Potpourri Plus…

Wednesday May 14, 2008

Last Thursday [May 8, 2008] I celebrated Mass as usual for the residents of Care One Health Care Center in Morristown. In as much as we usually anticipate the liturgy for the following Sunday, we celebrated Feast of Pentecost. Though it was a cloudy day, everyone in that room truly believed that the sun was shining brightly above the clouds. I invited them to the Jersey shore in mind and heart for a conversation with the waves. It’s a great metaphor for conversation with God. The ocean with its changing moods and currents combine speaks a language reflective our own. We can shout at the breakers and they shout back. At ocean’s edge, we can also experience the calm that follows the storm. The ocean is an attentive listener to be sure but is not afraid to speak out when the situation warrants.

Anyhow, the residents enjoyed their ‘trip’ to the Jersey shore in celebration of the great feast of Pentecost. In the words of the folk tune, “the Spirit is a-movin all over, all over the land” and the ocean and everything that breathes life and everything that is just coming to life. The ocean is full of life.

The residents told me that our liturgy on Thursdays is the highlight of their week. What a wonderful reminder to me that ‘in God there is no east or west,’ north or south. God is everywhere and ‘there’s a wideness in God’s mercy.’

On my return home I reflected further on the mystery of Pentecost and the power of the liturgy to alert us to the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit who spreads ‘her’ wings over the earth and over the church. It is that same Spirit that makes us aware that in the final analysis, the Church is not an institution but a movement in which there is no hierarchy of power or rank or authority—save that of Christ—only the energizing grace of God that surges through our veins and makes us truly sisters and brothers in Christ.

I suppose I should call our little Thursday gathering a ‘wisdom community’. You would be amazed at the depth of faith of these humble people who are writing the concluding chapter of their life in this earthly realm. They know who they are in God’s sight and they are comfortable but not complacent with the God who loved them into life and who they know will love them one day into eternal life.

Incidentally, the son of one of the residents spoke to me after Sunday Mass at Assumption Church about how much his mom enjoyed her ‘trip’ to the shore. His initial reaction was that his mom was losing it! However, when I explained my reference to the shore in my homily, he realized that his mom was quite lucid and surely did go the shore ‘in mind and heart.’

At any rate, as we continue to reflect on Pentecost, I thought this might be an opportune time for a bit of potpourri on the passing scene and I have invited my old friend, ‘Harvey’ back to facilitate this ‘blog’ using the interview format that we employed during the ‘Harvey Interviews,’ This format helps to promote clarity, to heighten curiosity and hold the interest of website visitors.

For those of you who are not familiar with ‘Harvey’ I offer the following introduction taken from the introduction to the original ‘Harvey Interviews’ initiated on my blog over two years ago:

Harvey is my other more assertive self. I discovered him when I was a somewhat rebellious teenager who thought he knew everything. No, Harvey is not a rabbit and he is not a reporter. Harvey is the one who keeps me on the straight and narrow. Sometimes he is the voice of my mother who played a pretty dominant role as the disciplinarian when I was a child. At other times, Harvey is the voice of my ever-patient dad who never imposed his will but never failed to offer his wisdom when I was growing up, a process that did not end with his ‘untimely’ death at the age of 92! Still other times, Harvey is my ‘voice of reason,’ a term used by the former mayor of New York, Ed Koch, to describe himself. More often than not, Harvey is the voice of many folks I have met over the years in the pew—my faithful mentors—who have challenged me to be my best self. Harvey and I don’t agree on everything but what would life be like if we did not allow our ‘egos’ to be challenged.

At this point I can hear some folks saying that “I knew it all along – Lasch is schizoid, a real Jekyll and Hyde!” To which I respond, “No more than anyone else!”

So let’s start with the Church. I need to warn you that this section is going to be very analytical. I hope it doesn’t become the ‘paralysis of analysis!’

Harvey: Sufficient time has passed since the visit of Benedict XVI to the United States for you to offer a commentary on his visit and its impact not only during the visit but more importantly, it’s impact in real time running from now until ‘whenever.’ So what are your thoughts?

