Sexual Abuse Is Not a Catholic Franchise
Today's my birthday, as I'd earlier announced, as well as Palm Sunday, so the headlines in the MSM are all about Holy Week opening amidst charges of sex abuse cover-ups that may even touch on the Pope himself. Benedict has dismissed the charges, and between the NYT and the Pope, on a matter of truthfulness, please forgive me if I go with the Pope. Religion hater Christopher Hitchens has called for the US to cut off political relations with the Vatican, and yesterday True/Slant writer Matt Taibbi stated that the Catholic Church was a criminal enterprise and ought to be sued under RICO.
Well, that's an interesting theory. But are public schools a criminal enterprise, as well? Because I believe that despite all the talk about celibacy being the root of the trouble for the Catholic Church, one would find that incidences of abuse and cover-up are at least as widespread among public schools. I realize that this is just a hunch, but it demonstrates the confirmation bias at play that none of the MSM is interested in performing the actual research that would be necessary either to confirm or deny the supposition.
What I can say is that I believe that if the MSM were to conduct such research and to publicize it, suddenly there would be an explosion of class action suits against districts and teacher-accreditation organizations. That in turn would lead to further ferreting out of horrible instances of cover-ups and transfers, going back in time to the 1950s and earlier, some of which would be true, some not, but most settled out of court. There would be congressional hearings, and Christopher Hitchens would be calling for the US government to break off diplomatic relations with the Secretary of Education (who is a corrupt bastard, anyway). A good start would be a blog for survivors of public school sex abuse. Heck, we'll even set it up for someone.
Prove me wrong.
Oh, and today is Evil Giraffe's birthday, too, so go give him some comment love and hit his tip jar, too! Whelp that he is.
BTW, Reuters . . . is the Church really "reeling," compared to the US or the MSM? Really?
Would you care to know why that's so? Here are dozens of reasons.
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March 28th, 2010 - 06:25
Every week here in my state, we find yet another case of a Public School Teacher molesting a child in their charge. But usually the incidents involve multiple acts against many children over years and years.
When will it all end?
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March 28th, 2010 - 06:29
also, Sinead O’Connor is sounding off too… not that she has an axe to grind.
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March 28th, 2010 - 06:46
Why? Did nuns cut her hair off?
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March 28th, 2010 - 07:19
Hey, happy bday, youngster! (Oh, we’re the same age, at least until next month… )
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March 28th, 2010 - 07:21
Well, keep me posted and help me make a big deal out of yours, serr!
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March 28th, 2010 - 10:09
You’ve already done that, Dan. Thankee again.
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March 28th, 2010 - 09:07
“Sexual Abuse Is Not a Catholic Franchise”
No, it’s not. But what is behind it in the Church? That a celibate priesthood would attract gay men is understandable. But I don’t get why it would particularly attract gay pedophiles. Maybe it’s something like “situational pedophilia”– like what happens to men in prison. Opportunities with other adult gay males don’t exist. I think gays in the priesthood need to be discouraged.
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March 28th, 2010 - 09:18
Oh, I agree. I’m just saying, perhaps a comparative analysis, and more complete knowledge, would benefit everyone. I realize that there are many people who won’t like the idea, but screw them.
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March 28th, 2010 - 09:44
“But are public schools a criminal enterprise, as well?”
Simple answer: yes. And the list goes on: the criminal justice system, the prison system, the police, and the corresponding union thugs, the party system, the financial system. ALL CRIMINAL ENTERPRISES. In a just world, the people would rise up in righteous anger and burn all of these institutions to the ground, guided by the hand of God.
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March 28th, 2010 - 13:58
Happy Birthday, Dan! (from all of us at 6mb, I feel like I have the authority to do so)
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March 28th, 2010 - 17:49
Thanks, amigo. Hope you and yours are well.
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March 28th, 2010 - 16:08
Happy Birthday and sexual abuse scandal commentary go together like mashed potatoes and zombie bits. Which is to say, surprisingly well.
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March 28th, 2010 - 17:49
LOL!
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March 28th, 2010 - 17:51
Happy Birthday, Dan!
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March 28th, 2010 - 18:02
Thanks, Pat!
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March 28th, 2010 - 21:33
This makes sense to me. Don’t we use crime statistics to compare communities, states and nations and decide which are more violent and prone to crime? It also makes sense to compare public, private and parochial schools and/or school districts. It’s all the more interesting because I don’t think anyone knows what those statistics would show.
I hope you had a great birthday, Dan.
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March 28th, 2010 - 22:43
Then there are the cases of the Baptists, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, and other misc ministries.
There certainly is no monopoly by Catholic priests or churches in general when it comes to child molestation.
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March 28th, 2010 - 23:49
Happy birthday, Dan!
When the media engages in selective reporting of plane crashes so as to make planes appear more dangerous than cars, it’s irritating. When it worships celebrities, it’s annoying. When it plays this game of pretending that the only time that anyone has ever been gay, abused a child, trolled for sex in a bathroom, or cheated on one’s spouse is when that person is conservative, it’s unbelievable.
Now, these people are under no obligation to do a detailed analysis of the breakdown of sexual abuse amongst each and every profession, but it would be easy for them to compare priests with the general population, would it not? I can only presume that they do not do so, since it would not further their narrative.
That said, my heart goes out to the child-victims, as well as to those whose parishes are ripped apart by this.
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March 29th, 2010 - 05:44
Roxeanne – yes. the worst, really. when we consider the degree of depravity, I know I for one can’t think of anything worse than a priest preying on the innocent. And this in spite of the fact that public school teachers and other denominations do receive a “free pass” of sorts from the media.
