Bernard Prusak - Institutional Vice
Podcast: Season 5, Episode 3
I first came across Dr. Bernard Prusak’s work when a friend sent me his article in Commonweal titled, Who Knew? The sexual-abuse crisis and ‘epistemic injustice.’ This article struck me as contributing something important to the discussion about the abuse crisis in the Church, so I reached out to Bernard. After we connected, he sent me a draft of an article (that will be published later this year by Liturgical Press) about the concept of Institutional Vice as a way to help explain how abuse coverup happens in the Church.
The simple explanation of institutional vice is that if the virtues of an institution naturally encourage the individual members of that institution to be more virtuous than they were on their own, the vices of an institution can corrupt a person into acting in ways they wouldn’t act on their own. Institutional vice helps explain how a seemingly otherwise good person can turn a blind eye to abuse in their institution, even when that abuse happens in front of their face.
I think the philosophical work that Bernard is doing can be helpful for Catholics to better understand the abuse crisis and have more clarity about what needs to be done in working for reform.
The episode is available on Youtube and in your podcast feed!
This week, Paul and Dominic talk with Dr. Bernard Prusak. They discuss an up-and-coming article (being published later this year by Liturgical Press) that Bernard wrote about Institutional Vice and the coverup of clerical sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. Using the story of the disgraced former cardinal Theodore McCarrick as an example, Bernard’s article attempts to explain how otherwise good people can act differently, sometimes dramatically different, as a part of the organization vs. when they are acting in their personal lives.
Dr. Bernard Prusak holds the Raymond and Eleanor Smiley Chair in Business Ethics at John Carroll University. He was formerly Professor of Philosophy and Director of the McGowan Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility at King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. His books include Catholic Moral Philosophy in Practice and Theory: An Introduction and Catholic Higher Education and Catholic Social Thought.
LINKS
Who Knew? The sexual-abuse crisis and ‘epistemic injustice’ https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/mccarrick-sex-abuse-church-catholic
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ABOUT DOMINIC DE SOUZA SmartCatholics founder, Dominic de Souza, is a convert from radical traditionalism – inspired by WherePeterIs, Bishop Robert Barron, and Pope Francis. He is passionate about helping ordinary Catholics break the ‘bystander effect’, and be first responders. “We don’t have to be geniuses. We just have to show up with witness and kindness. Christ does the rest.” Today he hosts the SmartCatholics community.
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Thanks for this, Paul. Do you agree that the sacrament of Holy Orders needs some re-thinking? Is Dr. Prusak in a position to move any bishops to address the institutional causes of our problems? We have so many wonderful thinkers who could get together with strategists and activists to make some reforms happen.