- FEBRUARY 9, 2010
-
-
TIGHTROPE
Obama’s China-Taiwan Challenge
-
DECODER
Parsing the State of the Union
-
SUPREME COURT
Decision Widens U.S. Credibility Gap
The Vatican still doesn't get it on child sex abuse...
Posted By David Rothkopf
Wednesday, September 30, 2009 - 6:38 PM
Share
I am beginning to think that John Edwards, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, Octomom, and Jon Gosselin have joined together to form their own public relations firm ... and that their first client is the Vatican. I have come to this conclusion because it is impossible for me to imagine any other group of people giving the Holy See the kind of P.R. advice they seem to be getting.
The evidence came in yesterday's extraordinary statement from the Vatican "defending" themselves against attacks that they have not done enough to combat sexual abuse by priests. Rather than contritely focusing on all they have done to address this cancer on their credibility, they offered a response that will be studied in schools for years to come, whether in classes seeking to offer a lesson in how not to handle a crisis or in those offering an advanced degree in miscalculated chutzpah.
Following a meeting with the U.N. Human Rights Council meant to address concerns that the Church was failing to respond appropriately to a long history of members of the clergy abusing their flocks, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi read a statement that was undoubtedly considered by some spin doctor-equivalent somewhere to advance their case but which actually probably amounted to more convincing proof that the Vatican doesn't get it on this issue than anything discussed behind closed doors with the United Nations.
Among their points:- They argued that "available research" showed that only 1.5 to 5 percent of the clergy engaged in child sex abuse. Which is to say that they seemed to think that possibly having one out of every 20 priests taking advantage of the children in their parishes was not really such a big number. After all, it's only 6,000 to 20,000 priests worldwide.
- Tomasi then went on to quote statistics suggesting that in the U.S. protestant churches actually had a much worse child sex abuse problem and that sexual abuse was also common in Jewish communities. "They're doing it too," was never a very good defense when I was in elementary school and in this case, it seems a particularly ill-considered line of argument. Compounding the mistake, he also argued that family members, neighbors and babysitters were far more likely to molest children than priests. While all this may be true, it does not exactly sound like they were focused on accepting responsibility for actions within their own organization. Not being a Catholic, I'm not sure of the procedures, but I'm pretty sure that the proper drill at confession is "forgive me Father for I have sinned" and not "well, yes, Father I may have sinned, but I wasn't the only one."
- As reported in the Guardian, the statement then took what was probably its most bizarre turn:
The statement said that rather than paedophilia, it would "be more correct" to speak of ephebophilia, a homosexual attraction to adolescent males.
Of all priests involved in the abuses, 80 to 90% belong to this sexual orientation minority which is sexually engaged with adolescent boys between the ages of 11 and 17."
Aha. Well, I don't know about you, but now I feel much better about things. Most of the 6,000-20,000 priests who are abusing children at a rate somewhat lower than that of other religious groups are doing it with somewhat older kids. That puts things in a whole different light! I'm sure the whole ephebophilia defense will have altar boy enrollments skyrocketing in no time at all.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the Vatican's response neither satisfied the man accusing it of covering up sex abuse within the Church nor did it sit very well with representatives of other religions. Keith Porteous Wood, of the NGO that charged the Catholic Church with violating several provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, said not enough had been done by the Church to address its internal problems or to open its records to permit civil prosecution of wrong-doers.
Protestant and Jewish representatives were quick to respond condemning the Church's attempt to spread around the blame and defending their own approaches to the problem.
Had these other religious groups asked my advice, I might have told them to simply remain silent and let the Archbishop Tomasi have the limelight and the microphone all to himself. It is hard to imagine what the Church could possibly do to look worse than it already did in the face of a global scandal that has cost it $2 billion in settlements in the United States alone. Hard to imagine ... and yet somehow, that's precisely what it did.
CHRISTOPHE SIMON/AFP/Getty Images
THE VATICAN STILL DOESN't GET IT ON CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE
Thank you for this article.
Having read the EXTREME JESUIT OATH, (recorded in the congressional recond of the 3rd session USA house bill 1523 journals of the 62nd congress), i suggest that terrorism, torture, guilt, pain, sadism,murder, rape,molestation etc are programs that run covertly and overtly in the catholic church and it's, leaders, priests, on down to the laity.
I have found that they are incapable of caring about any child, because their whole purpose appears to be punishing members who dare to speak out or up about the hypocrisy,evil and stupidity that runs the church.
It's a cycle of abuse that goes nowhere.
They have lost all sense of right and wrong and morality and have made the perpetuation of their church and its phoney reputation their purpose.
I am not a scholar or anyone important, but i do recognize insanity when i see it, and these men have to be insane to make the comments they make.
Perhaps you should pipe down and search for actual data to avoid making a fool of yourself.
