Church Ethics and Its Organizational Context

Jean M. Bartunek, RSCJ, is Robert A and Evelyn J. Ferris Chair and professor of organization studies at Boston College. Her most recent book is Organizational and Educational Change. Mary Ann Hinsdale, I.H.M., is associate professor of theology at Boston College. She is co-author of 'It Comes From the People': Community Development and Local Theology. James F. Keenan, SJ, is professor of theological ethics at Boston College and author of Works of Mercy and Moral Wisdom with Sheed & Ward.

This book should be required reading for all members of all churches, and especially for all church leaders or anyone in a particular office or role in the church. The interdisciplinary essays in this book never lose their clear and solid focus on ethical guidelines for the internal life of the church and its external mission. We have here, therefore, a remarkable new set of insights into church relationships and roles, and a significantly new understanding of the church itself. Moral responsibility is finally brought together in very specific ways with profound faith and accountable service. The result holds great promise for new life in the multiple concrete situations of every church.

• Chapter 1 IntroductionPart 2 Part I. New Ways of Understanding the CrisisPart 3 Section 1: The Crisis and the ScandalChapter 4 Understanding the Crisis in the ChurchChapter 5 The Sexual Abuse Scandal as Social DramaPart 6 Section 2: The Context of the Church in the United StatesChapter 7 The Six Stages of Catholicism in AmericaChapter 8 The Struggle to Preserve Religious Capital: A Sociological Perspective on the Catholic Church in the United StatesPart 9 Section 3. The Church and Leadership: Perspectives on ReformChapter 10 Ecclesiological Perspectives on Church ReformChapter 11 Looking Good vs. Being Good: Pitfalls of Maintaining Perceptions of Strong Leadership Following Organizational ScandalsPart 12 Part II. Ethics, Organizations, and Church CulturePart 13 Section 1: Framing Professional Relationships in the ChurchChapter 14 Toward an Ecclesial Professional EthicsChapter 15 Renewing the Psychological Contracts of the Clergy and LaityPart 16 Section 2: Organizational Perspectives on Morality and EthicsChapter 17 Organizational MoralityChapter 18 Ethics Codes, Intervention and Corruption Reform Methods for Ecclesial ProfessionalsPart 19 Section 3: Proposing an Ethical Code?Chapter 20 A Professional Code of Ethics Reflecting the Nature of a Christian Vocation and an Understanding of Leadership in the ChurchChapter 21 A Professional Code of Ethics?Part 22 Section 4: Civil and Canonical CautionsChapter 23 Toward an Ecclesiastical Professional Ethic: Lessons from the Legal ProfessionChapter 24 "Turning Pro:" Theologico-Canonical Hurdles on the Way to a Professional Ethic for Church LeadersPart 25 Section 5: Reflections on an Ethical Church CultureChapter 26 Reflections on Ethics Organizations, and Church CultureChapter 27 An Ethical Church CulturePart 28 Biographical Sketches