Clerical Errors by Peter Murnane

8/5/2023

How Clericalism Betrays the Gospel and How to Heal the Church

Dominican Friar and author, Peter Murnane introduces us to his call for reformation of the Catholic church, “Clerical Errors”:
The Catholic church is in serious decline. This book claims that the corruption of the institution derives from various “clerical errors,” especially clericalism, which assumes that clergy are superior and deserve privileges. Clericalism divides the church into two unequal classes, betraying the gospel, which teaches that all people are equal. Clerical privilege makes the sexual abuse of children more likely, and has led most bishops to conceal it.
Clerical Errors begins by examining the trials and acquittal of Cardinal Pell. Was it the jury who made a grave error—or was it the cardinal? Other chapters look at worldwide sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy and traumatic impacts on survivors.
What might have caused this tragedy? The institutional nature of the church? Defective Canon Law? Misuse of the sacrament of Confession? Compulsory celibacy? Homosexuality?
The book’s last, hopeful chapter proposes a radical but simple model for restoring the Christian church.

First, I am not a member of the Catholic church but I have followed Messiah Jesus for more than 50 years

Second, this shocking, well-documented, less-than-graphic detailing of the Child Sex Abuse perpetrated by some clergy, at all levels, and lay members makes my blood boil. So many innocent lives were destroyed and the guilty continued abusing children for decades, in some cases.
While this is a scholarly book complete with lots of footnotes, index and bibliography, all of that can be ignored when reading this book. Those tools are available if you want more information.
I agree with the recommendations the author makes. So much needs to be transformed. Oversight and accountability need to be established and clearly defined. Offenders need to be defrocked and turned over to the secular authorities on the first offense. There must not be a safe haven for pedophiles in any quarter!
The problem of CSA is not limited to the Catholic church or any church, it exists in nearly every large institution involved with children and must be rooted out.

Read this book and become part of the solution.

You can buy this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Clerical-Errors-Clericalism-Betrays-Gospel-ebook
https://www.goodreads.com/-clerical-errors-peter-murnane
https://wipfandstock.com/clerical-errors
This book is available at many other fine retail sites.

You can follow the author:
https://twitter.com/emutree40
https://www.facebook.com/peter-murnane
https://findingthetreasure.wordpress.com

Copyright @ 2023 Mark L. Schultz except for the author’s introduction

28 Comments

Peter Murnane

8/6/2023 05:44:55 pm

Mark, is this where we do the conversation?

Mark

8/6/2023 05:59:53 pm

Yes, Peter, welcome to the Word Refiner channel. I am glad you made it here. You are in New Zealand at this time, 16 hours ahead of Florida, where I live. It is almost 10 am on Monday August 7.

Be sure and check your Twitter direct message box several times a day, as you are able.

First question.

Please, tell us more about yourself. Perhaps something a little bit beyond your bio.

8/6/2023 06:18:38 pm

Raised in a Catholic family, like any young person, as my school years ended, I looked for the best way to spend my life. My idealism directed me towards becoming a priest, to "serve people, by teaching about God and working perhaps in some parish church.
I also needed community life, so was drawn to the ancient (800 year old) Dominican order of friars.
Their courses in philosophy and theology were a great gift, although a mixed bag of teachers. I was ordained priest 57 years ago, and have had a rich life, serving in various areas.
HOWEVER, in recent years I have become more aware of the prevalence of clericalism. Hence my research for the book Clerical Errors. This led to significant life-changes.

8/6/2023 06:26:52 pm

800 years is a long time. That inspires awe.

New question.

Is this the first book you have written?

Peter Murnane link

8/7/2023 06:58:39 pm

No, I published Archways to the Infinite a few years ago. Although I have been writing articles, and presenting homilies in churches for many years (since 1966) I found the leisure - and perhaps the wisdom? - to tackle a book when i was recovering from peritonitis, at the age of 75.
"Archways..." is a collection of autobiographical stories, which bring out my glimpses of the Transcendent dimension of our life. There has to be a lot more than our senses, and our empirical sciences, show us. Mind, love, the Infinite, ... where does it end?

8/7/2023 09:10:16 pm

I love your term, Transcendent dimension. I agree, there is much more than what we perceive with our senses or limited measuring devices.

I understand being in these physical bodies we are thereby limited in our perceptions.

The humble honeybee, such an industrious pollinator, can see light in the ultraviolet range that our unaided eyes cannot see. If we could see what the honeybee sees, the flowers with pollen sparkle and glow. The flowers look like they have runway lights such as are used at airports.

New questions.

How has writing changed your life?

How many drafts did your book go through before publishing?

