By Jean Welch Hill–
(Editor note: The Boy Monk blog just celebrated its one year anniversary! In honor of the occasion, and in light of the ongoing scandal afflicting the Catholic Church, we invited regular contributors to address the rather timely theme of “When human institutions fail…”)
The past month has been, at best, a struggle and at worst a journey back into the hell of sexual abuse for many, many victims. From the Pennsylvania grand jury report on the history of clergy sex abuse in that state to the Kavanaugh hearings, victims have been confronted daily not only with reminders of what happens when people we trust betray us, but also the realities victims face when they try to report that betrayal.
Watching Ms. Ford testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee took me back to my years as a prosecutor in teacher misconduct cases. Her demeanor, her story, her memories and lapses in memory were very familiar. To see those lapses used to discredit her 30 years later was disheartening, to say the least. As much as adults want kids to act like witnesses in TV dramas, things like how they got to a party or what people were wearing are often forgotten by children who are being abused. These details aren’t important in their lives at that time.
Similarly discouraging is watching individuals try to use both situations to push agendas that are only tangentially related to the problems of sexual abuse. In the Kavanaugh situation, it is each party using the experiences of Ms. Ford and Mr. Kavanaugh to promote a view of the other party as insincere, opportunistic, and somehow more willing to use the situation for political gain than the other side –a laughable proposition since both sides are equally guilty of polarizing the nation.
In the clergy abuse scenario, the tales of horrific abuse by clergy cannot be denied or minimized, but there are some facts that most still be acknowledged even in the midst of our distress. For example, Catholics and others who seek to blame gay priests for all of the abuse troubles are misusing this situation to push their own agendas. Similarly, those who think married clergy would end all instance of abuse haven’t paid attention to the allegations against married school teachers and married clergy from other faiths. Psychology Today ran an excellent blog post on these and other fictions rising from the scandal. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/do-the-right-thing/201808/separating-facts-about-clergy-abuse-fiction helps us keep our focus on the victims rather than using their situations to push for false and ineffective solutions.
Thankfully, sound responses for preventing widespread abuse have been found and implemented, and continue to be evaluated. As the Psychology Today post shows, cases of clergy abuse have gone down significantly since the 2002 Dallas Charter was implemented by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. There is still work to do, and there always will be as long as humans remain sexual beings, but the church is learning from its mistakes. As we move forward with a shared goal of preventing abuse of minors, we must all keep our eyes on the facts and promote ideas that will reduce abuse, and publicly denounce ideas that will do little more than reinforce dangerous stereotypes about priests, LGBT individuals, and the ability of human beings to control their sexual urges.
