Grabbed this off another forum... long read
With the growing momentum of clerical abuse being reported in the news, one has to question whether this is a growing problem in the Catholic Church or whether the media has become enthralled in reporting alleged scandal? Has it become fashionable for Catholic priests to molest children or has it become fashionable for the media to jump on any story involving sex and the Church? Obviously the latter has more validity. Afterall, it is easy for your local news team to report sensational stories which invoke rage and astonishment, while providing money-generating entertainment and ratings. Whether they admit it or not, the average American with the average attention span would prefer hearing about eye-catching headlines involving hypocrisy, sex, pedophilia, pornogrpahy, and conspiracy, rather than sluggish events in Afghanistan and our hunt for Osama bin laden. With media coined catch-phrases like "pedophile priests" and "Crisis in the Catholic Church" the scandal has been gaining momentum, perhaps without just cause.
Are there past and present Catholic priests who should be exposed and punished? Of course! Out of the 50,000 priests in the United States, there have been several confirmed cases of sexual misconduct, but not hundreds or thousands like the media is portraying. Have there been confirmed cases of cover-ups by cardinals and bishops? A couple, but not a vast world-wide conspiracy like you might think Researching statistics will cause you to seperate the allegations from the confirmed facts, and the facts are sporadic at best.
So why so many allegations and accusations? Some are undoubtedly valid. But you have to question "victims" who go directly to the media and lawyers before going to police. Perhaps it started when a Texas lawyer won a $119 million lawsuit on behalf of legitimate victims against a convicted priest in Dallas in the 90's. Or perhaps the famous case involving Boston priest, Geoghan and his "conspiring" supervisor Cardinal Law which garnered $15 million for victims. In this case Cardinal Law indeed tried to limit the publicity of the scandal by relocating the priest when medical and psychological evaluations conducted before the conviction showed that Geoghan was of no harm to children. These pioneering settlements sparked more lawsuits. The Catholic Church, which wanted to protect its denigrated reputation, would try to settle out of court even when there was no substantial evidence and allegations failed to become convictions. Of course, these out-of-court settlements were portrayed as cover-ups by story-starved reporters.
We have entered a money-driven cycle. The media reports any allegation involving priests, disclosing the full name of the suspected priest and the address of his Church and residence. Basically, the priest's reputation and career are destroyed, just on the premise of allegation and accusation and without the unbiased evidence of a criminal investigation. It has become fashionable to also disclose the amount of money the Church is willing to give alleged victims to keep them from going to the media, usually about $25,000. The public hears these stories, and people who have personal vendettas against the Church, Christianity, organized religion, society, flock to the media and to lawyers, often times forgetting about going to law enforcement. Afterall, "justice" to them is in the form of money and not a criminal in jail. The media gladly welcomes these new victims, and the cycle continues and momentum is increased.
In the perimeter of this cycle stands ignorants that jump on the bandwagon for their personal gain or satisfaction. Enemies of Christianity and organized religion, reporters with nothing better to write about, and even some Protestants pounce at the chance to join in the barrage of attacks to bring down the organized religion. This reporter writes "Is there something unique to Catholicism that makes it so prodigious at producing pedophiles?" (http://uspolitics.about.com/library/weekly/aa042402a.htm) This Protestant webpage proclaims "the Catholic religion is famous for the sexual abuse perpetrated by its ungodly priests" (http://www.jesus-is-lord.com/sexabuse.htm) Have either of these authors researched the actual convictions of clerical abuse or are they just spoon-fed media stories of allegations reported as facts.
Why the Catholic Church? Certainly pedophiles exist in other religions, schools, sports clubs, and anywhere else there are children. In a Protestant Church example, Southern Baptist minister, Fernando Garcia, made 26 videotapes of himself abusing numerous children in South Carolina. Did the media forget to report this conviction backed by concrete evidence and instead choose to report an unsubstantiated Catholic allegation? According to http://www.edweek.org/ew/vol-18/14abuse.h18, there are hundreds of sexual abuse cases daily by teachers, principals, and coaches. Many are daily convictions, not just allegations. So why is the media focusing on the less prevelant problem in the Catholic Church? 1) Because its easy. The Catholic Church is 1 large organized entity, with billions of world-wide members. 2) Because its profitable. The Catholic Church has money. Even though priests live humble lives (the average priest in the US makes less than $15,000 annually), the Church as an entity has financial resources. Thus the instatiable cycle hits Catholics the hardest. 3) Because its interesting. Americans are fascinated by the thought of celibate priests performing sexual acts on children, even if its just an unconfirmed allegation.
Obviously the Catholic Church is a victim in this cycle, both financially and in reputation. The legitimate victims are also undermined. With the new policy of openness from the Vatican, allegations will be thoroughly investigated both internally and externally. The people who have managed to illicitly profit from the Church's settlements have cast a shadow of doubt on any legitimate victim who seeks genuine justice. It is of further dishonor and insult to real victims when their efforts to seek justice and closure are being greedily twisted by lawyers, media moguls, and disgruntled members of their former parish seeking money and the downfall of Catholicism.