8/7/2023 09:37:20 pm

Writing is a wonderful process. It doesn’t just express what is in your mind: it also processes it somehow, letting it evolve and grow, making new connections.

Writing my first book, Archways to the Infinite, gave me the opportunity to re-discover memories from childhood and teenage years, and see how they had formed the older me.
Writing Clerical Errors... led me to research a lot of things about the Catholic church. I’ve worked as a priest for more than half a century, but through writing realised more deeply that the institution had evolved a lot more than I had thought. It has become very different from what was there in the first century, and from the teachings of Jesus. The central ritual of the Mass or Eucharist is hardly recognisable from what it was in the beginning.

Writing chapter after chapter showed me that the priesthood had become, in its worst examples, a kind of caste of (only) men believed to be superior to ordinary folk.

How many drafts? While I did not write “straight through” time after time, every piece was re-written, I estimate, up to ten times.

8/7/2023 09:50:33 pm

I appreciate the research you did I learned a great deal from reading your book about the history of the Church and the church.

Writing, editing and rewriting can lead to an easy-to-read book. Ten drafts are not excessive in the least. Some new writers try to write a perfect first draft and wind up never finishing the book for one reason or another. The first draft has but one purpose and that is to get the story out of your head.

New questions.

Who designed the cover of your book? Feel free to drop a link if appropriate.

How many drafts did the cover go through?

8/7/2023 10:18:38 pm

The cover picture is totally without colour: all in black. When I first saw it I was not greatly enthused. It looked like something out of one of those dark films by Ingmar Bergman, in the ‘60s. Then I found that the designer was one Kyle Lundberg, most probably a Scandinavian!

On reflection, I think it is quite appropriate, for it shows a priest holding a monstrance, the golden vessel used to display the consecrated bread during the ritual of Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament. This ceremony is perhaps the summit of developed Catholic ritual, late in the Middle Ages… not at all resembling the practice of the first centuries. The dark, almost silhouette presentation could represent the darkness that has come over the church through the sad revelations of that small percentage of clerics who have sexually abused children; and the large percentage of bishops who have concealed this “to protect the good name of the institution”.
I don’t know how many drafts of the cover were argued about. My good publishers, Wipf and Stock, (they must be good, for they are in Eugene, Oregon!) didn’t give much option. I did send them a picture to set them thinking, but with a note saying that is must NOT be used, for it showed an actual living cardinal parading in a cappa magna, the long, red silken train, its end held by an altar server. Sometimes these trains reached an unbelievable 15 metres or more. If Jesus saw one, he would have laughed all the way from Nazareth to Capernaum.

8/8/2023 08:33:42 am

The cover is stark and startling. I love it. My bio-dad was a professional photographer and I learned to appreciate black-and-white photography. Color photography is much more forgiving of mistakes than black and white.

The symbolism is quite appropriate also.

I have no doubt that Jesus would have a long laugh.

The second question is for self-publishers, mostly. They hire a cover designer. Self-publishing authors bear all of the expense of publishing and retain all of the profits and control of their intellectual property rights.

New questions.

Was it hard to come up with the title?

What was the process?

8/8/2023 05:38:07 pm

Like many or even most "good ideas", it "just came", emerging from the unconscious. I have always enjoyed puns and spoonerisms (if you know what they are). Over some length of time, I was pondering what to call the book against clericalism, when "Clerical Errors" just emerged into my conscious thoughts. I tried it out on a friend, and he burst out laughing: always a good sign! Quite often, when I told others the title, they too couldn't contain their laughter. So away I went.

8/8/2023 06:26:55 pm

I love puns and all manner of word play, including spoonerisms.

That is a great story, I love it and don't blame your test subjects for expressing their humor. That title is a good choice.

You were blessed with that title. Titles are almost as important as a cover for attracting the eye and holding interest long enough for a prospective reader to read the blurb next. The sale is almost clinched at that point.

Many writers find they can't choose between two or three titles. They ask friends or their critique group if they have one. Some authors with an established fanbase hold a contest to let the fans pick a title or at least narrow the choices down. The author might offer an autographed copy of the new book as a reward through a random drawing of all entries.

New question.

Are you planning to continue writing?

If so, what kind are you thinking of?

8/8/2023 07:10:11 pm

I put some thought into a weekly reflection that circulated among a few hundred and then goes onto my blog findingthetreasure.wordpress.com

I hesitate to take on the big commitment of another book, but may bring together some of the thoughts that have piled up there..

8/8/2023 07:40:26 pm

That is a good idea.

New question.

Have you ever thought about writing fiction?

