Who is going to be the next Penn State?
Well, it took about a minute for the media to drag the Catholic Church into the sex abuse scandal at Penn State. And as usual, they are missing the main point. In Kansas City of course, the media has been in a frenzy for months now, seeing in “L’affair Ratigan” their big chance to rid themselves of Bishop Finn – a man who stands for everything they stand against. One moronic observation in the Kansas City Star (yes, I know that is redundant) said,
Penn State football and the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph had in common that they were run by all-male, insular hierarchies that mistakenly thought their position and mission placed them above the obligations that bind ordinary citizens.
The only redeeming value of this absurd comment is that the writer is not yet collecting unemployment and so I’m not helping pay her to write. In fact stupid, agenda-laced comments like this confuse the real issue and contribute to the further abuse of children.
I’m not even going to address the insanity of “all-male hierarchy” as a factor nor will I comment on the attempt to draw equivalency between a priest with inappropriate photos on his computer who was turned in, and a coach who allegedly raped young boys in a shower who was not.
Spotlight finally on the bigger problem
As I have stated here before, kids are MANY more times likely to be abused in the public schools and elsewhere then they are in the Catholic Church. This is not said to reduce the seriousness of any crimes committed by Church members. It is said to protect the vast numbers of kids who are going unprotected due to their parents only hearing about alleged abuse at the hands of priests. Charol Shakeshaft’s research suggests public school kids are up to 100x more likely to be abused. And yet, the media, the lawyers and certainly public school leaders remain silent. If they TRULY had the childrens‘ interests at the forefront, this would not happen. What we are seeing at Penn State is likely common, we just don’t hear about it because it usually does not involve a famous college football program and a legendary coach.
A Double Crime
The real lesson from Penn State
Go to any Diocesan, parish or Catholic school website and you see links everywhere to abuse hotlines, ombudsmen, reporting policies, etc. All designed to protect kids. Yet go to a public school, university, major youth group or protestant denomination site and look for the same thing. For years, child abuse research data and insurance industry risk data have indicated that these institutions are more likely to have problems and yet they offer nothing in the way of acknowledgement or protection. So if they know they have as big or likely a bigger problem with child sexual abuse than the Catholic Church and they’ve seen the Church deal with these issues and develop systems and training to protect kids, why haven’t these other institutions done the same or similar to protect their kids? The heavy lifting so to speak, has been done for them. They could simply copy it. This is nothing less than willful negligence.
Schools need to finally wake up and put policies in place like the Church has. It’s inexcusable for these institutions to make the same mistakes the Church made when they have the lessons learned so visible to them. To some degree, this willful negligence is as criminal as the abuse crimes themselves and is a betrayal of the public trust. In addition to those in the schools in positions of responsibility, the blame for this again rests on the media and the lawyers who have done an excellent job of hanging this issue almost exclusively on the Catholic Church. These other institutions know they enjoy a certain level of immunity from liability and public scrutiny. The Penn State scandal exploded because it was “Penn State” and “Joe Paterno.” The same story at some small college in Iowa would get zero coverage outside of the local newspaper.
The abuse-enabling agendas of media and lawyers
The media does this because it is run by those who entered the profession right after Watergate in the mid-70s. A US president had been brought down by two reporters and a newspaper and the industry shifted from one that prided itself on educating the public in-depth on the issues to one that sought trophies in the form of destroying the powerful. And the population, ever entertained by the spectacle of people being dragged through the mud (and preferring a quick headline and summary to any sort of in-depth article) have been all too happy to accomodate. Add to that recent mass-layoffs of the most experienced and well paid reporters and you can add a measure of incompetence to the mix. So it’s not about facts and serving the public, it’s about personal agendas and serving them.
The lawyers, despite all their protestations that they are only trying to protect kids, are simply in it for the money. They don’t go after the schools due to sovereign immunity laws that prevent them from making any money by doing so. They don’t go after the protestant communities because they are too small to generate a payout large enough to bother with. The 40 million dollar settlement in Kansas City likely yielded a 3-4 million dollar paycheck for Rebecca Randles and who knows how much afterwards to her SNAP sales force. And since lawyers provide the bulk of SNAP’s funding, SNAP goes where the lawyers want them to go.
And so kids continue to be abused because no one is looking for abuse outside the Catholic Church. The responsibility for this rests squarely on the media, the lawyers and SNAP.
So as the horror stories continue to come out of “Happy Valley” consider asking those responsible when they are going to set aside their personal agendas and start protecting ALL kids or at least stop enabling the abusers. Until this happens, the Penn State nightmare will play out over and over again.
