[Content Note: Rape culture; clergy sex abuse.]
"I'm not the slightest bit surprised that of course the scandal was going to be fun in the news—not fun, but the easiest thing to write about. If you have another bishop in the United States who has the record I have, I'd be happy to know who he is. … Well, the media everywhere made that the whole thing. I never had a case. And I believe that the cases I had were each handled just exactly as they should have been. … [The media] can talk about sex abuse or talk about their concern about finance—that's all right. I believe the sex abuse thing was incredibly good."—Former Bridgeport, Connecticut bishop and New York City cardinal Edward Egan, who, during his tenure at Bridgeport, "let accused priests continue to work in local parishes, authorized payments to victims in exchange for silence agreements, and lied about those payments during a deposition," but continues to maintain that the institutional sex abuse problem in the Catholic Church is a non-story inflamed by sensationalist media, and that the Church's—and especially his—handling of predator priests has been exemplary.
If the interview whence these excerpts came is indicative of the attitude among Church leadership—and one must reasonably believe that it is, given Egan's promotions and plaudits—it's no fucking wonder that there are legions of survivors of clergy abuse who have never seen anything resembling meaningful accountability.
[Via @delong.]
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Rabu, 08 Februari 2012
Selasa, 07 Februari 2012
Choice Is Scary!
So, the Catholic Church leadership (and one-man outrage machine Bill Donohue, who continues to be treated as if he represents people other than himself; I am thisclose to starting a "Feminist League" to see if I can get as much attention with obnoxious press releases as he can) are all still angrily pooping their pants over the new requirement to cover birth control in health insurance policies for their employees, even though a majority of the church's parishioners (especially the women) reject their position.
I have a few observations about this:
1. I cannot stress enough how strongly I believe religious institutions do not warrant tax exempt status in this nation, and the fact that this explicitly political position is not even a breach of the exemption underlines how absurd the policy really is. They are political entities every bit as much as this community is, granted special rights only because their political activities are justified by god-belief.
2. This entire debacle exposes what complete balderdash the Church's concept of "faith" really is, because its leaders clearly have no faith in their own adherents to make choices consistent with the Church's anti-contraception doctrine. They'd rather restrict any and all reproductive choice altogether, including access to contraceptives, denying the free will with which their god supposedly imbued his human creations. They don't give a fuck about faith; they're interested in control.
3. Catholic women make the best choices for themselves irrespective of Church doctrine because that's what women do. Further evidence, not that any was needed, that women and other people with uteri will take whatever measures they need to take to not be pregnant when they don't want to be pregnant.
4. This requirement is categorically not a violation of the Catholic Church's right to practice its religion. Catholic organizations in the US (which are not Catholic churches) do not hire only Catholic employees. Catholic hospitals, for example, have in their employ doctors, nurses, techs, orderlies, admin staff, etc. from all different religious and atheistic traditions, most of which do not share the Catholic Church's prohibition on birth control. That's the cost of doing business in a multicultural nation. If the Catholic Church doesn't like the idea of having to provide required services to non-Catholic people, then they can pack up and take their money-making enterprises to Vatican City.
5. Which, of course, still wouldn't make them happy, because individual Catholic people still have free will and should have the right to express that free will, even when it contradicts Church doctrine. If allowing free will is good enough for god, it oughta be good enough for the Catholic Church. Yeesh.
I have a few observations about this:
1. I cannot stress enough how strongly I believe religious institutions do not warrant tax exempt status in this nation, and the fact that this explicitly political position is not even a breach of the exemption underlines how absurd the policy really is. They are political entities every bit as much as this community is, granted special rights only because their political activities are justified by god-belief.
2. This entire debacle exposes what complete balderdash the Church's concept of "faith" really is, because its leaders clearly have no faith in their own adherents to make choices consistent with the Church's anti-contraception doctrine. They'd rather restrict any and all reproductive choice altogether, including access to contraceptives, denying the free will with which their god supposedly imbued his human creations. They don't give a fuck about faith; they're interested in control.
3. Catholic women make the best choices for themselves irrespective of Church doctrine because that's what women do. Further evidence, not that any was needed, that women and other people with uteri will take whatever measures they need to take to not be pregnant when they don't want to be pregnant.
4. This requirement is categorically not a violation of the Catholic Church's right to practice its religion. Catholic organizations in the US (which are not Catholic churches) do not hire only Catholic employees. Catholic hospitals, for example, have in their employ doctors, nurses, techs, orderlies, admin staff, etc. from all different religious and atheistic traditions, most of which do not share the Catholic Church's prohibition on birth control. That's the cost of doing business in a multicultural nation. If the Catholic Church doesn't like the idea of having to provide required services to non-Catholic people, then they can pack up and take their money-making enterprises to Vatican City.
5. Which, of course, still wouldn't make them happy, because individual Catholic people still have free will and should have the right to express that free will, even when it contradicts Church doctrine. If allowing free will is good enough for god, it oughta be good enough for the Catholic Church. Yeesh.
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