A Guide
for Renewing and Restructuring
the Catholic Church

Email:  Tonymary@att.net

This document may be freely copied and distributed.

Anthony Massimini has a doctorate in Spiritual Theology from the Gregorian University in Rome.  He attended the first session of the Second Vatican Council and taught Humanities and Theology at Philadelphia’s St. Charles Seminary. He has a Certificate in Psychiatry from Hahnemann Medical College, and was on the staff and faculty of Thomas Jefferson Medical College. He taught Philosophy and Spirituality at several colleges, and has lectured widely in contemporary spirituality.  He is the author of The New Dance of Christ, Discovering Our Spiritual Self in a New, Evolving World (Available through www.Xlibris.com and www.Amazon.com).  His wife, Mary, is a former elementary school teacher.

Introduction
We are witnessing an historic collapse of leadership in the Catholic church in the United States. Catholics will continue to believe in God; they will still worship Jesus Christ; and there will still be a pope, bishops, religious and priests. The poor, homeless, sick and mournful will still be cared for. But things will never be the same. A new church is being born. The old form of leadership is dying, and the Spirit is raising up a new form of church structure, participation and leadership. The laity will play a major role in the renewal and restructuring of the church.

The crisis is both individual and systemic. The priests who abused the children acted individually, but the bishops and cardinals who covered up the abuse acted within a clearly defined system of leadership. This system has now collapsed, leaving the moral authority of church leaders severely eroded. A new form of leadership must now arise. The solution depends on the whole church.

No dissent is necessary for renewing and restructuring the church. There is no need to look left or right; there is every need to look deep into the church and there to find the Spirit of Christ at work. What is necessary is for the whole church—hierarchy and laity—to know and implement the already existing teachings of the church, to envision a new form of participation and leadership and to have the courage to collaborate with the Spirit of Christ in renewing and restructuring the church. Whatever new teachings may become necessary will arise in the light of the Spirit.

This guide is written for the laity, to help them participate in the church in accord with church teaching and with the gifts and talents the Spirit gives them. It is written for bishops and priests, with the knowledge that they are as troubled by the crisis as is the laity, and as a way for them to relate with the laity in rebuilding the new church. It is written for religious women and men, in appreciation for all the Spirit-inspired work of renewal they are already doing.

• It is written for the members of the news media, so they can know what the church teaches, and can ask questions and gather information that will be useful to the building up of the new church.

• It is written for members of all the other churches, in anticipation of renewed ecumenical cooperation.

• Finally, it is written for the public at large, so they can know that the church has the spirit and means to rebuild itself and to be of renewed service to our society.

The Guide consists of two parts: Part 1: Understanding the Collapse, and Part 2: Rebuilding the Church

PART 1: UNDERSTANDING THE COLLAPSE

1. The present crisis is often called a scandal. What is meant by “scandal”?

a. In Catholic teaching, scandal is a very grave offense:

Scandal is an attitude or behavior which leads another to do evil. …The person who gives scandal…may even draw his brother into spiritual death. Scandal is a grave offense if by deed or omission another is deliberately led into a grave offense.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 2284

b. The sexual abuse of children by priests, and the cover-up of these sins and crimes by the hierarchy, qualifies in a special way as scandal because of the authority that priests and bishops hold:

Scandal takes on a particular gravity by reason of the authority of those who cause it or the weakness of those who are scandalized. It prompted Our Lord to utter this curse: “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea (Mt. 18:6; cf. 1 Cor. 8:10:13).

Scandal is grave when given by those who by nature or office are obliged to teach and educate others. Jesus reproaches the scribes and Pharisees on this account: he likens them to wolves in sheep’s clothing (Mt. 7:15).
Catechism, No. 2285

2. Should the bishops and cardinals have involved the laity in dealing with the sexual abuse of the laity’s children, and in the need to protect the laity’s children from such harm?

a. The question obviously answers itself. The Spirit gives Catholic parents a special gift of insight and maturity that flows from the sacrament of marriage.

