Behind Closed Doors: Organizational Secrecy, Stigma, and Sex Abuse Within the Catholic Church

Abstract

This chapter presents an investigation of the sex abuse scandal within the Catholic Church through the lens of stigmatization for the purpose of elaborating the theory, making it more widely applicable across multiples levels of analysis. Much like individuals, organizations must engage in information management in order to conceal discrediting information that would blemish their reputation. Given the number of people who comprise an organization, such secrecy relies on teamwork in order to contain damaging information. Based on an analysis of investigative journalist accounts of the scandal between 1985 and 2014, I present a typology representing the system of organizational secrecy developed by the Catholic Church. While organizations like the church have more structural resources at their disposal to ensure information control is maintained, their size and the varying levels of commitment to secrecy on the part of individual members of the team ultimately work against them.

Citation

Vela-McConnell, J.A. (2017), "Behind Closed Doors: Organizational Secrecy, Stigma, and Sex Abuse Within the Catholic Church", Oppression and Resistance (Studies in Symbolic Interaction, Vol. 48), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 19-49. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0163-239620170000048005