Reaction to John Jay Findings on Sexual Abuse

The preliminary results of a John Jay College study on the sexual abuse crisis, presented to the American bishops during their meeting in Baltimore this week, show that sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy reflects "overall changes in behavior, attitudes, and media representations in American society" rather than "something distinctive about the Catholic church that led to the sexual abuse of minors." 

While some apparently took comfort in the fact that the behavior or Catholic priests was not worse than anyone else's, Cardinal George made some comments about religion and society that are worth serious thought:

"The more interesting question, though, is whether or not the church herself, and particularly the priests and bishops, should be held to a moral standard that is higher than that of the general populace. That was raised by one bishop very astutely, saying that we should not be relieved to find out that our own standards just conform to what is the normal behavior, what has become so in the last several decades.

"Speculatively, and I'm not sure whether you're interested in the question or not, but [the results of the study] point to a sociological thesis or question: Is religion an independent variable? Or is it simply reduced to a cultural reality that can be explained in terms of something other than religion itself? If that's the case, then the secularists shouldn't be disturbed about religion, because it has nothing original to say anyway, and it's not going to impose itself on anybody's behavior. That's a very important question. It's not going to be decided here, and I don't know the answer to it. I have different answers depending upon which sociologist I talk to. I think that however this thing finally turns out, it will inform the larger issues that are now before us in this country about secularism, the influence of religion in society, and all those good questions that we're not going to discuss directly here."

See John Allen's current NCR column for a more detailed report of the study and the bishops' reaction.