Between Sanctity and Real Life: Child Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church in Spain

Abstract

This research assessed clergymen perceptions of child sexual abuse in Catalonia (Spain) and identified elements pointing toward anomie and a discourse linked to the neutralization of the perpetrators’ criminal responsibility. The study included 20 interviews from diocesan priests and members of religious congregations, who highlighted the impact of sexual abuse on clergy, the plurality of sensitivities, the existence of discourses tending to idealization, the presence of neutralization techniques and the existence of an institutionalized and persistent anomie within the Catholic Church. This research concluded that the problem of child sexual abuse is related to both individual (such as loneliness, among others) and institutional aspects (for example, selection and training of future clergymen, among others). To reduce the tension existing between cultural goals and institutional means, institutional reforms are necessary in terms of reviewing and de-consecrating cultural goals and improving adaptation of institutional means, while also focusing on supporting clerics and reducing loneliness. A debate needs to be normalized inside the Church, related to moralism, clerical power, and celibacy, among others.