Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum First Clashed Over Catholic Church Child Abuse Scandal

The political theatrics between former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum have, so far, been kept to a minimum, owing primarily to the latter's recent climb to frontrunner status in Iowa. But after the GOP primary moves beyond the Iowa caucuses, the two are expected to engage with one another more sharply.

The two candidates are, in many respects, a study in contrasts. Santorum's social conservative bonafides are complemented by a campaign style heavy on retail politics. Romney's business background blends smoothly with a campaign that's been built on well-moneyed machinery and equally well-funded attack ads. That Santorum endorsed Romney's candidacy in 2008 complicates matters for him, though it seems unlikely that any voter would consider that a disqualifier during this election cycle.

Hoping to get a sense of how the two might wage the next week or so of campaigning, The Huffington Post searched through newspaper archives for times when they may have butted heads. Only one such conflict came up.

When the Catholic Church child abuse scandal began garnering major national attention in the early 2000s, Santorum insinuated that liberalism was to blame, speciously pointing to the fact that many instances of abuse were being reported in Massachusetts.

"While it is no excuse for this scandal, it is no surprise that Boston, a seat of academic, political and cultural liberalism in America, lies at the center of the storm," the senator wrote in July 2002.

Romney, who would become governor of Massachusetts months later, was, naturally, not pleased.

"Senator Santorum is a fine person, and we're all entitled to make a mistake once in a while," Eric Fehrnstrom, Romney's spokesman then and now, told local press at the time.

Julie Teer, another spokesperson for Romney, swiped a bit further. "What happened with the church sex abuse scandal was a tragedy, but it had nothing to do with geography or the culture of Boston. What we know now is that the sex abuse was occurring around the country and around the world. Boston was just the first to find out about it."

Teer was correct in that similar cases of abuse were occurring in many places, not just the epicenters of "liberalism." But several years after insisting that Boston was to blame, Santorum refused to back down. Below is a transcript of a particularly rough appearance he had on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" in July 2005.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Let's move on to another controversy you stirred up, the question of the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic church. You made a statement in July 2002 which has drawn a lot of fire.

You said, in a publication called Catholic On-Line, When the culture is sick, every element in it becomes infected. While there's no excuse for this scandal, it is no surprise that Boston, a seat of academic, political and cultural liberalism in America, lies at the center of the storm.

You've reaffirmed that just a couple of weeks ago. Ted Kennedy, John Kerry say you have to apologize. Mitt

Romney, Republican governor, says basically you don't know what you're talking about.
Do you still stand by that statement?

SANTORUM: Look, the statement I made was that the culture influences people's behavior. I don't think anyone…

STEPHANOPOULOS: Isn't that what conservatives used to say about liberals, when they used to say they were trying to excuse criminals?

SANTORUM: I think what I'm saying is that the culture of liberal sexual freedom and the sexual revolution of the 1960s and '70s had a profound impact on everybody and their sexual mores. It had a profound impact on the church.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But you singled out Boston in…

SANTORUM: I singled out Boston in 2002. In July of 2002, that was the epicenter. We did not know…

STEPHANOPOULOS: That is simply not true. I went back and looked at all of these clips. We had stories in 1994, going back all the way to 1984 in Louisiana, in just about every archdiocese in the country.

I just don't understand why you stick by this, because we now know it was widespread. It was in every city in the country.

SANTORUM: Well, at the time, we did not know it was in every city of the country.

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Comments

[Catherine in Tulsa]

03:22 PM on 02/29/2012

Not only is it not true, abuse was going on for years before that, but it shows a man who cannot admit he's wrong. He cannot learn new facts about a situation and develop his mind.

I see why he clings to the catholic doctrine. They do all the thinking for him.

[benback2cu]

09:01 PM on 01/04/2012

So, just one question, Rick: in what state did the Jerry Sandusky scandal take place?

Oh, that's right. Yours. Where Pope JoePa was in charge.

