One of the disturbing things in the Pennsylvania report is the way it depicts a culture of deception. In Dante’s Inferno, liars are in one of the deepest regions of hell.
One of the reasons (not the only one of course) why sexual abuse is incompatible with the gospel is that it has a special power to generate deception
This is why I’m unconvinced by the Vatican’s repeated claim that there is no link between priestly celibacy and sexual abuse. The link is that priestly celibacy has fostered a widespread culture of secrecy and deception
Because so many Catholic clergy are in consenting sexual relationships (and so many are gay), silence and secrecy are normalised, and it’s not in anyone’s interest to make complaints about anybody else
When even ordinary consenting adult relationships are cloaked in secrecy like this (because of the vow of celibacy), the line is easily blurred between appropriate and inappropriate sexual contact. It’s all equally secret - until the secular law makes a clear distinction
Hypothetically the vow of celibacy would be fine if priests kept it, i.e. if they were truthful. But in fact so many priests break the vow that it becomes the first root of a whole culture of sexual lying. And lying is more incompatible with the gospel than nearly any other sin
This is why it’s disingenuous when the Church insists there is no link between clerical celibacy and clerical sexual abuse. The claim is “true” in a narrow psychopathological sense, but false as soon as you consider not just the individual offender but the institutional culture
The way bishops shield offending priests makes more sense when you consider the vow of celibacy. In some cases they’re not just protecting the Church’s reputation; they’re also respecting an implicit agreement to turn a blind eye to the sexual side of priestly life
To get an idea of what it would be like for the Church to commit itself to truth and not lies, just imagine if on Sunday every Catholic priest on earth decided to stand up and tell the truth about their sexual life. It would be the biggest coming-out in the history of the world
Obviously that is unimaginable: it would never happen, and could never happen. The fact that it “could never” shows how far the Church is from preferring the truth (at any cost), and how lying makes us its slaves
Apart from ending mandatory celibacy, I don't see any obvious top-down solutions to the culture of lying. But there's a lot that individual priests can do. Every lie commits us to more lying. But wherever we are, and whatever lies we've told, we can always start to become honest
"It is better to err by an excessive regard for truth and an equally excessive rejection of falsehood." Augustine
"Since eternal life is lost by lying, a lie may never be told even to preserve another person's temporal life." Augustine
Specifically on the relation between truth and sex: Augustine argues that truth-telling is more essential than sexual chastity (On Lying 10).
The inverse of this can be seen in the way adultery damages a marriage: the sexual act itself is relatively trivial compared to the devastating culture of lies with which the sexual act is surrounded
"People withdraw from eternity insofar as they withdraw from truth." Augustine
Salvation depends on revelation, which requires trust; thus if Christians are deceitful, "the whole discipline of faith is completely destroyed." -Augustine
