Sex-Abuse Crimes Widespread In The Catholic Church
For as long as we can remember the Catholic Church has been one of the most prominent organizations throughout the history, however, in the last few decades, this highly recognized organization has been involved in serious scandals involving child sex-abuse crimes. The cases of child sexual abuse by Catholic priests’ date all the way back to the A. D. era but it wasn’t until the late 1980s that this issue was given attention and began to get significant publicity in the U. S. and Canada. Many of the cases accused priests of decades of sexual abuse and by the early 2000s, this topic was a major global issue. Nevertheless, an equally important issue takes over the sex-abuse crimes and that is the statute-of-limitations laws that leave very limited choices to sex-abuse victims. To begin, Time Magazine did an article on Frank Finnegan a victim of sex-abuse who was molested by a local priest when he was 7 years old. The abuse went on for two more years, and he like many victims didn’t know how to prevent the ongoing assaults or even how to report the crime thus like many victims of child sex-abuse, he kept quiet. Time Magazine also goes on to illustrate the struggles that the statute-of-limitations laws cause to sex-abuse victims especially in Pennsylvania. What is the statute of limitations laws? The statutes of limitations are laws passed to set the maximum time after a crime in which legal proceedings may be initiated.
The law may vary from one civil or criminal action to another, within countries and states. The current laws in Pennsylvania are too restrictive as child sex-abuse victims only have until they turn 30 to bring a civil and this is not fair as most victims don’t come out and if they do it takes them years past the statute-of-limitations law as the events they lived traumatized them thus advocates have made it their mission to do everything in their power to change the statute-of-limitations laws while fighting back lobbyists. Spotlight, a 2015 film directed by Tom McCarthy shows the real story of how editor Mary Baron from the Boston Globe, the oldest operating newspaper investigative journalist unit in the United States, and his team of journalists uncovered the widespread scandal of child molestation and decades-long cover-up within the local Catholic Church Archdiocese. At the same time, it investigates the allegations against priest John Geoghan, who is accused of molesting more than 80 boys. In addition, the film displays various of the sex-abuse victims and their stories. Lastly, Archdiocese of Baltimore: Child abuse in the Catholic Church is an Archdiocese in Baltimore that shows the Catholic Church opinion on the child sex-abuse crimes and how they respond to the allegations. The Archdiocese of Baltimore answers briefly various questions about child sex-abuse crimes, how they plan to keep children safe, how they help the survivors of abuse, counseling, and more.
Although both authors identify the numerous sex-abuse cases and the decades-long cover-up and how it has affected victims, author Haley Edwards focuses more on the different statute of limitation laws there are depending on each state and how it has affected many victims by not allowing them to get justice. It also shows how advocates and lobbyists are in a fight constantly over the statute-of-limitations laws. Advocates want a longer look-back window to let the victim remember, process and come forward while lobbyists argue that as time goes by the victim’s memories become less reliable thus it can lead to false accusations. While author Tom McCarthy goes more in-depth about the sex-abuse crime victim’s tragic stories. It shows the journalists interviewing various victims as they narrate their story, telling everything from what they were forced to do, with who, at what age it started, why they never reported it and finally how it affected their adult life and came to terms with their assault. The three sources were written differently and each one of them had a different way of getting the audience’s attention and portraying their opinion.
The Time Magazine article was written with more logos and facts about the statute-of-limitation while the film Spotlight was produced to cause a more emotional effect on the audience. And as for the brief Q&A article of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, it was meant to calm down the Catholics. The Time Magazine article is written more formally, and it informs readers. The concrete article informs about the struggles the statute-of-limitations causes to victims. It also appeals to the reader’s reason and logic as the article shows the lobbyists opposing longer look-back windows and lobbying senators to not change the law when changing it can help so many victims. This gives a negative view to the church and increases the reader’s shame and lack of faith towards the church. In addition, the article is ethical, unbiased and credible as evidence and statements from victims are shown.
