UNITED STATES
Patheos
September 8, 2018
By Mary Pezzulo
First of all, pretending that sexual abuse never happens will not stop sexual abuse, nor will pretending that if you ignore it it will go away. That method was used liberally, for decades or centuries, and it led to the current crisis. Pretending sexual abuse never happens makes it more likely to happen.
Moving the abuser to a new venue, such as a new parish, will not stop sexual abuse. A change of scenery won’t cure an abuser because the problem with a person who commits sexual abuse is that person, not his environment.
The Latin Mass, lovely as it is, will not stop sexual abuse. Just look at the Pennsylvania Grand Jury report. Lots of those cases happened before the Second Vatican Council. Going back to a pre-Vatican-II liturgy will not make them go away. A fine and beautiful classical language like Latin is not a cure for predatory and abusive behavior. The ancient Romans spoke Latin every day of their lives and just look at what they did to the early martyrs. They were not a chaste or a gentle people.
A return to mandatory meatless Fridays will not end priestly sexual abuse. There were mandatory meatless Fridays when a lot of those abuses were going on, back before Vatican II when everything was supposedly much better. Fasting and abstinence are good things, all other goods considered, and taken in the right spirit they can help learn to tame other desires. But people who commit sexual abuse don’t do it because they haven’t taken enough fish. They do it because they make a choice to impose their desires on others, when they could choose otherwise.
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