The Church as a Fragile State: A New Institutional Model for Understanding the Persistence of the Sexual Abuse Crisis

The institutional model of the church has fallen into disfavor as a means for ecclesiological investigation because Avery Dulles, SJ, regarded it with suspicion because of its association with the notion that the church is a perfect state and the ways that institutionalism encourages clericalism. At...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Anderson, C. Colt (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Published: 2024
In: Horizons
Year: 2024, Volume: 51, Issue: 2, Pages: 233-269
IxTheo Classification:KDB Roman Catholic Church
NBN Ecclesiology
NCC Social ethics
RB Church office; congregation
ZB Sociology
Further subjects:B clergy abuse crisis
B Ecclesiology
B institutional model
B Reform
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
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Summary:The institutional model of the church has fallen into disfavor as a means for ecclesiological investigation because Avery Dulles, SJ, regarded it with suspicion because of its association with the notion that the church is a perfect state and the ways that institutionalism encourages clericalism. At the same time, there has been an ongoing debate as to the value of models for addressing the concrete reality of the church and for engaging the social sciences. Engaging economics as a dialogue partner, the author considers how the institutional model can be understood in terms of a fragile state instead of a perfect society to explain the persistence of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church and to suggest a strategy for institutional reforms.
ISSN:2050-8557
Contains:Enthalten in: Horizons
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1017/hor.2024.24