The SF Chronicle’s John Carrol covers the “darker side of the Catholic Church,” specifically Bill Donohue, the president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.
His point, basically, is that the Roman Catholic priest pedophilia scandal is way overblown, and it’s all the fault of the church’s enemies, including those who are “pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage and pro-women clergy.” He does not describe the mechanism by which these enemies mounted their attack on the church, but he does allege that if the church held other, more liberal views, the whole pedophilia thing would have been played down.
“Played down” is exactly what Donohue thinks should have happened. It’s not that big a deal, particularly since it all happened a long time ago, and besides, it’s been fixed now. I am paraphrasing.
Then there’s this charming paragraph: “The refrain that child rape is a reality in the Church is twice wrong: let’s get it straight. They weren’t children and they weren’t raped. We know from the John Jay study [conducted in 2004 by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice] that most of the victims have been adolescents and the most common abuse has been inappropriate touching (inexcusable though this is, it is not rape). The Boston Globe said of the John Jay report that ‘more than three quarters of the victims were post-pubescent, meaning the abuse did not meet the clinical definition of pedophilia.’ In other words, the issue is homosexuality, not pedophilia.”
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April 15, 2011 at 6:48 am
PAN
This guy is a complete asshole and there are too many like him in positions of power in the hierarchy of the Catholic church for it to change. Too bad. It used to be fun telling stories of growing up Catholic… now it’s just embarrassing.
Real Time With Bill Maher-Catholics Come Home Commercial (3/11/11)
http://www.youtube.com
Real Time With Bill Maher-Catholics Come Home Commercial (3/11/11)
April 15, 2011 at 7:11 am
Mitch
He forgot to blame the Jews. Maybe he thought he had us covered by blaming liberals and psychiatrists.
April 15, 2011 at 9:42 am
Plain Jane
Why anyone is surprised that a church which requires celibacy and accepts only men into their priesthood would have a larger than societal proportion of pedophiles and homosexuals is strange. Celibacy is unnatural and almost torture to many men. Those who belong to religions which forbid homosexuality undoubtedly find the priesthood a comfortable closet where they aren’t subjected to uncomfortable questions and embarrassing fix-up attempts with the opposite gender. For pedophiles, its about as good as it gets. They have access to children who believe they are infallible, speak to god and no one would believe them if they told. People are drawn to their chosen professions for many reasons, some good and some very bad.
April 15, 2011 at 9:43 am
Plain Jane
I didn’t watch the video. My stomach is already queasy this morning.
April 15, 2011 at 8:43 pm
Anonymous
Jane as usual your comments are shallow. I won’t bother to read this because I can’t stomach it. But pedophilia has been written about since the Greeks roamed. Diagnostically it is limited to people who are not adolescents who act sexually (and that can be even non touching exhibitionism) with kids under 13. They have to be pre-pubescent. And Janey, 50 percent of all those caught are married. You may not think celebacy is your thing but it is NOT the cause of pedophilia and you sound stupid for saying so.
April 16, 2011 at 6:17 am
Plain Jane
No where did I say anything about the definition of pedophilia, that it was related to marital status or caused by celibacy and anyone who says I did is complete moron. How dumb do you have to be to think you can claim you didn’t read it, but it was shallow, and then completely misrepresent what was said. Of course, Anonymous, being the leg humper he is, doesn’t have to support his stupid attack because the next time he attacks he’s all new again.
April 16, 2011 at 8:17 am
Anonymous
Jane. You need help. So you hate the church. That ok. So you think celebacy is unnatural and leads to men becoming pedophiles. Well that’s ok too but your in that row boat alone.
April 16, 2011 at 8:22 am
Anonymous
And dear Jane, you forgot to tell me to GFY as you usually do. What’s the matter? Was 6:17 too early and you forgot your trademark insult?
