Church Officials Should Fight Perv Priests and Oppression, Not Fight the Girl Scouts

By Gersh Kuntzman
New York Daily News
February 26, 2016

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/church-fight-pervs-not-girl-scouts-article-1.2544681

Something needs to be done about these Girl Scouts, St. Louis Archdiocese leader Robert Carlson says.

Gersh Kuntzman — likes the Scouts, but not hypocrites.

News item: The Archdiocese of St. Louis has come out swinging against (wait for it!) the Girl Scouts.

The Girl Scouts, huh? The same badge-earning, cookie-selling, wholesome Americans who have been “helping girls discover their strengths, passions, and talents” for 104 years?

In a Feb. 18 letter to parishioners, Archbishop Robert Carlson accused the Scouts of “a troubling pattern of behavior” that includes “promotion of abortion rights” and “role models in conflict with Catholic values, such as Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan,” support for “Amnesty International (and) OxFam,” “sex education,” and “inclusion of transgender and homosexual issues.”

The Girl Scouts, he concluded are “becoming increasingly incompatible with our Catholic values (and) the total well-being of our young women.”

Carlson has a point, I guess. His diocese has long had a different approach to the well-being of kids. In 2004, the Archdiocese settled 18 of 48 lawsuits against perv priests.

Two years ago, it settled another case against a priest who allegedly raped a girl for four years, starting when she was 5 years old.

St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson has taken on the Girl Scouts — for no apparent reason, our columnist argues.

Carlson’s diocese is still fighting some of these cases, including one by the parents of a man from Florissant who sued the archdiocese over the suicide of their son.

In all, 115 priests and other church employees had abuse allegations lodged against them over decades, the St. Louis Dispatch reported.

Betty Friedan, left, and Gloria Steinem never molested a kid.

Of course, it’s no surprise that the church opposes the Girl Scouts, which many young women see as an alternative to church doctrines that oppressed women for millennia, would deny marriage rights to gays, and would even force a woman to carry her rapist’s demon spawn to term — all in the name of what?

What would Jesus do? Certainly not any of that. And no disrespect to Rev. Carlson, but Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan never molested a kid. And Amnesty International never tried to block someone from marrying someone else.

In the end, Carlson admitted that cutting ties to the Girl Scouts could leave some parishioners looking for an alternative. The good news? “The Catholic Youth Apostolate is available to offer assistance in helping your parish.”

Uh, no thanks, Your Grace. No thanks.

Contact: gkuntzman@nydailynews.com