Psychology and The Roman Catholic Church [Part of 'Psychological Violence In Society'] ©2003 John Latter (jorolat@aol.com)

 (Provisional Outline) (Click to read Today's Religion News Headlines)

Contents:

1) Introduction [1st draft - 16th Feb '03]

2) Characteristics of Psychological Trauma [Subsection 2b) Part A: 1st draft - 2nd March '03]

3) Vulnerability of Traumatized Children to Religious Indoctrination

4) Psychologically Violent Priests

5) Basic Interactions between Perpertrator and Victim

6) Psychological Hierarchies [1st draft - 6th Feb '03]

7) Conclusions

8) Discussion Group [1st draft - 7th Feb '03]

1) Introduction [Back to Top]

"Psychology and the Roman Catholic Church" is intended to be of practical use, both to victims of psychological violence and to those with a responsibility, or concern, for their welfare.

Ir is not, however, an attack upon the Roman Catholic Church. The psychological principles identified, illustrated by real-life examples whenever possible, will be seen to be applicable to any religion, and to any hierarchical organization.

On the other hand, an emphasis is placed on those Roman Catholic concepts which have a strong correlation with particular characteristics of trauma. In brief, this study is an examination of those instances where belief in God is specifically of psychological origin.

On Sunday, September 22, 2002, the UK newspaper 'The Observer' published the article "Raging Boffins" which reported upon the degree of animosity that had arisen between two recent protagonists in the centuries-old "Nature v Nurture" debate.

The article represented Stephen Pinker's position (representing "Nature") in the following way:

"On one side stand the followers of the fledgling science of evolutionary psychology, led by Pinker. They say studies of human evolution show that parents have little impact on their children's behaviour. Only their genes, and a person's interaction with peers and friends, matter in the shaping of violent personalities. Road rage and murder are in our DNA."

Against this, and on behalf of "Nurture", are the views shared by the British psychologist Oliver James:

"On the other side are traditional psychologists and psychoanalysts who say that children's aggressive behaviour is picked up from violent parents. The family is the root of all troubles. Genes have only a limited role in the birth of of criminal, violent behaviour. Learning from parents is key."

The article then expands upon these polarized positions and the strong feelings they have evoked. Within the context of the above the approach used by "Psychology and the Roman Catholic Church" can be described as an investigation into what happens when "[An injury to] Nature is followed by [certain forms of] Nurture".

At first glance this may appear to be a rather restricted field of study but it is within this apparently narrow "bandwidth" of behaviorial responses that pedophilia, and much else besides, readily falls.

The starting point is an examination of those characteristics of trauma which tend to make an individual susceptible to, and sometimes attracted towards, 'religious indoctrination'. If no post-trauma experiences occur relevant to the initial trauma then such a susceptibility/attraction may be seen to be a life-long personality trait and the trauma is considered 'simple'.

When related post-trauma experiences do occur, however, then a 'compounded' trauma may be produced. The vector chosen to reach this 'other end of the spectrum' is one resulting in an internal model in which the potential for psychological violence is at its greatest, but conversely, so is the degree of repression.

This Newsday article (published on February 12, 2003) then goes on to say:

"And like many alleged victims, he is appalled at church officials' continued denials of a cover-up.

'If they don't get it now, even after everything that has gone on this past year, they're never going to get it,' Dionne said yesterday. 'The truth is, I don't have too much hope that the church is going to change. The people in power seem to be thoroughly committed to covering this up even now, and it really hurts.'

A day after a Suffolk County grand jury issued a blistering report accusing the Diocese of Rockville Centre of protecting priests and church assets at the expense of children, Dionne and others who say they were molested expressed exultation at the findings but also bitterness that the diocese could still deny their truth."

[A pdf copy of the Suffolk County report can be obtained here]

On December 13th 2002, the Vatican announced the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law (Archbishop of Boston) and under the sub-heading of "Accusations of a Cover-Up" an ABC News article reporting the event (click here) stated:

"Law has been accused of having shuffled from parish to parish priests who were accused, often repeatedly, of sexually abusing minors."

[Text of Law's resignation statement]

On November 20th 2002, the article "Church in England pays hush money to sex abuse victims" reported:

"THE Roman Catholic Church has secretly paid thousands of pounds in “hush money” to dozens of Britons who were sexually abused by priests.