April 16, 2011 at 5:37 pm
Anonymous
Hey jane. You said “that a church which requires celibacy and accepts only men into their priesthood would have a larger than societal proportion of pedophiles and homosexuals”. Wtf is that then? If approx 50 percent of pedopholes are married then your deluded rant about the church having a “greater proportion” is shit. Unless your assuming the other 50 percent are priests and that’s plain stupid. Go back And read your comment. I don’t know what you “hump” honey but you might consider taking some Xanax when your panties get in such a bunch.
April 17, 2011 at 6:37 am
Anonymous
You should take some classes to improve your functional literacy and logic, 5:37. That you think my saying there are more homosexuals and pedophiles in the priesthood than in the general populace means the church caused them is proof of both. People make career choices for infinite reasons; to do helpful work, to make money, for fame, etc.
Homosexuals who, for whatever reason, fear being outed can hide more easily in the Catholic Church than just about anywhere else because it doesn’t allow them to marry or have sex with anyone. It’s a perfect disguise and can even provide them a place from which to use their power to exploit teenagers who would be discouraged from telling because of fear of not being believed and the shame of people knowing.
Pedophiles often seek positions which give them power and control over children. Boy Scout leaders, teachers, sports coaches, pastors / priests, even parent and step-parent. None of these cause pedophilia, but they do attract those who want power over children.
Boy Scouts and sports don’t cause pedophilia any more than the church does, but no one (outside of possibly family) has anywhere near the same level of power over children, and so the ability to groom and exploit them sexually, than their church.
I really doubt that someone so demonstrably clueless as yourself will ever be able to grasp it, but I’m not wasting any more time trying to explain such complex adult issues to someone with the mentality of a child. It feels really creepy.
April 17, 2011 at 6:38 am
Plain Jane
That post above is from me. Didn’t notice the fields were blank.
April 17, 2011 at 7:07 am
Plain Jane
Furthermore, your post at 5:37 just further demonstrates your ignorance. There are BILLIONS more married people than there are priests and millions more teachers, coaches, Boy Scout leaders than priests. Do you understand that you can’t do the equation using only the numbers you are trying to do it with? I doubt it.
April 17, 2011 at 7:29 am
Plain Jane
I answered Anonymous before my 6:38 post but it is in moderation.
April 17, 2011 at 2:05 pm
tra
Plain Jane said: Homosexuals who, for whatever reason, fear being outed can hide more easily in the Catholic Church than just about anywhere else because it doesn’t allow them to marry or have sex with anyone. It’s a perfect disguise and can even provide them a place from which to use their power to exploit teenagers …
I assume you didn’t intend this, P.J. but the above paragraph glides a little too easily from the “homosexuals” referred to in the first sentence to those who would “use their power to exploit teenagers” in the second sentence, potentially giving the impression that these two groups are one in the same. I’m sure that such an interpretation was not your intent, and I suspect that in the second sentence you actually just meant to refer to the very small subset of homosexuals who are also pedophiles. I just wanted to clarify that point.
Meanwhile, most pedophiles (including most clergy who are pedophiles) actually consider themselves heterosexuals, even though they may prey on same-sex victims.
There is an argument to be made (and I tend to agree) that those people are not really what most of us would consider either homosexual or heterosexual, or for that matter bisexual, because they are not people oriented towards adults of either the same sex or opposite sex or both. Instead, they are fundamentally pedophiles, primarily oriented to the age of their victim, rather than their gender.
But at any rate, pedophiles in general do find an effective hiding place and stalking ground in the Church setting, which helps them blend in and conceal their pedophilia.
April 17, 2011 at 10:41 pm
Plain Jane
Right, Tra. I did not intend to imply that there was any connection between homosexuals and pedophiles, but (as the church and the leg humper noted) pedophiles aren’t interested in teenagers but prepubescent children. That there are homosexual priests who molest teenage boys and heterosexual priests who molest teenage girls doesn’t make them pedophiles, but they are still exploiting their position of power and trust – sexual harassment of those who are unlikely to report them or be believed if they do.
I agree that pedophiles aren’t hetero or homosexual, but child-sexual; although they may have sex with same or different gender adults as well.