Oh, but of course. Bill Donohue took this ad out in The New York Times:
His unwillingness to lay responsibility at the feet of the Vatican is unsurprising, and grows ever more tiring. His argument that, because hey, other entities didn’t report the child rape either, is childish. His argument that because many of the victims were going through puberty is specious and disgusting, as it simultaneously says “Hey, this isn’t so bad because some of their voices had dropped and everything,” yet also allows him to scapegoat an entire community of people, most of whom aren’t even Catholic, for the egregious sins of the Roman Catholic Church leadership. His blame-the-victim mindset in the last paragraph is appalling, yet typical for the rape culture mindset of some conservative Catholic men.
This is what happens when a person’s entire worldview is based around the dictates of what some consider to be a criminal organization which claims infallibility and a direct line to the divine. It’s all meaningless, of course, but unfortunately, religious entities such as this are allowed to go relatively unchallenged in today’s world, and when they are challenged, they feign stigmata and cry “victim!” as loudly as they possibly can.
And sadly, this behavior is so common that millions merely roll their eyes and move on.
(h/t Pam Spaulding)
Tags: Bill Donohue, Catholic Church, Catholic League, New York Times, Roman Catholic Church, Vatican10 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL
I was wondering how long it would take for us to be blamed. I’m surprised it took as long as it did.
Comment by Buffy — March 30, 2010 @ 4:03 pm
New Zealand’s conservative Christians don’t dare use this in our context. One particularly prominent example of their sort, Graham Capill, leader of the defunct fundamentalist Christian Heritage Party, raped three little girls, was caught and sentenced to nine years in prison back in 2005.
Someone should really search for child rapist clergy involvement in Catholic Right groups past and present, don’t you think? Or apologist or denialist arguments from Catholic Rightists about the extent of child rape within their church? I’m sure the Catholic Left would only be too happy to help out…
Comment by Craig Young — March 30, 2010 @ 5:42 pm
Yep, I was wondering as well and am also only surprised that it didn’t take longer. Donahue is a pig. Around Christmas, he suggested that those who fight the imposition of Christianist Christmas celebration on everyone regardless of relgion have no rights, nor do those who are offended by the idea that only Christmas should be celebrated publicly. In essence, if you aren’t a Christian, you’re garbage. It’s only too predictable that someone like him would find someone to blame–anyone but the paedophiles and the bureaucracy which has continued to enable them.
I honestly wish it was possible to sue this person and win. Maybe others would think before spouting this hateful crap. I for one am tired of (especially) gay men being equated with child rapists.
Comment by Merlyn — March 30, 2010 @ 7:17 pm
Meant to say:” I am only surprised that it took so long”. Sorry.
Comment by Merlyn — March 30, 2010 @ 7:49 pm
There’s no excuse on earth….or anywhere else
http://apollosbrain.blogspot.com/2010/03/theres-no-excuse-on-earth-or-anywhere.html
Comment by jamesnimmo — March 30, 2010 @ 8:09 pm
Oookk…
using his reasoning, when a priest rapes a young girl, it’s the fault of gays. Wonder he agreed with falwell and Robertson that gays helped cause 9/11 too?
Ok, Billy Boy..I gotcha…you know it all.
(oh Bill..if you read this. I’m a a straight Jewish guy whose lapsed Irish-Catholic wife once got an award from you when she was in high school. She thought you were an asshole then, too…)
Comment by Scott Levison — March 30, 2010 @ 9:33 pm
I am disgusted by his argument. I suspect the reason most of the victims were post-pubescent boys is access: altar boys were the majority of victims. To imply that because they were over 12 it’s turns from pedophilia to homosexuality is sick. When a middle-aged man touches a teenager, it’s still statutory rape. When there is a power relationship between an older person and a much younger one, there can never be true consent.
Equally twisted is the notion that every abused child should have single-handedly gone up against a powerful and respected community figure like his priest before he was grown and anchored elsewhere, especially in the McCarthyist 1950s when abuse was Not Spoken Of and accusations — especially true ones — against church leaders were more likely to get one called a Communist than gain the help victims needed. These victims were children, violated by men they had been raised to trust and who commanded community respect. Even when abuse came to light within the church, priests were generally moved to new grounds, not defrocked or even given work without access to children. The Catholic Church owes payment for abuse recovery counseling to every victim.
Bill Donahue is delusional to believe the behavior is excusable because he personally is not satisfied with the victims’ reports in the face of “Oh Heavens! I knew nothing!” from the Vatican.
Comment by DC — March 31, 2010 @ 12:13 am
Sexual abuse in the Church is the gays’ fault.
Srebrenica crime is the gays’ fault.
Promiscuity among the society is the gays’ fault.
AIDS is the gays’ fault.
And me not having won the lottery yesterday, this is also the gays’ fault.
Me being thirsty at the moment is gays’ fault.
I didn’t reach orgasm yesterday… I blame it on the gays.
/Sarcasm OFF/
Why don’t you write a response in Times to this ill-minded letter?
Comment by Liza — March 31, 2010 @ 7:05 am
Donahue looks like a miserable twisted shit. He, and many like him, have put the institution of the church and the pope above the rape of children and the teachings and example set by Christ. Bill, you and yours are committing the sin of idolatry, besides defending heinous sexual predators and their protectors.
Comment by Gary (NJ) — March 31, 2010 @ 10:04 am
Bill Donahue must obviously have superior skills than the very experts that the U.S. bishops have employed to examine the data.
Dr. Margaret Smith categorically stated in a speech to the bishops that “we do not find a connection between homosexual identity and the increased likelihood of subsequent abuse from the data that we have right now.”
Her report will plainly be $2 million dollars pissed against the wall. The bishops should have simply asked Donahue for his opinion and they could have had it for a red cent. Of course, what they would have also got were distorted falsehoods — which is where the whole problem starts in the first place.
The scandal isn’t that paedophiles targeted children in the church. That’s what paedophiles do.
The scandal is that these paedophiles were first enabled by and then had long careers of abuse because of deliberate ignorance about both homosexuality and paedophilia, criminally poor leadership and a desperate desire to hide the truth. Worldwide, and institutionalised.
Comment by grantdale — March 31, 2010 @ 11:02 am