Catholic Hierarchy and Social Interaction of the Clergy

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the composition, social interaction, spiritual formation, and networking of the Catholic hierarchy in the parish, diocese, episcopal conference, Roman Curia, and papacy, and their consequences to clerical behavior and social control against clerical sexual abuse. Particularly, it aims to show how the loose social structural bonding of the secular clergy in the various communal levels of the hierarchy and the apparent lack of formal and informal controls provided by lay organizations in the various levels of the clerical community can facilitate clerical abuse.