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Checking and Balancing Power in the Church
Power wielded in the Church offers no fewer temptations and dangers than power wielded in the State, and, in some ways, those in the Church’s political culture face unique, heightened temptations. Therefore, just as a system of checks and balances is needed in the secular state to keep secular power within legitimate limits, so too is such a system needed in the Church to prevent power from extending beyond the limits of legitimacy. Such a system would obviously look very different in the hierarchical structure of the Church than in the democratic structure of the United States; it would not have to imply a division of powers into three separate but equal branches, for instance. Indeed, the particular structure of the Church may make checking and balancing power more difficult, at least in theory, than arranging power through modern constitutions and social contracts. As the Church is not a democracy and isn’t meant to be one, I’m not sure how such a system would be constructed; nevertheless, instituting measures to prevent the abuse and misuse of power remains a vital task before the Church, especially in the wake of the abuse scandal.
When power is abused, loyalty to those in power can become a vice. In her most recent column, Peggy Noonan tells us about Cardinal Law’s reaction to a piece she wrote in 2002 responding to the abuse scandal: “We don’t need friends of the church turning on the church at such a difficult time,” she quotes him as saying. “We need loyalty when the church is going through a tough time.” I’d say we need a devotion to truth and justice when the Church is going through a tough time; these are, after all, among the things towards which the Church is meant to direct us. Loyalty has its place, of course, but not at the expense of truth and justice. And not at the expense of people. If anything, loyalty to the Church today means insisting that the Church tell the true story about and behind the abuse and not leave revelation to the media.
