The last acceptable bias

The depths to which secular journalists have sunk to attack the Church is deplorable . . .

The past few months have been painful for Catholics. Ever since March 25 when The New York Times published a slanted, skillfully deceptive article on Pope Benedict XVI’s handling of sexual abuse cases, a steady drip of stories has attempted to erode the Church’s moral authority.

Unfortunately, most Catholics only get their news from the mainstream media where political correctness is everything and the last acceptable bias is to loathe the Catholic Church and everything it stands for. But people are starting to see through the bias and deception. The number of people watching the network evening news and reading the Times continues to plummet.

One aspect of the abuse scandal that the secular media is not telling you is this: Almost all of the cases in question happened in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s by homosexual priests. Over the past 10 to 15 years, more stringent psychological evaluation methods are keeping pedophiles and homosexuals out of the seminaries. In fact, the one who helped implement these procedures was none other than Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict.

Church leaders, psychologists and the justice system understood child abuse differently in the 1950s than they do now. And they treated it differently. That’s another great distinction the media doesn’t want you to consider.

Something else they won’t tell you: The latest report from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, covering 2008-2009, shows exactly six credible allegations made against over 40,000 priests and tens of thousands of others working for the Catholic Church. That’s still too many. The goal is zero, and we’re getting there. But it’s a far cry from the numbers the media would have us believe.

Another fact the media is ignoring is that, according to a 2004 study prepared for the U.S. Department of Education, “the physical sexual abuse of students in [public] schools is likely more than 100 times the abuse by priests.” I reported on this study, authored by Charol Shakeshaft, when it was released. “The most accurate data available at this time” indicates that “nearly 9.6% of students are targets of educator sexual misconduct sometime during their school career.” Where are headlines on this? Where is the outrage over educators abusing children? The media’s silence offers strong proof of its bias against the Church for its unbending moral stance on issues like abortion, homosexuality and contraception. The media has long foregone its commitment to truth in order to pursue an ideological agenda.

Don’t get me wrong. Those responsible for protecting children in the Church have made grave mistakes. Priests have committed horrible crimes. But an inordinate amount of ink has been spilled to condemn the Holy Father. Pope Benedict has, in his own words, been committed to cleaning up the “filth” in the Church for decades. Assuredly he will continue even as the “gates of hell” rail against him.

Patrick Novecosky is Legatus Magazine’s editor.