The media reports recently and especially during the Easter celebrations in the Catholic Church are a great cause for alarm for Catholics all over the world. The Catholic Church being a universal church has about one billion adherents to the faith. How this crisis is affecting them must be very demoralizing to Catholics and causing many to question their faith as well as their trust in the clergy.
From reports in the media it does not seem that the general Catholic population is speaking out about their thoughts and opinions in the crisis in their Church. There are always a few in the opinion pages that speak out on the subject of the day but in general we don't hear from the congregations of Catholics on this issue. In some parishes the clergy have just begun to speak at masses and raising the issue to encourage parishioners to discuss the matter in an objective way.
Discussions about religion and the church have always been emotional and it is usually difficult to have a discussion without feelings being hurt and polarizing positions staked out. This can occur between different religious faiths or within the same faith.
The media reports on problems in the church like they do for any other issue that has public relevance. Someone comes to them with a story that begins as a one-sided view of the events. The media researches the issue and gathers facts on the subject. The media attempts to find others with the same concerns about the issue. In an attempt to be balanced, the media will try to speak to a representative of the opposing view and include it in the reporting. If they are not able to interview the opposing side, they will report that they tried to contact the opposing side but the source was unavailable or refused to speak to the media.
With the current practice of 24-hour news media reporting on cable, the first impulse is not hold on to the story but to get the news item out as soon as possible. This results in a report even before a thorough preliminary investigation can be made. Often the media will include a brief interview with police or other official who may be in the middle of an investigation only to report that they cannot answer the question because the investigation is not complete. The media's audiences only have an allegation of one or more persons and an absence of completed verified facts on the matter.
There are times when the media attempts to perform the role of the courts by interviewing witnesses, gathering opinions from experts and then leaving the impression that guilt has been established (conviction by media). In some cases it may not be the intention of the media to be biased in their reporting but due to competition from other media outlets there is a rush to report on the matter. Unfortunately, this can leave an impression in the public that what the media is alluding to must be correct. Of course the breaking news may turn out to be verified later but, in other, cases the story turns out to be inaccurate and it is too late to prevent innocent lives from being affected.
The media's job is to report the news. But is it always news that the media is reporting? In the case in point, the allegations and the proven cases of child abuse by Catholic priests are prominent in the news media. However there have been studies done on the problem of child sexual abuse by non-Catholic clergy and among other professionals. For example, an authoritative work by a Penn State professor (1) , determined that between 0.2% and 1.7% of priests are pedophiles. The figure among the Protestant clergy ranges between 2 and 3 percent. The media seems to be satisfied with one-sided reporting without reporting on child sexual abuse generally. The impression left with the public is that child sexual abuse only occurs with priests in the Catholic Church. Although we know this not to be true there is the willingness to believe it in the absence of a full investigation of the prevalence of child sexual abuse in the general population.
So, is there a media bias when reporting child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church? A sample of recent headlines may indicate a bias: "Catholics facing a crisis of faith"; "Vatican hopes to shield Pope from lawsuit"; "1963 letter spoke of abuse"; Mancini mentions scandal in sermon"; Vatican: leave Pope alone"; Rome took 12 years to defrock U.S. priest"; "Jewish leaders say comparing allegations against Pope to anti-Semitism 'offensive'".
As each new allegation or statement is scrutinized day by day and repeated hundreds of times over the regular and 24 hour news networks, the public begins to accept the allegations and incomplete evidence to be the truth. This is an injustice to those who have been singled out or others who have been labeled guilty by association.
Measuring past deeds in the light of today's knowledge is not acceptable. The processes that we use today to govern behaviour are much more sophisticated than they were decades ago. In the 60's and 70's the sexual abuse of children was not reported widely and, when reported, not likely to be investigated. In those days we were just beginning to deal with physical abuse with some expertise. We had to recognize that there was a difference between physical abuse and discipline by a parent or teacher. For example, teachers were permitted by law to strap a student for misbehaviour. This was finally removed from provincial statutes and tighter controls were placed on parents who used excessive discipline that left injuries on the child's body. Protocols for sexual abuse were not fully developed and so institutions and investigative bodies were not prepared to handle these cases. Experts when consulted offered no clear direction. Institutions like the church, schools, orphanages and children's organizations like the Boy Scouts, Boys and Girls clubs were often left on their own to deal with complains and allegations that came to them. No doubt there was some thought of protecting the integrity of the institution especially when no protocols were available. Eventually, professionals such as psychologists and psychiatrists and social workers began to intensively study cases of sexual abuse and develop new protocols and legislation which we have available today.
