Aggielife
The Battalion
Page 3 •
Sins of the Father
Local Catholics affected by recent events, do not lose their faith in the church
By Denise Schoppe
THE BATTALION
The Catholic Church is one of the largest organizations in
the world. Millions follow the religion in America, and it has
ties to dozens of other countries.
Each follower considers other members as their broth
ers or sisters. Along with the conventional idea of family,
when one church member is hurt, all are hurt.
In January, a sex scandal was uncovered within the
Catholic Church. The Archdiocese of Boston had moved
known pedophiles between parishes. Allegedly, the priests
continued to abuse children.
One such priest, John Geoghan, was convicted
of indecent assault and battery of 130 children
and sentenced to nine to 10 years in prison.
Since then, four U.S. bishops have stepped
down due to sexual abuse allegations and approx
imately 250 priests have resigned. Scandals in
Europe, Africa, Canada and Australia have also
forced bishops to resign.
Even Catholics that have no direct involvement
in the scandal have been affected. According to
Mike Sis, pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in
College Station, this is affecting College Station
as well as the nation.
“The first effect I’ve seen is an undermining
of people’s confidence in bishops,” Sis said.
In 2001, new guidelines were issued directing
bishops to inform Rome of allegations of abuse
by a priest. Before that time, practices on how to
handle abusers varied from diocese to diocese.
For the past two years, the Diocese of
Austin, the diocese within which College
Station falls, has been working on its own
policies regarding how to handle such cases.
The policy, entitled “Ethics and Integrity in
Ministry,” was published in August 2001.
“Catholics in this area are realizing the timeli
ness of our diocesan policy,” Sis said. “It was writ
ten before this happened and is extremely stringent.”
He went on to describe the policy as proactive
instead of reactive.
In a question and answer column in The Catholic
Spirit magazine, Austin Diocese Bishop Gregory
Aymond explained that the policies are very specific.
“not only regarding sexual abuse but also regarding verbal abuse, sex
ual harassment, physical abuse and
any behavior that would not
give respect and reverence to
the individual.”
Respect is something Sis
says he’s seen a lot of local
ly, from Catholics as well as
non-Catholics, following the
news of the scandal.
“I’ve seen a ground swell
of support for local priests,”
Sis says. “I work on a regular basis with clergy of other faiths
and they have commented to me that this is not only within the
Catholic Church.”
Will Lloyd, junior general studies major, said he feels it is a
big, but not new, problem.
“I don’t believe only Catholic priests have suffered from
this,” Lloyd said. “I feel half of this tragedy is because it is the
Catholic Church, which is a big media personality.”
The problem dates back to 1984, when the first case of child
molestation by a priest was reported. Reverend Gilbert Bauthe in
Louisiana pleaded guilty to molesting 1 1 boys and victimizing
dozens more. The case went on to accuse 19 priests of abuse.
However, as easy as it is to report the tangible facts of the
scandal, it is harder to show the personal,
intangible reaction to the events.
“In the hearts of some people I have
observed a deep anger,” Sis said. “[Perhaps
it] touched on some anger in their past. It
reminded them of those old hurts.”
As the hurt of the scandal lies within the
church, many Catholics have remained
silent in regards to it.
“We’ve kept quiet,” Lloyd said. “Why
talk about it when the media is doing that?
Most of us just realize it will eventually
blow over or there will be a new Catholic
target for them to focus on.”
Even as the media focuses its attention on
the church, Lloyd says that people outside
the Catholic Church do not seem to have any
reaction towards Catholics about the scandal.
As the scandals continue to affect
Catholics and non-Catholics, the core lead
ers of the religion are working to prevent the
problem from happening again. Bishops
from around the United States met in Dallas
on Thursday June 13, to create a policy to
stop the crime from happening again and
deal with the crimes already committed.
While the bishops worked. Catholics
watched and waited as the media continued
to report every move of the church leaders.
“It’s sad its happening and one day it will
die down again,” Lloyd said. “Until then, we
put hope into the teachings and pray for for-
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