Reeling from sex-abuse scandals, the Roman Catholic Church is losing members in droves. As recently as 2008, membership declined by 400,000. More than 1000 parishes have closed since 1995, and the number of priests has fallen from 49,000 to 40,000 during that period. The problem is far deeper than sex abuse. It goes to the heart of how institutions fail. When institutions become rigidified, leaders tend to protect their own positions of power. The roots of the decline of the Catholic Church trace back to the 1960s when a split developed over the reforms introduced by Pope John XXIII. Back then the beloved Pope called for more participation by lay people in church affairs, and the backlash was almost immediate. The more tradition-minded Bishops and Cardinals started to defend the authority and centrality of Rome. The traditionalists frowned on the more liberal tendencies of reformists, who, god forbid (excuse the intended double entendre), suggested that people need to have a say in the institutions they participate in and that the church needs to flex with the times. It appears to me that anytime an institution holds onto to its rules and policies of control and turns a blind eye to changes, it will eventually become obsolete. As the traditionalists have increased their power within the Vatican, the institution has been on the decline.

This is predictable, although many traditionalists might argue to the contrary. All institutions, no matter how anointed they are, must learn to adapt. If they become impervious to change or when they try to be, the cost is mighty. In the face of change and challenge to authority, so many leaders try to wrest control. They become rigid and, as a result, they are likely to snap. The best leaders are those who can flex with the breeze without breaking. One needs to be more like the bamboo, which is lighter and less dense than many other trees its same size, but, by virtue of its flexibility, survives in torrential rains where others break. Control is the way we become rigid and little is served. Guidance, reasoning, and heartfelt passion is the way we lead with a point of view, and when these are followed by openness and dialogue, good things happen. When our suggestions don’t carry sway with the followers our suggestions are intended to influence, the worst reaction we can have is to try to control. Leadership is a game of influence, not control, and the Catholic Church needs to learn this if it is to revive itself.

And yes, the sex scandals are a big problem. They are, however, not the cause. They are a symptom of a system that is doomed to fail when so many abuses, born out of a need for control, run rampant. When the leaders do not lead as role models, something is way out of whack. The church is the people of God. Its job is not to control others. It’s the hierarchy that is out of touch and it the hierarchy that needs to be reformed, not the people it is intended to serve.