Evidently Fair, which is a media watchdog group, has attacked the Pope regarding his recent visit to the United States. They are claiming that the Pope was given a free pass by the media, regarding the abuse that went on in the Church. FAIR also brought up the same old charges of the 1962 document and its 2001 update that has so often been used by some as some sort of proof of a systematic cover up. Here is what the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights has to say about these documents.
“The document did not apply to sexual misconduct—it applied only to sexual solicitation that might take place in the confessional. By sexual solicitation it meant ‘whether by words or signs or nods of the head,’ the priest may have crossed the line. Because the policy was specifically aimed at protecting the secrecy of the confessional, it called for an ecclesiastical response: civil authorities were not to be notified because it involved a sacrament of the Catholic Church, not a crime of the state. Guilty priests could be thrown out of the priesthood and a penitent who told someone what happened had 30 days to report the incident to the bishop or face excommunication. In other words, the document detailed punitive measures for miscreants—just the opposite of a cover-up.
If you would like to read the rest of what the Catholic League has to say click here.
FAIR’s response to the Catholic League’s charges can be found at: http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3366
Media Advisory
Catholic League’s Inaccurate Critique of FAIR
Group mischaracterized document in defending Pope Benedict
5/13/08
UPDATE–The Catholic League, a conservative Catholic advocacy organization, has challenged the accuracy of FAIR’s April 29 media advisory, “Pope Gets Pass on Church Abuse History.” In a May 2 release, “Media Watchdog, FAIR, Smears Pope,” League president Bill Donohue challenged FAIR’s report that before he was elected pope, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger “sent a letter to church bishops invoking a 1962 doctrine threatening automatic excommunication for any Catholic official who discussed abuse cases outside the church’s legal system.”
According to Donohue, “The document did not apply to sexual misconduct–it applied only to sexual solicitation that might take place in the confessional.” Donohue went on to say that because “the policy was specifically aimed at protecting the secrecy of the confessional, it called for an ecclesiastical response: Civil authorities were not to be notified because it involved a sacrament of the Catholic Church, not a crime of the state.”
Donohue, who accused FAIR of failing to read the document, is in error. “Crimen Sollicitationis,” the 1962 Vatican document in question, explicitly includes acts taking place outside, as well as inside, the confessional. Under the headline “On the Worst Crime” (Chapter V, article 73), the scope of the document is extended to include “any obscene, external act, gravely sinful, perpetrated in any way by a cleric or attempted by him with youths of either sex or with brute animals.”
The issue of whether “Crimen” applied to acts committed outside the confessional was addressed by Monsignor Brian Ferme, a doctor of canon law, in “Il Proceso Penale Canonico,” a book published by Lateran University Press, a publishing house affiliated with the Vatican. As Monsignor Ferme explained, “While the instruction dealt specifically with solicitation and the procedural norms to be applied in judging this crime, the fifth chapter stated that the same norms were also to be observed for the ‘crimen pessimum’ (article 71), which was understood to include paedophilia (article 73).”
FAIR’s advisory accurately criticized media for failing to mention Ratzinger’s letter and other evidence suggesting that, prior to being named pope, Ratzinger made an effort to silence and downplay the church’s sex abuse scandal.
[...] http://discoverthefaith.com/2008/05/05/fair-attacks-pope-regarding-abuse-cover-up/#comment-152 [...]
My assault began in confession, and I have spoken with so many victims who have the same story. The Catholic League can think whatever delusional thoughts they choose, but sexual assault IS a crime of the state, regardless of the circumstances.
Janet,
I dont think that the Catholic League believes the sexual assault is not a crime of the state. They are saying that the claims made by FAIR, regarding the documents, are not accurate. They are saying document was not intended to keep people from filing charges if they were assaulted. The documents were only for innapropriate acts of solicitation in the confessional, which is a much more limited scope. Solicitation in itself is not a crime of the state but it is misconduct on the part of the priest in the confessional.
The Catholic League is saying that scope of the documents was not intended to deal with sexual assault. If a crime such as sexual assault occured it could indeed be brought to the state and dealt with.
I am not saying that this was not always carried out and dealt with appropriately.
