Forum: Organizational Structure of the Church
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Since Vatican Council II the Catholic lay people in the United States have ceased to follow the dictates of their Church’s leadership group, the bishops, in a number of key areas. This has been due to several reasons, but the fact is that today the Roman Catholic Church is a less disciplined and united group than it formerly was. There is little reason to believe that it will be otherwise in the immediate future, and that has a number of consequences.
The Roman Catholic Church is a world-wide organization with a long history. It has had a social organization, based chiefly on a thirteenth century model, that has served it rather well. In the past, the Church has adopted types of social organization that seemed to work well, chiefly in the political realms It did so in its beginning years with a model based upon that utilized by the Roman Empire. In the middle ages it modified that utilized by the monarchies ofthe time. At no time in its very long history did it create a type of social organization completely on its own.
Today there is no model of social organization available to it in the political or other realms. Therefore, in this author’s eyes, it remains with a social organization model that has long since been abandoned by modern states. The fact that it is no longer effective has not compelled it to change in this area, although there is no doctrinal or other reason for it to fail to do so. As a matter of fact, during the recent general council of Church leaders the direction for sensible changes was voted upon and generally approved, with no results.
In the United States this has been at the root of a number of serious problems. The recent sex abuse of minors by priests and their cover-up by members of the hierarchy has resulted in the loss of credibility by members of the hierarchy, the bishops, that has not and will not be regained. In a community that exists on the basis of trust in its own leadership group this is lethal. As a result, there is no longer effective leadership within the community.
Also, given the parameters of leadership employed by the community, the local pastor, who has the most immediate contact with members of the community, is asked to do an impossible job. He is expected to be a fund raiser, a builder of buildings, and a community organizer as well as a spiritual director. His ability to be pastor of a large parish frequently depends more on his performance of secondary requirements than on his performance as a spiritual leader. The net result is pastors who are unsuited for their jobs and unfulfilled within them. The local community suffers from a dearth of spiritual leadership that might be available to it, as a result.
While the organization process employed by the Church is important and highly visible, it is not the most important feature of the Church. The central beliefs of members of the community are far more important that the organizational structure. The Church is made up of believers who hold the same beliefs, generally, and those depend entirely upon the beliefs of its founder, Jesus of Nazareth, or Jesus, the Christ. Since Vatican Council II the Roman Catholic Church has been actively engaged in clarifying its beliefs, its Creeds. It has also been engaged in Clarifying its other principal resources; its Scriptures, its Sacraments, as well as its basic organizational features.
The Church is able to do so today because more about Jesus is known through modern tools of scholarship that was known at any time since he walked the paths of Palestine on this earth. His person and his message can be understood in a superior manner today, and, as the Church is built upon these features, that makes a tremendous difference.
The net result is that today the Church is well positioned to make as great an impact upon the world as ever, perhaps it is better positioned than ever to do so. But to do so it must get its basic organizational structure in a better fashion than it is at the present time. If it fails to do so, the opportunity it presently has may pass. And, that fact is the principal reason we are interested in this feature of the Church.
To state that the organizational structure is important is not to minimize the difficulty of making changes in that feature of the Roman Catholic Church. There is no model for the Church, a world-wide community of members with vastly different histories and educational back-grounds, to follow today, in this writer’s estimation, and the Church has no record of making such changes without a model to follow.
To make changes in this feature of the Church today would be enormously difficult. Any such proposals would understandably meet with the greatest skepticism and resistance. Nevertheless, changes must be made today is the Church is to take advantage of the present possibilities.
