Bullying
I have recently been working with a group of people from a parish in Louisiana who have faced horrific challenges. The conversation began with their concerns that the pastor was allowing a clique to run the parish to the exclusion of others. He was also treating the other members of the parish very unfairly to the point of excluding them from ministries and undermining their efforts to run their own cemetery. This involved taking away money and slanderous statements. I found the complaints to be quite credible and just another example of clericalist misbehavior. The priest was involved in spreading slanderous rumors about one of the members of the parish because he wouldn't go along with the shenanigans of the clique.
I advised the folks being mistreated to contact their bishop and copy to the nuncio and metropolitan. They did as I suggested and set up a meeting with the vicar general of the diocese. At first, the vicar general and others were sympathetic to the complaints and attempted to reconcile the differences between them and the priest. Unfortunately, this was followed by several incidents of retaliation.
Ultimately, the retaliation reached the point of criminal behavior by members of the clique directed at the concerned parishioners. Law enforcement is involved and a lawsuit against the diocese is in progress. While I cannot go into details regarding the lawsuit or the criminal behavior because of the sensitivity of an ongoing case, I can say this is a classic example of bullying in a parish.
Bullying is not just something that takes place in school. It is a common behavior among adults in organizations. This certainly includes the church. Many times, the bully is the priest. At other times, it can be a small group in the parish. It involves various forms of intimidation and abuse. The victims are isolated and are in no position to defend themselves. The other members of the parish will not do anything because they are afraid that they will be next.
The only solution to bullying is for the entire group (office, parish, club, etc.) to take a stand and refuse to accept bullying in their midst. This requires the group to convene and identify behaviors that are not acceptable. Whenever the sanctioned behaviors are observed, the people point out that they have all determined that this behavior is not acceptable.
Bullies cannot stand to be challenged by the group. They rely on the bystanders to either allow the bullying to go on or even become willing participants. Once they are challenged and reprimanded by the group, they will usually stop. They may go elsewhere to find victims. In cases of bullying there is no such thing as an innocent bystander. Each of us should be willing to declare bullying as unacceptable.
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