The disclosure will come as a further embarrassment to the Catholic Church in England and Wales and to its spiritual leader, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster, who has been accused of turning a blind eye to paedophile priests when he was Bishop of Arundel and Brighton."

And in "Abuse scandal threatens to topple Dublin's cardinal", published on the 8th February 2003, The Independent  newspaper (UK) stated:

"The head of the Catholic church in the Irish Republic may become the next high-profile casualty of a crisis generated by the cover-up of clerical sex abuse that has rocked the church worldwide."

In addition to those cover-ups that are the result of "making mistakes", or are the unwanted outcome of "good intentions", there exists another kind of cover-up. The final transformations to a compounded trauma can be due to a person attaining a position of authority and then interacting at a psychological level with both 'superiors' and 'inferiors'. This can create, or contribute to, a 'psychological hierarchy'. Members of such hierarchies find cover-ups acceptable and use specific techniques when engaging in this activity.

    
2) Characteristics of Psychological Trauma [Back to Top]

2a) Foreword [Foreword: 1st draft - 23th Feb '03]
2b) Trauma v. Historical Awareness of God(s) [Part A: 1st draft - 2nd March '03]
2c) Formation of Trauma (Real-Life Example)
2d) Post-trauma experience #1 (Real-Life Example)
2e) Post-trauma experience #2 (Real-Life Example)
2f) The nature of psychological "Love" (Real-Life Example)
2g) Summary

2a) Foreword [On to 2b] [Back to Section 2]

 The above remarks were made to Douglas Keay of Woman's Own magazine during an interview held at 10 Downing Street on September 23rd, 1987. When the finished article ("Aids, education and the year 2000!": extract) became available on October 31st Margeret Thatcher's words were immediately seized upon by her political opponents. The uproar was considerable and over a decade later references continue to appear: in Hansard, in the Agenda of Glenda Jackson's 2000 campaign to become Mayor of London, and in the title of, and coverage given to, the collection of Conservative essays contained in the 2002 book "There Is Such A Thing As Society" (to name but a few).

Of course, reaction to the quotation was not limited to the world of Politics. Sociologists, Philosophers, people from many walks of life, have all given voice to their opinion, and  understandably, continue to do so. From the perspective of investigating psychological trauma, however, attention need only be given to those instances when the development of infants ("Nature") comes into conflict with commonly-held 'social values' ("Nurture"). Or, to put it a different way, if it is acceptable to assume that 'natural inheritance' (via the genome) is by and large a constant from generation to generation (or only changes 'slowly') then obviously cultural beliefs with regard to 'child-rearing' are capable of a far greater rate of change. In other words, the two may not always be 'mutually compatible'.

During the last century, for example, Truby King, Dr. Seuss, and Dr. Spock (etc.) were all influential in the field of child-rearing, and as a single illustration of the point being made, "Common Causes of Trauma in Infants: 'Hands Off' (1)" (in the process of a rewrite and not yet linked to) describes why the application of a fixed-feeding routine may cause the 'irresistible force' within a developing child to clash head-on with the external 'immoveable object' of its parents conditioned, or deliberately adopted, responses.

At this point it is pertinent to note that Trauma within the individual can occur before there is awareness of any 'God' [Summary Point 1]. Prior to looking at the internal characteristics of an actual trauma the next subsection first examines the historical relationship between trauma and human society.
 

2b) Trauma v. Historical Awareness of God(s) [Part A: 1st draft - 2nd March '03] [Back to Section 2]

The 1978 technical paper "The Spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian Paradigm" (Gould & Lewontin: Abstract) caused sufficient controversy within the field of evolution that by 2002 it had become, with the exception of a paper on Punctuated Equilibrium co-authored with Niles Eldredge, the most cited of all of Gould's papers (reference). Some voices which were raised in opposition, such as that of Gerald Borgia's in "The Scandals of San Marco", even parodied the title.

The cause of the controversy lay in Gould & Lewontin's assertion that there was an overemphasis on Natural Selection as an "optimizing agent" in both the US and the UK. This had begun with Alfred Wallace (co-presenter of the 1858 Darwin -Wallace paper on Evolution) and August Weismann (of "The Weismann Barrier" fame) and had given rise to what Gould & Lewontin described as an "Adaptionist Programme" which

"proceeds by breaking an organism into unitary "traits" and proposing an adaptive story for each considered separately. Trade-offs among competing selective demands exert the only brake upon perfection; nonoptimality is thereby rendered as a result of adaptation as well."

