The Impostors of the Ministry of Orders

By JoséLisboaMoreira de Oliveira

Philosopher, theologian, writer and professor

My friend, Father JoséAntônio, with whom I had thegreat satisfactionof workingonVocations andMinistries ofthe bishops' conference(1999-2003) in Brazil, in a recent articlereportedoninternet, raisedthe question about themainfearofpopeFrancis.The questionmight wellbe reversed toindicatewhat thepeopleinthe Catholic Churchfear of the mostaudaciousrenovation proposalspresentedby PopeFrancis, and,in my opinion, condensedin his exhortationEvangeliiGaudium.Who inthe Roman Churchwould be afraid toproposalslike this: "I invite everyone tobe boldand creative inthistask of rethinkingthe goals, structures, style and evangelicalmethodsof the respective communities"(EG, 33)?

We would perhaps placeinfirstplace, the ultraconservativeCatholic groupsfounded bythe schismatic bishopLefebvre well represented bythe Society of St.PiusX.However,pope Francis is not fearful of conservative Catholics,and the popeprovokesno fear tothem.To reactto any changein the Churchis in the DNAof these groups, who piouslybelieve thatthe only historicalmodel of Churchis the onebuilt atthe Council of Trent;or worse, from the spirit of the Counter Reformation.

Who, then, would causefeartopopeFrancis, or rather, who's afraid ofthe proposalsof popeFrancis?FatherJoséAntônio, bluntly, says it is the"chameleon clergy," that is, the priests who perceive the ordainedministryas status,asa quite profitableprofession,as apedestalfor fameand success. These peoplefeara popewhoinsists thatthe ordained ministryis service andthat priestsshould"smell like sheep."

Continuingin his reflection, Fr.JoséAntôniowarnsabout somethingparticularly alarming: almost all ofthe"chameleon clergy" is made up ofyoung priestsandseminarians, future priests, already behavingas if they wereordained ministers.It is alarmingbecause it wasexpected thatyoung priestsand seminarians,formed afterthe Second Vatican Council, would be able toaccept withenthusiasm and passionthe proposedrenewal of the ChurchpresentedbypopeFrancis.But is not thatwhat we're seeing.Manyremainindifferent towhatpopeFrancis issaying. Clear signalof that indifferenceis the lack ofcommunication, knowledge, study andimplementation of thepastoralexhortationEvangeliiGaudium.

PersonallyI notedthat in a recent course toa large group ofpeople,must of them lay people, on thepapalexhortation.The generalcomplain wasthat priestsdo not talk aboutEvangeliiGaudium. Theyeventalked aboutpriests whodid not even knowabout the existence ofthe document. A few days agoa lady froma parish in the city of Bahia (Brazil) askedthe young priestwhyin the church sacristyhehas not yet placedthepicture of popeFrancis.She wanted to knowwhy everythinghad stoppedwith the pictureof Pope BenedictXVI.The pastoranswered thatthe reason wasthe fact thatthe glassmakersof the city hadnoframes.The ladyperceived thatthe pastorwas lying.

Butthere is also thegroup of priestsandseminarians whopretendto welcomethe proposalsof popeFrancis,butthey behave likethe chameleon:bymere opportunismandto continuetaking advantage ofeverything,trying to keepthegood life that the ordained ministry offers. This clerical group pretendstoadhereto popeFrancisexternallybut, in practice,whenever possible, hides, distortsand divertsthe papal teaching, not allowing the peopleto become awareof what popeFrancisis proposingwithsome insistence.

Given this situationthe question arises:What isleading thesepriestsand seminarianstoact that way? Whydo they fearpopeFrancis?Whydo they actwith indifference oronly pretendingto accept the teachingof the bishop ofRome?

Countlessstudies publishedin recent yearssufficientlyexplainthis problem.These arehard datastudiesbased onsound research. The National Conferenceof Catholic Bishopsof Brazil (CNBB), the Organization ofSeminaries and Institutesof Brazil (OSIB) andthe National Commission forPresbyters (CNP) sponsored some of these studies.

Twomotivesseem to bebehindsuch behavior.Thefirst one isthe vision of thepriestly vocationas the"vocation" par excellence.Being a priestis "the best," it is to be aboveeverything and everybody.Becoming "father" isto rise aboveall andof all mortals. The secondmotive would be thedesire of diocesesto address the problem of the lack ofpriests, leading them to admitin seminaries andpriesthoodtrueimpostors who take this opportunity asthe easiest wayof acquiring power, status, fame and money.Such peopledo not care aboutservice to the people, butto the benefits they are going to have accessing theordained ministry.