My understanding is that some of the translations of the 1962 document are not accurate.
I found this blog article written by an agnostic(former Catholic) on the topic of the 1962 document. Generally ex Catholics don’t have much good to say about the Church, but this one has written a piece that helps explain that the 1962 document is not a smoking gun coverup of the abuse scandal.
http://tjwoodlock.com/blog/crimen-sollicitationis/
One last point needs to be made, 99.9% of Catholics, including those who were abused, had never heard of this document prior to a few years ago. How can something be covered up with this document if those whom the crimes have been committed against are not aware of the document that supposedly tells them they can’t contact the civil authorities if they have been assaulted or raped? That just doesn’t make a lot of sense.
I realize this is a sensitive issue to those who have been victims and I do pray for yours and others healing.
God Bless,
Chris
The culture of Catholicism encourages reverence for priests and bishops: people do not need to be explicitly told not to contact civil authorities when the intimidation factor is sufficient to insure silence, and for many cradle Catholics, the intimidation factor is very high.
If you read the document, you would know it refers to “solicitation” in the confessional, which means the priest knows your sins and is going to use them to intimidate you into sex; it also refers to sexual abuse of children and bestiality. Even if you frame solicitation as simple exploitation, that IS a crime in 8 states and should be everywhere. It is illegal for a clergy person to have sex with a parishoner he is counseling, a break of ficuciary laws.
In extremely Catholic communities, clergy were never charged with crimes. Four police officers showed up at the archbishop’s house after the priest who would later assault me, had assaulted a 13-year-old girl, including nude photos. Did they come to arrest him? Of course not. He went to treatment!
The bishops were well aware of the document. They know exactly what they are doing, and there is nothing of Jesus in any of it. While you’re praying for my healing, say a prayer for your leaders to quit lying.
I am a Catholic revert who grew up Catholic and yes there is a certain reverence for Priests and Bishops that is there but others such as police, doctors, teachers and ministers have a certain amount of reverence to them in the American culture.
Those who abuse their “power” and trust in any of these positions should be ashamed. (There are many who have)
As far as the document goes, there a scores of people, many of them disagree with the Church, who say that this document is not a smoking gun as far as the abuse scandal goes.
There were Bishops who made poor choices as far as how to handle the priests. Some were given advice by the psychological community that treatment would/did cure them. We all realize that there were mistakes made and many have suffered because of it.
It seems to me that the true scandal may be with the police department as they failed to carry out their duty as enforcers of the law.
The Church recognizes there was a problem and is taking steps to make sure it does not happen again. In order to even volunteer to work with children, one has to take a course on protecting God’s children, have their fingerprints taken and have a criminal background check. (I personally have gone through these steps in order to volunteer at a conference last year)
The problem of abuse is not only a Catholic problem, it is a problem that plagues society on a whole. I pray for all who are effected by these crimes and if there are some in the Church leadership that are lying, I pray for them.
There will always be sinners in the Church. Jesus in his wisdom acknowledges this in his parable of the wheat and chaff. He said that there would be chaff growing alongside the wheat in his kingdom which is his Church. In the end the chaff will get their punishment. You may not believe this but I do.
You may thing whatever you like about Criminel Solicitations, but it was a factor in my assault, so I KNOW in a way you are fortunate not to know. The priest who assaulted me had assaulted at least 7 girls before I came along: the family of one victim reported to the archbishop’s office, and he threatened them with excommunication if they talked about it. That is what the doctrine says to do: insist upon silence from victims, witnesses and perps.
The church is not correcting this. They have sent perpetrators to Mexico, South America, and other impoverished nations. And some are still right here.
I know of two credibly accused priests in my state who are still “serving.” One sent a letter of apology to the victim, who received a settlement from the diocese. The victim, who found other victims of this same priest, has written the church and the school system where the serves. No one is interested. He received death threats when he leafletted there.
I am not worried about people getting their punishment in the end. I am worried that this church is getting away with soul murder in the here and now. Where is the District Attorney with the guts to bring one of these bishops up on charges of obstruction of justice, conspiracy, or any of their other numerous crimes?
The Catholic church will never solve this problem until the people give up their denial. I’m not holding my breath.