USA Today, in reporting about sexual abuse of young boys at Penn State University, takes the cheapest of shots at the Catholic Church in their featured story.
Here’s the headline:
Catholic bishops’ lesson for Penn State: Call the cops!
Mind you, this is a story that has NOTHING to do with the Catholic Church but they drag the Church into it for no apparent reason, other than it was an easy opportunity to Church bash.
Reporter Cathy Lynn Grossman even then includes the Church in the lede.
A trusted adult, respected by the community, offers special programs for vulnerable boys — then sexually abuses them. Word travels up to higher authorities but no one calls the police. They handle it within…
Sound familiar? It’s the Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal rewritten on a university campus.
So far, you’ve got the Catholic Church indicted in the headline and in the lede of a news story that, once again, has nothing to do with the Catholic Church.
Catholic bishops’ lesson for Penn State: Call the cops!
It gets better. (Or worse.) The photo that runs with the story is described as
David Clohessy, head of a sex abuse survivors group, held a photo of a victim of abuse by a priest, Eric Patterson of Conway Springs, Kan., who killed himself. Clohessy addressed the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ meeting in Dallas in 2002 when bishops confronted the explosive national abuse scandal.
What? They couldn’t find any pictures of Penn State head coach Joe Paterno or assistant Jerry Sandusky?
So to sum up, the headline, the lede, and the photo all indict the Catholic Church in a story that had nothing to do with the Catholic Church.
This kind of thing is just plain ol’ Catholic bashing and furthers the media meme that sexual abuse is a Catholic problem.
As the Catholic League points out, you could only get the idea that sexual abuse is a Catholic problem if you believe the media.
One of the nation’s foremost authorities on the subject of the sexual abuse of minors in public schools is Hofstra University professor Charol Shakeshaft. In 1994, Shakeshaft and Audrey Cohan did a study of 225 cases of educator sexual abuse in New York City. Their findings are astounding.
All of the accused admitted sexual abuse of a student, but none of the abusers was reported to the authorities, and only 1 percent lost their license to teach. Only 35 percent suffered negative consequences of any kind, and 39 percent chose to leave their school district, most with positive recommendations. Some were even given an early retirement package.
Moving molesting teachers from school district to school district is a common phenomenon. And in only 1 percent of the cases do superintendents notify the new school district. According to Diana Jean Schemo, the term “passing the trash” is the preferred jargon among educators.
Shakeshaft has also determined that 15 percent of all students have experienced some kind of sexual misconduct by a teacher between kindergarten and 12th grade; the behaviors range from touching to forced penetration.[xxxvi] She and Cohan also found that up to 5 percent of teachers sexually abuse children.
But I’m not waiting on that to be highlighted by the media. Why report facts when Catholic bashing is so much easier?
November 7, 2011 at 2:39 pm
"Why report facts" – because then our lazy-a$$ed media would have to actually move its butt and do leg work and research in order to earn their paycheck.
November 7, 2011 at 2:58 pm
And there's this:
http://www.snarkyhawk.com/?p=867
Similar commentary is found at the WaPo, and elsewhere.
The Catholic connection via Paterno's upbringing and supposed consideration of the priesthood during his youth is also being mentioned.
It IS the first thing that comes to mind when people hear about sexual abuse and institutional cover up of that abuse.
It's not about the abuse, it's about the cover up, and that's something so very few Catholics seem to get — or don't want to get — or get but are determined to, er, cover up.
The Catholic Church brought this on themselves. They had many opportunities to set things right. They screwed up each and every time. They deserve what they're getting. Maybe they should shut up, man up, and take it.
November 7, 2011 at 4:10 pm
@Carol – as convert (1990) who comes from a family in which sexual abuse was multi-generational (abused then married abusers), I "get" exactly what happened. The accusation is so horrific, that the mere hearing of it is breathtakingly painful. This is your father/step-father, your uncle, your brother, your best friend who is being accused of something horrific. You don't want to believe that someone you love could do such a terrible thing. Surely it's all a mistake. So you ignore it and hope that it's all misunderstanding. But then somebody else says something. Uncle/brother/step-father/father/friend denies it, of course. Spouse of the offender stands up for him – he could never do such a horrible thing. And time stumbles awkwardly on. But finally you have to admit, however painful it is, that this person you love and trust has had huge moral failings. And that's what you think it is up until the recent decade or so. You push the offender to a costly physcologist/therapist who of course has the answers and after a while they tell you the offender has been made whole and cured and you trust the person with the PhD and you go on, forgiving that person and wanting the family to be whole again, behaving like it is. Except it never will be, because in reality no matter what the expensive PhD says it's neither a moral failure or a curable disorder. So the struggle and the heartbreak continues until the offender is dead. But the repercussions to the family structure, the pain and suffering, reverberate on and on and on.
