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EDITORIAL |
Issue Date: June 16, 2006 Spin without end in abuse scandal The clergy sex abuse crisis -- some would have us believe -- is largely about priests taking advantage of or being seduced by older teenage boys. In other words, its a gay thing. Thats the view of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, as articulated by the groups president William A. Donohue. Too many sexually active gays have been in the priesthood, and its about time they were routed out, Donohue told Fox News at the height of the scandal. The clergy sex abuse crisis is a homosexual scandal, not a pedophilia scandal, he said on NBCs Today Show. The op-ed page of The New York Times is an important opinion-shaping venue. So when a Catholic organization like the League, a week prior to a national meeting of the nations bishops, takes out an advertisement to defend the churchs handling of the clergy sex abuse crisis, its worthy of some consideration. Heres the preamble to the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights June 7 op-ad: In June 2002, U.S. bishops assembled in Dallas for their annual meeting. It was not a happy time: The sexual abuse scandal dominated the news about the Catholic church. So far so good. Next week the bishops will meet in Los Angeles, only this time few in the media are focusing on the scandal. Thats too bad because this time the news is quite different. Whats quite different? The advertisement, citing data from a recent report commissioned by the U.S. bishops, notes that 81 percent of the victims were male, and most were not little kids -- they were post-pubescent (the identical figure was reported in cases found between 1950-2002). Heres the problem with the Catholic Leagues analysis: Its simply not true. Its spin, designed to add heat rather than light to the discussion over the greatest challenge to confront the U.S. church since its founding. Heres what the study, conducted by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, really found:
In the world of sociology, of data collection, these statistics can be parsed. Whats not a little kid? Is a 14-year-old post-pubescent? What about a 13-year-old? A 12-year-old? Is the crime of child rape mitigated by the age of the child? The ugly inference we are to take from this is that some (many? most?) sexually adventurous teens, largely gay, got what they were looking for. The U.S. bishops play into this sociological-psychosexual mumbo jumbo. The department they established to deal with priest abusers is officially titled the Office of Child and Youth Protection. Child and youth. As if a 14-year-old, an eighth or ninth grader, is no longer a child. Amazing. Theres more spin in the Leagues ad in the Times. It claims that it is estimated that the rate of sexual abuse of public school students is more than 100 times the abuse by priests. The passive construction of that sentence is telling. In fact, theres scant evidence and no reliable studies that indicate any such thing. Sexual abuse of students by teachers, coaches and school employees is an area worthy of investigation, but virtually no serious research on the topic has been carried out (NCR, June 2). Further, the League ad notes that 21 allegations of abuse were made against priests in 2005, of which five were found to be credible, with two still under investigation. This is correct, but hardly enlightening. If weve learned anything about the sexual abuse of kids during the clergy crisis its that unempowered child victims are embarrassed and ashamed by the violence done to them. It frequently takes years for those abuse victims to come forward. It would be gratifying but surprising if the 2005 numbers cited by the League were to hold up over time. Weve also learned, sadly, that the self-reporting methodology is less than reliable. Remember, one bishop simply refuses to comply with any of the reporting requirements, and the rest of the conference is apparently helpless to do anything about it. Further, if recent events in Chicago and, more to the point, Philadelphia, are any indication, there can be a significant gap between what is reported and reality. And the reality is tough to get at unless there is a new scandal or a determined investigation by civil authorities as occurred in Philadelphia. Catholics are also aware that regardless of all the information the bishops have been forced to disclose, there is much more about this scandal that we dont know -- information about the motives, language and actions of church leaders contained in documents that will likely remain sealed. There is no need to overstate the case. There has been enough damage and enough heartache in this scandal to make repentance and reconciliation a major work of the church for a long time to come. No quick getaway exists. At the same time, it is absurd to try to minimize what has gone on or to attempt to refashion the scandal into something it isnt. The League concludes that sweeping condemnations of any group -- including priests -- is a form of bigotry. About that, theyre right. But sweeping and wrongheaded conclusions drawn from an ideological reading of impartial data are just as dangerous. National Catholic Reporter, June 16, 2006 |
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