Fr. Lasch: As you know, I didn’t go for all the pomp, pageantry and hoopla surrounding the visit. However, I think Benedict showed another side of his personality to which most of us have never been exposed if for no other reason than because he never allowed most of us to see that side prior to his visit. I have heard numerous commentators, National Catholic Reporter John Allen among them, that Joseph Ratizinger is a personable man and very engaging in one-on-one exchanges.

Harvey: John Allen’s experience in Rome seems to have softened his liberal bent. His analysis is more nuanced than when he first started his NCR reports from Rome.

Fr. Lasch: Oh yes, John has refined his perspective on the Church in Rome. There has been an evolution in his thinking. This is what happens when you live in Rome for an extended period. Let’s say it is part of the subtle enculturation process to which long-term visitors are exposed. Having spent three years in Rome during the Vatican Council, I can speak from experience. Rome will always be in my heart and a part of my heart will always be in Rome.

Harvey: Does it blind you to those areas of the Roman Church that need reform?

Fr. Lasch: I don’t think so. It contextualizes them. Although the Vatican is located in Rome, the Vatican is still separate and sometimes isolated from the city that surrounds it. Romanita [accent on ‘ta’] is a term that is used by people who have spent a great deal of time in Rome to describe Church life. Literally, it is an exaggeration of life that characterizes the culture of Rome. People who demonstrate such characteristics tend to be more Roman than the Romans. I suppose it’s no different that the Irish Americans who tend to be more Irish than the Irish on St. Patrick’s Day.

Harvey: What does this have to do with the Vatican and the Church?

Fr. Lasch: Well, the folks who live and work in the Vatican have adopted some characteristics of Romanita. They tend to be more ecclesiastical than the Church. They live in a clerical world of unreality. They indulge in the privileges of the clerical world—dress codes, pageantry, etc. and as with the Pharisees whom Jesus challenged, they like to make their authority felt.

Harvey: Is this not true of every institution? People who live and work in ‘political’ Washington DC tend to see the rest of the country through a different lens and walk in the shadow of the capitol no matter where they go.

Fr. Lasch: Yes, but Vatican officials and Roman ‘clerics’ tend to view the world and even define the world according to norms that no longer hold water making the Church appear anachronistic. Enter Vatican City and you are in a make-believe world complete with Swiss Guards who make wonderful ornaments for our snap shots from Rome.

Harvey: Where are you going with this. What does it have to do with the Pope’s visit?

Fr. Lasch: It has a lot to do with it. The ‘Roman’ Catholic Church has flourished on its ‘bella figura’—an Italian expression that might be roughly translated, ‘beautiful façade’—lots of pomp and pageantry but not always consistent with the core of who we are as ‘church’ with Christ as the foundation.

Harvey: I gotcha. But I think you must admit that the Pope used a bit of ‘pomp and pageantry’ to his advantage and to the advantage of the Church, correct?

Fr. Lasch: Yes. I think that’s accurate and fair. His visit exceeded my expectations. Although he is a theologian, his homilies and speeches were not dogmatic. Some of them were certainly consistent with traditional, orthodox Catholic theology but the accent was on inspiration rather than dogma or doctrine.

Harvey: I agree and I think this overrode all the pomp and pageantry. He conveyed a sense of hope through affirmation rather than adopting a corrective attitude. He accented the positive.

Fr. Lasch: I agree and that’s what the majority of people will remember about his visit as it quickly fades into the past.

Harvey: But I assume you were particularly interested in the way he handled the sex abuse scandal.

Fr. Lasch: Absolutely. However, I will admit that my initial reaction to his comments to reporters on the plane just prior to landing in Washington was negative. I misjudged him by assuming he was taking advantage of an opportunity to take the subject off the agenda during his visit. I was dead wrong, of course.

Harvey: Do you think it was an ‘off the cuff’ remark?

Fr. Lasch: No. I really think that by introducing the subject even before landing, he was making it clear that he would not duck or dog the issue.

However, I think Father Tom Doyle wrote a splendid commentary/editorial that I have already posted on my website in ‘the Pastor’s Study’ link. You can refer to it here: Pope Benedict in America – April 28, 2008.

Instead of rehashing Tom’s commentary, I would like to take you on another digression into Jungian theory on personality orientation and personality type that may help to understand Benedict’s leadership style.

Harvey: Excuse me?

