A political science principle says the governing elite of an organisation will eventually think that it is that organisation. That's a mistake the Catholic bishops have made: thinking they alone are the church, argues Tom Doyle.
Seventeen years ago the Catholic Hierarchy, from local bishops to Vatican bureaucrats, had a major wake-up call. There was a clergy sexual-abuse time bomb of nuclear proportions ticking away in their midst and they had a choice as to what to do: risk peeking out of their isolated fortress, or build up a wall of defences to preserve their power and privilege. They chose the latter and they chose wrongly.
The institutional church's public statements then and now lead to a common denominator. They never really got the point of what it's all about and probably never will until the fundamental notions of clericalism, ecclesiastical power and even "church" are fully examined.
It's not about sinful priests who abuse. "Sin" and "evil" aren't the issue. Sexual abuse is abominable but it's the result of a compulsive sexual disorder, not the devil.
It's not about money grubbing victims and their greedy lawyers. I know hundreds of victims and all they ever wanted was honesty and a fair shake from the church's system. They turned to the civil courts only in utter frustration after being slammed around by an uncaring ecclesiastical bureaucracy.
It's not about a Catholic-bashing secular press hell-bent on eroding Church teaching on sexual morality. The press and media are simply doing their job - telling the truth. And without them, this enormous cancer would never have been uncovered for what it really is.
It's not about a "current environment of pansexuality", as Vatican Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos asserted the other day. The moral trends of a society don't create sexual disorders any more than they breed a lust for ecclesiastical power and prestige.
It's not about blaming the English-speaking world, as the Vatican bureaucrats have unsuccessfully tried to do. That's blame shifting for sure because the problem is all over; it's just having a more difficult time breaking free of the ecclesiastical bonds in some countries than in others.
It's not about promoting homosexuality, attacking celibacy, supporting radical feminism or advocating a married priesthood. So then, what is it about? It is about the church.
There is a solid principle in political science that says the governing elite of an organisation will eventually think that it is the organisation. That's a mistake that the Catholic bishops have made: thinking that they alone are the church.
They are not and now the sex abuse meltdown has given voice to a mass of faithful Catholics who are angry, hurt, distrustful of their bishops and committed to reclaiming the church they think has been hijacked from them.
The Hierarchy is facing a faithful who have thrown off the infantile bonds of clerical control and grown up. They are demanding accountability and honesty.
So it's not just about priests who have sexually abused thousands of innocent people of both sexes throughout the Catholic world. It's really about a system driven by the bishops that has spiritually abused victims and non-victims alike by scrambling to protect itself rather than reaching out to comfort the afflicted.
The abuse continues. The public apologies and anguished expressions of regret mean little to the victimised thousands. As one victim said, "What's a public apology? They say it and then run and cook up more defence tactics." How many of the bishops sought out the victims, gone to their homes and sat down and listened to their pain and anger? Precious few, if any.
Since the present crisis started in 1984, the abuse victims and their loyal supporters have faced a formidable adversary.
As one US victim, Peter Isely, said: "The dioceses spent tens of millions of dollars on the highest priced lawyers and hired the best public relations firms to fight us. And what did we have? All we had was the truth." The truth is not just that the sex abuse and cover-up were as widespread as some claimed.
The real truth is the undeniable fact that the Catholic church is all of its members and the most important people in this church are those who are most rejected and farthest from the institutional throne rooms.
The church is not a series of fiefdoms whose populace exists to sustain the lord and his manor.
The Vatican has finally spoken. The other day the it issued the Pope's address to priests worldwide, which the New York Times reports was neither written by nor announced by the Pope himself.
The statement and the presenting cardinal's deportment at the press conference confirm the assertion that they still don't get it.
Why is this statement such a disappointment? Because while it rightly focuses on the pain of the many good and faithful priests and bishops, it barely acknowledges the anguish of the thousands of victims, their families, friends and supporters, which is indescribable in its depth.
Cardinal Castrillon, the spokesman, appeared irritated when challenged by reporters. I suspect his irritation stemmed from fear at having his authority challenged. Clericalism at its worst.
Later on, Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navaro-Valls said Cardinal Castrillon's comments could be considered an expression of the church's position on the issue.
Sorry, but the church's position on the issue is not being voiced by the Cardinal or the local bishops. It is being voiced by the by the abused, by their families, and by the thousands of angry Catholics, lay and cleric alike, who are fed up with the secrecy, the callousness, the arrogance and malignant inaction of their leadership.
It's not a problem with the church. The church is waking up. It's a problem with the leadership.
For those who are shocked at the criticism and even venom being heaped on the Hierarchy, there should be hope in the realisation that the Catholic Church is not about preserving the power and privileges of the ruling class.
It's about Jesus, who only showed his anger when confronting the antics of the religious leaders of his time who sadly had forgotten that they were the servants of the Almighty and not the other way around. It's about the same Jesus, compassionate and caring, who reached out to heal and give new life to the wounded, the sinner, the rejected.
• Father Thomas P. Doyle is chaplain with the US Air Force and is based in Germany, a canon lawyer and a long time advocate for clergy abuse victims