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March 3, 2004
RECONCILING BELIEFS
In case you missed it, late last week the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops released the results of the first-ever, national study of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. The report, based on survey responses from ninety-seven (97) percent of dioceses, found that the total number of priests with allegations of abuse against themselves was 4,392, which represents around five (5) percent of all priests in the ministry between 1950 and 2002. In all, the number of individuals who were specifically identified in the report as having made allegations of abuse against priests was 10,667 (with eighty-one (81) percent of alleged victims being male and nineteen (19) percent being female).
It's a given (isnít it?) that the actions in question violate the beliefs of any church in such obvious and fundamental ways that there shouldn't be room for discussion. But there has been discussion, and cover-ups, and, for lack of a better word, betrayals. These alleged pedophiles are figures of authority. It is that power over their victims that makes it possible for many of them to get away with it for years, or with multiple victims. Did the Catholic Church know what was going on? In many cases, sadly, the answer is a resounding "yes." Did it respond in a timely and affirmative manner? Sadly, again, the answer in most cases is "no."
And now thereís this study/report that reveals that over the last 50 years, approximately four (4) percent of all priests were responsible for molesting nearly eleven thousand (11,000) young children across the country. Is that number the final total? Probably not. There are surely people who never came forward for all of the obvious reasons, and who are trying to live privately with their wounds. Most victims though have been very public, waging a war of sorts against the institution they feel has let them down. What do we make of all this?
The problem, at least for me and a nice old lady I spoke with yesterday afternoon on a plane ride from the east coast back to Indiana, is this... how does one reconcile the beliefs at the core of any religion with the actions laid out in last week's report? How could anyone serving those principles engage in such unprincipled behavior?
Posted by Mikal at March 3, 2004 6:19 AM
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First, you don't reconcile those actions with the core beliefs of any religion. You don't reconcile this because you can't. This is an example of the humanity - read imperfection - of these specific church leaders. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutley. That's the nature of the cover-ups and the unfortunate transfers of priests rather than the discipline and rehabilitation of such priests.
Hmmm. I think any kind of abuse of power is wrong, especially against children. But, I also think that a lot of the men who were ordained in the first half ot the 20th century and beyond, did not become priests by choice. A lot of men were sent to the seminary as boys, by their parents, for various reasons. Or to hide their sexuality. Whatever...Who's to say those boys weren't themselves victims of abuse and years later inflicted the same trauma on others, thus perpetuating the cycle? This type of behavior has been going on for centuries, and not just in the Catholic church. Just because you don't hear about it, it doesn't mean that it's not also happening in the Protestant or other religious communities. I agree, the Bishops should have given the men counseling and rehab. instead of relocating them to other parishes, which allowed them to continue their abuse.
My family has been friends with a priest for over 25 years. Two years ago he was told he could no longer practice as a priest because a woman accused him of sexual abuse. Well, being the human man that he is, soon after he was ordained he met a young woman and they dated for a little while. He still wasn't sure if he had made the right decision to join the priesthood. Apparently, nothing happened, they may have kissed and whatnot, but it wasn't abuse. And she pursued him. Granted, he was a few years older, but she was no child. Now, 30 years later she's claiming abuse and he can no longer do the job he loved to do. Funny how her tune changed once it was announced that the Diocese was going to pay the victims for their suffering...which I agree, but not if you're just out to ge the money and ruin a man's life. This priest was a family friend and was always at our house for holidays, birthdays, dinner, whatever...and he had no creepy tendencies. He was like a memeber of the family. The Bishops and Diocesan leaders are responsible for a lot, but innocent people shouldn't be swept up with real pedophiles, which is what happened to our friend. It's sad all around and it's wrong to abuse your so called power as a minister of faith. But for every priest who has abused a child, there are hundreds more who haven't. And I know a few preists out there who do a lot of good in the world.
Time for the Catholic to chime in again! I can speak to this about as much as the next Catholic, however, my experience in the Catholic church is somewhat unique. My mother is a former Notre Dame nun. I have a great-uncle who is a priest in Canada. My great-great-aunt was a nun in the Ursline order. My cousin, who is like a brother, is a former St. Louis seminarian. Above all, this is our family's heritage, which reaches back to the French-Catholics of the 1500's.
For me, the Catholic faith is alive and not just a cultural, institutional, hierarchical structure. The fact that just the Catholic church has been the target of these investigations and reports overlooks all the other "human" actions taken by all other faiths and people in power. While I absolutely agree that this should not be tolerated and needs to be dealt with through discipline and our legal system, the way the media and public has addressed it is deplorable. As Lee mentioned, all of us are human, including priests (and everyone else in positions like that or of power), and are therefore imperfect. If we expect perfection in priests, we are looking in the wrong place.
Unfortunately, this entire scandal has been painted as a "church-wide" cover-up. Certainly, it has been covered-up by officials, but real emphasis should now be on education within the church. Take for example, here in St. Louis, all diocesan members in positions of authority (priests, teachers, principals, staff, etc.) must watch a 4 hour video tape on ethics, judgment decision-making, and virtue. This also includes new policy and procedures to handle any discovery of impropriety. The seminaries have also traditionally done a terrible job of educating future priests in sexual ethics and personal development, so we are seeing a couple generations of priests being weeded out of the system. The current generation of seminarians are better prepared for the priesthood and, above all else, the issues faced as a human-being.
We could look at this report and the numbers all day. It will not tell us the real story. Everyday, hundreds (if not thousands) of children are molested outside the Church. Yet, we don't see this kind of media attention and scrutiny. Ultimately, all institutions are imperfect, because they rely upon us as human beings. The only one within and without the Church who is ultimately perfect is God, the absolute mystery.
I agree that this is not something that is just happening in the Catholic Church. It is unfortunate that the leaders of the church made the decision to "cover up" the crimes. In my opinion, that is the greater crime. Those that were discovered were allowed to continue. The church is now trying to correct that situation.
These same problems are cropping up more and more in schools. I can remember instances when my older children were in school that someone was caught having an "affair" with a young female student and he was dismissed, not arrested. That same teacher was working the following fall in another school system not far away. This is not a new problem. The difference is it is no longer being covered up.
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