Blessed is the Kingdom

Seeking The Kingdom In All Things

Roman Polanski: What if He Were ‘Father Polanski’?

While I am quite aware that posting a link to this particular article could cause a great deal of controversy, I truly believe David Gibson has a valid point in this recent column. Shortly after the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church I was asked to take on the position of Diocesan Coordinator for Youth Ministry. It was a difficult time to a priest and to be given the job of working with children. One thing it taught me is that we cannot let down our guard when it comes to the protection of children from sexual abuse. 

I hope those who read this blog will take the time to read Mr. Gibson’s column and enter into a conversation here. It is not a happy topic, but one we cannot afford to ignore. You can click on the link below to find the column.

Roman Polanski: What if He Were ‘Father Polanski’?

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This entry was posted by on Monday, October 5th, 2009 at 5:21 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

About The Author

Fr. Christian is the pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Lenoir City, TN.

Comments

  • http://www.hisdaughter02.blogspot.com Karin

    Excellent article. When I first heard of the charges against Mr. Polanski, my immediate thought was basically the title of that article- What if he were a Catholic priest? A crime is a crime is a crime and treatment of it should not be based on who or what you are- all should be held accountable and receive fair trial. I can’t help but think of Fr. Gordon MacRae who has served, so far, 15 yrs. of a much longer sentence in prison for abuse crimes he did not commit. His story can be found at
    http://www.thesestonewalls.com/a-priests-story/.
    Both Mr. Polanski’s and Fr. MacRae’s cases are an abuse of justice.

  • Pete O’Hare

    We had a priest friend who was accused of sexual misconduct by a law firm that had previously secured a large judgement against a wealthy Catholic diocese.The key phrase here is “large judgement”. It often is about money. All the facts in the charge against our friend were presented to the police and then the Grand Jury.He was exonerated legally.but the persistant plaintiffs attorney eventually forced the end of a good priests ministry.
    Polansky pled guilty to a reprehensible sex crime,against a victim weakened and made less caqpable of self defense by giving her drugs and alcohol.He owes the victim and society his acceptance of appropriate punishment.And no self inflicted suffering counts.

  • http://www.blestatheist.com Elizabeth Mahlou

    It’s about time that questions are being raised about BOTH sides of this issue. Many aspects of the current situation strike me as parallel to the Salem witch trials. Just replace the motivation of fear with the motivation of money. As a victim of sexual abuse, I don’t take such abuse lightly, but I also have seen much travesty of justice in the case of the sex scandal associated with the Catholic church. In our diocese, a priest has recently been accused and removed while waiting trial. Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty? Many do not believe he is guilty because the person who brought the charge is angry with him over something totally unrelated. It seems too convenient to suddenly “remember” something from the past. (Plus, memories are pretty fickle. Some states are now requiring other evidence to corroborate eyewitness testimony, given the vast amount of research that shows how easily memories are changed by outside interference, intervention, and suggestion.

    I pray for all innocent priests caught in this devilish web. And for all those who did fall to temptation. Both need mercy.

  • http://pithlessthoughts.blogspot.com/ s-p

    A bold post, Father, but necessary. The international and Hollywood reaction to Polanski and its reaction to the same offenses by Christians shows how deeply into the post-modern, post- and anti-Christian Western European darkness we’ve plunged. The only vestige of Western Christianity is the notion that his “sufferings” have been sufficient penance for his offense (of course the gravity of the “penance” is defined by Hollywood: not being able to personally pick up an Oscar is atonement for rape…) This is the industry that is morally and philosophically educating us and our children through all manner of media. Lord have mercy.

  • In Passim

    As testimony of Hollywoodean hypocrisy this parallel holds. But still, child-molesting Catholic priests are perceived by the faithful as repositories of morality and conduits to higher wisdom, something that Polanski, with all his faults, never pretended to be. There’s more to talk about: victims tend to be younger, rape tends to be homosexual in addition to everything else, and so on., but let’s not get into too much detail – the long and the short of it, imo, is that child-molesting priests are far worse than Polanski, though he *is* a criminal and should be punished, no doubt.

  • Fr. Christian Mathis

    My main point in posting the article is a reminder that it is never acceptable to make excuses for someone who has admitted to a crime of child sexual abuse, whether it be a priest or someone in the film industry.

    I agree with those who say that many of the priests and bishops involved in the Church abuse scandal were unfairly given a pass for too long and yes it is worse due to the fact that they were men who were supposed to be living a higher standard, but abuse is abuse. Every victim of abuse suffers not only from the act itself, but from the continued effects and it does not matter if the act was heterosexual or homosexual, whether committed by Polanski, a parish priest, a trusted family member, teacher, coach, etc.

    Those who prey upon children should be held accountable by society and not defended with excuses.

    There is one statement that I would disagree with in In Passim’s comment. I have very rarely met Catholics or others who perceive child-molesting priests as repositories of morality and higher wisdom. The majority of the faithful see them as predators. Are there still a few of the faithful who want to make excuses for them, I’m sure there are, but they are miniscule in number.

  • In Passim

    “I have very rarely met Catholics or others who perceive child-molesting priests as repositories of morality and higher wisdom.”
    Oh my God, what have I written! :-) Of course it’s nonsense: I meant that priests in general are perceived like that, and the when some of them turn out to be molesters, the betrayal is enormous. Sorry for careless posting, of course you are correct, Father.

  • Anne

    It is unfortunate that there are cases where false accusations are made. While good data on the subject is lacking, best estimates indicate, for example, that as many as 8 to 10% of rape allegations made to the police are false. Such false allegations make courts, the police and others skeptical of all victims of sexual abuse at great cost to those victims and to the cause of justice.

    However, though a false allegation is a terrible thing for all involved and for society as a whole, it does not follow that an accused priest (or any adult in a position of authority, especially when children are involved) should be allowed to continue in active ministry while allegations are being investigated. If the church permitted accused priests to remain in their parishes and positions during investigations, they would effectively be leaving themselves open to further liability in the event that the allegations were proven true. Such liability would be serious and inevitably lead to larger damage awards in these cases. It would also lead to victims feeling that the church sheltered abusers and cast their lot against those who were wrongfully injured by those they trusted. That would be a very bad position for the church to be in.

    False accusation is a horrible thing, and I cannot imagine what it must be like for the accused to go through the process of removal and investigation. But we must not lose sight of the fact that many of these accusations are true and damaging.

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