Sins of the fathers and the church

[Jagat 1]

Sins of the fathers and the church

 

By MARGARET WENTE

Tuesday, March 19, 2002 – Page A17

 

 

In Boston, Catholics are demanding the head of Bernard Cardinal Law, the top Catholic prelate in the United States, for sheltering a pedophile priest for decades.

 

In Florida, the popular bishop of Palm Beach has resigned in disgrace after he was exposed for molesting two teenage boys back in the 1970s. He had been brought in to clean up the mess left by the previous bishop, who also had resigned in disgrace for sexual misconduct.

 

Across America, Catholics are discovering just how far the cover-up extends. It turns out that their churches have sheltered hundreds of abusive priests over the years and cut secret deals with complainants to buy their silence. They protected the abusers while harassing the abused. It is a crisis that is perhaps just beginning.

 

"I always said going to church was setting the right example for my kids," one Catholic mother told The New York Times. "Now I am just so glad my son has never been an altar boy."

 

Why did church officials learn so little from the last round of scandals? What's the matter with the church? And what's the matter with the priests?

 

The debate is going to be a scorcher. Some people are blaming the church's unrealistic and unenforceable demand for priestly celibacy. Some people are blaming its poor training programs and its abysmal ignorance of human sexuality. And some people are blaming homosexuals.

 

"People with these inclinations just cannot be ordained," said Joaquin Navarro-Valls, spokesman for the Pope, in The New York Times.

 

That could be a problem, because gay men make up a disproportionate number of Catholic priests. Richard Sipe, a psychologist and former priest, says as many as half the priests and seminarians in the U.S. are gay.

 

The evidence is that gay men are no more likely to become pedophiles (people who abuse prepubescent children) than heterosexuals. But the vast majority of abuse cases in the church don't involve young children at all. They involve teenage boys.

 

"Whatever you want to call the phenomenon that exists, there are too many cases that involve teenage boys to ignore the psychodynamic complexity of the gay-clergy culture," says Jason Berry, who wrote a book about abuse in the church.

 

In Canada, the church (which did learn from earlier scandals, and adopted a policy of zero tolerance), frames the issue as one of celibacy, not sexual orientation. Suzanne Scorsone, spokesperson for the archdiocese of Toronto, says that, although the church officially regards homosexuality as a "disorder," gay men can be good priests if they keep their vows.

 

Other people suspect it's the church that suffers from a sexual disorder. It has long been a haven for the emotionally immature, the misfits, and people who hope that a vow of celibacy will somehow resolve their sexual confusion. "The system that currently operates in the Catholic Church with its phobia about sexuality, its poor educational program for priests, and mandated celibacy sets up good men to fail and opens the door for bad men to wreak havoc," writes Peter Mullen, a former priest.

 

Zero tolerance "is something that Canadian bishops understand well now," says Monsignor Peter Schonenbach, general secretary of the Canadian Conference of Bishops. Ms. Scorsone says, "There is no one in pastoral ministry in this archdiocese who has a history of abuse." But that is not true of all dioceses, each of which makes policy independently.

 

Two years ago, a woman, Elizabeth McKenna, reached a settlement with the archdiocese of Sault Ste. Marie over a case of sexual abuse by a priest that began when she was 17 and lasted more than 10 years. In a third-party action between insurers in the case, a judge said the priest's conduct amounted to sexual battery. The bishop apologized to Ms. McKenna, but the priest still has his job. "He is a very holy man," the bishop said recently.

 

Other priests with a history of abuse are still in business, too, according to their victims. Some have simply been shifted to the United States. Father Schonenbach acknowledges that the church is re-examining the practice of "reinsertion" -- allowing a priest to stay a priest if the church thinks he won't reoffend -- because people will no longer tolerate it.

 

Today, dioceses across the United States are scouring their files and reporting priests to prosecutors -- sometimes, anyone who was under suspicion at any time in the past 40 years. Each day, more victims come forward. The cost of settling the civil suits will mount into the hundreds of millions. And some people are warning about a witch-hunt that will bring down the innocent along with the guilty, and sweep away the men who once did something foolish along with the most hardened pedophiles.

 

It never would have happened if the church hadn't stonewalled, and if it had faced the facts of life long ago.

 

mwente@globeandmail.ca

 

[abhi_the_great 0]

I feel there is a lesson for ISKCON here to learn. I have experienced young boys being brain washed into becoming full-time brahmacaris, which is very detrimental to their spiritual growth. There are temples in which devotees feel if you get married then you are fallen.

 

Becoming a life time celibate is not a very great idea for everyone. Its clearly not everyones cup of tea. It is an immature way of preaching which can spoil a persons self confidence and as time passes his spiritual life, too.

 

I feel the preaching shd be pro-marraige, if there are exceptions they can opt not to marry. This is more practical.

 

Abhi