Readers Respond -- Letter writers split on columnist’s Catholic
take
This is regarding Steve Smith’s column (“Thanks to Catholic leaders
for nothing,” April 27).
Steve Smith seems to have arrived at his opinion on the Catholic
Church the same way he arrives at all his published opinions:
superficially. He blames the church’s “cover-up” for his now having to
work with children “under a microscope,” which he shouldn’t mind because,
as everyone who reads his columns knows, he is an absolutely perfect
parent, coach, teacher and all-around citizen.
In fact, Smith is the one who puts adults in his community under the
“giant microscope” when he writes his sanctimonious snap judgments about
parents who cheer too loud at a soccer game or families who own a
television. And now he would have us believe that Catholics are “involved
in one of the world’s longest-running crimes” involving “6-, 7- and
8-year-olds” and that Catholic leaders are “making life miserable for
those of us who teach, coach and counsel.”
Father Greg Boyle, a Jesuit from Los Angeles, would be sorry to hear
Smith say that since he has dedicated his 25 years in the priesthood to
giving inner-city kids a chance to break out of gangs and into suitable
employment by starting businesses that use their talents. He is only one
in a line of thousands of men in his profession who have fought
passionately for the rights of children over the last 2,000 years,
spiritually, socially and academically.
But Smith would have us throw that all out because of some admittedly,
selectively shameful behavior in the modern church that is now
interfering with all Smith’s good work.
I am sorry that neither Cardinal Mahoney nor Pope John Paul II was
available to have a conversation with Smith regarding their remorse and
concern for the victims of this scandal, but I assure Smith that because
he didn’t happen to see it in print does not mean they aren’t
experiencing deep deep sorrow over these events.
Smith’s shallow assessments remind me of an old parenting adage:
“never throw out the baby with the bathwater.”
PEGGY NORMANDIN
Costa Mesa
It’s scary when I begin agreeing with Steve Smith. More so when I feel
he didn’t take a strong enough stand, regarding the Catholic Church.
Our children are not only being sexually abused, in staggering
numbers, by adults in authority, but by adults in moral authority. These
are not Mafia figures whom we have low expectations of anyway. These are
community leaders, at the other end of the moral spectrum.
It makes my skin crawl to see news bites of the cardinals and pope
gathering in Rome to work out “the solution.” The world waits, while the
perps and their associates meet to determine what should be done about
thousands of cases of felony sexual abuse. Are you kiddin’ me?
The pope -- that sad, dispirited, barely functional old man -- set the
tone in his first statement, weeks ago. His concern was for how this
scandal would affect innocent priests. Smith speaks of the 3,500 members
of SNAP, an organization comprised of survivors of sexual abuse by
priests.
That is, of course, just the tip of the iceberg. An iceberg,
incidentally, that will never surface. Hoards of those abused, likely
haven’t survived. Dying by their own hands or their voices only heard as
a whimpering rage in the mental hospitals. And don’t forget the endless
ripple-effect, when the abused grow up to be abusers.
I have the greatest respect for my family and friends who are active
churchgoing members; this isn’t about them. It’s about the institution,
and all its grandiosity and despicable criminal activity. My wish would
be that the Catholic Church cease to exist. What to do with all the
zillion dollar buildings, who cares? Why not convert them into treatment
centers for the victims.
I keep thinking of all the alcoholic priests I counseled with, in my
25 year career working in rehab, and the gay priest who laughingly told
me he became a priest because “that’s where the action is.” It isn’t a
pretty picture when you think of what child-abusers can look forward to
should they end up in the prison system.
GARY DRIES
Costa Mesa
Steve Smith’s relentless blast against the Catholic clergy leadership
from the local level all the way to the Vatican, in my opinion, was a
very petty, cheap bit of journalism that hardly deserves reader response.
He has a right to express his frustration and disappointment, but his
approach was out in left field, and in that form should never have been
printed.
However, if the Daily Pilot is so hard-pressed for newsprint, it ought
to think seriously of closing shop.
VICTOR H. JASHINSKI
Corona del Mar
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