It is being reported that a state-wide grand jury in Pennsylvania will shortly release a report detailing 50 (or so) years of abuse of children by Priests, Brothers, and other persons affiliated with the Catholic Church in Pennsylvania.
In summary, there is what the Church did wrong:
First, it decided that priests must be celibate men.
Second, in developing its training protocols for the education and preparation of priests, they unwittingly created a vocation/career/lifestyle that was attractive to homosexuals and child molesters.
Third, they adopted a "circle the wagons" philosophy of dealing with complaints of child molestation. In other words, keep it quiet; keep the civil authorities out of it.
Fourth, they chose to believe their own "stuff." That is to say, when a priest was credibly accused of this activity, that priest was obliged to make a complete Confession to another priest or bishop, which process mandates a sincere promise to "sin no more." Since the Catholic hierarchy believes in the enormous power of sanctifying grace, in their minds the Confession and "good Act of Contrition" solved the problem for that particular priest. The priests were accordingly give a new assignment and would, it was presumed, start a new ministry, free of this sin. In other words, they failed to recognize how persistent this behavior is, once it has first manifested itself.
Fifth, the Church failed to recognize the seriousness of the harm done to the victims. The kids had no physical damage, appeared to be healthy, they were offered free counseling for as long as they wanted it, and in their minds (the pastor and bishop) the problem was resolved.
All of these decisions were either wrong or eminently questionable, but much of it is normal institutional behavior. Circle the wagons? The Boy Scouts, the Boys Club of America, the YMCA, and other similar organizations behaved in exactly the same way as the Church did in the 40's, 50's and 60's. Public Schools did the same. Hell, FAMILIES dealt with them the same way, "Well, everyone knows you don't get caught alone with Uncle Charlie!" Do you think a RELATiVE was going to be reported to the police? Not on your life.
Society has come a long way and the Church has come a long way - kicking and screaming for much of it. One hopes that there are protections in place that will prevent this sort of thing from now on.
And BTW, I went through 12 years of Catholic education, never saw any of this, nor do I know anyone who saw any of it. It came as a surprise to me.
In summary, there is what the Church did wrong:
First, it decided that priests must be celibate men.
Second, in developing its training protocols for the education and preparation of priests, they unwittingly created a vocation/career/lifestyle that was attractive to homosexuals and child molesters.
Third, they adopted a "circle the wagons" philosophy of dealing with complaints of child molestation. In other words, keep it quiet; keep the civil authorities out of it.
Fourth, they chose to believe their own "stuff." That is to say, when a priest was credibly accused of this activity, that priest was obliged to make a complete Confession to another priest or bishop, which process mandates a sincere promise to "sin no more." Since the Catholic hierarchy believes in the enormous power of sanctifying grace, in their minds the Confession and "good Act of Contrition" solved the problem for that particular priest. The priests were accordingly give a new assignment and would, it was presumed, start a new ministry, free of this sin. In other words, they failed to recognize how persistent this behavior is, once it has first manifested itself.
Fifth, the Church failed to recognize the seriousness of the harm done to the victims. The kids had no physical damage, appeared to be healthy, they were offered free counseling for as long as they wanted it, and in their minds (the pastor and bishop) the problem was resolved.
All of these decisions were either wrong or eminently questionable, but much of it is normal institutional behavior. Circle the wagons? The Boy Scouts, the Boys Club of America, the YMCA, and other similar organizations behaved in exactly the same way as the Church did in the 40's, 50's and 60's. Public Schools did the same. Hell, FAMILIES dealt with them the same way, "Well, everyone knows you don't get caught alone with Uncle Charlie!" Do you think a RELATiVE was going to be reported to the police? Not on your life.
Society has come a long way and the Church has come a long way - kicking and screaming for much of it. One hopes that there are protections in place that will prevent this sort of thing from now on.
And BTW, I went through 12 years of Catholic education, never saw any of this, nor do I know anyone who saw any of it. It came as a surprise to me.
