Accusations of Abuse Are Anti-Catholic Propaganda (From Child Abuse: Opposing Viewpoints, P 167-175, 1994, David Bender and Bruno Leone, eds. -- See NCJ-159823)

• NCJ Number: 159843
• Author(s): P Jenkins
• Date Published: 1994
• Length: 9 pages
• Sale Source: Greenhaven Press
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Opposing Viewpoints Series

Annotation

In a manufactured panic over priest pedophilia, the author contends that liberals and feminists have found the perfect vehicle for attacking the Catholic church; he argues that the problem of a few individuals with serious moral failings has been inflated to serve as a battering ram against such basic Catholic tenets as celibacy, confession, and the male priesthood.

Abstract

The question of child sexual abuse by priests is indeed a crisis for the Catholic church, but the danger comes from activists attempting to harm the church and not from the rare few clergymen who molest children. The panic over priest pedophilia has reached far beyond television talk shows and threatens to become a devastatingly effective vehicle for anti-Catholic activism and legislation. The manufactured and manipulated crisis is being used to justify the wholesale evisceration of Catholic tradition, with liberal and feminist groups being the primary beneficiaries. The importance of distinguishing between homosexuality and pedophilia is noted, and liberal and feminist assaults on celibacy are discussed.