A New York Times article examines the bishops’ response to the Scandal. The theme of the piece is that the bishops look to the past, to tradition and ancient teachings, not change as the the answer to the Scandal. While I have no problem with that per se, the tone of the article is that this is somehow a bad thing. But I also found the following paragraph interesting:
- While the scandal raged, Catholics of diverse cultures and ages often said the same thing in interviews. If bishops and priests could be parents or women, they would have pilloried priests who they knew were molesting children, not reassigned them to parishes where they could have access to more victims.
In other words, the argument is that men untempered by women—that is, single men—will tolerate any old horrific act. Only women would not stand for such things. What a load of ... horsepucky. For one thing, there are plenty of cases of women who have stood by as their men committed unspeakable acts. There are even women who have participated. Look at the accusations of sexual abuse starting to come out against nuns.
The fact is that identity politics—whether based on sex, race, orientation, or whatever—is not the answer. The answer is accountability, responsibility, and holiness. You don’t need women priests or married priests for that. To say otherwise smacks of prejudice, bias, and discrimination.
