The comparison is due to the fact that both deal with children on a regular basis and yet the one that doesn’t require celibacy is worse yet gets less press.
Oh.
I’m guessing one reason it might get less press is that we kind of “expect” this sort of thing from time to time in the secular world? In the religious also we have the idea of hypocrisy along with bad behavior, which creates more outrage and gets more attention than just plain old everyday crime.
But still, this says nothing about celibacy and how it does or does not impact chances of sex crimes. It just talks about how it’s reported. Of course, greater reporting of crimes outside the Church doesn’t make those inside the Church any more justified – just more secular.
That said, I’m not so sure there isn’t just as much reporting when a school teacher is caught in a sex crime with a student. I see headlines to that effect from time to time, frankly more often than reports of Church crimes. Stereotypes? That’s another issue.
Search Google for “school teacher child molestation” and here are the “news” hits, all within the past two days:
About 38,000,000 results (0.33 seconds)
Search Results
News for school teacher child molestation
Sunday school teacher gets 7 years in child molestation case
KPTV.com - 19 hours ago
Ryan Whitaker was convicted in February on two counts of child molestation.
Cobb coach charged with child molestation
Atlanta Journal Constitution - 2 days ago
Chula Vista elementary school teacher now accused of molesting 3 boys
10News - 1 day ago
What about “priest child molestation”? We get:
News for priest child molestation
Another delay in trial of suspended Redding priest accused of child molestation
Record-Searchlight - 16 hours ago
SACRAMENTO — A new trial date was set today in Sacramento County Superior Court for a suspended Redding priest charged with seven …
Priest accused of abuse in 1980s
ABQ Journal - 3 days ago
So I can neither confirm nor deny that there is “more reporting” about priest misconduct than secular teacher misconduct. Perhaps if we took the number of news reports and divided by the number of actual incidents, analyzed separately for secular teachers v. priests, then we would have a number for “reporting rate” and we can actually see which kind of case gets most attention on average. Until then, your assertion that reporting of priests is greater than of secular crimes, is simply an assertion that may or may not have basis in fact.
And we’re back to square zero on whether removing celibacy requirement for priests would change the number of crimes, or in which direction.
Honestly I’m not trying to make a career out of proving you wrong. My point is that we tend to throw around arbitrary assertions like “this group is worse,” or “that group is favored by the press” as if they are true, without any testing, and use them as “concrete evidence” on one side or other in an argument. Moreover, making statements like this are just miniature “cloaking” statements which tend to cover up the problems, which is what got the Church in so much trouble in the first place.
Speaking of current news reporting, let’s see what the Holy Father is saying about molestation within the Church, as reported by the secular media:
Pope seeks decisive action against sex abuse
By FRANCES D’EMILIO | Associated Press – Fri, Apr 5, 2013
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis directed the Vatican on Friday to act decisively on clergy sex abuse cases and punish pedophile priests, saying the Catholic Church’s “credibility” was on the line. The announcement was quickly dismissed by some victims’ advocates as just more talk, while others lobbying for reform in the church held out hope the new pontiff might challenge the Vatican’s bureaucratic culture seen as fostering a cover-up mentality.
Clergy abuse victims called for swift and bold action from Francis as soon as he was elected pope last month. Yet in his homeland, Roman Catholic activists had characterized him as being slow to act against such abuse in his years heading the Argentine church.
The Vatican’s brief announcement about Francis’ meeting Friday with the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith — the office that shapes and enforces policy on what to do about any abuse allegations and what happens to the abusers — depicted Francis as urging assertive action to protect minors.
“The Holy Father in a special way urged that the Congregation, following the line sought by Benedict XVI, act decisively in sex abuse cases, above all promoting measures to protect minors, assistance for all those who in the past suffered such violence, necessary measures against the guilty,” the statement said of Francis’ meeting with Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Mueller.
The Vatican quoted Francis as saying abuse victims were always present “in his attention and in his prayers.” It was the first announcement by the Vatican that Francis had made dealing with clergy sex abuse a priority of his fledgling papacy, and the pontiff seemed to be putting Mueller on notice that he would tolerate no easing of the crackdown.
Alan