Fr. Lasch: I am a fan not an expert on Jungian personality theory as explained and measured by Elizabeth Briggs Myers who designed an instrument to refine and measure the basic personality types developed by Carl Jung.

I first became acquainted with the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI) forty years ago as part of a program for effective leadership and organizational development. I have applied the theory to pastoral practice consistently and have found it to be extraordinarily helpful. The best part about it is that it works! It is compatible with Vatican II ecclesiology and has given a new meaning to collegiality and collaboration and of course to that ancient axiom, “two heads are better than one” and three heads are better than two, and on and on….

Harvey: Okay. Let’s go for it but keep it simple!

Fr. Lasch: I am a personality ‘type watcher’ by avocation. I have the feeling that if Joseph Ratzinger took the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory he might score as an ISTJ with a well-developed intuitive faculty. For those who are not familiar with Jungian typology, people who identify with this combination of personality preferences may fit the following description or something close to it. One word of caution before I go on: these are my ‘assumptions’ based on my knowledge of Jungian theory and my observations of Benedict XVI. It is more than speculation but less than an apodictic conclusion. So here is the description that best explains the leadership style of Pope Benedict:

“Analytical manager of facts and details; dependable, conservative, systematic, painstaking, decisive, stable. Having introverted sensing as their strongest mental process, they are at their best when charged with organizing and maintaining data and material important to others and to themselves. They value:

• Steady systematic work that yields reliable results.
• A controlled outer life grounded in the present.
• Following a sensible path, based on experience.
• Concrete, exact, immediately useful facts, skills.
• Consistency, familiarity, the tried and true.
• A concrete, present-day view of life.
• Working to a plan and schedule.
• Preserving and enjoying things of proven value.
• Proven systems, common sense options.
• Freedom from emotionality in deciding things.
• Learning through planned, sequential teaching.
• Skepticism; wanting to read the fine print first.
• A focus on hard work, perseverance.
• Quiet, logical, detached problem solving.
• Serious and focused work and play.” [Taken from ‘Descriptions of the Sixteen Types’ by Gordon D. Lawrence, PhD, Published by Center for Applications of Psychological Type, Inc., 1995]

Obviously, a person who identifies with this personality type may not conform to every characteristic but by and large, it’s a safe bet that people of this type will be comfortable with most of these ‘qualities.’ Notice, I stated ‘qualities’ rather than characteristics. The accent is on the positive.

I mentioned the possibility that Benedict may also find attractive some of the qualities of intuitive thinkers. Here are of those qualities among others to which he might relate. In general, intuitive thinkers are “logical, critical, decisive innovators of ideas; serious, intent, very independent, concerned with organization; determined, often stubborn. With introverted intuition as their strongest mental process, they are at best when inspiration turns insights into ideas and plans for improving human knowledge and systems. They value:

• A restrained, organized outer life a spontaneous intuitive inner life.
• Planful, independent, academic learning.
• Skepticism; critical analysis; objective principles.
• Non-emotional tough-mindedness.
• Freedom from interference in projects.
• Seeing complexities, hidden meanings.
• Getting insights to reframe problems. [Ibid]

Harvey: I know what a lot of folks may be thinking. Where is the Holy Spirit in all of this analysis?

Fr. Lasch: That’s my point. The Holy Spirit works at the core of our being and ‘her’ wisdom is reflected in our personalities for good or for bad. Our goodness is rooted in the Holy Spirit; our badness is rooted in our will to power and control. A person of prayer knows who he/she is and develops his/her personality qualities until they become an art form. A fully integrated person is truly an artist or a poet, But that person can also be an architect or an engineer or a construction worker or a statesperson or computer programmer or a landscaper or a waste management operator and their potential is unlimited, the possibilities are ‘infinite.’

A well-integrated person also learns to appreciate opposites as well as the qualities of persons who share at least some of their own personality traits. They learn to develop qualities that are complimentary and complementary to other people who have a different perspective on life and who walk to the beat of a different drum.

There is a deep spirituality to the study of personality orientation and personality types. Entire retreats have been dedicated to the way God works through our personality and through the fifteen other personality types some with whom we share similar qualities and others of whom have qualities quite opposite to our own strengths. Incidentally, we are never too old to adopt new qualities and adapt to personalities different from our own. Take up your stress daily!