8/9/2023 05:17:09 pm

Not really. While I deeply respect the role of creative arts, both visual and audible, and fiction writing of course is included here, I feel called to spend my time more in addressing actual situations in the world around me. The enormous inequality - injustice - in the way we fail to share our planet's resources needs to be talked/written about and addressed.... the huge waste on wars, which are mostly started to provide profits to the arms industry. I became a priest to help people, having heard the basic command of Jesus, to deed the hungry, help the sick and prisoners etc.
I see my book exposing the evils - yes, evils - in the institutional church as doing this. I'll leave fiction to others.

8/9/2023 05:36:08 pm

It's good to know your calling.

There is a lot of injustice in the world.

New questions.

Have you done any public speaking?

If so, will you be doing more in the future?

8/9/2023 08:01:30 pm

Yes, as a priest I have been expected, on many Sundays and various other occasions, to present a homily or commentary on the scriptures. Many of these are preserved on the blog: findingthetreasure.wordpress.com.
Also, after several rather dramatic protests I made against the 2003 invasion of Iraq, I had a number of radio and television interviews. And then there was the 8-day courtroom trial, before we three were acquitted by the jury. It's not easy to explain why we disarmed a USA/New Zealand spy base!
These protests are described in Archways to the Infinite, and here and there on the internet.

8/9/2023 08:28:28 pm

That definitely counts as public speaking. Although, I didn't have testimony in a courtroom in mind.

New questions.

Have you entered any writing contests?

Have you won awards of any kind for your writing?

8/10/2023 06:04:24 am

I have to so "no" to both of those. Although my brother, Gerald Murnane, has won several of Australia's biggest literary prizes for some of his fourteen published books, and although he lives in a remote country town in the state of Victoria, was visited by an interviewer from the New York Times, who did a lengthy interview in that paper. Even so, I don't struggle with sibling rivalry!

8/10/2023 07:48:33 am

Writing seems to run in your family. Very nice.

Celebrity has its ups and downs.

New question.

Any other authors in your family or among close friends?

8/10/2023 05:31:17 pm

No published writers in my immediate family. Nor can I say that have known many. One novelist, who achieved mild success. My parents were well-read, but self taught. In their generation, children left school at 14 and went to work, often on the farm, otherwise in factories.
Then, for a while, in my generation, Labor governments made university education free. That is far from true now though.

8/10/2023 05:51:40 pm

A lot of writers don't talk about their writing. They consider it private and some never publish for that reason.

I prospect for new clients quite often when standing in line for something or a person has just helped me. Around 5% of the people I ask know someone who is an author or wants to be one. Around 1%, maybe less, are authors.

Education is not free in America either. There is no such thing as a free lunch, is there? Someone is paying those salaries and other bills.

New questions.

How did you pick your publisher, or did they pick you?

What is your publisher doing to market your book?

8/14/2023 08:21:07 pm

I looked around for a likely publisher, who accepted books related to my subject. I applied to them, and was very pleased to have the MS accepted.

They do basic things to promote and market, but because of the number of books they publish, warn authors that it is largely "up to you".

8/14/2023 08:43:33 pm

That is a story I have heard many times from authors who haven't self-published. Publishers of all sizes struggle with very thin profit margins. Most of them cannot afford to take a chance on a book not selling well.

Anita Dow link

8/11/2023 04:40:27 am

Such interesting insights here. Born to Catholic parents my sisters and I were never confirmed in the faith as my dad fell out with the Church on the issue of contraception. I hope this book finds its way to those who need to hear the message.

8/11/2023 06:09:27 am

Thanks for your comment, Anita. To me, the important thing is to separate the core of what Jesus taught, on which the Christian community was built, from the institution and the mistakes that it has made. Institutions are useful, but they can tempt leaders to seek and hang on to power; or crush people to protect the "good name" of the institution.
Many people rejected the teaching on contraception, and with good reason. Pope Paul VI consulted a committee of advisors, then enlarged the committee, but still went against its majority advice. His decision is philosophically unsound, and many bishops advised their people to follow their own conscience.
I hope you tell a few people about my book Clerical Errors.

8/11/2023 07:20:16 am

Thanks for dropping by, Anita. I appreciate your comments. I think many are in the same situation as you and your early family.

8/14/2023 08:49:54 pm

Thank you, Peter, I have enjoyed discussing the journey you have been on.
I have another promotion starting tomorrow, I must bring this one to a close.

Keep on keeping on.

Clerical Errors by Peter Murnane

How Clericalism Betrays the Gospel and How to Heal the Church

Leave a Reply.

Who am I?

Archives

Categories