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The “In Focus” section of the Journal is committed to brief communications, be they commentaries, editorials, opinions on any topic relevant to the Society informed by or viewed and considered from the vantage of psychoanalytic thought. Psychoanalysis has a unique lens that, in able hands, can shed light on and enrich our understanding of many issues of concern. We follow Freud in the opinion that with due discipline, what we have learned from the analysis of individuals may, in many instances, be applied to issues that go well beyond the individual, and apply to large groups, to communities.
In the communication that follows, Stephen Levine and Candace Risen address the question of “The Crisis in the Church: Dealing with the Many Faces of Cultural Hysteria.” They address an aspect of the problem that has preoccupied the Catholic community, and share their thoughts and points of view as these derive from their clinical work with clergy accused of wrongdoing. The point of view they express is, of course, their own. With benign reservation we say that we would ill serve society, and our intent, if we passed judgment on what should and should not be permitted in this corner of the journal. The reader is well-equipped to pass his or her own judgment on the matter presented.