[Rayosun]

04:45 PM on 01/04/2012

Senator Santorum is really onto something here!
Surely it's NO ACCIDENT that the very heart and soul of the Jewish Holocaust was a country were 98% of the population identified themselves as (mostly conservative) "Christians" and despite the fact that there were twice as many Protestants as Catholics, most of the TOP LEADERSHIP of the Third Reich came from Santorum's "One, True, Holy, Catholic Church", as I show in great detail at http://CatholicArrogance.Org/Nazileadership.html .
Proud to be an EX R.C. priest!

[cjus2473]

03:53 PM on 01/04/2012

I am a sex offender officer, and I can tell you that the Catholic Church, and I am a Catholic, is not alone with how it treated sex offenders. In the late 1960’s, one of the neighbor’s children was sexually assaulted by the “grandfather figure” of the neighborhood. It was later discovered that he had done this same thing in 2 other cities in TX but the police, at that time, punished him by making he and his wife move. Rape and child abuse never fully gained ground until the late 1970-1980 when women demanded change. Priests, clergymen of all walks of faith have been revered by families and invited into the home. As a catholic child, attending catholic school, we were taught that the priests were on the same level as god – and can you imagine a child going up against “god.” Having said this, I think the Republican candidates speak too much about religion. They are adamant about the Muslim religion as some demonic state, yet Muslims make up the 2nd largest religion in this world. I imagine every religion can finger someone who is yelling loudly and clearly the sins of others, while ignoring their own. I wish some newspaper would tell Santorum, Perry, Bachmann (irrelevant now), to leave religion and talk of religion at home. They are supposedly running for the office of President of the United States – and not President of the Evangelical/Catholic/Mormon religion.

[ET Thorne]

06:54 PM on 01/04/2012

ehh...If left to those three you will see the President's office become President of all Christian faiths in the US (how I don't know since Catholics, Baptists, Protestants..etc. haven't been known to love each other)......really if they would just read a bit more about the founding fathers they would understand that separation of church and state is what they intended.

[calloy]

11:03 AM on 01/04/2012

so, which one was pro-child abuse?

[jwcmass]

10:15 PM on 01/05/2012

Neither were pro-child abuse, but Santorum blamed the abuse crisis here in Massachusetts on the fact that we are so liberal. He seemed to forget that the Cardinal (and most of his leaders in the archdiocese) who knew about the extent of the abuse, and covered it up, and simply transferred the priests from parish to parish (sometimes from one nation to another) are all as conservative as HE is. Law was no liberal. He was a leading bishop in the US and was as conservative as could be. The other ridiculous nonsense of Santorum's extremely flawed logic is that it was in Massachusetts that knowledge of how extensive the abuse (and especially the cover-up) was first became known. It actually first became public in the Diocese of Fall River Mass (a city in Southeastern Mass. Massachusetts has 4 dioceses. One in Boston, Worcester, Springfield, and Fall River. In the Boston diocese, the scandal exploded almost 10 years later than Fall River. But as we now know (and most of us understood then) this is a world-wide problem, and what we know is really just the tip of the iceberg. Most of it is still kept secret, especially in the developing world.

[kmgraham11]

10:23 AM on 01/04/2012

I am horrified that this man did so well at the iowa caucuses.

[proudtohaveserved]

10:22 AM on 01/04/2012

TO RICK SANTORUM 97% of those abuses happened in english speaking countries

[jwcmass]

10:17 PM on 01/05/2012

I would just amend your statement to read that 97% of those REPORTED abuses happened in English speaking countries. There are still large parts of the world where there is a huge amount of pressure on victims to keep silent. Latin America would be one example.

[Eddie Martinez]

09:57 AM on 01/04/2012

Mitt & Rick “Clashed Over Catholic Church”: he who be without sin, cast the first stone

[Americanwoman55]

03:50 PM on 01/04/2012

He who defended the Catholics, made excuses for the Priests and is Catholic gets hit with first stone.

Hint: it aint Mittens.