In Milwaukee, arguably ground zero of the abuses in the States, we have cause to be particularly sad. Yes, it’s complicated, but there is substantial cause and effect – not least of which is he who remains archbishop emeritus (Rembert Weakland), although he really ought to be defrocked (in this layman’s humble opinion, mind you), who systematically turned the archdiocese of Milwaukee into an intake for unfit candidates for the priesthood. It became a gateway for pedophiles – who then became priests, but remained pedophiles. And to pretend that situational gayness resulted is to purposefully miss the point. If, like me, you believe gayness to be a hard-coded preference for the same sex, it is not hard to believe that simply putting on the vestments makes it go away. But this is beyond the issue of gayness in the priesthood. This issue is about unfit gay pedophiles having been seeded throughout the ranks of God’s anointed ones. Weakland agendized the priesthood, along with Cousins, and here we are at the epicenter of the massacre.
The Church is not immune from demonic forces. But of all “institutions” one would think She would be more sensitive to the reality of what happens when you make deals with the demons themselves in the form of unfit candidates for the priesthood.
She has learned Her lesson, me thinks (although for the Nth time in Her 2000 year history). How frustrating to have such a beautiful Faith tarnished by these scumbags.
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March 29th, 2010 - 09:09
Agreed on many counts. (Small point of disagreement: I’m from Boston, where the priest sex-abuse scandal also took hold about seven or eight years ago.)
One of the things that the Church does well is to ensure that there is a home for everyone, Single or Married. Of course, anyone who is gay and does not intend to marry a person of the opposite sex anyway will fit into the former category, which can lead to other problems – such as recruiting people for the priesthood who are not committed to a life of chastity.
I do think that gay (as opposed to lesbian) attraction is hard-coded into the brain. (The distinction is that many women who exhibit SSA were abused when they were younger; I think the stat is that six of seven young women who are sexually abused will become lesbians.) But I don’t think that preying on young, innocent people is a gay thing; it’s a screwed-up-in-the-head thing. IMHO.
Regardless of one’s stance on chastity, the priesthood, and homosexuality, it should be abundantly clear that no paedophile has any business in a position wherein he has access to children. None.
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March 30th, 2010 - 04:53
Amen, sister.
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March 29th, 2010 - 05:56
I think Dan has a good idea – the comparison should be done. But we should also look into the evidence that gay men were actively recruited in the 1950′s and 1960′s to be priests by gay priests [see the Jesuits].
Also, I think we have to understand that The Church is not a corporation like so many love to call it, but, rather, it is a monarchy and, therefore, exhibits many of the good and bad features of this form of government. One of the negatives is a belief that outsiders have no business criticizing the princes.
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March 29th, 2010 - 06:09
Me. I love the Church – so I have no problem wanting the tumors removed. She will survive this, overcome it… not exactly the first or last time She has been the target of bad press. What is lamentable is that in this case She brought it on Herself.
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March 29th, 2010 - 06:10
And hurt many souls in the process.
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March 29th, 2010 - 09:21
She did, indeed, bring it upon herself. The sad part is, in most cases, church officials were acting out of a desire to CYA the Prince’s rear ends and not because they were committing the acts.
Of course, The Church itself is infallible; its those who run it that are human – I should have made that clear.
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March 29th, 2010 - 10:34
more specifically Church Tradition is infallible.
And before anyone tries to skewer me on the topic of what that sentence means, please make sure you understand the theological underpinnings and what is meant by Tradition in the context of the Catholic Faith.
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March 29th, 2010 - 05:55
A couple of things–
Sexual abuse of children by numbers of priests involved was rare and probably not significantly higher than other faiths that do not practice celebacy or for public schools. However, while a protestant church or temple or for that matter a public school would usually (at a minimum) fire a perpetrator/offender, the Catholic Church moved some of these individuals around to other parishes (almost always without warning to the next congregation). It was that practice which is most contemptable.
Pedophilia by priests was exceedingly rare. Most of the abuse was pederastry, priests abusing young boys 10-18 years old (although some girls too). Repressed homosexuality was definitely part of it–although not the only cause of it. The sexual revolution played a big role.
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March 29th, 2010 - 08:15
As a Catholic, it is pretty obvious that there are lots of gay priests (a minority but a significant one). Most do a good and honorable job. But I am sure gay or sexually confused Catholics who absolutely should not have become priests joined up over the years. And a few absolutely creepy monsters did too. When the sexual revolution happened, the Church had a harder time recruiting and the Church’s standards dropped. And some bad apples slipped in.
Some cases are far from clear (go watch Doubt for an example of that). Nevertheless, many of these cases were conclusively proven, yet the bishops still tried to cover up the crimes rather than truly deal with the problem. It took public outrage to bring it to a head.
Predictable that Chris Hitchens and Sinead O’Connor would flip out about it. While I disagree with their hyperbole, not every criticism they have made is wrong. And Enoch is right, the Church will survive and also brought this mess on itself. The Church should deal with it staight on and stop messing around.
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March 29th, 2010 - 09:59
I agree – enough already. Embrace it. Own it. Deal with it. Make sure it never happens again.
But the Church, unfortunately, is not exactly eager to discuss WHY this happened.
And that is unfortunate. Especially for a Church that seeks the high ground on every other matter.
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March 29th, 2010 - 09:39
The Anchoress is praying for the Pope. She makes some good points too.
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March 29th, 2010 - 10:32
yep – good shit in that post.
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March 29th, 2010 - 16:08
The Anchoress does a very very good job with that post of hers. But that is why she is the Anchoress.
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March 29th, 2010 - 17:47
I do not disagree Enoch. I am all for disclosure and repentance. The most charitable thing you could say about this is it was poorly handled. Even Papal infalibility is a relatively modern concept and only pertains to official edicts of the Pope, not his behavior or the behaivor of his subordinates.
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March 30th, 2010 - 04:52
te acuerdo
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