The authors stated that

"The adaptationist programme can be traced through common styles of argument  ...[including] If one adaptive argument fails, assume that another must exist; a weaker version of the first argument."

Against this approach Gould & Lewontin argued that ""organisms must be analyzed as integrated wholes" and cited the continental European concept of Baupläne ('Bodyplan') in support of their position (they drew back, however, from any association with speculative ideas such as Pierre-Paul Grassé's suggestion that "Internal Factors" may be involved in how evolution occurs).

The basic objectives of a therapist could be summarized in the following way:

a) To provide a safe environment

b) To then impart whatever knowledge is necessary to enable the consciousness of an individual to make inner contact with 'repressed feelings' in a way that leads to their permanent resolution.

If this is termed 'top-down', then in extreme situations where there may be little or no apparent consciousness with which to engage, an initial 'bottom-up' approach (via instinct rather than intellect) can be effective. This inverse method reflects an important aspect of how organisms are integrated and can be illustrated by referring to Paul MacLean's theory of the "Triune Brain". [Part B to follow]

3) Vulnerability of Traumatized Children to Religious Indoctrination [Back to Top]

3a) Foreword
3b) 'Original Sin'
3c) 'Confession'
More

4) Psychologically Violent Priests [Back to Top]

Include 'Celibacy' and 'Psychological Homosexuality (Part II)'

5) Basic Interactions between Perpertrator and Victim [Back to Top]

6) Psychological Hierarchies [Back to Top]

6a) Foreword
6b) Galileo: An Historical Example Of Psychological Violence [1st draft - 6th Feb '03]
6c) The Case of "The F***ing B*tch"

6a) Foreword

6b) Galileo: An Historical Example Of Psychological Violence [1st draft - 6th Feb '03]

Commentary and analysis to be initially based upon the following extracts from "Galileo Galilei: Towards a Resolution of 350 Years of Debate 1633-1983" [1] edited by Paul Cardinal Poupard and with an epilogue by Pope John Paul II:

  
6c) The Case of "The F***ing B*tch" [1st draft - 6th Feb '03]

[This incident happened in a Social Environment not properly "Part of the Catholic Church". The Perpetrator was not a Priest but a close friend of one]

The methods a psychological hierarchy will use in order to protect a member whose behaviour has exceeded 'normal limits' are usually easiest to detect when the degree of excess is perceived to be only slight. Typically, when such a situation occurs, Prime Movers within the hierarchy will immediately embark upon a 'routine clean-up operation' with such confidence that they are relatively unguarded in their behaviour. As a result, any specific techniques identified during this process can then be looked for in those more serious situations where members of a psychological hierarchy have to be more circumspect in their actions.

"The Case of "The F***ing B*tch" describes a psychological assault upon two regular victims that ordinarily would have caused little comment. On this occasion, however, several non-members of the hierarchy were so indignant at what had occurred that they co-authored a letter of complaint. This complication triggered a cover-up operation and the means whereby both victims and witnesses were not just discredited, but turned into 'Bad People' worthy of psychological violence, will be seen to be of universal application. It will be equally self-evident that no "mistakes" were made in the cover-up whatsoever.

To do: Background, Incident, Conclusion

  
7) Conclusions [Back to Top]

8) Discussion Group [Back to Top] [1st draft - 7th Feb '03]

An associated discussion group has been opened which is currently being used as a diary to record controversial news stories concerning the Roman Catholic Church. This group will not not be 'advertised' on the internet until the content of this webpage has been substantially increased. In the meantime, Readers are invited to comment on any relevant issue: news stories, personal experiences/observations/opinions (etc.), or this website. To visit the discussion group click here.

[1] "Galileo Galilei: Towards a Resolution of 350 Years of Debate 1633-1983" Paul Cardinal Poupard [Return to Text]
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0820701939/qid=1027866208/sr=1-14/ref=sr_1_14/103-4791245-6181432

"Words frozen in time should be differentiated from those carved in stone" - John Latter

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Model of an Internal Evolutionary Mechanism
linking Stationary-Phase Mutations to The Baldwin Effect