ANSWER by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM on June 5, 2004

Dear Doug: Well, frankly Doug, I would not respond at all. This person is an obvious bigot and fool and will not be convinced by the facts. In cases like this I think it is prudent to be reminded of the advice of Proverbs 26:4-5 "Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes. This is very good advice since to argue with a fool gives the fool the idea that his assertions are worthy of debate. Also we run the risk of making fools out of ourselves by getting into unproductive argumentation. St. Paul repeatedly advises us to avoid unproductive argumentation. So, my advice is to ignore this person, do not respond, and walk away from him. If you want to have an idea of how to answer these sorts of accusations when there is a productive possibility, the answer lies in the fact that the Church does not, and never has, approved of molesting children. Yes, there has been individual priest, and even bishops, who have molested children or covered it up. This is an EXCEPTION to the norm. Those priests and bishops are sinning against God and what the Catholic Church teaches. To indict the entire Catholic Church on the basis of what a few may do is nothing more than stupidity and bigotry. Let us put things in perspective. While it is true that even one child being abused is one too many, and while it is true that priest should conduct themselves at a higher standard, let us look at the facts. Less than 2% of the priests in the United States have been found or accused of molesting children. Yes, that is horrible and inexcusable. But, tell me, when kids are abused to whom do these kids end up with for help -- the Mental Health Profession. According to a Wisconsin Psychological Association study 66% of the molesting of children by a profession comes from the profession of Mental Health (in descending order: psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers). The same study found that 11% of the cases of professional abuse were from the clergy of all kinds. As terrible as it is to find abuse of children by clergy, to whom do these children go as a last resort to be rescued and healed of their wound? It is the mental health profession whereby they may be abused yet again. Where is the outrage at the fact that 66% of the cases where professionals are the perpetrator, that perpetrator is a mental health professional? "Christianity Today", an evangelical magazine, did a survey on the subject of inappropriate sexual contact of clergy with their parishioners. Their study found that 30% of the pasters ADMITTED to sexual misconducted. Who knows how many did not admit it. Stories abound of sexual abuse of children in nearly all denominations. It is only because of media bias that most people rarely hear of those cases, but will see all sorts of media exposure about Catholic priests. We cannot judge the entire profession of mental health on the few who molest children; we cannot blame the entire denomination of the few clergy in their ranks who molest children; nor can be blame the entire Catholic Church for what an extremely small number of priests and bishops may have done. This is common sense and logical reasoning among anyone who is not a bigot. I might add that the American Bishops already had a sex abuse of children policy for about 15 years. The Church DID address the issue, it is just that some bishops refused to follow those 15 year old directives. Again, that is the SIN of those bishops, not of the Church herself. Anyway, there are more arguments that could be made, but from the tone of the letter you posted I would say that the writer is not interested in listening to facts. I would ignore him. May God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary Domine non sum dignus