Ask a Catholic

[Randy Carson]

What steps have you personally taken to express your outrage (if in fact you are outraged) by the ongoing criminal conspiracy to shield child molesters by leaders of your church?  And why would you want to be associated with such an institution?

I figured this would be the first question...you came in a close second. 

First, there is no excuse for the sins committed by the priests who committed these crimes nor for the failures of the bishops who mishandled them. Those guilty of the crimes should be prosecuted, and those who showed poor judgment after the fact should be retired.

Second, I have spent MANY hours online discussing the matter in forums such as this.

Third, while I am disappointed, I am neither outraged nor shocked. We are a fallen race, and fallen people, fallen Christians included, commit sins.

Fourth, I keep this in perspective. I do not disassociate myself from public schools just because school teachers abuse minors. I do not disassociate myself from colleges and universities just because Jerry Sandusky abused minors at Penn State. I do not stop voting for elected officials just because our president had sex with an intern in the Oval Office. Why? See my previous point.

Fifth, unlike people who relish the opportunity to bash Christians in general and Catholics especially, I recognize the bias inherent in the reporting.

Please read point #1 above before continuing with the following:

Selective Media Outrage

http://www.catholic.com/magazine/article...he-problem 
 
Although media reports focus on sexual abuse by Catholic clergy to a greater extent than they focus on other perpetrators of sexual abuse, in fact a much greater percentage of sexual abuse takes place within families than by clergy of any denomination. A cohabiting boyfriend or stepfather is a much more likely perpetrator of abuse than a Catholic priest. In the mass media, there are frequent calls to discontinue celibacy for clergy, but no commentators have called for abolishing cohabitation or divorce and remarriage.
 
Unfortunately, sexual abuse of minors is also common in schools. Dr. Charol Shakeshaft, a researcher at Hofstra University, examined abuse rates in schools and found serious problems. “[T]hink the Catholic Church has a problem?” she said. “The physical sexual abuse of students in schools is likely more than 100 times the abuse by priests” (John E. Dougherty, “Sex Abuse by Teachers Said Worse Than Catholic Church,” newsmax.com, April 5, 2004). Here again, the inconsistent treatment of this issue by the press is evident, for headlines do not warn people about the grave danger of “pedophile teachers.” Tom Hoopes notes that:
 
The 2002 Department of Education report estimated that from 6 percent to 10 percent of all students in public schools would be victims of abuse before graduation—a staggering statistic. . . . Yet, during the first half of 2002, the 61 largest newspapers in California ran nearly 2,000 stories about sexual abuse in Catholic institutions, mostly concerning past allegations. During the same period, those newspapers ran four stories about the federal government’s discovery of the much larger—and ongoing—abuse scandal in public schools. (“Has Media Ignored Sex Abuse in Schools?, National Review Online, August 24, 2006)

Hope this helps.