By reason of their state in life…[Christian spouses] have their own special gifts in the People of God.
Catechism of the Catholic church, No. 1641 cf. Vatican II,
Document on The Church, Lumen Gentium (LG) No. 11

b. Also, church teaching clearly includes the laity in the fullness of belief and moral action:

The body of the faithful as a whole, anointed as they are by the Holy One (cf. Jn. 2:20) cannot err in matters of belief. Thanks to a supernatural sense of the faith which characterizes the People as a whole, it manifests this unerring quality when, “from the bishops down to the last member of the laity,” it shows universal agreement in matters of faith and morals.
LG No. 12

3. What is the “supernatural sense of faith” that is mentioned in the citation above?

It is the faith—the insight into belief and moral action—that is held by all the People of God, i.e., all people of the church—pope, bishops, priests, religious and laity—taken together. (It is often referred to by its Latin name, sensus fidelium.) It is not something that the hierarchy imposes on the laity from above, nor is it discerned by polling the laity. It is the spiritual ability of the whole church, working together, to discern the Spirit’s truth and intentions. The hierarchy have the responsibility to gather up the knowledge, wisdom and intentions of the Spirit from the whole church, and to clarify this and put it into action. Unhappily in the present crisis, the hierarchy did not include the laity in discerning the Spirit, and thus it was blind to the Spirit and failed to put the Spirit’s clear intentions into action.

In Part 2 below, we will see in detail how church teaching calls for the laity to participate in the operations and even the governance of the church.

4. Since Catholic teaching calls for the involvement of the laity, why did the hierarchy keep the abuse secret from the laity?

The hierarchy—bishops and cardinals, and also priests—live in a closed, mutually protective group that operates in separation from the laity. This mindset and style of living may be called “the clerical culture.” This culture can move the hierarchy to contradict Catholic teaching and be blind to the Spirit, Who is the Spirit of truth and unity in the church, and Who includes the laity in the fullness of the church. Understanding the clerical culture will help the church understand the basis for the present scandal, and will help the church renew itself.

5. What are the features of the clerical culture?

The scandal has revealed the following features—all of which played a role in the abuse and cover-up. Taken together they explain the present collapse of church leadership, and point the way to renewal and restructuring. These features are:

a. Power and secrecy, the need to control instead of lead, and no need for accountability to the laity

b. Isolation not only from the laity but from the everyday world

c. Ignorance of the human body and sex

d. A mindset that degrades women and marriage

e. A spiritually distorted, psychologically troubled view of celibacy.

6. Is the clerical culture part of church teaching?

No. The clerical culture has no basis in church teaching. It is an historic accretion that has been built up over the centuries by certain events, such as the church’s inheritance of ancient male-dominant, patriarchal society structures; the introduction of pagan notions concerning sex and women into early Christianity; the fall of the Roman Empire; the authority structure of the Middle Ages, the trauma of the Reformation, and the rise of the modern secular world.

7. How can we understand the features of the clerical culture, so that the church can correct what is wrong?

 a. Power and Secrecy, the Need to Control instead of Lead, and No Need for Accountability to the Laity

i. Christ chose his apostles to be the leaders of His people. Following Pentecost they spread out throughout the known world to preach Christianity. Remembering that Jesus had washed their feet, and mindful of his admonition to them (and to all church leaders of the future):

“The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in authority over them are addressed as ‘Benefactors’; but among you it shall not be so. Rather, let the greatest among you be as the youngest, and the leader as the servant. For who is greater, the one seated at table or the one who serves? Is it not the one seated at table? I am among you as the one who serves.” (Lk. 22:25-27),
they went out and served the world in simplicity and humility, clearly discerning the knowledge, wisdom and intentions of the Spirit (cf. Acts of the Apostles).

ii. In time, Christianity ran into opposition from the Roman authorities, who persecuted Christians until the fourth century. Then, in 383, Christianity became the official religion of Rome. Soon afterwards, the Roman Empire fell. In the ensuing power vacuum, the church took over the power structure of the empire, with the pope and bishops assuming the roles—and power—of the Emperor and his nobles. In contradiction to Christ’s teaching, the mindset and structure of superiority, power and control over the people was born. Blindness to the indwelling Spirit began to set in and church leaders began acting like the “Gentile kings” that Christ had warned about. In today’s language, we would say they began acting like secular, or even pagan leaders.

iii. In the Middle Ages, the pope took on the role of the King of Europe, with political, economic and military power. The bishops took the role of court nobles, and the laity took the role of the peasantry. Contrary to the teaching of Christ, the hierarchy came to think that God spoke only to the pope, who in turn spoke to them. They taught a passive laity to be pious and obedient. The church was narrowed down to the hierarchy, as in, “the laity must obey and not question ‘the church’”.