Just a thought.
The deaf cannot hear, the blind cannot see
One would have to be omniscient to say:
"I have found that they are incapable of caring about any child".
I am sure you have met every Catholic in the world based on that statement. All 1.31 billion of them. And I'm also sure that you have taken years upon years out of your life to devote yourself entirely to merely brush the surface of a subject such as the Catholic Church. Being that it has a history of 2,000 years or longer if you look at it as a form of Judaism. Which would by the logical conclusion of a statement such as;
"i suggest that terrorism, torture, guilt, pain, sadism,murder, rape,molestation etc are programs that run covertly and overtly in the catholic church and it's, leaders, priests, on down to the laity."
But since you have already: looked at the 65 page application that seminarians have to fill out (75 if you count the spiritual autobiography), taken the 6-hour psychological examination that seminarians have to take, have your entire history of criminal records, state records, family records, personal records exposed, and all immediate family members researched and possibly questioned, you obviously saw that this was all geared towards a few things. The most prominent (seeing as how it is the most heavily researched and studied topic when you are being evaluated) is pedophilia, or any form of sexual abuse.
I am sure you knew all this already though, because your sweeping accusations seem to show this topic as something you are highly educated in. Do you have a book out on it? Do you have some form of degree in it? Have you studied it for a period of time longer then 20 minutes?
If you have, please, fill me in on this secret conspiracy of an organization that donates more to charities, fundraisers, and humanitarian efforts in a single hour then you and your buddies have in a lifetime.
The Roman Catholic Church (RCC)
In 300 years:
In 300 years the RCC wil refer to these times as one in which the church was falsely and malignantly attacked by atheists, non-believers, government and enemies of Christianity. In a massive effort to discredit the piety and chasteness of the clergy, the church and her followers fought a protracted battle against evil and eventually triumphed to the greater glory of God.
I assure you that this will come to pass...this is the history of the criminal enterprise called Catholicism.
May the light of knowledge shine on your path,
May your path lead to TRUTH,
and the LIE die.
I clicked on this expecting to see the Church get is just desert
But sadly left disapointed. Rather than use research to highlight the cases in which the Church covered up the facts, the author merely argues with the few points the Church did get right.
Lame =(
I think it does. The Catholic hierarchy knows that those outside the Church, Americans in particular, will continue to think less of it because of its conduct on the clerical child abuse issue. It also knows that the great majority of strong Catholics, in the United States but especially elsewhere, won't leave the Church because of it. Their money won't leave the Church either.
It's somewhat questionable reasoning from a Christian ethical perspective, but from an institutional point of view it makes a certain amount of sense. Rothkopf is a Jew, I am a Presbyterian; neither one of us were ever likely to become a Catholic, sex abuse in the clergy or not. If either of us thinks less of the Church as an institution because of this scandal -- leaving aside, for Protestants, the whole heresy thing -- what is that to a Church hierarchy with bills to pay? Its pitch is to people whose whole identity is bound up in their being Catholic. Such people may be made uncomfortable by clerical scandal, but that's it. Outside the United States, the impact of the scandal is even less, and a stonewall response by the Church hierarchy must seem an even more obvious response.
Contextualization - not excuses
These do not sound like "excuses", Mr. Rothkopf. They sound like "contextualization".
Of course, Catholics are appalled by sex abuse - and yes, they were sins. As for the cover-ups, yes, this is also sinful and should not be excused.
Catholics get it - and just about all want change and justice with regard to this issue.
But do not confuse "defending" itself with making true contextual claims to provide a greater perspective of the problem.
As for the other commentators' hateful rants against Catholics, I just wonder why we put up with it and why they get away with it... so sad. (And yes, the anti-Jewish comment was also way out of line - have some dignity, people).
THIS SORT OF MENTALITY IS WHAT FILLS THE COUFFERS OF THOSE THAT PREACH HELL AND DAMNATION EACH AND EVERY WEEK AND SPOUT IT AD NAUESIUM AND DRILL IT INTO THEIR CONGREGATION UNTIL, SO AFRAID THAT THE DEVIL WILL TAKE THEM OVER, THEY GO HOME AND KILL THIER FAMILIES AND THEMSELVES IN THE NAME OF SALVATION.
KEEP IT UP, HELL AINT HALF FULL;
CATHOLIC AND ABLE TO DEFEND IT,
The catholic church, and other churches, have gotten in trouble when they promote and follow teachings that do have any basis in their Founder. Jesus chose celibacy and not to marry due to 3 years of extreme suffering, hardship and wandering, not a life to share with a wife or family. Somewhere, somehow, someone in the church hierarchy decided that priests should also follow this same path, without Jesus having ever commanded it (he did say that those who would lead should be the first to serve and humble themselves). So, the church tells its priests no marriage, no sex, which goes against the religious standards of other world Faiths, and this is the result. But, fine, this is what happened to the Jewish leadership when Jesus appeared 2000 years ago: rigid, conservative, in denial. This, too, the catholic hierarchy and power, shall pass, as will the Iranian Ayatollah's savage grip and domination of Iranian society and life.
