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Tuesday, February 14, 2012
THE LIBERAL MASS MEDIA'S BIAS AGAINST THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IS ALL ABOUT RADICAL CULTURAL CHANGE: ABORTION ON DEMAND, SAME SEX MARRIAGE, UNRESTRAINED BI0-MEDICAL RESERACH; EUTHANASIA AND STOPPING THE ONLY WORLDWIDE INSTITUTION STANDING IN THIS RADICAL SHIFT IN CULTURE: THE ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC FAITH
The Boston Globe, owned by the New York Times,is given credit for exposing the scandal of sexual abuse of teenagers and the wholly inadequate way bishops in this country (and around the world) have responded to it.
I want to complement the mass media in "spotlighting" the sexual abuse in the Catholic Church as it did in fact "galvanize" the bishop and the Holy See to address this issue in a more forthright and transparent way.
But in the name of God, why don't they go and "spotlight" sexual abuse in other areas (and those who enable it, meaning political and secular leaders, many in the press itself) such as public schools, Congress and other secular institutions? My answer of course is that spotlighting sexual abuse in these other institutions does not fit the agenda of far left radical politics and in fact, reporting this could harm that agenda as it would deflect attention away from the Catholic Church which stands in the way of this far left political agenda for the USA and world.
The mantra of the media of course was that this scandal was primarily about priests abusing prepubescent children when in fact it was about the sexual abuse of teenagers. While the damage done to those who are abused is not in question, the severity of the disorder of the priest abusing is in question depending upon who it is the priest abuses. Pedophilia is now considered such a dramatic psychological disorder that there may be no cure short of castration. This is not the case with those who take advantage of teenagers--treatment can in fact change the person who has these tendencies. Bishops erred on the side of psychiatrists who told them these priests could be "cured" and that the treatment would allow them to be re-integrated into the active priesthood.
In fact, since 2002 when hundreds of priests who had only one accusation against them early on in their careers and had had treatment and returned to the priesthood never again abused have been suspended permanently from the active priesthood. In the hysteria generated by the New York Times and other media outlets in their attempt to cut off the "head" of the Catholic Church which stands in the way of secularism, the bishops of this country over-corrected and threw these priests, some now in their 70's and 80's, under the bus. These are priests who had no further charges of abuse except for one complaint lodged against them and the complaint was not with a small child.
But that is not the point of my comments in this post. The mass media went after the Catholic Church on sexual abuse almost exclusively all the while knowing that it also exists in other churches, religions and secular institutions. They failed to report these, even thought the taboo on reporting this and discussing these things in public almost have come to an end in society.
Now why wouldn't the the liberal media be interested in the institutions that have equal if not more child sex abuse than the Catholic Church, such as public schools' systems? Because it doesn't enhance their radical cultural agenda. These institutions aren't standing in the liberal and political radical left agenda for not only the USA but for the world.
Now we hear that the far left attorney in bed with the far left media who is responsible for generating a world wide crisis in the Church by wanting to depose (legally) the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI has decided to drop his charges. Read what John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter (the "Catholic" newspaper that really was the first to start reporting on clergy sexual abuse in the early 1980's but for nefarious motives, that of its own far left agenda)(John Allen, though, is fair, balance and a good guy):
Wisconsin court case dismissal "enormously important"
2012-02-14 Vatican Radio
Attorneys (the infamous and most notoriously anti-Catholic attorney there is, Jeffery Anderson) for the victim in a Wisconsin sex abuse case voluntarily withdrew a lawsuit against the Holy See on Friday, in which Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinals Tarcisio Bertone and Angelo Sodano, the Secretary of State and Secretary of State-emeritus, respectively, were named as defendants.
“I think it is enormously important that this case is not longer on the docket, because this was the case centred on revelations about Father Lawrence Murphy who allegedly abused almost 200 kids at a school for the deaf in the Milwaukee area from 1950 until 1974,” said John Allen, Vatican correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter.
“This was the case that triggered the global media firestorm in early 2010 that led to a very incendiary front page piece in the New York Times suggesting that the Vatican and Pope Benedict had failed to respond aggressively to the crisis, and really did galvanize and shift public perceptions in very important ways,” he told Vatican Radio. “So that fact that this case has now in a sense died on the vine does mark the end of what has been a very important chapter in this story.”
Attorney for the Holy See, Jeffrey S. Lena called the original claim “outworn and discredited” in a statement released on Friday.
“Mythology about the Catholic Church to the contrary, the Holy See is not responsible for the supervision of the more than 400,000 priests around the world,” he said. “Attorneys in this case knew that, and their knowledge of this fact is precisely what made the filing of this lawsuit so pernicious in the first place -- such misuse of the legal process leads to disrespect for lawyers and courts, and never helps the pursuit of legitimate legal claims.”
Lena also said the plight of abuse victims must never be forgotten.
“As Pope Benedict XVI has repeatedly said, abuse -- whether in public or private institutions, by whomever, and of whatever creed or religious affiliation -- is a sin and a crime,” he said.
Read to the full interview by Charles Collins with John Allen (transcript below):
Q: What is the significance of the dismissal if the Milwaukee case against the Holy See?
Allen: Well it should be said that the attorneys who originally filed the lawsuit have described the decision to withdraw the case as a purely practical move. One they say, they got most of the documents they wanted from a separate lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, and two they say they want to concentrate on a similar lawsuit they’ve got against the Vatican in Oregon. So they are playing down the significance of it, but that said, I think it is enormously important that this case is not longer on the docket, because this was the case centred on revelations about Father Lawrence Murphy who allegedly abused almost 200 kids at a school for the deaf in the Milwaukee area from 1950 until 1974. This was the case that triggered the global media firestorm in early 2010 that led to a very incendiary front page piece in the New York Times suggesting that the Vatican and Pope Benedict had failed to respond aggressively to the crisis, and really did galvanize and shift public perceptions in very important ways. So that fact that this case has now in a sense died on the vine does mark the end of what has been a very important chapter in this story.”
