Catholic League NYT Ad: Priests Unfairly 'Singled Out' Over Sex Abuse Scandal

[meegbear]

The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights took out a full page ad in The New York Times Monday, filling the space with a long letter written by League President Bill Donohue, in which he rebuts "those who are distorting the truth about priestly sexual abuse."

The Catholic League describes itself as "the nation's largest Catholic civil rights organization."

"There is no other group in the U.S. which is subjected to such gross unfairness," Donohue writes, of priests.

Donohue claims "some are exploiting this issue for ideological and financial profit," and tries to combat specific points he takes exception to. He writes that he finds two problems with the "refrain that child rape is a reality in the Church."

(L)et's get it straight--they weren't children and they weren't raped. We know from the John Jay study that most of the victims have been adolescents, and that the most common abuse has been inappropriate touching (inexcusable though this is, it is not rape). The Boston Globe correctly said of the John Jay report that "more than three-quarters of the victims were post pubescent, meaning the abuse did not meet the clinical definition of pedophilia." In other words, the issue is homosexuality, not pedophilia.

In the letter, Donohue says the claims of abuse that are surfacing today "are almost all old cases (italics his)." He cites a "landmark study" conducted by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in 2004 (a study that was funded by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) to argue that "most of the abuse occurred during the heyday of the sexual revolution, from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s."

"Why are priests being singled out when the sexual abuse of minors among other segments of the population is on-going today?" Donohue writes.

Toward the end of his letter, Donohue takes a thinly veiled shot at liberals.

"What accounts for the relentless attacks on the Church?" he writes. "Let's face it: if its teachings were pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage and pro-women clergy, the dogs would have been called off years ago."

Donohue also blasts The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and other victims advocates, saying the Church needs to "fight back with greater vigor."

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/catholic_league_nyt_ad_priests_unfairly_singled_out_for_abuse.php?ref=fpi

[hlthe2b]

1. I have but one thing to say to Bill Donohue...

F__k Off!

Who the hell elected HIM to be the spokesperson for Catholics. Most that I know would be equally offended by this statement, just as they are likewise equally appalled at the entire role and response of the church.

Geebus...:eyes:

[Cassandra]

2. Donahue has nothing to say about morality...

fairness or justice that anyone need listen to.

[Angry Dragon]

3. Hey, I thought that book they carry around says to turn the other cheek

[damntexdem]

4. Yeah, and that's just what the priest told the alterboy.

;-)

[brooklynite]

5. I have to say I agree with the Catholic League's underlying message...

What accounts for the relentless attacks on the Church? Let’s face it: if its teachings were pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage and pro-women clergy, the dogs would have been called off years ago.

If the Catholic Church presented a civilized and contemporary philosophy to the world, I suspect that the underlying issues causing clergy abuse wouldn't have happened, and the institutional issues leading the Church to cover it up wouldn't have happened either.

[closeupready]

9. You have to wonder what kind of people support someone who denigrates clergy who are "pro-women".

I mean, that's taking his own quote, "pro-women clergy". Like, :wtf:

[markpkessinger]

12. I think he means. . .

. . . folks who favor the ordination of women. But that doesn't make Donohue any less of a horse's ass.

[Arugula Latte]

19. The Church is largely about male power, in all forms.

Its roots lie with crushing female-revering religions. It hasn't stopped crushing women in all the centuries of its existence.

[markpkessinger]

29. I don't disagree with you, but....

...as someone who has participated in debates with conservative Catholics, as well as other conservative Christians, for decades, I think it is an incorrect parsing (of an admittedly poor phraseology) to interpret the phrase "pro-women clergy" as meaning clergy who are pro-women. It means Catholics who are in favor of having female clergy.

[immoderate]

6. He describes HIMSELF as "the nation's largest Catholic civil rights organization."

Sick mother fucker.

--imm

[blondeatlast]

7. Statutory rape IS rape, regardless of what the Catholic League

and even many DUers think.