I continue to be hopeful that at the ripe age of 81, Benedict can still listen and learn, adopt and adapt. I think to a great extent, he demonstrated that potential during his visit. However, should he chose not to learn from his visit to the United States or assume that those in attendance at the various gatherings represent the totality of Catholic life in America, then his data base will remain weak and he will come to conclusions that are at best inadequate or at worst, dead wrong and the institutional aspect of the Church will continue to evaporate.

Harvey: This stuff is fascinating. You seem to be suggesting that personality orientation affects the way we see, understand, decide, integrate and act. Is this correct?

Fr. Lasch: That’s correct. You have already caught the basic notion.

Harvey: Does this mean that our differences in thinking and feeling impact on way we respond to certain situations and is determined more by our personality orientation than by our education?

Fr. Lasch: Yes and No. Yes, because the way we learn determines in large measure what we learn. In other words, we ‘listen’ or accumulate data through a ‘filter’—through our perceptive faculties that separate or organize the information according to a certain inborn technology. No, because what we learn, i.e., the product of our study can and does influence our attitudes and how we integrate what we have learned and how we respond in concrete ways.

Harvey: Okay, but give me an example.

Fr. Lasch: I score as an ENTP. This is one of sixteen different personality types. This means that I am more extroverted [‘E’] than introverted [‘I’] in my over all orientation to the world. I am a shy extrovert but I am definitely an extrovert. This means that my energy flows out. I prefer to interact with others and get feedback before arrive at a conclusion or make a decision about anything. I use my intuition [‘N’] to gather information/data. This means that I prefer to deal with ideas, visions, dreams and possibilities. I prefer to explore the unknown. I’m always looking for new horizons and a better way to integrate information and discover new solutions to old problems. Intuitive people live more comfortably on the cutting edge rather than with the humdrum of daily routine.

My ‘T’ means that I process through analysis rather than with my feelings. In is in this area that we ‘T’s get into trouble and I think this is where Pope Benedict may be subject to misunderstanding. People who draw conclusions and make decisions based on analysis rather than on feelings tend to intellectualize their feelings. They are detached and even appear to others as disengaged from reality. They tend to be non-persona (not impersonal) l in their dealings with other people. In other words, they override their feelings with cold logic.
Harvey: I’m getting it slowly. Feelings get in the way.

Harvey: I ‘think’ I’m getting it, slowly.
Fr. Lasch: So go back and read it over again.

Harvey: So what’s the application to the Pope?

Fr. Lasch: As I mentioned above, I think the Holy Father is definitely introverted but knows how to interact cautiously with the public. He’s a man of the hour. Shows up on time and expects events to come off as planned. He certainly knew how handle the media—shall we say he has media savvy—but you may have noticed that his speeches were quite ‘heady.’ He knew what he wanted to say in public and how he wanted to say it. He measured his words carefully—no off the cuff stuff. As I mentioned earlier, I don’t think his comments on the plane about the sexual abuse issue were off the cuff. It was more like a ‘door-opener’ to what he intended to flesh out in his other speeches.

Harvey: Do you think he was listening while he was here?

Fr. Lasch: Absolutely. I think he was listening very carefully. Remember with an introvert, what you see is not always what you get. There’s a lot going on inside of an introvert. They tend to process information inside themselves without letting anyone know what they are thinking. However, when they speak, they know what they want to say and they often express themselves in non-personal language. I have the sense that he listened carefully to the five victims of abuse but I also ‘think’ that he was analyzing what he heard and probably drawing some conclusions that might be detached from feelings. On the positive side, he may make decisions that will come down hard on sexual predators and perhaps on some bishops. On the other hand, he may also make decisions that may not please every victim. His sense of justice will work in both directions. He will make decisions based on hard data, not on feelings.

Harvey: Why do you think he took so long to speak out and/or to invite victims to tell their story?

Fr. Lasch: Introverts, especially analytical thinkers, don’t like to be pushed. They do their homework behind the scenes and do not let the left hand know what the right hand is doing. I understand that during Lent, he read through many cases of allegations of sexual abuse that are being processed through the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. This seems consistent with his personality type. He was doing his homework. I will be very surprised and of course extremely disappointed if we do not see some concrete changes in the official protocol in dealing with allegations of sexual abuse.

