Posted on 03/24/2010 8:03:11 AM PDT by marshmallow
Washington D.C., Mar 24, 2010 / 03:03 am (CNA).- A prominent Catholic writer says “selective” and “salacious” reporting of Catholic clergy in the aftermath of clerical sexual abuse scandals is being used to discredit a “powerful moral voice” in public debate. Acknowledging genuine abuse, she says present day anti-clericalism echoes the slanders of pre-Revolutionary France.
That view comes from Elizabeth Lev, an art historian who has written for Inside the Vatican, Sacerdos and First Things magazine. A regular columnist for Zenit, she is also the daughter of former U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican Mary Ann Glendon.
“While no one denies the wrongdoing and the harm caused by a small minority of priests, their misconduct has been used to undermine the reputations of the overwhelming majority of clergy who live holy quiet lives in their parishes,” Lev writes at Politics Daily.
Lev sees parallels between the “sustained hostile attacks” on Catholic clergy in pre-Revolutionary France and present-day media depictions of the Catholic Church.
After the National Assembly in 1789 diminished the authority of the French King, fierce accusations against the Catholic clergy increased.
“Isolated cases of clerical immorality were magnified to make depravity appear endemic to the entire priesthood (ironically, in an age where sexual libertinism was running rampant),” Lev writes. “The French propagandists labored night and day, dredging the past for old scandals whether decades or even centuries distant.”
She cites the words of politician and writer Edmund Burke, who in 1790 noted these polemicists depicted French clergy as “a sort of monsters,” composed of sloth, fraud and avarice.
"It is not with much credulity I listen to any when they speak evil of those whom they are going to plunder. I rather suspect that vices are feigned or exaggerated when profit is looked for in their punishment,” Burke wrote, just as revolutionaries prepared for mass confiscation of Church lands.
Lev charges that “salacious” reporting on clerical sexual abuse is conducted as if the crimes were limited only to Catholic clergy. They have been given more prominence than present-day massacres of Christians in India and Iraq.
“It doesn't take the political acumen of an Edmund Burke to wonder why the Catholic Church has been singled out for this treatment.”
According to Lev, there are an estimated 39 million victims of childhood sexual abuse in the U.S. Between 40 and 60 percent of these were abused by a family member, five percent were molested by school teachers, and fewer than two percent were abused by Catholic priests.
“But to read the papers, it would seem that Catholic clergy hold a monopoly in child molestation,” her Politics Daily article continues.
She sees behind the attacks on Catholic priests attempts to “destroy the credibility of a powerful moral voice in public debate.”
Media reports on sex abuse rose to a “frenzy” at the same time as the final vote on the health care bill was opposed by the Catholic bishops, she claims.
“To silence the moral voice of the Church, the preferred option has been to discredit its ministers.”
Burke saw the anti-clerical campaign as a temporary preparation for the “utter abolition” of Christianity by bringing its ministers into “universal contempt,” Lev says, remembering the hundreds of priests sent to the guillotine during the Reign of Terror.
“One hopes Americans will have the good sense to change course long before we reach that point,” her Politics Daily essay concludes.
Lev "gets" it.
Lev charges that “salacious” reporting on clerical sexual abuse is conducted as if the crimes were limited only to Catholic clergy. They have been given more prominence than present-day massacres of Christians in India and Iraq.
“It doesn't take the political acumen of an Edmund Burke to wonder why the Catholic Church has been singled out for this treatment.”
Evil is running rampant.
Yes, there is no doubt this is being exploited, but then again, perhaps material should not have been served up so handily to the exploiters.
This anti-Catholic campaign has been going on for sometime but as mentioned, it gets worse when the left wants to pass bad legislation. It is coordinated.
Satan hates the Cross.
Tough
**********************
And the crucifix! :)
Satan is behind this, no doubt about it.
**Clerical Abuse Reports Being Exploited to Discredit Catholics, Elizabeth Lev Charges**
I agree, and it’s not going to work.
Here are some RECENT stats from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops:
http://www.usccb.org/ocyp/annual_report2009.shtml
398 new victims came forward in 2009 with “credible allegations of sexual abuse” of a minor. They named 286 priests and deacons, 45 percent of whom had not been named before.
Last year, the U.S. church paid out $104 million, including $6.5 million for victims’ therapy, $10.9 million for offenders (including therapy and living expenses) and $28.7 million in lawyers’ fees.
The secular agenda is gaining power everywhere, it seems.
There are plenty of Catholics who report on it it the blogging and Catholic news world. And there are a couple of Catholics here who supply the majority of the Catholic news posted here, marshmallow and NYer, for example. Neither are shy about posting these stories, I’ve seen many of them. No Catholic here condones these horrific cases, not one. What I strenuously object to are the implications made here by those who make generalizations about all priests and all bishops. That’s wrong.
Even one is a bad thing, but the following should be considered. From your link:
Figure 5 shows the years in which the abuse reported in 2009 was alleged to have occurred or begun. For the majority of new allegations (71 percent), the abuse occurred or began between 1960 and 1984. The most common time period for allegations reported in 2009 was 1975-1979. This is approximately the same time pattern that has been reported in previous years, with most allegations reportedly occurring or beginning between the mid-1960s and the mid-1980s. For 14 new allegations reported in 2009 (4 percent), no time frame for the alleged abuse could be determined by the allegation.
This says that 71% of the new cases are in the time period first exposed in 2005. The ongoing cleanup seems to be effective, and I am hopeful for the future. The situation is damnable no matter how you look at it, and I will not attempt to mitigate the evil in any way, but I still want to clarify that of the new cases reported in 2009, the majority did not happen recently.
Hey, the attack on Christianity, Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist, etc. is coordinated.
Christ was conservative in the sense that human order came from within, from the Soul, the Holy Spirit, from self realization; not from without, as in "Commandments." That is why "they," the Jewish Leaders (Pharisees) killed Him.
One sees the world as a self responsible, conscious individual, or sees it as an externally imposed mass order. The new law versus the old. Jaynes was very explicit about this, refering to Christ; but as an academic staying away from further religious discussion.
The Soviet Union (Marx) outlawed Christianity - a man can't serve two masters.
How obvious is it? (Although our local Methodist minister sure doesn't have a clue - even the local RC priest comes closer.)
Johnny Suntrade
Incidentally that is why "they" hate Sarah Palin, and GWB.
I'm not following you. Who is doing the minimizing, in your opinon?
But as the section you highlighted shows, the church has had this problem for decades - and they did little to nothing to deal with it early, forcefully, and convincingly.
By allowing this problem to fester and grow, the church allowed the impression of “no priest can be trusted” to take root and grow.
**I’d only be willing to single out the Church of Rome if I were sure that the number of trangressions in it turns out to be significantly higher (or, for that matter, equal to) the same number in society in general (in percentages). **
Very wise statement.
Unfortunately the percentage numbers are difficult to come by. They don’t want to do that — because it brings light to the abuse (as you said) happening EVERYWHERE. And I agree, it is horrific. I’ve corresponded with someone who has told me that a high percentage (in the 90 percentile) of the cases against Catholic priests were bogus and that people were only after the money. That fact makes me wonder about the “bogus” status of all accuasations.
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