Catholic crisis is our problem now (catholic crisis) 4.23.02

I have so far avoided comment on the recent scandals in the Catholic Church regarding the sexual abuse of children. To me, it is an open and shut case. Child abuse should not be tolerated by anyone for any reason and whether it happens in the Catholic Church or at a local, municipal youth center, it is equally of concern to society at large. Catholic or not, these children are our responsibility.
Every Catholic columnist under the sun has sounded off with opinions on how many good priests there still are doing good work who don't deserve this stigma to calls for sweeping reform on abstinence and women in the priesthood.
To me, priests are guys who work in a field I have little to do with and I would be as loathe to condems all for the actions of a few. As for letting them get married or be women, that's Catholic business and they can do what they want, it's their religion. If people don't like it, they can change it or quit. So long as it doesn't affect my life or secular society in any way shape or form, have at it.
Raped kids? Attempts to keep the scandal quiet? Shifting blame? Blaming American culture, morality and homosexuals? Well, these things make it everyone's issue, so let's get started.
I would expect some of this behavior from a corporation, not a group that professes a clear moral imperative.
I feel sorry for Pope John Paul II. This is a lot to handle at his age and in his condition. His tenure over a good portion of Christendom has been fairly wise if not progressive, though. He seems like a good guy, but American secular society does not need his validation that what these priests did was a crime. We know that.
Perhaps it was not the Pope's intention on Tuesday during his meeting with the American Cardinals to give that impression, but when we consider the actions taken by Boston's Cardinal Law to keep the crimes of at least one priest quiet while moving him from one position to the next, there was obviously an attitude that these problems could be handled "in house."
What audacity.
I don't care if you are a Catholic cardinal, corporate CEO or federal undersecretary of transportation, there are certain moral issues so central to what it means to be a decent human being that regardless of religious affiliation, socioeconomic class or career path standing by and doing nothing is unforgivable. Covering up a child sex crime is criminal facilitation. I feel pretty safe in saying that.
Cardinal Law refuses to resign and the scuttlebutt from an unnamed cardinal quoted in the Los Angeles Times is that members of the current convention in Rome are going to push the Vatican to force Law out for his failure. I hope it is for his failure and not spin control.
How long has this current crisis been going on now, a couple of months? Why is Law even still walking around free let alone taking a defiant stance?
If I were Law, I wouldn't be worried about my job, I'd be worried about my soul burning in hell. I wouldn't be thinking about the best way to keep my job, I'd be thinking about the best way to atone for my egregious sins up to and including what the Japanese refer to as taking the honorable way out.
Meanwhile, back in Gotham City, New York's Monsignor Eugene Clark, preaching at St. Patrick's Cathedral blamed homosexuality and American culture calling the United States "probably the most immoral country in the Western Hemisphere." What exactly is the basis for that comment?
Speaking of shifting the blame.
Marianne Duddy, executive director of the gay Catholic advocacy group Dignity/USA, in response to Clark's slander, called his words "very irresponsible."
"I think that most Catholics see this for what it is - an attempt to deflect attention away from the horrible mishandling of the situation by church officials and the decades of cover-up that have been engaged in," she said.
Good point, glad she said it.
The archdiocese of New York, faster than you can say "Rome, we have a problem," cut this high ranking representative off from the pack by releasing a statement assuring everyone that his words were merely personal opinion and not official doctrine in spite of being made behind an altar.
Clark later guesstimated that 3 percent of all U.S. clergyman have this predilection toward abusing children because of dirty images in the media. Wow, two birds with one stone. Good shot, Monsignor, but the world is supposed to be full of temptation. Isn't half the point of this experiment to overcome temptation?
According to Clark's shotgun blast, all religions have this problem and its the media that's to blame.
If I were a cleric in any of these religions about now, I'd be a tad offended at this baseless attempt to deflect attention away from teh church by dragging religion as a whole through the muck with made up numbers. Did Gallup do a poll I'm not aware of?
It is not right to try and make this a "gay problem" either. By this year of our Lord 2002, there are very few people who do not have at least one gay relative, friend, teacher, coworker or acquaintance who prove every day pedophilia and homosexuality are not linked. My gay friends never wrangled with the moral questions surrounding Natalie Portman, Britney Spears or other teen sex idols, they liked adults quite clearly. Demonizing and scapegoating homosexuals is a giant step backward for moral authority.
And here we are talking about issues not directly related to the subject at hand again, which is the whole point of scapegoating.
Here is the heart of the matter to me. Bad things are going to happen, no one denies that. I bet the vast majority of priests do great service to their communities and bring great honor to their profession. But when bad things happen, it is nice to know someone in charge will do their best to make it right. That is all anybody of any faith asks of their spiritual leaders.
- Greg Jerrett is a Nonpareil staff writer. His column runs on Wednesdays and Saturdays. He may be contacted at 328-1811, Ext. 279, or by e-mail at gjerrett@nonpareilonline.com.