They Are Not "Bunglers"

By Barbara Dorris
SNAP
December 12, 2013

http://www.snapnetwork.org/they_are_not_bunglers

Don’t believe it for a second.

Brisbane’s Catholic bishop claims he and his colleagues were “caught like rabbits in a headlight" regarding clergy sex crimes.

He also claims one case is a "dramatic failure of oversight" that showed a "spectacular bungling."

[ABC News]

Don’t believe it for a second. Remember, bishops are smart, well-educated men.

They have smart, well-educated staffs.

They hire smart, well-educated lawyers.

They can – if they like – hire other smart, well-educated consultants and experts.

And they – and their colleagues and predecessors and supervisors – have been dealing with (and hiding and enabling) clergy sex crimes for decades.

So we simply don’t believe them when they claim to have been are “bungling.” or “caught like rabbits in a headlight.”

Or, if they have been, it’s because they have deliberately chosen, time and time and time again, to focus on secondary matters instead of primary matters, like ensuring the safety of the most vulnerable members of their flock: children.’

Bishops also have smart, well-educated public relations advisors. I believe that deep down, those advisors know that bishops having repeatedly and deliberately and selfishly protected predators over children and their own reputations over the safety of parishioners.

But those PR advisors also know that many want to believe the best about religious figures. So they tell bishops: “Act like you ‘goofed’ or ‘failed.’ Then people will forgive you.”

So that’s what bishops say. And many people fall for it. But it’s deeply deceptive.

We rarely let political figures get by with dubious claims like this. We shouldn’t let church officials do either.