Vatican: Still Dodging Bullets

This time by using the "other kids do it, too" argument. They just don't get it. From The Guardian

The Vatican has lashed out at criticism over its handling of its paedophilia crisis by saying the Catholic church was "busy cleaning its own house" and that the problems with clerical sex abuse in other churches were as big, if not bigger.

In a defiant and provocative statement, issued following a meeting of the UN human rights council in Geneva, the Holy See said the majority of Catholic clergy who committed such acts were not paedophiles but homosexuals attracted to sex with adolescent males.

The statement, read out by Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican's permanent observer to the UN, defended its record by claiming that "available research" showed that only 1.5%-5% of Catholic clergy were involved in child sex abuse.

And they're lying about it, too:

The statement said that rather than paedophilia, it would "be more correct" to speak of ephebophilia, a homosexual attraction to adolescent males.

"Of all priests involved in the abuses, 80 to 90% belong to this sexual orientation minority which is sexually engaged with adolescent boys between the ages of 11 and 17."

Try 15 to 17. An eleven-year-old is not an ephebe. An eleven-year-old is a child.

Melissa McEwan rips them a new one:

Okay, first of all, ephebophilia is not specific to people with same-sex attraction. Tomasi's implication that it's a uniquely "homosexual attraction" is patently false. The Catholic Church has been trying to blame its sex abuse problems on gay men since day one, in order to avoid its own responsibility for ordaining and protecting pedophiles, but that shit's been publicly debunked so resoundingly that the Holy See can't just scream "homo priests!" anymore.

So this is their new spin: Gay ephebophiliacs—which not only allows them to do an end-run around accountability for ordaining pedophiles, but also conveniently allows them to do an end-run around accountability for engaging in the vicious homophobia of gay-blaming for the sex abuse scandal for two decades.

And if this bit of rhetorical parsing weren't already pathetic enough in its attempt to redirect blame, it's not even accurate: Ephebophilia is not, in fact, the correct term for people who "sexually engage" with children ages 11-17. Ephebophilia refers to people who have a sexual preference for advanced adolescents; hebephilia refers to people who have a sexual preference for those in early puberty; and pedophilia refers to people who have a sexual preference for pre-pubescent children. Most 11-year-old are not advanced adolescents, and many, especially boys, are still pre-pubescent.

The Catholic Church has a problem with priests who rape children below the age of consent. That is a fact which is not changed by what name it's called. And, at this point, the last thing any thinking person with a conscience wants to hear from the Vatican is a bunch of bullshit technicalities being substituted for any serious acceptance of accountability.

But, as usual, that's all we're gonna get.

Andrew Sullivan's summation:

But this is Ratzinger's real view: that the sex abuse crisis was basically a liberal plot to discredit the Church, rather than what it was, an international conspiracy for the molestation of children, enabled by the Vatican.

The hierarchy is busting a nut trying to deflect attention away from the fact that the Church was doing just what Sullivan says: enabling and abetting child molesters. For decades. Here's a devastating story from one of Sullivan's readers:

I grew up in Boston and was raped by priests beginning at age 6. I just let you into a very small circle. When the predators who liked young children had no more use for me because I had aged they traded me to other priests. Unlike some I have remembered my abuse on a daily basis (forgetting would be such a blessing). While the Pope may find comfort in the fact "that only 1.5%-5% of Catholic clergy were involved in child sex abuse," he should wonder and worry about the morality of the many who knew and said and did nothing. From my experience I would say that over 50% of the other priests knew and allowed the horror to continue. As an adult I have talked with some and their evasions and justifications are disgusting.

I chose not to sue the Catholic church because I did not think that punishing the people of the church, taking their hard-earned money, would help my mind or slay any of the demons. Plus I hoped that the church would have some kind of soul-searching, maybe public hearings, that would shine a light on that whole ugly chapter in its history. So far all we have is rationalizing and blame-shifting.

It's this sort of thing that points up to me the moral bankruptcy of the Catholic hierarchy. I should point out that I think it's endemic to all hierarchical institutions, but the Catholic Church has made itself the prime example. If the hierarchy had dealt with this problem in a timely and transparent manner, and penalized the deviants instead of enabling them, I would be hold a different view. But I think the Church's actions, as exemplified by this statement, speak for themselves.