[jwcmass]

10:19 PM on 01/05/2012

I don't really remember Mitt saying a whole lot about this when he was running for governor or during his term. He was working with some of these same bishops to try to overturn the SJC's ruling allowing gay marriage.

[Julie Ann Worley]

09:42 AM on 01/04/2012

St. Augustine High School is the last Catholic School in the U.S. to ban Corporal Punishment/Paddling of Students recently, yet the practice of school teachers, coaches and administrators hitting students kindergarten through twelfth grade is still legal and protected by law in taxpayer funded public schools in 19 U.S. States!

Sexual violence under the guise of "Discipline" as Corporal Punishment against schoolchildren, K-12, is LEGALLY PROTECTED in taxpayer funded public schools in 19 U.S. States that allow Pain to Punish Students K-12, Illegal in Schools in 31 U.S.States, over half our nation, constituting "Cruel and Unusual Punishment" akin to allowing State and Local Governments to permit Slavery!

Mandatory Reporters of suspected child abuse, school teachers, coaches and administrators, legally hit schoolchildren, K-12, with wooden paddles, SEXUAL ASSAULT when done to a non-consenting adult, to inflict Pain as Punishment, some states such as Tennessee do not require parental consent or notification for schoolchildren to be "Paddled". Several "School Paddling States" have "Teacher Immunity Laws" to protect school employees from criminal/civil action, leaving INJURED schoolchildren's families NO LEGAL REDRESS!

U.S. Federal Courts uphold outrageous incidents of school paddling and the U.S. Supreme Court declines to hear school corporal punishment appeals.

Search "A Violent Education" for disturbing FACTS!

School "Corporal Punishment" is founded upon the RELIGIOUS conviction of "Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child" and FORCED onto taxpayers children in public schools.

Add your voice to federal bill to Abolish School Corporal Punishment at donthitstudents dot com

[jpmeville]

09:29 AM on 01/04/2012

Santorum - thou protests too much. Closet case if ever there was one.

[Alexandra08]

07:10 AM on 01/04/2012

So Santorum advocates making national statements that have not been even minimally researched and are without any basis in fact. Well that certainly explains why he thinks he should be President of the United States.

[Lawyer13]

06:25 AM on 01/04/2012

A view from across the pond : It looks like things will hot up between these two from now on, but here we go again RELIGION AND POLITICS should and must be kept apart, stick with the issues that matter to the economy and getting your countrymen back to work.

[Michael Lindley]

03:33 AM on 01/04/2012

Odis's are Santorum is a latent homosexual. He's just WAY overly concerned about homosexuality. Normal people just do not have such blatant phobias about things unless they are fighting a demon. He's like a serial killer obsessed with something that he must fight every day. I'm waiting for the story in the next few months about men that come forward to reveal affairs. Is homophobia has no logic to it.

[larmarch5]

01:01 AM on 01/04/2012

Both of Santorum's parents worked at the Veterans’ Administration (VA) Hospital in Butler, and the family lived on the VA hospital post. His father became licensed as a clinical psychologist in August 1974.[12] He attended schools in the Butler Area School District. -- Wiki -- =================== Yet, Santorum would have us beleive he and his family were totally independent and never needed any stinking government assistance. Give me a break.

[Catherine in Tulsa]

03:29 PM on 02/29/2012

and his grandfather was an immigrant from Italy, yet he clearly hates immigrants.

It's like he hates where he's from (a Hitler kind of attitude) and therefore hates anyone who reminds him of that. Could be the link with the gay obsession too.

[larmarch5]

12:55 AM on 01/04/2012

"When the Catholic Church child abuse scandal began garnering major national attention in the early 2000s, Santorum insinuated that liberalism was to blame, speciously pointing to the fact that many instances of abuse were being reported in Massachusetts." --Rick Santorum ------------------------------- This is NOT "Presidential" material. This is freaky obsession with people who don't march to Santorum's drummer. Let's not let someone like that have any power over us.