iv. In the 16th century, the trauma of the Reformation locked the hierarchy into its culture of power, secrecy and control. Soon afterwards, when the Modern World was born, the entrenched clerical culture fought against such modern ideas as democracy, individual rights, religious freedom, freedom of conscience and freedom of the press. For a long time it also opposed modern science (e.g., the Galileo case), and psychology and psychiatry. Refusing to learn from the Modern World, the clerical culture denied itself modern information and insight, especially in regard to human nature, women and sexuality.

v. In 1962-65, in the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic church publicly admitted that it had let the Modern World pass it by. In an attempt to “catch up” (aggiornamento), it “opened a window to let in the Spirit.” In clear discernment of the Spirit’s intentions, the Council outlined a plan for the renewal and restructuring of the church, and for a friendly relationship with the everyday world, whom it could help, and from whom it could learn. The opportunity arose for the church to free itself of the clerical culture (called at that time, “triumphalism”), and reorganize itself in accord with true Catholic teaching. Special emphasis was placed on the importance and need for the laity to take their rightful place within the whole People of God.

The renewed and restructured church will return to service in the simplicity and humility of Christ and it will be fully open to the truth and instructions of the Spirit of Christ.

b. Isolation not only from the Laity but from the Everyday World

i. In the present scandal, the hierarchy’s isolation from the laity blinded it to the laity’s natural concern for their children. Moreover, the hierarchy’s isolation from the everyday world blinded it to the fact that the priests were committing crimes and that the hierarchy itself was covering up crimes. The Holy Spirit used secular prosecutors to bring the crisis to light. The hierarchy’s isolation, then, must be examined.

ii. To its great credit the hierarchy has also led the church to minister to the poor, hungry, homeless, sick and mournful. While providing strong ministerial leadership, the hierarchy has been weak in providing mature, prophetic leadership. To be prophetic means to “speak” for God, i.e., to put the Spirit’s intentions into effective action. This applies to the leaders within the church, and to the laity, both in the church and in society. A prophetic laity requires a church that forms spiritually mature, active Christians, whose morality and spirituality moves them to fully participate in the world, along with others of good will, in public education, science, the arts, politics, economics, entertainment, etc., as adult, contemporary expressions of Christ.

iii. But shouldn’t Christians avoid the world? Didn’t Jesus accuse the world of sin and say that it hates Him?

The world that hates Christ, that Christ accused of sin, and that Christians must avoid, is not the everyday world of our society. The Spirit is present in the world:

The People of God believes that it is led by the Spirit of the Lord, who fills the earth.
The Church in the Modern World, No. 11

Jesus himself was fully immersed in the society of his day. Rather, “the world” that Christians must avoid is the corrosive influence that lives in every individual person and in every institution of society (Jn. 7:7; 14:17; 16:ll). Cf. Catechism, No. 408. (It is also present in the church, which is in constant need of renewal.) This corrosive influence has been overcome by Christ: “Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world.” All Christians must be fully prepared to get involved in the church and in society, to renew and refresh them, without being harmed by the corrosive influence that lives there.

An isolated, non-prophetic hierarchy could lead the laity to be passive and to “offer up” the sins of church members and of the world, and wait for everything to be all right in heaven. Church teaching explicitly warns against such an attitude:

They are mistaken who, knowing that we have here no abiding city but seek one which is to come, think that they may therefore shirk their earthly responsibilities. For they are forgetting that by the faith itself they are more than ever obliged to measure up to these duties, each according to his proper vocation.

Nor, on the contrary, are they any less wide of the mark who think that religion consists in acts of worship alone and in the discharge of certain moral obligations, and who imagine they can plunge themselves into earthly affairs in such a way as to imply that these are altogether divorced from the religious life.

This split between the faith which many profess and their daily lives deserves to be counted among the more serious errors of our age. Long since, the prophets of the Old Testament fought vehemently against this scandal and even more so did Jesus Christ Himself in the New Testament threaten it with grave punishments.
Vat. II, The Church in the Modern World, No. 43

The new and restructured church will be fully open to collaborating with the Spirit of Christ in getting involved in its own growth, and in getting involved in the everyday world, elevating it with justice, peace, creativity, healing, joy, freedom, hope and compassion, and thereby helping to make it more human.
The Church in the Modern World, No. 40

c. Ignorance of the Human Body and Sex

The present scandal revealed the hierarchy’s ignorance of the nature of the human body and of sex and sexual development. This ignorance is rooted in history.

