Salem Witch Trial Redux
The Western Confucian also weighed in the other day on the troubling thought post.
Mr. Dreher,
It is a shame that you went into counseling and later schism over the latest in a long line of American mass hysterias, from The Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692 and The McMartin Preschool Abuse Trials of 1987 to 1990, there is a direct link to The Myth of the Pedophile Priest.
Yours,
Joshua Snyder
The Western Confucian Homepage 04.19.07 - 11:39 am #
The short Jenkins piece WC cites is worthy of note. He has written a book on the topic of abuse and one on anti-Catholicism (he is not a Catholic) and has been shouting "stop the madness" from the beginning of the priest scandal. Excerpt:
Crucially, Catholic priests and other clergy have nothing like a monopoly on sexual misconduct with minors. My research of cases over the past twenty years indicates no evidence whatever that Catholic or other celibate clergy are any more likely to be involved in misconduct or abuse than clergy of any other denomination — or indeed, than non-clergy. However determined the news media may be to see this whole affair as a crisis of celibacy, the charge is just unsupported. Literally every denomination and faith tradition has its share of abuse cases, and some of the worst involve non-Catholics. Every mainline Protestant denomination has had scandals aplenty, as have Pentecostals, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Jews, Buddhists, Hare Krishnas, and the list goes on. One Canadian Anglican (Episcopalian) diocese is currently on the verge of bankruptcy as a result of massive lawsuits caused by decades of systematic abuse, yet the Anglican church does not demand celibacy of its clergy. However much this statement contradicts conventional wisdom, the "pedophile priest" is not a Catholic specialty; yet when did we ever hear about "pedophile pastors"?
the salem witch trial is not at all comparable, unless the "western confucian" believes there actually were a few witches in salem.
ReplyDeletei don't particularly care that the catholic church has no "monopoly" on child sexual abuse. I hold the bride of Christ to a higher standard than other institutions, and so should every other catholic. let's not whitewash the scandal. it was an outrage.
POSTED BY DIANE, who is still having Goggle account problems):
ReplyDeleteKathleen, I don't think Pauli is trying to whitewash the Scandal at all. Like all of us, he believes it is truly heinous.
I think he's merely trying to point out that sin (including sex abuse) is an equal-opportunity affliction. The media (including Our Working Boy) would like us to think it's a Catholic Problem exclusively. Not only is that a slanderous falsehood; it's also a horrible disservice to the countless abuse victims whose abusers were NOT Catholic priests. (That would include my own mother, repeatedly molested at age five by a guy who lived in her apartment building in Southie.)
I agree that the Salem witch trials are not an apt analogy. Perhaps the Maria Monk furor was, at least to some extent...? Maria Monk's allegations convinced a rabidly anti-Catholic American populace that the Catholic Church was the apotheosis of Evil, especially of lurid sexual evil. The same gross misrepresentation of the Catholic Church is being recycled today by folks like Rod Dreher. It's all too convenient, because it lets everyone else off the hook. If you externalize evil and assign it all to the Catholic clergy, then (a) you never have to honestly face the evil in your own communion; and (b) you never have to honestly face the evil in yourself. This seems to be Rod Dreher's m.o.
Sin. It's an equal-opportunity affliction. Even Rod Dreher has been known to commit it.
God bless,
Diane