Reacting to the reactions

The John Jay report is being much discussed.

Here is George Weigel:

In fact, according to the John Jay study, the bishops were as clueless as the rest of society about the magnitude of the abuse problem and, again like the rest of society, tended to focus on the perpetrators of abuse rather than the victims. This, in turn, led to an overdependence on psychiatry and psychology in dealing with clerical perpetrators, in the false confidence that they could be “cured” and returned to active ministry ....

Look, if you knew that someone had committed arson you might well wonder if they can be treated but you still have a duty to call the police. It was not the church's job to solve a criminal justice problem with therapy.

It's chilling to see that all  these years later, prominent Catholic writers and commentators still don't see that the fact that the Church concealed crimes is the central problem here.

Here is Rev. C.J McLoskey at Crisis Magazine:

However, there is still something strange here: The researchers found no statistical evidence that gay priests were more likely than straight priests to abuse minors. The disproportionate number of adolescent male victims was about opportunity, not preference or pathology, the report concluded. But a very high percentage of the abuse (excepting pedophilia) was of teenage boys, and not teenage girls. Is the report telling us that a majority of the abusers were heterosexual priests abusing teenage boys? This strains credulity. I sense an agenda for the homosexual priesthood is behind this conclusion.

Is the report telling us that the majority of the abusers were heterosexual priests abusing boys? Yes, that is exactly what it is telling us. And this is not a crazy idea. There is lots of evidence from, for example, prisons, single-sex schools and summer camps that suggests that heterosexuals will pursue same-sex relationships if they sense that nothing else is available to them.


And, seriously Reverend, take a deep breath and count to 100 before you make accusations that someone has a hidden agenda. The alacrity with which you and other conservative Catholics such as Bill Donohue and Dr. Richard Fitzgibbons have all rushed with the same accusation here suggests an agenda all right ...