WASHINGTON (DC)
National Public Radio – All Things Considered
September 19, 2018
By Tom Gjelten
The uproar over clergy sex abuse in the Catholic church is no longer just about sex abuse. It now touches on Catholic teaching about sexuality in general and even on Pope Francis himself, his agenda, and the future of his papacy.
When a Pennsylvania grand jury last month reported that more than 300 priests had molested more than a thousand children across six dioceses under investigation, it became clear that the cases were not isolated incidents. The problem of abusive priests and the bishops who cover up for them is systemic across the whole church.
Pope Francis says the crisis is rooted in a culture of clericalism, with priests and bishops so elevated in the church that their word and authority dominate over the experience of the people they serve.
Some of the pope’s adversaries in the church, such as Cardinal Raymond Burke, have another explanation: Gay priests are to blame, they say. Most abuse incidents, Burke told an interviewer last month, consist of “homosexual acts committed with adolescent young men.”
“It seems clear in light of these recent terrible scandals,” Burke said, “that indeed there is a homosexual culture, not only among the clergy but even within the hierarchy, which needs to be purified at the root.”
That view has found wide resonance in conservative Catholic circles.
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