Improper Formation? | Commonweal Magazine

It's painful to admit this because we prided ourselves on the most prestigious alumni of our high school - Brooklyn Prep. John Sexton, Dean of NYU Law then transformational President of the university, and Penn State coach Joe Paterno - who still read Latin and whose athletes excelled. We were addressed as Mister from the first and were expected to become leaders of the Catholic community. But the flip side of that was a sense of male entitlement that could be oblivious of women except those seen as on a pedestal. - gwc
Improper Formation? | Commonweal Magazine
by John Gehring
***If you’re an outsider to Catholicism and want to understand hierarchy, clericalism, and power, think about the culture of Penn State football under one-time patriarch Joe Paterno. His top assistant abused boys for years, and while court documents show that Paterno knew about the abuse, the church that is Penn State football had to be protected. The institution was sacrosanct. A culture of secrecy and patriarchy guarded a privileged class.

Whether Kavanaugh gets confirmed or not, this dramatic moment in Washington has offered a window into those ecosystems where some young Catholic men of privilege are formed. We should affirm the best of the culture surrounding rarefied places like Georgetown Prep that serve as pipelines to power in the same way we affirm the best of our church institutions. But while we affirm and preserve, there also needs to be a willingness to fearlessly confront the toxic aspects of cultures and institutions that shape our future senators, supreme court justices, and bishops. If the old systems and institutions prove incapable of learning from failure and of reforming, it’s time to build something new on those ashes.