NCJ Number
243127
Date Published
2011
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This chapter suggests that certain hidden practices in Roman Catholic seminary training contributed to the prevalence of priests convicted of the sexual abuse of children.
Abstract
In examining the seminary conditioning that contributed to this sex offending, this chapter maintains that Catholic seminarians of the 1950s through the mid-1970s had their sexuality abused by teaching and practices that increased their vulnerability to loneliness and shame that arrested their psychosexual development at an adolescent level. Shaming resulted in the repression of normal, healthy sexuality. What is repressed often becomes the focus of an obsession. The obsession emerged in the parish years after the initial seminary repression. It is no coincidence that the peak periods of priest sexual offending were the decades of the 1970s and 1980s, since the unhealthy repression of psychosexual development occurred in seminaries in 1960s and 1970s. In explaining the dynamics of shame, the chapter distinguishes it from guilt. Guilt is a healthy response to having broken a rule or made a mistake. It is typically accompanied by admitting the mistake, learning from it, and moving on with a lesson learned. Shame, on the other hand, is an unhealthy response to breaking rules or making a mistake. Instead of getting back on track, the shamed person experiences a downward spiral of self-loathing and despair. Shame is magnified by a sense of failure to live up to unrealistic expectations that have become internalized and learned. The shamed person fears exposure of his/her transgression of authoritative norms, which leads to secretive behaviors that perpetuate self-condemnation. This sense of despair is ironically relieved by engaging in the pleasurable transgression, which then perpetuates the cycle of shame and the maladaptive coping behavior that fuels it. 2 case studies and 9 references