Editorial: Chaput's Criticism of Media Ignores Facts

Daily Times
October 1, 2012

http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2012/10/01/opinion/doc5069136577b79523414373.txt

Archbishop Charles Chaput, in his latest weekly column written for the 1.5 million Roman Catholics in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, seems to blame the media for the church's recent problems.

He refers to a Gallup Poll in which 60 percent of Americans have little or no trust in the mass media's ability "to report the news fully, accurately and fairly." He claims media coverage of religion "has been eroding in both quality and fairness for years" and contains "a disdain for Catholic belief."

The fact of the matter is, if it were not for the media, Americans would most likely never have known the extent of the clerical sexual abuse that has occurred nationally and internationally in the Roman Catholic Church over at least the last five decades. More importantly, church officials might still be covering up this abuse by handling complaints on their own and not contacting civil authorities, thereby allowing suspected pedophile priests to have continued access to children of all faiths.

Before 2002 when the child molestation conviction of a Boston priest first broke the scandal open nationwide, church officials handled abuse complaints by sending suspected predator priests to church treatment clinics, then often sending them to new parishes where the faithful had no knowledge of the suspected pedophile's history. This pattern was documented in the last 10 years by two Philadelphia grand juries. They found that not only did church officials fail to turn suspected pedophiles over to law enforcement officials, they ordered other priests and nuns to leave matters to them if child abuse was suspected.

In fact, the defense of the Rev. Monsignor William Lynn at his recent trial was that he was only following the orders of his now-late superior, Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, when, as secretary for clergy, he did not inform authorities about the suspected pedophile priests included on a list he compiled in 1994. Nevertheless, the jury found Lynn guilty of child endangerment for allowing at least one of those known pedophiles to continue to have access to children.

In 2002, after the clerical sex abuse scandal became national news, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops finally developed a Charter for the Protection of Children and made reporting suspected sexual abuse to civil authorities mandatory. Because of media exposure of clerical sexual abuse, in 2006 the Pennsylvania Legislature expanded the statute of limitations for sexual assault victims that enabled authorities to prosecute not only suspected predator priests, but lay people such as former assistant Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky who, in June, was convicted of assaulting 10 boys over 15 years.

Throughout his column condemning media coverage of the Catholic Church, Chaput weaves references to politics, somehow blaming both for "the conflicted moral landscape of the world we now inhabit." And yet, Chaput has shown himself to be quite the politician as proven on Feb. 24 when he paraded a group of state legislators before the cameras at a press conference to announce Catholic schools that were saved from the ax. Chaput did the same thing a few weeks ago when he appeared with Republican Gov. Tom Corbett at Monsignor Bonner and Archbishop Prendergast High School in Upper Darby.

Chaput obviously has invited these politicians to archdiocesan events to tout school vouchers. Most of his political guests were also complicit in passing the state budget that slashed funds for education and human services consistent with Christian charity. Chaput should be taking these politicians to task for that, just as the Jesuit priests at Georgetown University did to Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan for his proposed federal budget which also decimates services for the vulnerable and needy.

The Philadelphia archbishop seems to speak out of both sides of his mouth, on one hand minimizing the importance of politicians while, on the other hand, appearing at "photo ops" with them. His criticism of the media is also puzzling. While it is not unusual for people to shoot the messenger for the message, making a scapegoat of the media for the church's recklessness with children only further fuels the public's distrust of the church.

One point that Chaput makes in his column is right on target. People should not rely on just one source for information. That includes newspapers, television stations, Web sites and newsletters from religious leaders.