text: comment 2
  
  Sullivans answer to the two questions applies entirely to the members of the Pontifical Comm.  
  
  "This passivity in the Catholic community, in large part, comes from the encultured way in which even highly intelligent people acquiesce to authority figures in the Church. It becomes what I like to describe as the ‘altar boy’ syndrome. In truth it is adults not acting with responsibility, not taking part with a mature yet demanding sense of agency within the Church. When this doesn’t happen, as was certainly the case up till more recent times, we are left with blind loyalty instead of mature conversation. We are left with blinkered defensiveness and kneejerk reactions rather than open-mindedness, willingness and engagement. This all leads to a heavy sense of inertia where energies turn in on themselves, people become demoralized, and ultimately are defeated by the system – or they simply leave. "
  
  The people on the Pontifical Commission just haven't left yet.