and our canon lawyers who make laws to fit our policies, are the good guys. •        Modern organizational principles and structures. The attitude is: We never heard of independent financial audits, process improvement, inclusiveness, metrics, performance scorecards, and independent quality assurance organizations and, even if we did, they wouldn’t apply to our unique organization. Why Many Lay People Distrust the Hierarchy. Distrust is part of all organizations. Who really trusts the boss? Who really trusts the company CEO? A healthy skepticism is very American: read Mark Twain, Will Rogers, or the morning newspaper; listen to a Jay Leno monologue. But the stage of healthy skepticism of the American Catholic hierarchy is long passed. The sex abuse scandal and cover-up have precipitated the biggest crisis in the history of the Catholic Church in America. As Justice Burke said, the failure of the institutional church is grotesque. The crisis has reached critical mass from the deceit, denial, and incompetence of the hierarchy’s handling of the crimes of sex abuse of minors by priests under their care and control. The hierarchy’s reliance on secrecy and damage control and its avoidance of truth is a failure of responsibility to be true to its values. The result is a loss of its moral authority to govern and a loss of trust by the faithful. The Nixon Watergate scandal, the Clinton Lewinsky scandal, and the more recent Enron and WorldCom scandals are still fresh in our minds. Many have concluded that the American Catholic hierarchy has joined this shameful group.   The laity’s confidence in the clergy is near, if not at, an all-time low. Confidence in the hierarchy is even lower.  The laity is responding by cutting back its donations (but, interestingly, by not as much as one might think), by not going to church, by voicing its anger, questions, and fear.  A recent survey backs up these contentions.   In May 2003, the Boston Globe released the results of a poll of area Catholics regarding the qualities they would most like to see in the successor of Cardinal Bernard Law.  Nearly one in five Catholics said that they were now so alienated from their Church that they have considered joining a non-Catholic church, while 39 percent said that they would support an American Catholic church that would be independent of the Vatican.  Significantly, 62 percent of Boston-area Catholics indicated that they had lost confidence in the Catholic Church as an institution, and nearly half acknowledged that they are now giving less money to it [emphasis added].  Moreover, 27 percent said that the sexual abuse crisis has caused them to attend Mass less regularly.  Let’s hope that the recent positive press the new archbishop, Sean O’Malley, has received will help these numbers.   Conclusion.  When conversion and reform expel dishonesty, distrust will dissolve.
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