Paedophilia is a very un-comfortable subject—most people dismiss the topic if it is brought up in conversations—the very idea is repulsive to most human beings, yet paedophilia is part of the human condition whether we like to accept the idea or not—and in order to protect innocent children going forward it is vital that society address this complex issue with vigour.
The most recent report from the diocese of Cloyne is surrounded with legal controversy and the omitted text from the original report is now in the public domain. The question that I would like to ask my fellow citizens is what in effect does this mean—for example will this report aid us in our understanding of what actually happened—or will it be filed away under the heading ‘We are very sorry—and we offer all the victims substantial financial compensation,’ then nothing is heard of the whole sad saga until some other terrible account of abuse is unearthed.
My next question is if these findings are in the public domain what can we learn about the nature of abuse and indeed abusers—as I firmly believe that the more we understand the nature of things especially when they are perverse the greater the possibility of us preventing further abuse down the road. I am indeed a very curious person and I do like to search the motivations of people who do things to others that are intrinsically cruel and damaging. However when I read the analysis of the Cloyne debacle I sigh because it is woefully short in this area.
There must be countless studies done all over the world into institutionalised child abuse—both sexual and physical but yet the best that our media experts can come up with is that the Catholic Church attracted paedophiles into its ranks as they had this desire to place themselves in positions of authority over children.
I thought about this long and hard before I suddenly shouted aloud ‘rubbish,’ think of what we are been asked to believe—young men many of whom were from good stable backgrounds consciously chose the priesthood so that they could abuse children—to do this they had to go through the seminary and read their way through theology—in order to pursue their quest. To follow this theory to its conclusion each abuser would have had to plan to do this individually and without collusion—I find this theory implausible.
Another explanation is offered that perhaps the church creates this abusive trait because of the all male celibate world which it endorses and indeed insists on as part of its doctrine. Those who adhere to this explanation accuse the church of corrupting normal young men, by denying them sexual release thus corrupting their sexual desires and making them social misfits and a danger to society. I don’t believe in this thesis either because if it were true a far greater number of priests would have abused children rather than the minority who did.
Also it is important to remember that child abuse is not confined to the religious—most children are abused in their own homes by a parent or a member of the extended family. Around the world many children were and I presume are abused in state run institutions where there is no clerical involvement.
I have just released my short story called the ‘The Fuchsia Walk,’ in this story a young curate hears the confession of his parish priest by the fireside in the parochial house. There follows a moral dilemma as the parish priest confesses incidents of child abuse. The story begins as the young curate confesses to his Bishop and a couple of theologians. The striking issue in the confession was an almost vitriolic statement by the parish priest—when he was asked why he committed the heinous crime—he answered—‘because I could—and with impunity.’ The young curate goes on sabbatical to West Cork where he takes the Fuchsia walk—and suffers a terrible epiphany in relation to the dark side of his own sexuality.
I am not for one second claiming to have the answer to the problems our society faces in relation to the problems set out above—but I think the theory that somehow if some men hold a very high expectancy of impunity—whilst placed in positions of power—this dark side of their sexuality can manifest itself leading to the terrible abuse of innocent children. Perhaps this theory is worthy of discussion.
The Fuchsia Walk is available as an e-book on smashwords at $1.99
No comments:
Post a Comment