Put Your Head In The Sand ... and Pray

When I sent some columns out by people commenting on the current problems in the Catholic Church, I got one response that said, in part, "Please stop sending me the articles you compiled regarding the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. It’s not that I am not interested or in denial about it, quite the opposite actually, I pray about it every day for the victims, for the perpetrators, for a fair and thorough investigation, for justice, for the Church, and most of all that it never happens again. I care little about the anti-Catholic pundits’ skewed view on the scandal, and their continued attacks on the Church as a whole as a result of the evil of individuals, as if this is unique to the Church—the fact is statistics show that most incidences of sexual abuse are committed by family members, and the rates are higher in other churches, public schools and child-care agencies than the Catholic Church."

My response:

You're absolutely right about the incidents of priests' untoward actions being no greater -- even less than other walks of life, even within families (although in the case of the 250 children, one parent never reaches that many) -- but the greater problem was the cover-ups and the insensitivity to the victims. As I have told other people, the cover-ups were understandable, although not excusable, in the 1940s and 50s when organizations were more concerned about "scandal" and reputation of the organization than they were about individuals and ... about right and wrong. We had the "Blue Wall of Silence" in NYPD, coverups in all sorts of organizations ... and in the Catholic Church. One only has to read one of Andrew Greeley's bios to see the cover-ups in Cardinal Cody's Chicago diocese or read about Frank Serpico's treatment by NYPD to know that this is true -- and that mentality, the mentality of "shoving things under the rug", was wrong.

Additionally, the Catholic Church is different from other organizations and even other religions. A Francisican pointed out to me about two weeks ago that one never hears of a "Cafeteria Methodist" or an ex-Baptist. Even non-believers who grew up in the "Catholic tradition" still maintain some aspect of "Catholicity".

With this position, there is a higher standard to maintain as well as a greater target for attack. I'm sure that many of those involved in cover-ups had the best intentions, just as NYPD brass did, to protect the image of the organization -- but they were wrong -- and now, in my judgement, they must be weeded out and dismissed from powers of authority, allowed to retire or sent to monasteries -- not given $100,000 positions like Bernard Cardinal Law, That is the only way to now not only to protect the image but purify it -- and, until this happens, it seems to me that those who care about the Church should be joining the "anti-Catholic pundits" you refer to in keeping this in the public image -- until any Irish Bishop or Vatican official or US Cardinal who participated in any way in a cover up (whether with good intention or not) is removed from a position of authority. While the prayers you mention may certainly help, public outcry is at least equally important.