David French writes a weekly column in the Atlantic which has been a joy for me since he writes so well. His column today took on a more personal interest. He writes about clerical sexual among southern Baptists clergy. My experience as a Catholic Priest from 1963-1969 prompts me to elaborate on this problem.
When I was ordained, I was totally unaware of this problem. During the eight years of education, we have studied foreign languages, memorized the Webster Dictionary, read all sorts of theologians, e.g., Thomas Aquinas, but there was never a reference to sexual abuse by the clergy. We were not “educated” about the issue.
It did not take long before several of my priest contemporaries made the “news”. Even some of my classmates of eight years were cited. One of the priests, ordained a year before me, with a history of being moved from one parish to another because of his sexual behavior (mostly with minors) ended up in Walpole Prison where he was killed by another prison inmate.
Over the years, I noticed that I did not read about such behavior among the Protestant clergy or clergy of other religions. I assumed that their being married explained the difference
In recent months, I have read more and more about such behavior throughout the clerical world. I admit that my understanding of such behavior among Catholic clergy was that they saw a source of esteemed employment that rewarded their disinterest or fear of sexual activity associated with marriage. But once in a situation of being with a female who openly wanted some advice or information, they started to experience desires that they could not control.
But, now reading about such behavior among Protestant Clergy requires my thinking more about the subject. My latest theory is that being a religious leader gives a woman a degree of openness with a pastor because they never considered that they would be an object of sexual desire by the clerical leader. They thought that they would be safe!
It seems that women who have done so much to make the world great have to be aware of such clerical behavior.
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