UN should focus on its own sex abuse scandal

By Robert Morrison
Bucks County Courier Times
March 4, 2014

http://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/opinion/guest/un-should-focus-on-its-own-sex-abuse-scandal/article_59556089-a080-55ba-b447-342166ff3a06.html

People (or institutions) that live in glass houses should not throw stones. The green glass facade of the United Nations building in New York City came to mind when I read articles regarding recent criticism of the Catholic Church by the UN over the priest child abuse scandal.

In true UN fashion, the report was not only a day late and a dollar short regarding the scandal in terms of ignoring the actions taken by the Church to address the very issues raised by the report, it ignored the lack of action by the UN in correcting its own child sex abuse problems. The report, released the first week of February, accused the Church of protecting itself rather than the victims of the priest sex abuse scandal.

“The Holy See has consistently placed the preservation of the reputation of the Church and the protection of the perpetrators above children’s best interests,” the report stated. In response, the Vatican rightly stated that the UN ignored its efforts to address the abuse crisis in recent years. In fact, Pope Benedict XVI made zero tolerance the universal law of the Church by mandating that every priest who is involved in the abuse of a child be defrocked with approximately 400 priests dismissed from the priesthood prior to his retirement. The policy further requires that churches follow local laws in reporting abuse to civil authorities. In addition, most dioceses require Catholics involved in youth ministry to undergo criminal background checks and receive training on reporting abuse allegations.

The UN ignored Church reforms and instead picked up stones aimed at the Vatican, despite its own child sex abuse scandals which have been reported wherever UN peacekeeper forces are employed. For instance, a 2004 report issued by the human rights organization Amnesty International, described the growth of sex-trafficking and forced prostitution in the Balkans by UN peace-keeping forces and administrators who exploited the victims of the sex traffickers. Local support groups provided evidence that many of the victims were under 14, and 80 percent were under 18.

Similar allegations were made by local groups in Sudan, Haiti and other countries. UN peacekeepers continue to engage in sexual exploitation and abuse and rarely face punishment as documented in a report issued by The United States Institute for Peace. The report criticized so-called UN zero-tolerance policies instituted to prevent new abuse as being toothless due to inconsistency in discipline by the UN along with a lack of criminal accountability. The report stated, “Despite eight years of annual resolutions that underscore the need to address the problems, there is no evidence of greater accountability.”

An additional affront to the Church from the hypocrites at the UN involved statements that the Church should conduct a complete overhaul of Church teaching on abortion, contraception and homosexuality. The UN report stated, “The Church must identify circumstances under which access to abortion services can be permitted.” The UN further stated the Church should disavow past statements on homosexuality which contribute to violence against homosexuals and children raised by same sex couples.

The Church has consistently taught the value of all human life, from conception to natural death which should be embraced by the UN. That the UN can blame violence against homosexuals on Catholic Church teaching without a shred of evidence while its own activities and unenforced policies result in the continuous abuse of children should be an affront to anyone.

Despite the hypocrisy and ignorance of the UN on matters concerning the Church and homosexuality, the Church actively engages the issue through programs such as Courage and Encourage which for many years have helped Catholic men, women and their families to live in accordance with Catholic Church’s teaching on homosexuality. In addition, the Church consistently speaks out against violence toward all of God’s children, regardless of their sexual orientation.

In the Gospel passage according to John which described an adulteress about to be stoned by her accusers, Jesus stated, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” The authors of the UN report against the Church should heed Christ’s wisdom and mirror the efforts of the Church to sin no more.