Pathology in and outside the church

PERVERSION OF POWER: SEXUAL ABUSE IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

By Mary Gail Frawley--O'Dea Vanderbilt University Press, 336 pages, $24.95

A clinical psychologist specializing in the treatment of sexual abuse victims, Mary Gall Frawley-O'Dea was the only mental health professional invited to address the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops at their now famous June 2002 Dallas meeting that focused on clergy sexual abuse. She was featured in last year's popular documentary film, "Deliver Us from Evil." She is a former Catholic, now Episcopalian.

Ms. Frawley-O'Dea weighs in on the clergy sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic church with her new book, Perversion of Power: Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church. Much of it is dedicated to her view of the pathology within the church's teaching, theology and hierarchy. Chapters titled "Surviving Soul Murder," "Dominance, Submission and Sadomasochism" and "Clerical Narcissism" are presented in a compelling, articulate and gripping manner. She attacks the church for creating a climate over hundreds of years that set the stage for clergy sexual abuse to both occur and flourish. She has done a great deal of research to support her contentions and concludes with a pessimistic view in her epilogue.

In it, she describes the story of a recent clergy abuse case in Chicago that, she states, demonstrates that many bishops and cardinals still do not "get it." She wonders: "Is everything old new again?" She fails to report any successes and improvements on this critical issue in the church since 2002.

As someone who sits on three lay review boards, treats and evaluates many victims and perpetrators of clergy abuse in the church, and consults with religious orders and dioceses, I can state confidently that at least some bishops and other religious superiors do get it and have made progress in keeping kids safe and clergy offenders away from any minors or even adults. Ms. Frawley-O'Dea's book essentially states that everything about the Roman Catholic church is corrupt and dysfunctional and is so broken that optimism is hard to find. I beg to differ.

What's remarkable about her book is not so much what Ms. Frawley-O'Dea says but what she doesn't say. As a clinical psychologist in professional practice, she is well-equipped to help the reader understand the psychopathology of sex offenders. She could offer us much to help better understand the biological, psychological, social and other factors that contribute to both pedophilia--where the object of desire is a prepubescent child--and ephebophilia--where the object of desire is a postpube sent minor or teenager--and the important comorbid issues that often coexist with those who choose to sexually violate minors. These issues include additional psychiatric conditions such as depression, personality disorders, substance abuse disorders, brain injury and impulse control disorders.

As a psychologist, you would expect Ms. Frawley-O'Dea to understand and discuss this psychopathology rather than focus on the historical, theological, and cultural factors of the church about which she is no expert.

Tragically, the sexual victimization of minors by men in general has been an epidemic for centuries. Since the best available research data informs us that about 20 percent of American women and about 15 percent of American men report being sexually victimized by an adult while they were children and since a sizeable percentage of men who have power, control and unsupervised contact with children choose to sexually violate them, this important story goes well beyond the theology, traditions and structure of the church.

In fact, according to the often quoted John Jay Study as well as other reputable research studies, about 4 percent of priests sexually violated children during the past half-century. Other research states that the number of school teachers who have sexually violated a child during this similar time frame is 5 percent while the figures for clergy offenders from other religious traditions as well as from other organizations such as the Boy Scouts and sports coaches offer similar and often higher percentages of offenders. If you give unsupervised men power and control of children without any significant checks and balances, a certain percentage of them will violate children regardless of the religious or non-religious group they affiliate with. When their supervisors have power and can't be fired, then abuse often goes unchecked. Of course, the fact that sexual abuse of children by men is common and found in nonRoman Catholic organizations at alarming rates certainly does not get the Catholic church off the hook.

Clearly Ms. Frawley O'Dea is correct in stating that the church has created an environment where the sexual victimization of children by particular priests was allowed to occur and flourish. You would certainly expect more from a religious organization that prides itself on morals and ethics. As she states: "The cover-up is the scandal." Perhaps due to a hierarchy that does not provide the type of checks and balances that most other religious or secular organizations have, oxygen was allowed to further inflame the fire of child sexual abuse in the Catholic church.