"the catholic hierarchy and power, shall pass..."
Catholic Church reign = 2,000 years
Current Ayatollah of Iran = 20 years (June 21, 1989)
So is the end of power of the Church hierarchy coming soon?
I'm no Catholic-hater, but ...
Rome should've taken the lead initially when evidence of widespread abuse became manifest. Instead, the "Holy" See has obfuscated, denied, covered up, and otherwise fought every effort to bring sunlight into this wretched history.
Much as any top-down hierarchy will do. Corporations and governments are no different. But one might be forgiven for expecting a little more from an organization that holds certain proclamations of a sinner (same as the rest of us, there) to be "infallible." Right.
That, of course, is not to say that Protestant churches and every other religious body of any kind on this planet don't have their own evils to ferret out and subject to human justice, nor does it, in the least, excuse any of their deeds, either. But "tu quoque" is never anything other than a logical fallacy.
"Providing context" is no excuse for continuing to deny guilt. Until the church opens up its own investigations into these horrific abuses, it deserves much of the critique it continues to get.
The Hypocrisy Of Vatican Authority
We have yet to see the outrage and honest, thoughtful consideration by the Vatican to these heinous crimes perpetrated and covered up by church officials, including the Vatican. The simple longevity of the practice of abusing children and the pattern of deceit are themselves damning to the very core of church leadership. In the legal arena the church has accepted guilt to the tune of over $2B in the US alone. This only because US courts and the US Catholic community have finally faced the issue and applied long overdue authority over the perpetrators of these crimes and the Church authorities.
Confession in Catholic practice is indeed the road to forgiveness of sin, and in this the monetary penalties and half-hearted excuses for these crimes leaves a stain upon the soul of the Church. The way forward is forgiveness and to have 'every' church official renounce this practice as a horrible stain on the 'body of Christ'. World-wide re-ordination of every priest under Vatican jurisdiction with this defined as a Satanic practice should be encouraged, for the cleansing of the spirit and the body of the church. As in any recovered temple of the church, so too must the 'body of Christ' be cleansed and re-sanctified to carry out Christ's mission. In this endeavor, I pray the church re-examine Paul's advice and admonishments in Corinthians, because in this case, the heirs to Peter's edifice to Christ's throne here on Earth are still in denial.
The Timidity of Vatican Authority
The Church already has a sentence of latae sententiae excommunication on any priest who uses the seal of Confession to help him commit adultery; why can't the same penalty be imposed on anyone who uses the same -- or his status as a priest in general -- to molest children and adolescents? Nor is this the only case where the Church has a lack of backbone at the present day; the situation is almost like that of the late 15th Century, with the same need for a Catholic Reformation -- and I fear that it may take a counterpart to the Protestant Reformation to really push it along.
Current outreach and re-evangelization programs show a lot of promise, but if it wants to lead, the Church must be up to the task of leadership, and that means internal reform -- a willingness to make waves if necessary, in the hierarchy and in the world at large, and a recognition that sin causes harm and that sins like this need to be headed off at the pass. The Church feels like it's John Burgoyne these days, when it needs to be Ethan Allen...
A recent Vatican study concluded that children are irresistable.
Absolutely! And unfortunately for the Church, most Americans will agree. Priests molesting teenage boys is no more acceptable than a middle aged filmmaker drugging & raping a teenage girl -- both should and hopefully will pay a severe price for such predatory behavior.
What you say about the RCC is quite accurate, but it seems to me you are neglecting the fact that both the Vatican and Israel believe in the same things, to wit, Sanctified Violence and secondly, in that rancid combination of Force&Fraud.
Yah David - wish you'd sometimes talk about real barbarians - most of the world's Muslims.
Catholics - who cares!? They don't plant bombs in anyone's ass.
Christ loved kids, didn't he? And you see, Protestants do it. And even us, the Yids, we talk about the birds and the bees and you get the odd rabbi feeling up the yishuvak.
So maybe the Catholic faith has kind of been taking the slack, in an alomost peculiar way, for the rest of us?
Not saying Jesus ain't no nut-case. Hard to find a harder nut - but at least they ain't gonna threaten me for saying it, or lynch me with the ADL.
Here's over to you kiddo.
David Rothkopf is a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and President and CEO of Garten Rothkopf.
Read More
January/February 2010
-
Cover Story
-
Dispatch
-
Feature
(17)
HIDE COMMENTS LOGIN OR REGISTER REPORT ABUSE