When St. Augustine put the Gospel into the thought patterns of Plato, he helped create an other-worldly, out-of-body spirituality. For centuries Christians have been taught to “save their souls,” with little or no attention paid to their bodies, except in a negative way. Spirituality focused on the soul, and on celibate monks and nuns who lived apart from the everyday world as they prepared for heaven. In the process, church leaders never fully studied, understood or appreciated the role of the human body and sex in the laity’s spiritual life. Also, pagan dualism—which sees the soul as good and the body (and sex) as evil—influenced Christian thinking and teaching. If the body and sex are seen as evil, then marriage is easily seen as putting people in touch with this “evil.” This attitude lengthened the distance between the celibate hierarchy and the married laity—and the laity’s concerns for their children, and helped the hierarchy think of “the church” rather than of the laity and their children, who are 99% of the church. It helps explain how the hierarchy could miss the severity of the priests’ sexual abuse of children, and how they have tried to minimize these sins and crimes.

The renewed and restructured church will incorporate a full and mature understanding and appreciation of the human body and sex into its spirituality.
Cf. Catechism, No. 2332

d. A Mindset that Degrades Women and Marriage

The previous point spills over into this one. The present scandal has revealed how the clerical culture, with its masculine dominant mindset and its self-distancing from the laity, also distances itself from women. This makes room for a lack of understanding of women and of marriage—in a way that degrades women and marriage, and even the begetting of children. The causes of this mindset go back into history:

i. Beginning with the Genesis story that blames Eve for the Fall, the Bible is ambivalent about women. It is Eve who brings sin to Adam and the world, and thus she is cursed to have painful child births and to be subservient to her husband. The feminine became the source of temptation and sin, and male dominance was established. (Gen. 3). The Hebrew nation itself, living within this mindset; formed a male-dominant, patriarchal society and wrote its mindset into the Bible alongside God’s revelation of the human equality of men and women (cf. Gen. 1:27; 2:22). Jesus, however, overcame the curse of male dominance and the degradation of women. In perfect fulfillment of God’s revelation, he accepted women as humanly equal to men and treated them with such great respect and dignity that St. Paul could declare that in Christ there is neither male nor female, “for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal. 3:28).

ii. In the early Christian church, women held high positions (Acts 1:24; 12:12; 18:26; 21:9; 1 Cor. 11:5), but the male leaders, still acting under the curse, showed great ambivalence toward them. St. Paul praised women for their ministry in the church and then contradicted himself, saying that women should be silent in church (1 Cor. 14:34). (Some Biblical scholars believe that these contradictions were added by later writers.)

Early Christian leaders went so far as to erroneously regard Mary Magdelene, a close friend of Jesus and a highly respected Christian woman, who was a leader in the early church, as a prostitute. The clerical culture picked up this negative mindset.

iii. Marriage and child bearing did not fare any better. St. Augustine taught that sexual love between a husband and wife was a venial sin—caused by the woman. In the Middle Ages, St. Thomas Aquinas saw women as no more than defective men. Until recently, women who gave birth went to church to be “churched,” i.e. to receive a blessing. The root of the blessing was to cleanse the woman for having sexual intercourse. The “sinfulness” of begetting children has eaten away at the church’s care for children, and could have played a role in the hierarchy’s attempt to minimize the crimes of the priests, and in its slowness to apologize to the victims.

The renewed and restructured church will give full honor and dignity to women, marriage and child bearing.

e. A Spiritually Distorted, Psychologically Troubled View of Celibacy

All the previous points help set up this point. While there is no connection between true celibacy and pedophilia, the mindset of forced celibacy is closely connected to the hierarchy’s cover-up of the abuse of children by priests, and therefore needs to be examined. A history of the clerical culture’s mindset regarding forced celibacy helps explain the damage that this mindset has caused in the present scandal:

i. When the Roman persecution of Christians ended, some Christians began looking for new ways to live the harsh Christian life they had lived under the threat of possible martyrdom. They went out into the desert to live alone in austere prayer and sacrifice. Other men soon followed and monasteries were created. Some Christian women also began living the same kind of life, and created convents. The gift of celibacy became established in the church (cf. Mt. 19:12). True celibacy is marked by two main features: 1) it is a freely chosen life of community and service without marriage, and 2) it results in a well integrated person who is capable of universal love for self, others, nature and God.

