By Michael Patrick O’Brien–
I often have thought it might be cool to live in a named era…maybe something like the Age of Aquarius, the Roaring Twenties, or La Belle Époque. I am not pleased, however, about one of the most likely names for the era in which I do live.
The Catholic child sex abuse scandal has been horrific, and it created more casualties than just the children abused. Many Catholics have wondered if they were near-miss victims from their own childhood, worried their own children may be at risk, or doubted whether they could trust their clergy and leaders. They have been ashamed to be Catholic.
The brutal allegations against such an important international organization has disturbed non-Catholics too. The scandal also unmasked similar problems in many other institutions—religious and otherwise—and paved the way for the #MeToo movement.
The widespread prevalence of abuse perhaps is the dominant theme of the twenty-first century so far. People of this new millennium fear there is less light and less goodness in a world sorely in need of both.
And now comes the news that the venerable Boy Scouts of America (BSA)—an institutional that may be as revered as the Catholic Church—has sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Why? The BSA is facing mounting legal costs and exposure from abuse lawsuits.
Seriously, the Boy Scouts too? I was a scout for a short time. I remember getting copies of Boys’ Life magazine in the mail each month. Norman Rockwell painted dozens of scout paintings for the cover of the magazine—classic scenes of Americana virtue.
And who can forget the oath we took? “On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country, to obey the Scout Law, to help other people at all times, to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.” How sad to think that such a sacred oath was mere words to some BSA leaders!
According to news reports, more than 3,000 men are suing BSA for allegedly allowing pedophiles inside the organization to prey on boys. Attorneys for the abuse victims contend BSA has “perversion files” going back to 1944 that contain the names of 7,819 abusive Scout leaders who allegedly preyed on 12,254 victims.
Boy Scout leadership insists that scouting “is safer now than ever before” and 90 percent of the claims against the organization “occurred more than 30 years ago.” Still, the fallout from the abuse claims and the bankruptcy filing is massive.
“It will be far larger in terms of the numbers of victims and far more complicated than any of the bankruptcies we’ve seen so far involving the Catholic Church,” said one lawyer representing some alleged victims. This is true in part because the BSA bankruptcy “involves victims from all 50 states and several U.S. territories.”
Other organizations are facing large-scale sexual abuse allegations too, for example USA Gymnastics (over 368 persons have alleged assaults committed by gym owners, coaches, and staff), and the Southern Baptist church (since 1998 about 380 leaders accused and 700 alleged victims). Hundreds of other businesses and institutions also are dealing with the long overdue reckoning wrought by #MeToo.
So that’s why I am afraid that the era in which I am living may someday be named the Era of Abuse.
We are only partially into the era, and thus it may be premature to name it. My hope is that what’s really happening is we are confronting and stopping abuse in a serious and concerted way for the first time. If that is true, then maybe there is a chance these times will be someday be known as the Age of Ending Abuse.
Now that’s a good name for an era, and one in which I would not mind living at all.
*Mike O’Brien is a writer and attorney living in Salt Lake City, Utah. His book about growing up with the monks at the old Trappist monastery in Huntsville, Utah will be published in the Spring of 2021.
