The Conversation

To Save the Church, Dismantle the Priesthood

Catholics must detach themselves from the clerical hierarchy, James Carroll argued in June—and take the faith back into their own hands.

Thank you, James Carroll, for your article. I, too, am fasting from Mass and my commitment to the Catholic Church. I cannot bear to hear how the vulnerable continue to be emotionally and physically mistreated by some clerical men and women—and yet we must not live in darkness. Articles like yours have made me wake up to how far the Church has strayed from its origins.

DeeDee Chang
Attleboro, Mass.

In one respect, James Carroll’s scathing critique of the Catholic hierarchy doesn’t go far enough. The indecent liberties taken by clergy who are shielded by their “ontologically superior” position include a far wider swath of personal sins than sex abuse or the ignoring thereof—they include sins like pride and cruelty.

In another area, however, Carroll goes too far. Dismantle the priesthood altogether? Unless this is intended merely as a rhetorical provocation, Carroll is living in a fantasyland. Even pre-Romanized Christianity was far from egalitarian in its governance. Jesus was willing to give his life for