ii. In 1139 celibacy was imposed on priests of the Latin rite—many of whom were not called by God to fulfill themselves in the unmarried state. At that time, priests’ marriages were broken up, their wives and children were cast out into the street, and their money and property were taken over by the church.

iii. Over the past 30 years, psychologist A. W. Richard Sipe has treated thousands of priests who have sexual problems. His insights reveal a deep and disturbing truth about celibacy in the priesthood. Celibacy, he reports, is simply not achieved by 90% of priests. He estimates that 2% of priests have the gift of celibacy, and another 8% have willed themselves into forming the character traits necessary to live celibate lives. Forty percent are trying to practice celibacy, but engage in occasional sexual activity or heterosexual or homosexual relationships. Finally, 50% of the clergy are fully sexually active, either heterosexually or homosexually. Some are involved in civil marriage and some have children. The clerical culture forgives these transgressions and keeps the failure of celibacy secret. This helps explain how the hierarchy could cover up the sexual/control failures of the abusing priests.

iv. While Sipe’s estimates may not be totally accurate, the substance of his findings shows that the clerical culture is living in denial by proclaiming that celibacy is a success, and that “celibate” priests are living lives that are spiritually superior to the lives of the laity, especially the married laity. The psychological and spiritual damage being done to the church is immense. As we will see in the next paragraph, priests are being damaged (even with their own cooperation). Marriage and children are damaged, e.g., a bishop who has a 16 year old son is kept in the clergy and transferred, leaving the mother and child without him. The laity as a whole is damaged. The leadership of the church is damaged.

v. Priests who do not have the gift of celibacy are forced to pray for a gift that God does not intend them to have. i. e., they are forced to put their will against God’s—a spiritual abomination. Inevitably, these priests—including the many who daily offer excellent service—suffer from severe loneliness, depression, alcoholism, materialism, or personality disorders, such as immaturity, narcissism, and arrested psycho-sexual development. (A child abusing heterosexual priest could be psycho-sexually 12 to 14 years old.) The clerical culture has hidden this suffering for a long time.

v. Closer relationship with the laity, within the one Body of Christ that has many, inter-connected, inter-related and inter-dependent parts, will help foster a more knowledgeable, healthier and happier clergy, who are not suffering from life-sapping disorders and not a danger to children.

vi. With the number of true celibates so small, seminaries are in danger of accepting and holding onto marginal candidates. Also, they must still force celibacy upon those men whom God has called to be priests, and also to be married. The seminary program still isolates seminarians from women and from society—not for the sake of their training for a 21st century priesthood, which would benefit from closer relations with the everyday world where 99% of the church lives and works, etc., but for the sake of protecting celibacy, which as we saw above, will not work for the overwhelming majority of them. In sum, the seminary program is still designed to produce immature and malformed priests.

A strong hint of this appeared in a recent report. A seminary professor in the archdiocese of New Orleans is reported to have written in the archdiocesan newspaper that if married people practiced less birth control and had fewer abortions, bishops would not have to choose such mediocre or marginal candidates for the priesthood. This attitude makes it easier to understand how the clerical culture continues to denigrate marriage and child bearing, and how it can continue to be indifferent to the abuse of children and deny or cover up its own responsibility in child abuse by priests.

The renewed and restructured church will discern the Spirit of truth and life and permit the full development of priests according to their God-given personalities and vocations. In the full light of the Spirit, the renewed church will accept all the candidates that God calls to the priesthood, with no man-made restrictions to block the choice and intentions of the Spirit.

PART 2: REBUILDING THE CHURCH

8. How does the church begin to renew and restructure itself in the light and truth of the Spirit?

The way is for the whole church—hierarchy and laity—to come together, in faith, understanding and good will, to learn the fullness of Catholic teaching, and to rebuild a church as a community of faith, in which all the gifts of the Spirit are discerned, respected and implemented.

9. Will the renewed, restructured church have an authority system?

Catholics do not question true church authority. The need is to renew the structure of church authority in the light of the Spirit. The renewed structure will permit the knowledge, understanding and wisdom of the indwelling Spirit of Christ to flow freely throughout the church.

