The words used by Pope Benedict and others in responding to the Church's ever-deepening sexual abuse crises reflect a sickness that is not unique to the Catholic community. In fact, that sickness creeps into all religious communities of which I know, and leaves a trail of victims in its wake every time. I refer to the way in which religious leaders and the communities which they lead wear the mantle of victimhood to cover their naked moral failings.
In the past days I have heard Catholics tell me again and again that "the Church is under assault." Under assault by whom? Is this "assault" the real problem? Or is it a deflection from the horrors of child abuse committed by the religious?
In his Palm Sunday address, Pope Benedict spoke about allowing neither himself nor the Church to be "intimidated by petty gossip". "Petty gossip"? Is that how the Holy Father understands the outcry against the evil acts which members of the Church have committed? Is it really his view that the Church is a victim of gossip mongers more than the thousands of children have been victims of the Church?
It's not that I don't appreciate how Catholic-bashers and Church-haters, from certain comedians to some members of the punditocracy, are having a field day with this tragedy. I do. And frankly, they should be ashamed of themselves. Their "I told you so" ranting about the Church serves no good, except to their own careers.
But however ugly such ranting is, it hardly compares to the ugliness of what happened to the victims in these cases, and the sluggish response, if not full out cover-up, by the Church. For the Church or its leaders to portray themselves as the victims at this moment, is beyond reprehensible, it actually lays the groundwork for further abuse.
This is no different than when leading members of the Jewish community have attempted to silence those who were sexually abused by rabbis. The arguments in defense of such behavior are the same as those made by many in the church, including, it now seems, by the Pope. "It's not as bad as they say", "the charges are motivated by anti-Semitism/anti-Catholicism", "we can handle this ourselves", and "if we don't keep it in the community, we will all undermine our community/church." It doesn't matter where those arguments are made, they are all grotesque.
Faithfulness is not proved with silence, raising a voice of moral conscience is not betrayal, admitting horrific abuses is not defeat, and public accountability is not gossip. Frankly, any religious community which doesn't know these things is neither genuinely religious or truly a community.
I don't know what the Pope should do, but I know that hiding behind the mantle of victimhood at moments such as these is what brings down communities and their sacred institutions. As well it should.
The "rock upon which the Church is built" could crumble if the Vatican doesn't figure that out soon, and so will those Jewish institutions which fall prey to the same ugly institutional protectionism which abets protecting abusive rabbis instead of their young victims.
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Catholic sex abuse cases - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
BishopAccountability.org - Documenting the Catholic Sexual Abuse ...
Catholic Church's sex abuse scandal goes global - CNN.com
It is about more than sexual abuse crimes on the young; it is about abuse of an "authority" purportedly invested in the perps by no less than God. Which hurts in a double and much more profound way.
"Let justice rain down like a mighty stream." And yet, it's too late for justice for those so heinously offended , for retribution or reparations of any fitting sort. But anything is WAY better than continued silence, cover-ups and belittling as 'petty gossip' the growing murmurings everywhere. Do not let anyone - of whatever "vestments" continue to muffle the cries of the so egregiously wronged!
Any sane person would say a Priest sexually molesting 200 blind boys is an outrage. I believe it is on the level of mass murder. The Pope says the leadership is given by God the power to resist "petty gossip"? This statement is morally blind and sociologically tone deaf. This is the guy who is the "Holy Father" of the people? If he doesn't care about these abused children, why is he the Pope? He sounds like the CEO of a rogue corporation that is caught cooking the books and wants to protect his executive bonus. For the church to wrap up the Pope in a magic glittering sheet of his "holy infallibility" becomes just ludicrous.
it generally worked very well. Now, not so much as people realize they are not isolated after all.
Sexually abusing a child, and then covering it up is "ASSAULT"
Thank you Brad, for this excellent article.
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, SNAP
Judy Jones, SNAP Midwest Associate Director, 636-433-2511
snapjudy@gmail.com
http://www.snapnetwork.org/
I do not believe the Church can survive this. We are now in an age of openness about sexuality; homosexuality and pedophilia are well understood and many healthy homosexuals are happily out of the closet. Also, there is an explosion of media through the internet. Information now rises like heavy smoke from the roots and flies around the world in an instant. The power of the Church cannot any longer control information - not by denial, not by burning books, destroying printing presses, humiliating, banishing, not by slandering the sources nor destroying those who tell the tales. The information is out there and it will grow, as more atrocities - serial rape, misuse and torture of children- comes out and is publicized everywhere. How can the Church survive this?
I am not a survivor of abuse by a priest (or nun) but have spent a great deal of time in the 'recovery community' and know the stories of my colleagues in healing well. The enablement of abuse is staggering, institutionally endorsed, and utterly illegal, maintained by a church that is used to wielding massive social, political and financial power.
No. Let's stick to shaming the ones who deserve to be shamed. The comedians & pundits are *not* the problem.
The Martyr's Pose is one of their very favorites.
Truth is, every religious stripe has predators within their rank and file. That kind of blase denial is what allows sexual abuse to fester and rot. That said, I do note that I believe the Catholic hierarchy was the most brilliantly adept at playing pea and shell games with predator priests.