Q: The Holy See’s attorney mentioned there has been some confusion going on because of the difference between canon law and civil law. How important is this distinction in people’s understanding of the issues?
Allen: The distinction between Church law and civil law is important, and it is often misunderstood. At the heart of this case in Milwaukee, and it is has been at the heart of other complaints against the Vatican, is a document titled “Crimen sollicitationis”, originally issued in 1922 and then updated in 1962, which outlined church procedures for handling abuses of the confessional, including sexual solicitation. It’s been touted by many people as a smoking gun proving there was a kind of a Vatican cover-up of these cases, because it calls for them to be handled confidentially. Now the misunderstanding there is that this had to do with the Church’s internal discipline. The document in no way addressed the question of whether these cases should also be reported as crimes under the civil law, it simply had nothing to do with that. So if you don’t understand that distinction, it is easy to look at this document and see, “Aha! it proves that the Vatican was sweeping this stuff under the rug,” when in reality it had nothing to do with what has become one of the defining questions about this crisis, which is the question of collaboration with civil authorities.”
Q: This decision came just a few days after an event at the Gregorian University about the sexual abuse crisis. Where do we stand now about sexual abuse in the Church? How important was this event last week for this crisis?
Allen: I think the event - which was a four day symposium at the Gregorian University titled Towards Healing and Renewal which was cosponsored by many important offices in the Vatican and attended by senior personnel – I think it was a symbol of the fact that the Church is sort of foursquare now committed to an aggressive response to the scourge of child abuse. But you asked, “Where do we stand?” Look, I think the answer to that question is: The policy problems have largely been solved. A few years ago the questions were things like: Are we going to have a zero tolerance policy for abuse – that is, if church personnel are credibly accused of abuse, will they be removed from the field? We were debating questions like to what extent should we commit ourselves to a policy of full cooperation with civil authorities: that is reporting all of these crimes to the police and the prosecutors and collaborating with their investigations. I think for the most part, those questions have been answered, and they have been answered in favour of the reformed position. So the policy of the Church, both at the Universal level and certainly in the countries most scarred by this crisis – like the United States, Ireland, and Germany – we have strong policies now. So the question no longer is, “What is the policy going to be”; the question is “How universally and thoroughly is it going to be applied?” In those moments when there is a breakdown and a failure, what are the consequences for that? Those are the hard questions which now have to be answered.
Q: What is the role of the media? Many of these cases would never have come to light, and these new policies would not have been put in place, without media exposure. Yet some people also accuse the media of exaggerating or misunderstanding what is going on.
Allen: Look, speaking as a media professional myself, I will tell you we are definitely a mixed bag. I mean that is, if the question is: Is media coverage of the Church – whether if it is about the sex abuse crisis or anything else – is it sometimes scandalistic, is it sometimes exaggerated, is it sometimes unbalanced in an unfair way – the answer to all that is: Yes, of course, and we all know it. Now, if the question is: Has media coverage of the Church – again not just on the sex abuse crisis, but in other things – has that coverage also sometimes galvanized the Church into reforms that it might have taken a lot more time for the Church to arrive at were it were not for that external pressure? Then I think the answer there is also clearly “yes”. I think one of the striking things about this symposium at the Gregorian is that net-net, if you sort of listen to the tone with regard to the media there – it was fundamentally positive. We heard American Cardinal William Levada, who is the head of the Vatican’s powerful Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith - which has responsibility under Church law for managing the sex abuse crisis – we heard him say that in many countries around the world that we now look at as pacesetters for the Church’s response for the crisis – places like the United States, and Ireland, and Germany – that had it not been for aggressive media coverage, the Church might well not have adopted the strong policies of which it is now justifiably proud. So look, I don’t think this kind of undertone of concern, and occasional annoyance, about media bias is ever going to go away, but I do think at senior levels there is also an acknowledgement that the kick in the teeth the Church took probably did some good.
MY COMMENT AND EDITORIAL: Make John Allen the spokesperson for the Vatican's communication department! And have you heard or read this important story reported in the liberal Mass media? I haven't checked the New York Times today, but I suspect if they do report it, it will be buried somewhere deep in the paper, let me know if you find it!
L’
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3 comments:
That John Allen remains at NCR is a complete mystery to me. The rest of that paper should be used to line a garbage bin, yet Allen routinely displays a responsible commitment to reportage. And yes, there is a desperate need for someone of his skill in the communications office of the USCCB, as well as the communications office of the Hole See.
This guy is right on about 1.5 points: the news is sensational, so it's news. It is only sensational because the Church stands against these sorts of things and is in the process of self-examination and correction. I take off one half point because this inadvertently allows for subjective Truth. Barney Frank was not 'scandalous' because he does not subscribe to any of the morality that would make his behaviour scandalous. But does that exempt him? Can one self-exempt from certain morals? This is one of the bricks paving this road to the brink of Hell where we now stand discussing abortion mandates. We are trying to codify segregated 'truths' that are independent of each other.
These people are taunting God and believe in His restraint thy prove He does not exist. Their foolishness is so profound it is stunning. They are squandering their existence and salvation, both spiritual and physical ahead of the event. We will have the choice to save those 'many' of God's people faithful to Him, but there will not be enough to save 'all'.
rcg
If you want to follow the ongoing story of the old media's and cultural left's holy war against the Catholic church using the tired story of sex abuse from 40 years ago as their proxy, check out this website:
http://www.themediareport.com/
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