The Holy Spirit, whom Christ the head pours out on his members, builds, animates, and sanctifies the Church. She is the sacrament of the Holy Trinity’s communion with men.
Catechism, No. 747, cf. No. 768

10. What is the role of the laity in the renewed authority structure?

a. The laity will participate in the renewed structure of authority in full accord with the gifts and talents that the Spirit of Christ gives them:

[The Spirit] distributes special graces among the faithful of every rank. By these gifts He makes them fit and ready to undertake the various tasks or offices advantageous for the renewal and upbuilding of the church, according to the words of the Apostle, “The manifestation of the Spirit is given to everyone for profit.” (1 Cor. 12:7). These charismatic gifts, whether they be the most outstanding or the more simple and widely diffused, are to be received with thanksgiving and consolation, for they are exceedingly suitable and useful for the needs of the church.
The Church in the Modern World No. 12

b. The laity will participate in the governance and operation of the church. Canon Law is explicit in this regard:

In the church, “lay members of the Christian faithful can cooperate in the exercise of this power [of governance] in accord with the norm of the law.” (Canon 129). And so the Church provides for their presence at particular councils, diocesan synods, pastoral councils; the exercise of solidum of the pastoral care of a parish, collaboration in finance committees, and participation in ecclesiastical tribunals, etc. Canon 443 and others).

c. At times the laity may even be obliged to participate in the governance and operation of the church.

An individual layman, by reason of the knowledge, competence, or outstanding ability which he may enjoy, is permitted and sometimes obliged to express his opinion on things which concern the good of the Church. When occasions arise, let this be done through the agencies set up by the Church for this purpose. Let it always be done in truth, in courage, and in prudence, with reverence and charity toward those who by reason of the sacred office represent the person of Christ.
LG. No. 37

Lay participation in the governance and operation of the church that has historic precedence includes helping run parishes and dioceses, applying the principle of subsidiarity, in which decisions are made at the lowest levels of governance; helping elect bishops and pastors; and handling finances, building programs, catechetics, working in open dialogue, and receiving full accountability from church officials, etc.

Laity are already preparing a Constitution for the church, that will be in full accord with the teachings and laws of the church. The renewed church will also be enriched by laity who are experts in such fields as human relations, science, the arts, psychology, theology, philosophy, and organizational development.

c. The laity are a particularly important source for discerning the Spirit’s knowledge, understanding and intentions in matters of marriage, sex, the role of women, and the church’s interface with the institutions of society. They are especially rich in practical wisdom for making everyday life more human.

Now the laity are called in a special way to make the Church present and operative in those places and circumstances where only through them can she become the salt of the earth. Thus every layman, by virtue of the very gifts bestowed upon him, is at the same time a witness and a living instrument of the mission of the Church herself, “according to the measure of Christ’s bestowal”
(Eph. 4:7).
LG. No. 33

d. The laity will act as true prophets, i.e., they will “speak for” God, as contemporary expressions of Christ in today’s society. Thus, the laity share in the prophetic power of Christ himself.

Christ, the great Prophet, who proclaimed the kingdom of His Father, by the testimony of His life and the power of His words, continually fulfills His prophetic office until His full glory is revealed. He does this not only through the hierarchy who teach in His name and with His authority, but also through the laity. For that very purpose He made them His witnesses and gave them understanding of the faith and the grace of speech (cf. Act 2:17-18; Apoc. 19:10), so that the power of the Gospel might shine forth in their daily social and family life.
LG. No. 35

11. But if the laity get involved in the governance and operations of the church, won’t the church become a democracy? Many members of the hierarchy and laity are firm is saying that the church is not a democracy.

“Democracy” can be a political word that refers to an institution in which power rises from the people to the leaders. In this sense, the church is not a democracy. But neither is it a monarchy, in which power flows downward from the leaders to the people. In the church, there should be no such thing as anyone having power over anyone else. Such power belongs to secular or pagan institutions, and Jesus clearly told his people to stay away from it (cf. 7, a, i, above). Unhappily, the hierarchy has exercised this kind of anti-Christian power. In the renewed and restructured church, authority will be marked not by power but by service in the truth of the Spirit of Christ.

“Democracy” also applies to the quality of decisions that the church makes. The best decisions are well informed ones, and this requires that the laity take their proper role in the church. Decisions that reflect the deepest and clearest discernment of the Spirit, in line with Scripture and Tradition, arise when the laity can debate ideas, take positions, and communicate them to the hierarchy in complete and open dialogue. Such decisions are most easily seen as complying with the sensus fidelium and with the intentions of the Spirit, and are therefore most effectively implemented.

