In the Catholic Church clericalism is now the whipping boy of choice. But what it embraces is less clear.
It is a pejorative word, used by people of others but never of themselves, and is normally defined ostensively by reference to examples of it. We know who is a clericalist even if we are not sure what he is. So it is worth pausing to reflect on clericalism and its significance for church and society.
Although clericalism is rarely defined, it is possible to reconstruct a perfect case of clericalism by enumerating the various attitudes and practices that critics find fault with.
The perfect clericalist always dresses formally in a style that identifies him clearly as a Catholic priest. He is also formal in address, addressing and speaking of other priests as father and bishops as my lord. He insists, too, that others address him as father or my lord. His pastoral relationships with laypeople are formal and asymmetrical.
This asymmetry is based on a strongly hierarchical understanding of the Catholic Church in which authority and power are centralised in bishops and local power in the priest. Boundaries both within the Church and between the Church and the surrounding world are clearly marked out by clear and binding rules governing Catholic allegiance. It is the job of the priest to insist on and police them.
The interest of the perfect clericalist is narrowly focused on the internal relationships, practices and customs of the Church, and particularly on the conduct of worship of which he sees himself as custodian. He shows little interest in the outside world except when he sees it intruding on the rights and freedom of the Church. His conversational style is didactic. He does not easily engage in dialogue, and is more comfortable issuing authoritative judgments and final decisions.
Common to these traits is the urge to control — to have self control, control in relationships, control over the beliefs and practices of his congregation, over the language of faith, and over boundaries.
"We need good leaders at every level who will leave aside claims based on special knowledge, dignity of rank, difference from the people they serve. They will focus on consultation, on the claims of a common humanity and on the recognition of shared uncertainty."
Such is the perfect clericalist — the sum of the qualities attributed to the accused by their critics. Some critics have tried to explain clericalism by psychological analysis