[meegbear]

8. +1

[fishwax]

28. +1

[Odin2005]

10. "Look, look, THEY do it TOOOOOOO!!!"

:eyes:

[MichiganVote]

11. This guy has been a clown for decades. Not worth the time it takes to look at his name.

[msanthrope]

13. Where're the leaders of the Catholic Church, denouncing this shite????

Oh, wait....

[Ramulux]

14. The Catholic church is fucking evil

It has been since its inception.

[CatWoman]

31. Ramulux

the older I get and the more I learn .............................

I may get heat for this, but I have to agree with you 200%.

[eridani]

15. It isn't the priests--it's the fucking institutional COVERUP! n/t

[davidthegnome]

16. What an asshole

Donohue, you are a great example of why I find your sort of "Christianity" absolutely sick. Not that any particular brand of organized religion appeals to me, but you are one seriously disturbing piece of shit.

[yellowcanine]

17. Great strategy - Bill. "Most weren't actually raped, so it is not so bad."

(Paraphrase) Yeah, that will work. Can't make this stuff up.

[Demoiselle]

18. The ad is virtually unreadable. Layout is awful, typeface dim..

Saw it in the Times this morning, dipped in, caught a couple of phrases, puked, and moved on. It is a collection of rant points, sentence-long paragraphs, every last one of which is pure bullshit. Free Speech, sigh.

[Initech]

20. Why are priests being singled out? Have they seen this??

http://joemygod.blogspot.com/search?q=holy

:eyes:

[WinkyDink]

21. Because they've overlooked the Monsignors?

[undeterred]

24. Perhaps we've overlooked some sins of the nuns?

[provis99]

22. "singled out"; as though priest molestation was a rare oddity.

Its so common there are websites dedicated to listing priest molestation scandals.

Wikipedia has one:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Catholic_sex_abuse_cases_by_country
the page also notes "This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it."

You can find lists of other scandals by googling.

[undeterred]

23. Well, that certainly isn't going to help his case.

[Dawson Leery]

25. This abuse scandal was/is a self inflicted wound.

This blowhard can go to hell as far as I am concerned. The Catholic Church and the Fundies have injected themselves into the political process with their "teaching" and voter guides.
Time to remove their tax exempt status.

[Warren DeMontague]

26. The "Catholic League". Yeah. Is anyone actually IN the "Catholic League" besides Bill Donohue?

I swear, he's like the Judean Popular People's Front.

[Initech]

30. I've really wondered that myself.

[Pisces]

27. The Catholic Church is a relic and doomed to implode on it's on sin and evil. It gets harder

for Catholics to forgive the clergy and even harder to give money to these pedophiles. The church has been corupt forever. Power, Greed,Land holdings etc. This is what the Church prays to, not God and not doing good for others.

I hope the Church does fight back harder, the backlash will be incredible.

[skepticscott]

32. Truly incredible

What Donohue apparently is still in deep denial about (along with almost every other Catholic apologist) is that this is not just, or even mainly about the rape and sexual assault of children by priests. Whether he chooses to characterize the number of priests involved as a "few bad apples" or not is not central (though it would probably be small comfort if you or your child had been the victim), nor is the use of the word "pedophilia" (since that is not their crime, sexual assault is, regardless of the victim's age). Even the argument that this behavior by priests was socially permissable, or part of a pathology that they couldn't control does not get to the heart of things (though you would think a decent god would have helped them out with that).

What goes far beyond any of this is the covering up of child rape, the shielding of known offenders from the law and punishment, and the actual abetting of these crimes by the transfer of known offenders to new parishes while telling no one there of their previous offenses. These are deliberate, well-considered and frequently repeated actions not by "a few bad apples", but known and supported by the Catholic church as an institution, right up to its highest levels. These are not the result of societal pressures or aberrant sexual pathologies, nor are they remotely arguable as the result of any aspect of Catholic theology worth respecting.

These are the points that Donohue and other Catholic apologists regularly and conspicuously refuse to acknowledge and address and it's impossible to regard his position on this as anything to be taken seriously.