Finally, “Democracy” is a spiritual word, and in this sense it applies to the freedom of the sons and daughters of God to grow and thrive in God’s grace. As St. Iranaeus said in the 2nd century, “The glory of God is man fully alive.” All members of the church have full human rights in the Spirit of Christ, and are free to discern the Spirit and to come together to collaborate with the Spirit in fulfilling themselves, others and the world, as Christ intends.

The renewed and restructured church will have a Constitution that guarantees the freedom of all its members, and due process, in accord with the knowledge, wisdom and intentions of the Spirit of Christ.

In the United States, the new church will more clearly express the American features of the beautiful face of Christ.

12. But if the laity get involved, won’t there be a loss of respect in the church?

On the contrary. When the laity take their rightful place, respect will be expanded and enhanced throughout the church.

By divine institution Holy Church is structured and governed with a wonderful diversity. For just as in one body we have many members, yet all the members have not the same function, so we, the many, are one body in Christ, but severally members of one another (Rom 12:4-5). Therefore the chosen People of God is one: “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.” (Eph. 4:5). As members they share a common dignity from their rebirth in Christ. They have the same filial grace and the same vocation to perfection. LG, No. 32

13. How will the new authority structure work?

First of all, as noted above, it will not use power in its abusive sense, i.e., the ability of leaders to get people to do something because the leaders can hurt them if they don’t. Abusive power says, “This is what the church will believe or do because we say so, and you are cursed if you disagree.” This is the “Gentile” or pagan power which has been used by the clerical culture over the laity for centuries, against the direct admonition of Jesus. The only true Christian power is the power of the Spirit of Christ. This is better called authority.

The new authority structure will be built on the authority of the truth and love of Christ. Jesus’ authority came from the true power of faith, i.e., from his teaching and living the truth. He was the Way, the Truth and the Life, and this is why and how he gains his followers. Authority arises in the church when all the people together discern the Spirit of Christ, whose knowledge, wisdom and intentions are then gathered up by the leadership and clarified, proclaimed and followed. Authority says, “This is what we have all discerned from the Spirit, and therefore what we will believe and do.” It is possible that authority at times can arise from the laity and not the hierarchy, as in the present scandal, in which the laity clearly saw the truth and intentions of the Spirit in protecting children—to which the hierarchy was blind.

The laity will fully participate in discerning the Spirit’s intentions for today’s society and times. This is known as “discerning the signs of the times.”

The People of God believes that it is led by the Spirit of the Lord, who fills the earth. Motivated by this faith, it labors to decipher authentic signs of God’s presence and purpose in the happenings, needs, and desires in which this People has a part along with other men of our age. For faith throws a new light on everything, manifests God’s design for man’s total vocation, and thus directs the mind to solutions which are fully human.
The Church in the Modern World, No. 11

14. Are the mechanisms is place for renewing and restructuring the church?

No. The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) put some mechanisms in place. In 1983 the Code of Canon Law, which is the legal basis for the church’s operations, was updated. But the work was never completed. Creating a Constitution that clearly shows the rights and responsibilities of all members of the church, especially those of the laity, is a major part of this process, and is needed to complete the work of Vatican II.

15. What can we do right now? Contact Voice of the Faithful, VOTF’s mission is: To provide a prayerful voice, attentive to the Spirit, through which the Faithful can actively participate in the governance and guidance of the Catholic Church. Its goals are threefold:

1. Support those who have been abused

2. Support priests of integrity

3. Shape structural change within the church.
   

VOTF’s Web site is filled with information on steps to take to participate in this important movement. Starting a Voice Chapter in your parish may be the best contribution you can make for renewing and restructuring the church.

You can make copies of this guide and distribute them. Start discussion groups in your homes, parishes and small faith communities. Give copies of the Guide to your priests, pastor and bishop. Invite them to join with you in a dialogue on full lay participation in the church in accord with church teaching. The laity and clergy need each other. Together we will renew and restructure the church and make it once again the luminous People of God, who show the beauty and power of Jesus Christ to the world.

CONCLUSION
The Spirit of Christ is calling the church to a New Pentecost. The prayer of all Catholics is that the church may come together in faith, good will, understanding and compassion, to clearly discern the knowledge, wisdom and intentions of the Spirit, and together renew and restructure the church for the good of the world and the glory of God, in and through Jesus Christ, to whom be all honor and glory forever.

“Come, Holy Spirit, and renew the church with a New Pentecost, so the church can renew a world that ever needs the grace of Christ.”