With the growing momentum of clerical abuse being reported in the news, one has to question whether this is a growing problem in the Catholic Church or whether the media has become enthralled in reporting alleged scandal? Has it become fashionable for Catholic priests to molest children or has it become fashionable for the media to jump on any story involving sex and the Church? Obviously the latter has more validity. Afterall, it is easy for your local news team to report sensational stories which invoke rage and astonishment, while providing money-generating entertainment and ratings. Whether they admit it or not, the average American with the average attention span would prefer hearing about eye-catching headlines involving hypocrisy, sex, pedophilia, pornogrpahy, and conspiracy, rather than sluggish events in Afghanistan and our hunt for Osama bin laden. With media coined catch-phrases like "pedophile priests" and "Crisis in the Catholic Church" the scandal has been gaining momentum, perhaps without just cause.
Are there past and present Catholic priests who should be exposed and punished? Of course! Out of the 50,000 priests in the United States, there have been several confirmed cases of sexual misconduct, but not hundreds or thousands like the media is portraying. Have there been confirmed cases of cover-ups by cardinals and bishops? A couple, but not a vast world-wide conspiracy like you might think Researching statistics will cause you to seperate the allegations from the confirmed facts, and the facts are sporadic at best.
So why so many allegations and accusations? Some are undoubtedly valid. But you have to question "victims" who go directly to the media and lawyers before going to police. Perhaps it started when a Texas lawyer won a $119 million lawsuit on behalf of legitimate victims against a convicted priest in Dallas in the 90's. Or perhaps the famous case involving Boston priest, Geoghan and his "conspiring" supervisor Cardinal Law which garnered $15 million for victims. In this case Cardinal Law indeed tried to limit the publicity of the scandal by relocating the priest when medical and psychological evaluations conducted before the conviction showed that Geoghan was of no harm to children. These pioneering settlements sparked more lawsuits. The Catholic Church, which wanted to protect its denigrated reputation, would try to settle out of court even when there was no substantial evidence and allegations failed to become convictions. Of course, these out-of-court settlements were portrayed as cover-ups by story-starved reporters.
We have entered a money-driven cycle. The media reports any allegation involving priests, disclosing the full name of the suspected priest and the address of his Church and residence. Basically, the priest's reputation and career are destroyed, just on the premise of allegation and accusation and without the unbiased evidence of a criminal investigation. It has become fashionable to also disclose the amount of money the Church is willing to give alleged victims to keep them from going to the media, usually about $25,000. The public hears these stories, and people who have personal vendettas against the Church, Christianity, organized religion, society, flock to the media and to lawyers, often times forgetting about going to law enforcement. Afterall, "justice" to them is in the form of money and not a criminal in jail. The media gladly welcomes these new victims, and the cycle continues and momentum is increased.
In the perimeter of this cycle stands ignorants that jump on the bandwagon for their personal gain or satisfaction. Enemies of Christianity and organized religion, reporters with nothing better to write about, and even some Protestants pounce at the chance to join in the barrage of attacks to bring down the organized religion. This reporter writes "Is there something unique to Catholicism that makes it so prodigious at producing pedophiles?" (http://uspolitics.about.com/library/weekly/aa042402a.htm) This Protestant webpage proclaims "the Catholic religion is famous for the sexual abuse perpetrated by its ungodly priests" (http://www.jesus-is-lord.com/sexabuse.htm) Have either of these authors researched the actual convictions of clerical abuse or are they just spoon-fed media stories of allegations reported as facts.
Why the Catholic Church? Certainly pedophiles exist in other religions, schools, sports clubs, and anywhere else there are children. In a Protestant Church example, Southern Baptist minister, Fernando Garcia, made 26 videotapes of himself abusing numerous children in South Carolina. Did the media forget to report this conviction backed by concrete evidence and instead choose to report an unsubstantiated Catholic allegation? According to http://www.edweek.org/ew/vol-18/14abuse.h18, there are hundreds of sexual abuse cases daily by teachers, principals, and coaches. Many are daily convictions, not just allegations. So why is the media focusing on the less prevelant problem in the Catholic Church? 1) Because its easy. The Catholic Church is 1 large organized entity, with billions of world-wide members. 2) Because its profitable. The Catholic Church has money. Even though priests live humble lives (the average priest in the US makes less than $15,000 annually), the Church as an entity has financial resources. Thus the instatiable cycle hits Catholics the hardest. 3) Because its interesting. Americans are fascinated by the thought of celibate priests performing sexual acts on children, even if its just an unconfirmed allegation.
Obviously the Catholic Church is a victim in this cycle, both financially and in reputation. The legitimate victims are also undermined. With the new policy of openness from the Vatican, allegations will be thoroughly investigated both internally and externally. The people who have managed to illicitly profit from the Church's settlements have cast a shadow of doubt on any legitimate victim who seeks genuine justice. It is of further dishonor and insult to real victims when their efforts to seek justice and closure are being greedily twisted by lawyers, media moguls, and disgruntled members of their former parish seeking money and the downfall of Catholicism.
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