I know some of my fellow Vox Novans disagree with me on this one, but I’ve always thought the outcry over sexual abuse by Catholic clerics was an example of the traditional American zeal for witch hunts (Salem, McCarthy) meeting traditional American anti-Catholicism, the latter made more potent by the ascent of secular liberalism. Now, John Allen discusses a new John Jay study with some interesting findings. It turns out that, when it comes to child abuse, the Catholic Church is not unique. As Allen puts it, the Church’s record is no better, or no worse, than anybody else’s. For one thing, sexual abuse of children in public schools is a big deal, and yet the media will only hound an accused teacher if he is wearing a Roman collar. I think the real abuse story in our society is what goes on behind closed doors in families. This is at least the message I get from priests with long years of confessional experience. It makes for an interesting psychological possibility, that the collective and unspoken horror of child abuse is projected onto a convenient scapegoat.
I could get into the theology a little more. As I’ve mentioned before in other contexts, I believe it reflects the dominant Gnosticism in America that is underpinned by a profound metaphysical dualism. If not good, then an evildoer. If not with us, then against us. With heaven a natural destiny, sin and redemption have no role. With such a theology, you don’t forgive sinners, you destroy them. You can validate your status as one of the elect by scapegoating others. Americans have an obsessive need to be the good guys, to be pure, to be innocent– otherwise your status might be in jeopardy. Every time a bad guy is punished, the person on the other side feels affirmed in his goodness. You can see this everywhere: support for the death penalty, the notion that torture is only torture when a non-American does it, and the insane over-reaction to the terrorist attacks in 2001. And yes, it explains the anti-Catholic witch hunt. It is not by coincidence that it arose from that same brew of toxic paranoia that poisoned the country for a number of years at the start of the century.
Let nothing I have written be interpreted as in any way defending any Catholic priest who abused children, an bishop who covered it up, or any clerical culture than enabled it. All these are huge issues that must be tackled. But they must be tackled with an appropriate sense of perspective. One final point: it becomes harder, in the wake of this study, to demonize the homosexuals now, does it not?
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