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Opinions: .gif){kind=spacer}
Lefties, who would never tolerate stereotyping their favorite groups
(blacks, women and gays come to mind as examples), think nothing of
universally condemning all things Catholic for the despicable sexual
actions of what appears to be a relatively small number of priests and the
cover-up by some higher-ups in the church.
I happen to love Catholics as well as Jews, though I confess not to
love all Catholics, or all Jews (or all Protestants, or all atheists, for
that matter). But among those of whom I am not particularly fond, I'm not
un-fond of them because of they are Jewish or Catholic. There are unique
personality and behavioral traits that contribute to my view of them, and
the same is probably true of them when they think of me.
Media commentators are among the worst offenders. Not since the
"high-tech lynching" of Clarence Thomas and the scandals involving certain
TV evangelists have they enjoyed themselves this much. They get the added
benefit of covering themselves in faux righteousness, pretending to care
about the health and welfare of a church in which most have little or no
part, while simultaneously and hypocritically giving it a public flogging.
One such commentator is Bill Keller of The New York Times. In
his May 4 column, Keller admits, "I am what a friend calls a 'collapsed
Catholic' - well beyond lapsed - and therefore claim no voice in whom the
church ordains or how it prays or what it chooses to call a sin." Such a
confession doesn't stop Keller, however, from giving what might be called
"collapsed advice." According to Keller, who echoes other critics, the
Catholic church's problem is that it is not modern and refuses to take
marching orders from the likes of people such as himself.
The "gospel" according to Keller and his fellow collapsees is that the
Catholic Church - and by implication all religion - must conduct the
ultimate makeover and adapt to this present age. Ozzy Osbourne might fit
Keller's ideal of a popular "pope," since the chief contribution of
Osbourne and his family appears to be providing distractions and
entertainment for the damned. Modernization, to Keller, seems to mean no
prohibition against anything the spiritually collapsed want to do,
including abortion and sexual activity of all kinds between consenting
adults.
As Dr. Charles Stanley, senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Atlanta,
once observed in a sermon: "We have come a long way from little Samuel,
who said, 'Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth,' to our present moment
when we say, "Listen, Lord, for thy servant speaketh.'"
The arrest last week of Rev. Paul Shanley on charges of raping young
boys while he was a Boston priest is one example of the media piling on.
William Donohue, President of the Catholic League for Religious and
Civil Rights, believes the media has not given a full picture of the
Shanley case. The priest's allegedly abusive behavior was, in fact, the
result of his defying church teachings on sexual matters, Donahue
notes.
Shanley, writes Donohue in a May 3 Catholic League news release, "got
the green light (in 1970) from Cardinal Humberto Medeiros," then the
Archbishop of Boston, who appointed Shanley as his "representative for
sexual minorities." Not only was this a "bizarre ministry," notes Donohue,
but Shanley was openly gay which, in itself, defied church teachings on
sexuality. In 1979, Medeiros ended Shanley's "special ministry." Shanley
then denounced Medeiros because the cardinal had admonished gays to
abstain from sex, which Shanley branded as "virtually useless advice."
Critics inside and outside the Catholic Church are right to call for an
investigation of the cover-up of sexual crimes by priests and for new
rules governing behavior and accountability. But the media should be
ashamed that they are using the horror of adult-child sexual abuse, and
even sex between consenting adults, as a flimsy excuse to wallow in
unrestrained bigotry. If anyone needs to "modernize," it's the bigots.
Contact Cal Thomas c/o Tribune Media Services, 435 N. Michigan Ave,
Suite 1500, Chicago, Ill. 60611.
Opinions Section
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