Saturday, February 2, 2013

Fathers Who Are Not Fathers

What about that claim of "naivete"?

"Not enough was known" about child sexual abuse for Archbishop Mahony to report it to police? 
 Any parent even one hundred years ago would have known enough to get the abuser either arrested or shot.

If only Rome let its priests marry and become parents, they would have more insight on what it means to rape a child.  

A priest who had also witnessed the miracle of birth and had held his own child might still have committed sexual abuse against children.

But a bishop who was a father would have reacted more appropriately.  He would have had an inkling about what a child is and what rape by a trusted adult could do to a child's developing sense of self.  He might have  been able better to balance damage to the child against damage to the church's reputation.

As in plane crashes and other disasters, there are multiple causes of priestly sexual abuse of children.

Preventing priests and bishops and archbishops from marrying and having children is one of the causes of the cover-up--not to mention a cause of the misdirected sexuality.  

If the Roman Catholic Church really wanted to do some soul-searching, it would look at these root causes.

We can force it to the table by withholding our money, refusing to use Catholic hospitals, and not sending our children to Catholic schools and colleges.


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