We just won’t hear about it unless it involves someone rich or famous.
RJ writes:In fact stupid, agenda-laced comments like this confuse the real issue and contribute to the further abuse of children.
O.K. So, what’s the “real issue”?
I’m not even going to address the insanity of “all-male hierarchy” as a factor
Good — because, as the Ryan Report showed in Ireland, even nuns inflicted physical and emotional abuse on children under their care in the “industrial” schools.
. . . nor will I comment on the attempt to draw equivalency between a priest with inappropriate photos on his computer who was turned in, and a coach who allegedly raped young boys in a shower who was not.
Fr. Ratigan had (at least) one picture revealing a prepubescent girl’s vagina. But, apparently, RJ doesn’t think that crosses the line from “inappropriate” to . . . what?
RJ writes again: As I have stated here before, kids are MANY more times likely to be abused in the public schools and elsewhere then they are in the Catholic Church.
Nota bene how RJ just says: “public schools and elsewhere.” What “elsewhere” . . . the whole rest of the earth? How much “many more times”? What “Catholic Church? In the physical church building? . . . the rectory? . . . in a car outside the rectory? . . . in the parochial school’s locker rooms?
A child–indeed, any person–can be sexually molested or groped just about anywhere, by someone who has the intention to do it.
The question is: In which scenario is that instance of abuse and molestation MORE LIKELY TO BE REPORTED?
This is where the Catholic Church gets a big, fat F.
And, as “l’affaire P. Ratigan” has shown: There are bishops, like Bp. Finn, who show that our Catholic bishops still don’t warrant the trust of their flocks that they WOULD REPORT such abuse if it occurred.
RJ claims: This is not said to reduce the seriousness of any crimes committed by Church members. It is said to protect the vast numbers of kids who are going unprotected due to their parents only hearing about alleged abuse at the hands of priests.
That is not the point at issue. Let parents take care of their kids and look out for them.
And, yes, you are minimizing the “crimes” of Church members by making it sound that the situation has not really been that bad in comparison to the “vast” number of kiddies in danger elsewhere.
Stop trying to deflect from the real issue: If RJ really cared about the “crimes committed by Church members,” I would expect a lot more verbiage from him on what should be done about those “criminals.”
There may statistically be more troubling issues that you’ll find with sexual molestation in public schools or within families . . . but, a Little League coach ain’t the Catholic Church.
He doesn’t claim to have the authority, the moral capital, from Jesus Christ and His Apostles to tell people what’s right and wrong. And, many people — even non-Catholics; even those who opposed the Church — looked upon the Church and Church leaders as being in the business of “doing the right thing.” So, maybe you can begin to understand the sense of betrayal — again, even amongst non-Catholic — when it became clear that priests and bishops were not only not doing the “right thing” they should’ve been, but were also actively doing the “wrong thing” by covering up for their fellow clergyfolk.
RJ says: Charol Shakeshaft’s research suggests public school kids are up to 100x more likely to be abused.
(1) So?
(2) And, what is the likelihood that, in a public school setting as opposed to a Catholic Church setting, such abuse would be reported to the Police with due haste and concern for the victim?
RJ writes: And yet, the media, the lawyers and certainly public school leaders remain silent. If they TRULY had the childrens‘ interests at the forefront, this would not happen.
Once again, so what?
And, by the way: Where are all those thousands upon thousands of victims coming forward claiming to have been sexually molested whilst attending our public school system? Or, sport clubs? Or, whatever?
RJ says: What we are seeing at Penn State is likely common, we just don’t hear about it because it usually does not involve a famous college football program and a legendary coach.
Actually, you read about this kind of stuff all the time because people go to the cops . . . something Catholic priests and bishops still can’t get their heads around . . . at least, when it means turning in a fellow priest.
By the way, there is something that HAS really differentiated and WILL really differentiate what’s been going on at Penn State with what has gone on in our Catholic Church: People have been fired and people will (probably) go to jail.
The Church — the Pope included — has not shown in any way, shape, or form the same kind of courage to remove bishops who have sinned against their flocks. She also has not been willing to expose them to the justice of the laws of their countries (which they broke).
RJ writes: Go to any Diocesan, parish or Catholic school website and you see links everywhere to abuse hotlines, ombudsmen, reporting policies, etc. All designed to protect kids. Yet go to a public school, university, major youth group or protestant denomination site and look for the same thing.
Which begs the question: Why were all those links and policies and personnel deemed necessary in the first place?
It’s like RJ is saying, patting the Church on the back: “Well, at least, one good thing came from all those molested kids!” . . . which is utterly asinine.