Unfortunately the media applies the knowledge we have today with the handling of cases from the past and tries to hold people accountable using today's standards. This is unfair and does not recognize advances in our knowledge of the causes and the treatments of those who abuse nor the advances made in developing protocols for handling these cases. For example, there were no child abuse registers legislated by provinces and no protocols by organizations to refer to the registers when hiring staff to work with children. There was the widely held belief that if someone wanted to work with children that this was a well-intentioned and noble aspiration. As a result child abusers were able to continue their secret lives undetected.
The media is in the position of never to being wrong. First, they can report allegations of abuse sometimes with only the news that an event has occurred and nothing more. The next report will be another tidbit of information. This can go on for several days or weeks. Then when the event actually does happen such as charges laid or lawsuit initiated, it is reported again. By this time the abuser, who has also been incarcerated or, after a bail hearing, been released awaiting trial, looks guilty as a result of all the media coverage. At this point no trial in a court of law has even begun. The axiom "innocent until proven guilty" in a court of law does not apply in the public's mind. Then once the trial begins the news cycle begins anew with more speculation in the media and finally when a verdict is announced it is reported again. Sometimes this ends the speculation but other times speculation is made about launching an appeal. This leads to more speculation and media reporting unless the large time gaps in the legal process leads the media to abandon the case in favour of other stories where speculation can occur.
It is obvious that this process is good for the media that sells advertising during the newscasts. Also being the first to "break the story" will give them an advantage over their competitors, which will also bring in more revenue and some notoriety for being the media organization that "first broke the story". All during this type of reporting, the media can easily fall into the trap of biased reporting.
This is the context in which the reporting of the child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church has occurred. The Christian Church, with its belief in, love, compassion and redemption, holds everyone to be accountable for their own misconduct (sins). They must not only reveal and confess their misdeeds but also must do it with the realization that they have done harm to another person(s) and vow to make amends and to change their conduct in the future.
Forgiveness is another important foundation stone of the Christian faith system. Forgiveness requires that the one who has been harmed (sinned against) by the misconduct of another person must accept, understand, and offer hope to the perpetrator. This is a difficult part of the Christian faith to live out. It requires tremendous love, compassion and trust that the perpetrator genuinely wants to reform. For example, the case where a loved one has been murdered and how difficult it must be to forgive and offer assistance to the person responsible. There is something so noble in the person who is able to forgive in this situation. On the other hand it is also quite disturbing to hear a person state that they will never forgive and add that they will not be satisfied until the murderer has paid the ultimate price.
Our Canadian society and other societies have tried to live out the Christian faith by enacting laws that reflect this tenant of "love one another" and forgiveness. For example, Canadian law no longer requires the death penalty for persons convicted of first-degree murder. That is, the barbaric behaviour of putting a person to death for breaking the law is against the values of Canadian society. One can argue that the substitute penalty of life in prison is just as barbaric, still the convicted person has their life, such as it is. The convicted person has their basic needs met and a chance to reform over time. The assumption is that all persons are basically "good" and when given time and an opportunity can reform.
The Catholic Church is now in a crisis, however as with all crises this provides an opportunity to reform and to correct the wrongs that have been hidden and rendered unaccountable in the past. Institutional abuse has been revealed in the Catholic Church. Priests who have been convicted in a court of law have maintained secret lives and have abused children or collected pornographic images to satisfy their perversion. This misconduct of a few has tarnished the credibility and trust of all clergy who may now be viewed with suspicion by some. The Church will now need to reform itself to assure parishioners that it has changed and will develop measures and protocols to assist the institution to properly handle complains in the future. This must start at the local Church level and hopefully spread to the upper levels of the Church hierarchy. This process has started in the Archdiocese of Halifax. The Archbishop of Halifax, in his Easter message, announced his commitment to "re-founding our church", by making it more transparent and accountable. In addition to… personal, spiritual and moral resurrection there must be efforts to re-found our institutional practices in the hope of being more consistent with Christ's expectation for us all". To make this happen there must be …"comprehensive policies and clear processes to correspond to complex conditions of our day, in which the gospel is to be proposed". These processes will include how to deal with …"complaints, concerns and criticisms regarding the state of a parish, and the actions of a priest or any person serving the church". Any such matters would include careful investigation before any action is taken.
It obvious the Church is trying to respond and must respond to past failures. What is refreshing is the action taken by the local the Church even at this late date - a testimony of the desire and commitment by the clergy with the help of its parishioners to find a way to prevent misconduct going forward. A process for the removal of offenders must be the first priority but as well there must be a focus on those who have been harmed in the past, help offered and, if required, compensation offered.
Can the media allow itself the opportunity to report on these efforts as a positive outcome of a sad past of the institution of the Church or will the media dwell on criticism of the attempts being made by a well-meaning church and hinder the attempts being made to address the problem and set the church on a new course.
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1. Phillip Jenkins, Pedophiles and Priests: Anatomy of a Contemporary Crisis (1996) New York Oxford University Press, pp. 50 and 82
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