In the wake of revelations about sexual abuse that scandalized the Catholic church, several groups came to prominence in the United States, some as advocates of reform, others as defenders of clerical governance. Three considerations have shaped their strategies. One is the connection between the sexual teaching of the church and its hierarchical structure of authority. Catholic neoconservatives succeeded in wedding traditional concerns about sexuality and gender roles, heightened in reaction to the upheavals of the 1960s, with support for family values and a turn away from progressive economi ... More

In the wake of revelations about sexual abuse that scandalized the Catholic church, several groups came to prominence in the United States, some as advocates of reform, others as defenders of clerical governance. Three considerations have shaped their strategies. One is the connection between the sexual teaching of the church and its hierarchical structure of authority. Catholic neoconservatives succeeded in wedding traditional concerns about sexuality and gender roles, heightened in reaction to the upheavals of the 1960s, with support for family values and a turn away from progressive economic and social policies. Such polarization and retrenchment have encouraged some reformers to explore a second venue, putting their efforts into less contentious areas like the schools, social services, and health care programs affiliated with the church. A significant constraint on this generally popular strategy is that efforts to secure funding for the good works of Catholicism can run up against constitutional principles regarding the separation of church and state. Third, while Catholic opinion increasingly favors changes like the abolition of the celibacy requirement for priests, a legacy of deference, indifference, and selective adherence, together with the conservative leanings of recent immigrants, have slowed the dynamics of modernization. Managerial improvements show greater promise of advancing change than challenges to doctrine. Yet it is doubtful whether reforms stressing administrative performance over fairness—notably, with regard to to the status of women—can reverse the exodus and dimming of commitment among ordinary Catholics.