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Clericalism: The Death of Priesthood

ISBN: 9780814629451
Author(s): by George B. Wilson SJ Publisher: Liturgical Press

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
Searching for answers in the midst of the sexual abuse crisis in the church, many blamed the "clerical culture". But what exactly is this clerical culture? We may know it when we see it, but how can we—whether clergy or laypeople—go about dismantling it and putting in place a new, healthy culture? George Wilson has spent decades working with organizations to help them discover, and often recover, their foundational calling. He is also a Jesuit priest engaged in the lives of congregations. In Clericalism: The Death of Priesthood he brings together both capacities and gives his sense of the challenges facing the church.

As members of the church, Wilson maintains, we are all responsible for creating a clerical culture. And we are also responsible for that culture's transformation. Clericalism aids this transformation by helping us examine some underlying attitudes that create and preserve destructive relationships between ordained and laity. After looking at the crisis and establishing where we are now, this book challenges us with concrete suggestions for changing behaviors. We are lay and ordained, but all baptized into the royal priesthood of 1 Peter 2:9, all called to spread the Gospel and do the work of God's love in the world. Ultimately, this is a hopeful book, looking for the restoration of a genuine priesthood, free of clericalism, in which we become truly united in Christ.

REVIEWS:
"If Wilson's work reminds us that there is no cheap grace, no casual way to overcome the deleterious effects of clerical culture, it reminds us also that there is grace, that there is hope. The grace and hope are gifts, but the appropriation of them is a project, a project for us all. In identifying the need for, the possibility of, and the steps to such an appropriation, George Wilson's book offers a significant service not simply to the church's ordained priesthood, but to the mission of the church in the world." ...The Australasian Catholic Record

"Wilson calls for a re-think of relationships in the Church: enhanced consultation with the laity and more shared responsibility, a dismantling of the disciplina arcani on the part of priests, with its assumptions of superiority, much more sharing of vulnerability, much more exploring of the Gospel together. He calls for Sunday liturgies where the priest makes the experience one of shared prayer, not duty done; and acknowledgement that lay people sometimes make good spiritual directors. The pastor has to trust and respect others and stop being, or pretending to be, omnicompetent and omniscient. The parishioner in the pew must also change, as much as the priest in the presbytery: expectations need to change. . . . Wilson does it cogently and well, if provocatively: not hysterically but wisely. I enjoyed this book and I recommend it." ...The Tablet

"Jesuit George Wilson has the eyes and heart of a good pastor. He sees everything about the Church and the Priesthood with X-Ray vision and an understanding heart. That remarkable combination allows him to view the deadening effects of the clericalism that makes priests into princes and to offer gentle comprehensive advice on how to help a new generation to become servants again. Learned in history, theology, and organizational theory, Father Wilson provides just the right book at just the right time. He does not thunder like a prophet when, for example, he analyzes the structural and human failures that led to the clerical sex abuse scandal. He is rather like a good confessor who hears the depths of a sinner's confusion and offers gentle absolution and hard edged advice for renewal and reform. Everybody who wonders what can be done to help the Church and its priests in the next generation should read this book." ...Eugene Kennedy, Professor Emeritus, Loyola University, Chicago

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
George B. Wilson SJ, is an ecclesiologist and organizational facilitator. His other books are Blessing Prayers and Church Leadership: Training in the Ethical Use of Power (Treehaus Communications) and Patches (www.longdash.com). His articles can be accessed at www.gbwilson.homestead.com.
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