Spotlight illustrated more the victim’s stories and went in-depth about their encounters. “Well, let me tell you, when you’re a poor kid from a poor family, religion counts for a lot. And when a priest pays attention to you it’s a big deal. He asks you to collect the hymnals or take out the trash, you feel special. It’s like God asking for help. And maybe it’s a little weird when he tells you a dirty joke but now you got a secret together, so you go along. Then he shows you a porno mag, and you go along. And you go along, and you go along, until one day he asks you to jerk him off or give him a blow job. And so, you go along with that too. Because you feel trapped. Because he has groomed you. How do you say no to God, right?” said Saviano, a sex-abuse victim. This shows pathos by appealing to the audience’s sympathies, values and morals by making them question their belief in the church while sending them down an emotional roller coaster of anger and disappointment.
The film appeals to the audience’s emotions through tone and the angle of vision. The film was produced from an angle of vision that chose words or figures of speech with intended connotations to emphasize the victim’s stories and the tone is direct, personal and passionately involved. As for the Q&A article the Archdiocese of Baltimore, the way it was written was formal but with no emotion or any sign of remorse. The article addressed again briefly the scandals and how they help the victims, but the short responses portray the scandals as an outside issue and as if it has nothing to do with the church. The scandals are brushed up and not given enough importance. The tone is distant, and the word choice is abstract telling readers that to the church this topic is old news and doesn’t really matter. As I read these three sources all I could think was how is it that this is still going on? Why hasn’t the police or the FBI done more to save current kids who still go to the Catholic Church? Or how is it that people continue to go to church and act as if children aren’t being sexually abused by priests. As a Catholic myself I was shocked, disgusted and infuriated when I first found out about the scandals and all the accusation and now as I read these sources it just gets me even more furious because the sex-abuse crimes are still going on and still we have no concrete answer from the Catholic Church. To commence, the scandals, accusations, and cases against the Catholic Church about sex-abuse crimes are widespread. In 2004 a total of 4,392 priests and deacons in the U. S. had been accused of sex-abuse crimes and this issue just keeps getting worse as this number has since then increased worldwide. Morally, priests are supposed to be someone who people turn to when in need of help. They are supposed, to be honest, and advice and direct the person in the path of a better life while looking out for their wellbeing. And it infuriates me how many priests use the name of God to sexually and mentally abuse children since using the name of God brainwashes the children to think the abuse is normal and God accepts it. Legally they are not allowed to cover up sex-abuse crimes under any circumstances.
However, if a priest was accused then the bishops moved them around to other parishes so, they wouldn’t be convicted and to protect the church’s image. It is outrages how the Catholic Church still haven’t given an official statement, all they do is apologize. What are the victims going to do with their apology? Nothing! Is time for them to stop hiding and instead of trying to save their not so prestigious church image, they should take action against the priests. It might be too late for past victims, but they can still save current kids who turn to the church because they have nowhere else to go. Author Haley Edwards from Time Magazine raised questions of personal resonance about the statute-of-limitations that impacted me. Many of the child sex-abuse victims kept quiet and don’t take legal action until is too late to do anything about it. In the Time article, author Haley Edwards talked about how for Frank Finnegan the statute of limitation prevented him from getting justice. “But Finnegan was too late. In Pennsylvania… victims of child sex abuse have only until they turn 30 to bring a civil case…As a result, Finnegan’s case was thrown out–not on the merits, but because of the time it took to come to terms with the trauma” (Edwards) This is not new news, just like Frank Finnegan seek justice when is too late as they think the abuse won’t happen again, they are afraid, or simply yet a very vital reason is who is going to believe that a priest is sexually abusing children? No one, thus when these kids grow up and the trauma and the pain become too hard to deal with and they want to get justice so that what happened to them doesn’t ever occur again, well they get stopped by the statute-of-limitations.
On the contrary, the article from the Archdiocese of Baltimore left me with a bitter taste as for decades now the Catholic Church hasn’t given a real and concrete response to the child sex-abuse crimes. They say they understand and share the public’s feelings of disbelief about the sex-abuse crimes in the church but still, the sex-abuse continue. They try more to tell the public that not all Catholic Churches are the same and, in my opinion, they have treated this issue so light-hearted and focusing on the incorrect matter. Yes, they developed the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People and the Essential Norms, but this was established in 2002 and the sex-abuse crimes continue. Thus, is the Catholic Church morally and legally liable when it comes to the epidemic proportions of child sex abuse cases? No, it is not.