The philosopher, sociologist andtheologianDeniseArleneBacarjirecently conducted a studyon this issuebased on data fromresearch fromaround the worldby eminentresearchers.The title of herstudy is, by itself,very suggestive: Thedeceptionin the ministry ofOrder.Personality disorders andperversion ofthe Clergyin the lightof psychoanalysisand psychiatry.

After analyzingthe originof the problemof imposturein the Ministry ofOrder, the author carefullywrites aboutdisordersand perversionswithin theframes of theChurch, especiallyamong the clergy.The book deals with institutionaldiversions, antisocial, narcissisticpersonality pathologyandperversions. At the endit pointsoutsome possibilitiesto get out of the impasse.

ArleneBacarjishows how the hierarchicalnature,a false understandingof mercy, the security that the ordained ministryand celibacyprovideas a way ofnot relatingdeeply withanyone,easilyattractpeople withpersonality disorder andmanyevil people.The person withthese diseases"always gets an inadvertent, gracious, confident referral, and a benevolentbishop accepts the candidate" (p. 36).Bacarjireminds thatthe ecclesiasticalsystem favorssuchpeople, since "they learn quicklyhow to climbto positions of power, how to beelevate to becomingbishops, cardinals" (p. 43).

The author presentsthe profile of theimpostorin theMinistry of theOrder: "Power, showing off, success, just rely onhis eloquenceat the altar,ofhis charmand attractiveness, and hisrhetoric, persuasion ability, introjectingfeelings andemotionsin speechso thatthe public is wowed, in orderto beadmired,idolizedandworshiped.TheAltarbecomesa stage,asthe formalizationof that poweris already given. Imposturein the Ministry ofOrderfor all thesepersonalitiesis characterizedby the vastcapacity of the personto do"theater".They are very good in show-biz"(p. 43).Andthey areso goodthat they are ableto camouflagetheir aversionto popeFrancisand what heproposes, just by means of a "nice speech" (p. 44), ie, with ashallowdiscoursethrough whichthe person speaksa lot of nonsenseseducingtheuncritical and unaware people, butgiving a ‘sermon’ that says nothing.

What to do?Are thereway outs?Certainly.The problemis whetherthe bishopsare willing toimplement them.I pointat least three.Thefirst isto demystifythefigure of the priest, taking away all the sacredaurathat surrounds him.Present himas a common, normal person, likeany otherman, calledby God to bediákonos, ie,mere servantof others.Asacramentalsign ofChrist the servantof all, whocame to serve andnot to be served(Mk10:35-45).Inthis perspective,the emphasisshould be placed onthe commonbaptismal vocation, asVatican IIreminded usin LumenGentium. The important thingisnotto be"father", buta disciple, a follower of Jesus,missionary,as emphasizedrepeatedlyin the AparecidaDocument.

A second waywould be to reviewthe current model ofordained ministry,overlyfocused on thecelibatepriest whospendseight to nineyears in the seminaryandcomes out of thereprettytrained to be"apparentlynormal,"but inpractice,he isa dividedperson, tending to liechronicly(Bacarji, p. 45-64). There is no wayto solve the problemof imposturein the ordained ministrywithouta seriousreform in theordained ministry,including new formsof ministriesto de-centralize power andbrake the monopolyand authoritarianismof priests.

The thirdproposed solutionis to changeour behavior in relation tothese people.Bacarjireminds that "Christ and the Gospel arenottolerant ofhypocrisyandfalsehood" (p. 45).Soshe saysthat "mercyto these peopleshouldbe thought on otherwaysand not theusual ones. Perhaps it would be moremercifulto prevent them fromhavinga chance toexperience theirperversions andantisocial ornarcissisticpathologies, harming peopleof the Church,the Church herself, Godand themselves"(p.67).That means that theinitial training ofcandidates for theordained ministryshould be moreserious,capable of identifyingand preventingpotentialfraudstersto getordained.Butthis requiresthatthe persons in charge of the formation in seminaries be balanced people andnotderangedandevil beings.

Finally, I must say that mostof the priestsare honest men, serious, simpleand entirelygiven to the people.And thatis a great comfort. Butmostof the time,these priestsare not valued, they are not reported bythe Catholic media, being overcomeby the impostorsusuallymedia-savvyand "charismatic" presentedto the peopleas the onlymodelsof priests. And with thathavocis made, for the people, deceived by "wolves dressed in sheep's clothing" (Matthew7:15), end up beingseduced. "The robes, habits, clergyman, for these peoplerepresent powerandprovide masteryin relation toother mortals; so manyof them pay careful attention to these things from the time they are seminarians”(Bacarji, p. 62).So we need tobe very careful, because thedeceptionin the ordained ministry"tends to confuse manysuperiorsand all of us" (Ibid., P. 70).

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