The focus on the Church allowed other denominations who were suffering through the same thing to stay out of the lime-light, to settle their lawsuits and suffer their own pain without it being splashed across headlines. The problem in the Church was no worse than in any other organization or religion – evil seeks power in order to have access. It's just the only one reported heavily. And the only place that sex abuse has dropped over the last couple decades has been in the Catholic Church.
The Church has always taught the sanctity and beauty of sexual behavior in specific contexts. She has often warned of the danger of turning it into a game. Our society is soaked in the belief that sex is a game, one that happens only for physical self-fulfillment. There should be absolutely no surprise that evil grabs that and runs with it, using it to wreak destruction of lives, spirits, and souls.
November 7, 2011 at 5:59 pm
Carol:
We get that it's about the mishandling of the abusers by those in charge. What we're saying is that other institutions do/did it too.
Does this make the actions of those who mishandled abuse in the Church any better or any more understandable? Of course not. Does it mean we should put less effort into fixing it? Hell no. Does it mean that the media should ignore this stuff when it happens in the Catholic Church? No again.
But what it means is that abuse and abuse cover up is a larger problem then the Church focused way it is being presented.
And what this really means is that everything that the public are RIGHTLY angry with Church leaders about is being done right now elsewhere.
And it's being ignored. Because it's easier to Catholic bash then point out the truth.
That's not cool.
November 7, 2011 at 6:16 pm
Oh, here we go…
Everyone else was doing it too, therefore no biggie when it was the Church.
Fine.
No biggie when it's this coach, either. Hey, if the Catholic Church can do it for years and get away with it, why all the media attention now when it's a famous coach, right? Gosh, it's so unfair to focus on this ONE situation when the Catholic Church was given a pass for years on end!
You don't get it. Sorry, you just don't. You may get how people play their part in evil, but you don't get how to stop the evil.
Here's the deal: The ONLY response to child abuse is to call 9-1-1 immediately once you are aware there may be a problem. There is no other decent, moral response. No one gets the benefit of the doubt. Not parents, not priests, not coaches, no one.
And then, when fathers start showing up at the doorstep of priests and coaches and funny uncles with tire irons, maybe, just maybe, then y'all will "get it".
ANYONE, mothers, sisters, aunts, grandparents, who aid and abet child abuse through their prideful, fearful silence, deserves the same treatment. Make remaining silent a hell of a lot more dangerous than speaking out, and the abusive cycles end.
November 7, 2011 at 6:43 pm
Everyone else was doing it too, therefore no biggie when it was the Church.
Wow Carol, strawman much? Nobody is saying that what happened was not a big deal or wrong. What people are noting is that the Catholic Church is continuously brought up unnecessarily in these situations as though it were the only institution that ever had this problem.
Get it yet, or do you want to write another comment where you miss the point?
November 7, 2011 at 6:52 pm
If only the NCAA allowed its coaches to be married…never mind.
November 7, 2011 at 6:58 pm
The pastor of all souls, Pope Benedict XVI, recently apologized to God for failing to evangelizing those who have chosen to become murderers, abusers, sinners of every stripe, because if these individuals had been evangelized in the Sacraments of the Holy Eucharist and Penance, they would be on their knees begging God to send them to heaven, instead of hell. The devils begged Jesus to send them into the herd of 4000 swine rather than to send these devils back to hell. The swine herd ran headlong into the sea and drowned itself rather than be inhabited by the devil. Yet, man seeks out and entertains the devil and does evil in the sight of God as though hell did not exist for him.
The fact remains that the victim is free to and must report his abuse to the police authorities, whose job it is to capture and punish the abuser. The newest law requiring church officials to hand over abusive priests or be subject to penalties applied by secular laws, requires the Catholic Church to do the state and police authorities job. Now, the state may request the Catholic Church to hand over abusive priests and the Church will acquiesce, but it is not the Catholic Church’s job to apprehend and prosecute criminals. So, the law violates the principle of separation of church and state.
When a secular person whose free will gives consent to commit a mortal sin, that person is automatically self-excommunicated from the Catholic Church. Only the Sacrament of Reconciliation will bring him back. As an outlaw in the Catholic Church, the person is also an outlaw in the state.
Penn State needs to stop pointing fingers and start presenting Jesus Christ as the Person for whom all men become saints.
November 7, 2011 at 7:05 pm
I stopped reading the USA Today soley because of Cathy Lynn Grossman. She has proven herself to be an anti-Catholic bigot over and over again.
She loathes the Church.
