Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

suspended in her jar

Home
Catholic
Yes, I Know Others Cover Up Assault Too. No, That’s Not a Comfort

Yes, I Know Others Cover Up Assault Too. No, That’s Not a Comfort

Last updated on: February 17, 2019 at 11:54 pm by Rebecca Bratten Weiss

Yes, I Know Others Cover Up Assault Too. No, That’s Not a Comfort 2019-02-17T23:54:53-04:00 Rebecca Bratten Weiss

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Recently it was brought to light that leaders in the Southern Baptist church have also engaged in sexual misconduct, with over 700 victims – that we are aware of – in a period of twenty years.

Right-wing catholic media personality Matt Walsh Tweeted about this:

A new report finds that over 300 Southern Baptist church leaders have been accused of sexual misconduct since 1998. To put that in perspective, the Catholic sex scandal in Pennsylvania implicated 300 Catholic clergy — over a period of 70 years.

Responders to Walsh were quick to point out that he was doing the Roman Catholic Church no favors here. First, once you do the math, you realize that the comparison does not in fact make the Catholic church look any better. Three hundred Baptist leaders in twenty years, versus three hundred Catholic leaders in seventy years? Fine, except that’s the entire Southern Baptist denomination, as compared with the Catholic leaders in only one state.

As one Twitter commenter responded:

So an entire baptist denomination v. a single RC state locale? Both are terrible but (beside this being a terrible dunk-contest) you honestly think you’re winning this?

And another pointed out:

It’s not a competition, but if you’re going to draw comparisons to make the point that the Catholic church isn’t as bad as SBC, the facts should be right. The 1,000 Catholic victims-in PA alone-were all *children. SBC study shows all “sexual misconduct”- not even just abuse.*

So, no, in the dubious contest to see which religious organization manages to be slightly less rape-enabling, the Church is not coming off especially well. And unfortunately, this is unsurprising, since – as I pointed out in my last piece – Catholic clergy enjoy a level of authority which is unparalleled in most other Christian denominations.

But suppose it were to turn out that some other group were even worse that ours. Would that be some comfort?

No. If one is a practicing and believing Catholic, being reminded that “it’s everywhere” or “those guys do it even more than we do” is no comfort at all. There’s nothing comforting in knowing that there’s even more suffering out there. And it’s not only that we seem to be especially, monstrously, and consistently bad. It’s that this level of atrocity undercuts everything we’ve been told to believe about the church, why to remain in it, and what it has to offer.

Our own scandals seem especially revolting juxtaposed against our constant reiterations of specialness: the one true Church, the Church that Jesus founded, the fulness of revealed truth. Only here can we find the sacraments through which divine grace is guaranteed to flow. And, most bleakly ironically of all, only here do we supposedly receive the truth about men, women, sex, bodies, and reproduction.

As it turns out, we are no better than anyone else – no better than those Protestants deprived of the sacraments, those progressive Christians with their permission of contraception, those Anglicans with their ordination of women. We are apparently not even better than those secular agnostics we’ve been told we must evangelize, for the sake of their immortal souls.

This is absolutely not a time when I feel inclined to invite anyone into this mess of a church.

Many of my friends are leaving, and I can’t blame them. I struggle with the temptation to bail, myself. The only kind of believable witness I feel I can be, at this point, is the kind who speaks out against the violence and injustice within my own faith community, and does anything in my power to help shine light on the truth, to give a voice to victims. But it would be facile and disingenuous for me to argue that I am able to do this by any unique grace vouchsafed through special Catholic powers. Other people in other communities are doing the same. It’s just a matter of trying to be a decent human.

I could make the usual blithe poetic statements about how “the church is a hospital for the sick,” and that’s why there’s so much moral evil here. But if it’s a hospital, it seems to be a very poorly operated one – in which the doctors, rather than healing, spread more disease.

I could fumble around and try to end this piece on a note of apologetics, even existential apologetics, to remind everyone to have faith, that what we’ve been told me must believe about the church is true. But I’m not going to do that. This is not the time for making excuses, but the time for facing facts. And whatever the solution to the problem is, we won’t reach it until we’ve acknowledged fully just how dire our case is.

image credit: pixabay.com/en/st-crispins-asylum-hospital-2780100/

Previous Post

February 17, 2019

It's Not Just McCarrick: Clericalism, Sex, and Male Dominance

Next Post

February 21, 2019 When Men Say "Understanding Consent Is Hard"

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion anti-semitism art Atwood Betrothed church clergy abuse coronavirus culture economics education environmentalism ethics faith family feminism gardening gun violence immigration Judaism literature MaddAddam New Pro Life Movement news pandemic personalism poem politics politics blue Pope Francis racism religion salvation sexuality social justice spirituality Station eleven Stephen King The Stand Trump Uncategorized war World Health Organization

Select a Month March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How lonely sits the city once full of people! How like a widow has she become! Which destroyed city does this mourn?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Nineveh Babylon Samaria Jerusalem

Support this
Column