Petty P.R. of the Catholic Church

It appears that, in the vernacular of the Catholic Church, "allegations of sexual abuse" is synonymous with "petty gossip."

These allegations are common enough to suggest an inherent problem in the Catholic Church that warrants serious reform to alleviate. The sexual indiscretion of priests and the downplaying (at best) and blatant cover-up (at worst) of these acts by their superiors is well-documented and has been for quite some time now (The documentary Deliver Us from Evil was released in 2006, and this responded to, rather than caused, intense media coverage on these cases of abuse). In that documentary, it was clear that the Church was not intent on seriously addressing the problem. The strategy for dealing with priests accused of molestation was, quite simply, to move them from one church to another, which, of course, did nothing to mitigate the problem. It was clear that if the Church failed to deal with individual cases of molestation properly that they certainly didn't have an overreaching strategy to deal with the problem of sexual abuse of children in general.

That was then, of course, but if there was any question of how the Church plans to address these problems in the future, it has been answered by the disconcerting and juvenile comments by the Pope and his internal supporters. Maureen Dowd recognizes the improbability of any serious action being taken because the Pope has failed to even "to say anything long, adequate and sincere about the scandal and what role he has played." The initial strategy of the Church remains: sheer responsibility and treat the problem as if it is illusionary (or, as Andrew Sullivan metaphorically states, "go into the bunker").

Historically, the Church hasn’t exactly been a beacon of change, so I didn't expect the Church to announce a plan to expel priestly molestations from the Church. But labeling such allegations against the Church and the Pope as "petty gossip" is astounding; the Church took their role in the controversy to a new level of offensiveness. Actually, perhaps there was a change in strategy: what was staged ignorance now appears to authoritarian arrogance.

These problems have been going for long enough with no effect on how the Church conducts its business, and the pessimistic who believe that injustice will remain unpunished may be warranted to suggest so. Yet, I believe (perhaps naively) that the most recent allegations against the Pope are going to cause more of a stir in the Church itself (perhaps there will be more like Rowan Williams who may even decide not apologize for their remarks. I also believe that should enough followers finally become fed up and earnestly criticize the Church's handling of these events and possibly leave the Church altogether, the Church may be forced to reform (or at least, as Dowd fantasizes, require the Pope to run television ads and take part in other assuaging P.R. stunts). What is different about these allegations is that they are directed at the Pope himself. Cover ups by archbishops are rather serious and, arguably, should have been enough to initiate a sea change in the Church, but if any criticisms are going to carry weight, they are the ones being wielded now. These allegations, valid or not (though the evidence appears to be valid), are symbolic. The taboo of attacking the head of the Catholic Church may not be so taboo anymore, and dismantling the perceived authority of the Church may be what is required to alter the way the Catholic Church conducts its business (I repeat "conducts its business" because "conducting business" and "using spin tactics" are the best phrases I can think of to describe the Church leaders' sophistry).

The Church has overseen grave injustices, and reforms (whatever they may be) are necessary. If there is a time in which these reforms will become necessary in order to appease disenchanted followers and recoup support (most importantly, financial support), it is now or will come very soon. It would be a much smoother transition were the Church to accept responsibility and make the necessary reforms on its own. But if anything in this controversy is clear, it is that the Church will continue to be disingenuous and manipulative. Hopefully the requisite number of followers needed to enact change will be reached as the role of Pope in covering up abuse cases becomes clearer.