Sophia Douglas
Final Paper
SOCL 326
Sins of a Catholic
It is a normal thing for the body of Christ to be handed out at mass, but the way some
priests have decided to hand out the body of Christ is not so holy. The Catholic Church has been
in the headlines for multiple reasons, but the most neutrois of them all are the allegations of
sexual assault of children in the churches. In this paper I will be discussing different elements of
the Catholic Church, including how gay and lesbian Catholics in Britain respond to their religion,
the first publicized sexual abuse case from the church, reproductive politics surrounding the
church during the Cold War in Europe, arguments of misconceptions about the sexual abuse
cases, the church covering up sexual abuse cases, the small amount of research that has been
done on cases, and a possible reasoning on why priests conduct these sexual assaults on those in
the church.
In Britain, the gay and lesbian community within the Roman Catholic Church were given
surveys through the postal service. Around one hundred and twenty-one surveys were collected
and analyzed. The surveys were composed to analyze how they felt towards the Catholic
Church’s positions on sexuality, more importantly homosexuality. The Catholic Church has
labeled homosexuality as an objective disorder, and their engagement in homosexual genital acts
as intrinsically disordered. A vast majority of the responses said that the Catholic Church’s
arguments on these issues were unconvincing. Others found their acts of homosexuality and
same-sex relationships compatible with their Catholic faith.
In 1985 the first ever publicized sexual-abuse case happened in Louisiana. This case still
continues to capture headlines and the publics’ imagination around the country. In this article, by
Frawley-O’Dea, the history of the case is discussed. It was common that the abused were known
to be those who served directly under clerics and priests. The churches are known to cover-up
any and all scandals, such as this. During this article we learn about one young man’s experience
of sexual assault done by a priest when he was a small boy. This article dives into the history of
past sexual-abuse cases within the church and shows an inside on how and why they cover up
these scandals when they come out.
Post World War two era, during the Cold War in Europe, the Catholic Church played a
major role in shedding light on Europe’s position in the global processes that shape fertility and
sexuality related practices during the Cold War. Reproductive politics were at the center of
historical investigations during post WW2. The role of the Catholic Church was shown by how
the reproductive issues allowed the church to affect politics. This showed how much of an effect
the Catholic Church has had and continues to have in political issues such as this.
In 2002, the sexual assault of young boys by priests was the scandal of the Roman
Catholic Church. These scandalous cases brought up misconceptions that those who are
homosexual are at a greater risk of being a pedophile. The article, written by Clark, is able to
debunk this misconception.
This next article, by Walker, goes into greater detail as to why priests could be doing this
to young boys. Priests take a vow of celibacy when they decide to give their lives to the church.
Due to this, the abuse they committed was a byproduct of dissociation of sexuality from their
spiritual life and religious practice. In the early days of the church, “fathers” interpreted the
biblical texts through a misogynist lens that legitimized an all-male priesthood. This excluded
women from any position of power in the church and created a misogynous view of the sexual
body of women.
When the world first found out about these cases, it sent out a kind of shock wave. The
way people reacted when they found out priests from their church were sexually assaulting
children in the churches, especially when the churches were covering them up. The history of the
church covering up the sexual abuse of children was looked down upon by those outside of the
church and those who are a part of the church.
There has only been a small amount of research done on this topic. Priests sexually
abusing young children has been a topic that has been covered up by the Catholic Church for
many years, and most victims have barely spoken out about what has happened to them. About
two percent of priests have been found to be engaging in pedophilia, with an additional four
percent engaging in sexual conduct with post-pubescent children (ephebophilia). There are still
no real answers as to how these priests made headlines, whether it was the victims speaking out
so others would come forward, or if the church forced the priests to come forward themselves.
References
Yip, A. K. T. (1997). Dare to differ: Gay and lesbian Catholics’ assessment of official Catholic
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