UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary
November 11, 2018
By Joelle Casteix
Spoiler warning: The US Conference of Catholic Bishops is taking us for a bunch of rubes.
The bishops are relying upon two things: 1) the public’s lack of institutional memory; and 2) Catholics’ reliance upon the bishop’s artificial moral authority.
#1 Lack of Institutional Memory
Let’s start with #1. The best way to do this is to compare compare scandals: 2002 and 2018.
The 2002 Catholic clergy sex abuse and cover-up scandal was prompted by the Boston Globe Spotlight exposé and subsequent cover-up scandals nationwide. The 2018 meeting is prompted by the Pennsylvania AG report and subsequent AG investigation announcements across the country.
The bishops are in crisis, pure and simple.
Your average 30-year-old reporter was fourteen in 2002. And unless they had a family member who was abused, chances are that the story was nowhere near their radar screen. This is all new to them.
So let’s compare stories.
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