Jonathan Dobrer: Cardinal Roger Mahony Helped Sell out Catholic Church's Soul

By Jonathan Dobrer
Daily News
February 1, 2013

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_22493488/jonathan-dobrer-cardinal-rogery-mahony-helped-sell-out?source=email

Retired Cardinal Roger Mahony apologizes for realizing only late in the game that molestation was going on, or having any idea of its scope, or believing that is was really traumatic. Really?

The only plausible excuse he has for any part of the cover up is possibly a mistaken view on the efficacy of therapy for pedophiles. In the 1980s, some might have thought it could work. They were quickly disabused of that notion but allowed children to continue to be abused.

Mahony's statements of remorse for his sins of omission ring hollow, since he worked day and night until his retirement to keep the records sealed and prevent the victims and their families from knowing what was reported, who got sent to rehab, and how many were reassigned. He worked virtually till the day that the records and correspondence were released to keep the documents secret, then just highly redacted. All this was done to "protect" the identity of the victims, he claimed. Not credible. None of it.

The sexual abuse of children was well-known and openly discussed in the late 1960s. As a student myself at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley from 1969 through 1972, I was very close with students from virtually every western religion. I took classes from Presbyterians, Episcopalians and Unitarians and at the Center for Judaic Studies. In addition, and relevant to this subject, I also studied with the Jesuits and the Franciscans. Some of my friends were in clergy development and

some in the doctoral programs.

When hanging out with my friends from the Franciscans and Jesuits -- as well as doctoral candidates who had gone to Catholic boarding schools -- the subject of sexual practices and abuses was openly discussed. This was Berkeley in the '60s, and we talked about straight sex and gay sex. People shared their histories with less shame and guilt than they did before or have since.

My friends who boarded in priest-run schools described practices that are horrifying by today's standards. They talked of "short arms inspection" every morning where they all had to expose themselves publicly, and if their genitals appeared red, they were punished for masturbating. Sometimes the punishment was deferred for later and in private with a priest, where they could earn absolution.

Now, to be fair to Mahony -- fairer than he deserves -- only some shared feelings of being abused and humiliated. Others just accepted this as the way of the world and of the church and, as in some other societies, they figured it was kind of a tradition. Personally, I'm not sure which view or experience is more horrifying. But here is the irreducible fact: Most of these men, victims by today's standards, became priests. Are they molesters? I would bet that the vast majority are not. Most of my friends and most priests are good and decent people who would not take advantage of the imbalance of power between priest and laity, and certainly not of youths.

But the higher-ups, the bishops and cardinals formed and deformed at the time, those involved not simply in the acts but the coverup, are guilty of a great moral crime, and it is a crime not just done by the Catholic church but by many institutions, religious and secular. They put the short-term interests of the institution over the moral principles that were supposed to be the living heart and raison d'etre of the institution. They sold out the soul to protect the body. Scripture will tell you, and the law should agree, this is a bad deal and is now a central part of Mahony's legacy of shame.