ABSTRACT
Clericalism is the radical misunderstanding of the place of clerics in the Catholic Church and in secular society. Following the Second Vatican Council, many progressive clergy and members of the laity hoped that the power of clericalism would wane, especially in light of the Council emphasis on the important role of lay members in Church life. In 1906, Pope Pius X echoed these sentiments in an Encyclical Letter to the French bishops supporting their opposition to the separation of Church and State. Even today, canon law emphasizes the ostensibly divinely inspired division of Catholics into groups. One common misconception about the clergy sexual abuse is that it is caused by mandatory celibacy. Traditional preparation for clerical celibacy involved the exaltation of virginity and total continence, a devaluation of intimacy and marriage, and the surrounding of human sexuality with a blanket of sin. During the sexual abuse crisis, clerical narcissism infused the clergy's approach to their problems.