November 7, 2011 at 9:22 pm
@Carol – While "Oh here we go" sniping may be easier than actually analyzing the heart and soul of what is being said, it's a pretty paltry response in the face of the complexities of the evil and suffering involved. At no point did I or anyone else say "Everybody else does it so it's OK." I DID fail to note that not a single person except those actually involved knows what really happened. Not a single person involved is required to report to you. Not a single abused person, or person trying to deal with the abuse, is required to interact with you. Therefore, the complexities may be WAY more than you know. That's the nature of sin and evil – it tangles itself up in human nature and turns every weakness against us. Before I converted – while I was still calling myself an atheist – I had become very aware of the media loathing of the Catholic Church; the No Nothing Party is anything but dead in this country. That is not surprising – Satan screams his pain and anger through any venue he can work his way into. Therefore, I am very aware that nothing brought to us through reporters is to be relied on. I am also, because of my own experience, well aware of the pain and complexity involved in abusive situations. It's all well and good to stand outside and say "You MUST leave." or "You MUST report it." The psychology of relationships, particularly abusive ones, is nowhere near that simple, and a church community, whether synagogue, mosque, or parish, is a family, with all the complexity that family entails. The media may scream "Cover-up!", but the media is deliberately ignorant – it's easy and they still get paid. Did bishops err? Possibly – it's a "what did they know and when did they know it situation", not a screaming headlines have already determined the bishop's guilt situation. Could pride and arrogance on the part of a bishop have occurred? Of course it could have – they are human. Have I seen a good bishop unfairly treated because of the media pack hounds slavering at his heels? Oh yes. Do I know that an accused priest, even if it's an anonymous accusation, loses his home and his livelihood for an average of 2 years until it works through the system? Also oh yes. I know of some who have been unjustly accused and suffered because of it. I also know of more than one person convicted of sex crimes against minors who are living right in my own community.
November 7, 2011 at 10:19 pm
Of course you do. You're the proud hillbilly, after all…
They're probably your relatives.
The reality is that I know a lot more than the average person about the Church abuse scandal, and I wouldn't wish how I know on anyone.
So a big fat fuck you to you and the piece of shit who claims that the child victims essentially gave consent for their abuse by exercising their free will and not reporting it (of course, many of us DID tell, and many of us got nowhere because of the disgusting filth that is the Catholic Church).
So fuck you, you motherfucking cocksucker (probably a very appropriate label in your case, you redneck douchebag). Fuck you.
You're all the same — evil to the core.
November 7, 2011 at 10:23 pm
This comment has been removed by the author.
November 7, 2011 at 10:25 pm
Only, Carol, the Catholic Church has made more changes to its policies regarding how such things are handled, than any other institution. Just recently there was a major scandal in New York's Jewish community, regarding rabbis committing abuse…and the leadership in question still hasn't started doing anything different. Ditto teachers, doctors, psychiatrists, Protestant clergy…the only institution not still playing "Pass the Trash" is the Catholic Church.
Of course, amusingly, priests had, even at the height of the scandal, a much lower rate than other clergy—about 1.8% to other clergy's 3%. Why? Well, correlation doesn't imply causation, but roughly 40% of sex abuse of minors is committed by fathers, stepfathers, grandfathers, or mothers' boyfriends. And guess which categories Catholic priests are, by definition, never in? Fathers, stepfathers, grandfathers…
November 7, 2011 at 10:45 pm
Uh, I do hope Carol's last comment is going to be deleted real soon.
November 7, 2011 at 10:46 pm
@Sophia – I notice that in our culture that whole connection between high rate of abuse and live in boyfriends is NEVER acknowledged. But a whole bunch of energy is spent bashing priests.
November 7, 2011 at 11:37 pm
I would actually suggest that Carol's last comment not be deleted. I think that sometimes you have to let idiocy speak for itself.
November 7, 2011 at 11:52 pm
I doubt this is gonna work Carol, but lets try this one more time:
No one said "it wasn't bad because everyone is doing it."
Everyone said "children are suffering and innocent priests are having their reputations tarnished because the media is pretending it's a Catholic thing."
Focus on the first part of that sentence. There are teachers who have raped little boys and were reassigned quietly – in the same way that those few disgusting priests were – and no one is saying anything. We know it's happening everywhere, the rage directed at the Catholic Church has started a reform process. Now, lets direct some of that rage at the public school system and the like and start a reform process there too, and stop lying to ourselves.
Children are suffering because no one is insisting that non-Catholic institutions start down the path that the Catholic Church is starting to walk.
November 7, 2011 at 11:59 pm
Idiocy can speak for itself and not be obscene or attack a fellow commenter personally.
November 8, 2011 at 12:05 am
Come on guys/gals (trying to be inclusive here) it's about what sells and anything "Catholic" that is attached to a scandal even if the church is not involved, sells and sells well. I have an idea: Why not patent the name "Catholic" so that we receive royalties every time they use it in that way.
November 8, 2011 at 12:27 am
This is worse than bashing. This is a calculated attempt to distract attention from the real story that implicates Paterno and higher ups in a molestation cover-up. Many people will glance at this and believe that the Church WAS involved.