As a conservative Catholic, I lamented the unbalanced coverage of the Boulder Catholic school controversy regarding children of a same-sex couple who will not be allowed to return to the school next year. I was utterly dismayed that the loving and lucid response in this case given by Archbishop Charles Chaput in the Denver Catholic Register was generally ignored, despite his excellent explanation of the decision.
Soon after, the stories on the priest abuse scandals currently rocking Europe began. Then came a priest- abuse scandal in Wisconsin. Combine all that with attempts to smear Pope Benedict XVI, and you can see that it has been a long and bitter Lent for Catholics in Colorado and the world over.
Never mind that some newspaper headlines tried to paint Pope Benedict XVI as the actual molester in the Wisconsin cases. Never mind that these cases are from the 1950s and 1960s. (Thanks to Pope Benedict XVI, new cases have become extremely rare.) Never mind that Pope Benedict XVI has been labeled guilty without actual proof of wrongdoing, and that his office, upon hearing of the Wisconsin scandal in 1996, lifted the statute of limitations and ordered an investigation.
Never mind the fact that Bill Donahue of the Catholic League reminds us that not just the church, but secular institutions have since the 1960s used as standard procedure therapy on offenders and then routinely returned them to work at the directives of liberal psychologists.
Never mind the fact that ‘s comprehensive analysis of copious research indicated that there are no clear or compelling statistics to suggest that sexual abuse by Catholic celibate clergy is more common than among the adult male population at large.
And never mind the fact that a plethora of sex-abuse scandals as of late involving rabbis and secular organizations such as the Boy Scouts have been in comparison given limited attention. All fangs have been especially bared for the Catholic scandals.
Really, now, is the fact that the Boy Scouts may have covered up numerous child sex scandals for decades worthy of less attention?
Anti-Catholics and even liberal “Catholic” sympathizers are misusing the tragedy of child sexual abuse as a weapon against the teachings of the Catholic Church. This is especially true concerning moral teachings.
The condemnation of such evils as abortion, active homosexuality and birth control do not play well with modernity. Supposedly insensitive decisions such as those in the case of the Boulder Catholic school and the reality of priest abuse scandals are being used as fodder in an inflammatory fashion that at least appears to be bent on trapping Catholic teachings on sexual morality in a contradictory dilemma.
I have seen calls for everything ranging from the resignation and arrest of the pope, to calls for the disbanding of the “antiquated” Catholic religion as a result of the sex scandals. We would all do well to remember that our American democratic government is all too frequently plagued by sexual and monetary scandals. Likewise, educators both locally and nationally are from time to time implicated in child sex abuse cases.
A rarely noted 2004 Department of Education report seemed to suggest sex abuse cases among teachers and staff at public schools was at levels that could easily eclipse priest abuse numbers. Do such failings in the secular world prove that democracy is dead or that children should not be educated? Are reading, writing and arithmetic evil because a few teachers are pedophiles? Of course not.
On the spiritual level, Catholics discern between human transgressions and the belief that for a remarkable 2,000 years, the Catholic Church has been guided by and inspired to teach the truth in matters of faith and morals by the Holy Spirit. This past Holy Week, we were reminded that Jesus himself was betrayed even unto death by the apostle Judas. This did not invalidate Jesus’ mission of salvation.
Likewise, that the church has been betrayed today by a small minority of the apostle’s successors, the bishops, and their co-workers below them, priests, is undeniable but does not undermine the Catholic faith.
In his response to the Boulder Catholic school issue, Archbishop Chaput pointed out the heartfelt sincerity of many persons who oppose Catholic teachings on sexual morality. On this sacred Easter Sunday, many media outlets may continue to offer a disproportionate amount of negative Catholic news. In the spirit of Archbishop Chaput, I will continue to pray for an increase in respect and fairness even among non-Catholic and non-Christian journalists who as of now do not embrace common ground with Rome.
Nathaniel Lauer is a graduate student at Denver’s Augustine Institute majoring in Evangelization and Catechetics. He also writes a religion column for the South Platte Sentinel in Sterling.