Harvey: You seem pretty pleased and rather confident about this.

Fr. Lasch: Yes, that’s the good news. However, I have some reservations and serious concerns about follow-up, at least on the abuse issue. But I think Mary Gail Frawley-O’Dea expresses it much better than I. One More View.

Harvey: How about his visit overall?

*Fr. Lasch: To the extent that he opts to base his learnings exclusively on those who waved flags or carried banners of support, they will be limited. Moreover, the waving of flags and banners is not evidence of assent or consent. Moreover, the statistics on the Church in America need to be obtained from sources beyond those people in the ‘diaspora’ will move on and he will become one more figurehead to whom fewer and fewer will pay heed. In this scenario, the Church in America might become a museum with all the trappings of an age gone by. This will happen over a long period through very slow but steady evaporation process.

Few of us advocates for victim/survivors of sexual abuse by clergy could not help but appreciate Benedict’s accent on the mishandling by bishops of the allegations of sexual abuse of minors by clergy and religious. His initiative in meeting with five survivors was sincere and their message to him must have made a deep impression on him—in mind, heart and soul. I don’t believe that this was just a ceremonial gesture on his part.

I was disappointed by his failure to mention the sexual abuse of ‘vulnerable adults’ by clergy and religious. This is a significant category and as I pointed out in my interview on FOX Cable News during the Pope’s visit, the largest number of teens abused by priests was not minors but late teens who were groomed and plied with alcohol. The bishops refer to them as consenting adults and the priests who abused them continue as priests “in good standing” and have yet to be held accountable canonically or morally. This is a scandal within a scandal. Consenting adults? Dah, hello? Is anyone there?

The major question facing us as a church for the future is, how will his experience in the United States impact on his determination to introduce reforms that will bring about justice for victim/survivors of sexual abuse and of course concrete changes in the clerical culture that will prevent such atrocities from occurring again.

At this early stage, I want to remain hopeful but I am not optimistic about the response of American bishops as well as the response of priests and lay folks to the Holy Father’s ‘mandate’ to reach out to victims of abuse as instruments of healing. It was very sad to read the remarks of one local bishop who chided victims of abuse for not showing greater appreciation for what the Church has done for them. In the light of what has become the most tragic epoch in the history of the Church since the reformation, it’s hard to believe that there are still some people, many of them bishops and priests who still do not get it. They have hardened their hearts and even the words of the Holy Father don’t seem to have had an impact.

At any rate, in my opinion, until the Holy Father deals with the culture of clericalism in the Church as openly and as forthrightly as he has dealt with relativism, assurances that the sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults will be dealt with forthrightly will have a hollow ring. Make no mistake about it, no matter what the Dallas Charter states, no matter what the Pope stated and no matter the depth of denial among the vast majority of lay Catholics, the clerical climate in which sexual abuse festered in the past has not changed.

Vulnerability is a relative ascription. A heterosexual adult male can be vulnerable to the grooming process of a priest and not necessarily be aware of it, particularly if he is experiencing sexual identity confusion and/or if alcohol is involved.

It is important for us to understand the ‘grooming’ process. Grooming is the cultivation of an attraction toward another person through the manipulation of that other person’s personality. It is often so subtle that the priest himself may initially be unaware of the fact that he is grooming the other person for a sexual encounter at a later date when that person reaches is ‘legally safe, i.e., has passed the age of majority when it may not be recognized as a crime. It is at that point that a physical sexual encounter may take place.

The priest who is consciously or subconsciously grooming a victim will justify his overtures with the thought that his feelings are natural. Moreover, he may easily misread the response of the victim as approving of the relationship and may convince himself that the victim is in fact inviting greater intimacy, thus giving consent to the overtures. Of course the same holds for women religious who have also been guilty of grooming adolescents, male and female.

It is an outrage, then, to learn that a bishop would consider a victim as having consented to the sexual overtures of the priest or religious.

So, let it be known that the sexual crisis is not over and the all-clear signal should not be sounded until the clerical culture is unpacked and divested of its power.

To be continued

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