Problems with Centering
Jun. 12th, 2019 10:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
walkitouthttps://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2019/06/11/catholic-bishops-convene-confront-sex-abuse-crisis/cXnYwqCiKJLhOQxNYQ4ngI/story.html
Here is the paragraph that led me to post about this story and event:
“Francesco Cesareo, an academic who chairs a national sex-abuse review board set up by the bishops, told the meeting’s opening session that the involvement of laity is critical if the bishops are to regain public trust after ‘‘a period of intense suffering’’ for the church.”
A period of intense suffering ... FOR THE CHURCH.
Wow. So, we spend _years_ beating this organization up (not literally, obviously, because what would that even mean? But honestly, we should think about it because the idea is NOT getting through!) to try to get them to recognize that some of their hierarchy is doing horrifying things to their membership. And the takeaway to the church is apparently, oh, woe are we, we are being picked on by law enforcement etc.
Look, I get that a church is the body of believers, and who knows, maybe Cesareo meant it other than how it sounds. He seems to be doing something useful: trying to hound the bishops into accepting oversight from other-than-perpetrators. He is advocating that reports should go to civil authorities first, not later and never. I do not want to pick on Cesareo particularly. I think he said this to create rapport with his audience. I feel you pain, he says, here is a way to move forward.
But, ow.
Wrong pain.
There are other things to complain about in the article. The article quotes in church and external to the church (Pew) data showing declines in attendance, but ONLY includes the in church source on number of members and membership attendance (Pew has that data too, and if you look at it, the difference matters). By only including the church’s assessment of their membership and attendance rates, the article puts a thumb on the scale for the reader’s assessment of the size, importance and commitment of the church. I feel some confidence in saying, they did this pragmatically to avoid getting a bunch of outraged highly committed Catholics contacting the paper to say, you used the wrong numbers! But this is supposed to be journalism. Pew data is really solid, and AFAIK, this is the only denomination that gets this type of treatment.
A large chunk of the end of the article is about the Southern Baptist Convention’s response to exposure of abuse.
“Stung by the allegations, convention leaders have forwarded to the delegates meeting in Birmingham a proposed amendment to the convention constitution making clear that an individual church could be expelled for mishandling or covering up sex-abuse cases. The proposal also designates racism as grounds for expulsion.
Another proposal calls for assigning the convention’s Credentials Committee to field claims against churches with regard to sexual abuse and racial discrimination.”
R. characterizes the Southern Baptist response as two decades behind the Catholic Church. I dunno. This does not sounds especially far behind. But when you have such retrogressive organizations competing for who can be most awful, it can be hard to characterize where they are comparatively.
Here is the paragraph that led me to post about this story and event:
“Francesco Cesareo, an academic who chairs a national sex-abuse review board set up by the bishops, told the meeting’s opening session that the involvement of laity is critical if the bishops are to regain public trust after ‘‘a period of intense suffering’’ for the church.”
A period of intense suffering ... FOR THE CHURCH.
Wow. So, we spend _years_ beating this organization up (not literally, obviously, because what would that even mean? But honestly, we should think about it because the idea is NOT getting through!) to try to get them to recognize that some of their hierarchy is doing horrifying things to their membership. And the takeaway to the church is apparently, oh, woe are we, we are being picked on by law enforcement etc.
Look, I get that a church is the body of believers, and who knows, maybe Cesareo meant it other than how it sounds. He seems to be doing something useful: trying to hound the bishops into accepting oversight from other-than-perpetrators. He is advocating that reports should go to civil authorities first, not later and never. I do not want to pick on Cesareo particularly. I think he said this to create rapport with his audience. I feel you pain, he says, here is a way to move forward.
But, ow.
Wrong pain.
There are other things to complain about in the article. The article quotes in church and external to the church (Pew) data showing declines in attendance, but ONLY includes the in church source on number of members and membership attendance (Pew has that data too, and if you look at it, the difference matters). By only including the church’s assessment of their membership and attendance rates, the article puts a thumb on the scale for the reader’s assessment of the size, importance and commitment of the church. I feel some confidence in saying, they did this pragmatically to avoid getting a bunch of outraged highly committed Catholics contacting the paper to say, you used the wrong numbers! But this is supposed to be journalism. Pew data is really solid, and AFAIK, this is the only denomination that gets this type of treatment.
A large chunk of the end of the article is about the Southern Baptist Convention’s response to exposure of abuse.
“Stung by the allegations, convention leaders have forwarded to the delegates meeting in Birmingham a proposed amendment to the convention constitution making clear that an individual church could be expelled for mishandling or covering up sex-abuse cases. The proposal also designates racism as grounds for expulsion.
Another proposal calls for assigning the convention’s Credentials Committee to field claims against churches with regard to sexual abuse and racial discrimination.”
R. characterizes the Southern Baptist response as two decades behind the Catholic Church. I dunno. This does not sounds especially far behind. But when you have such retrogressive organizations competing for who can be most awful, it can be hard to characterize where they are comparatively.