What I didn't know until this morning, is that Santorum wrote the article in 2002. Now I hear Teddy "Hero of Chappaquiddick" Kennedy went to the Senate floor yesterday and slammed Santorum for something he wrote three years ago. That says a LOT to me about how good Santorum really is...
What exactly did Santorum write that has everybody up in arms?
Priests, like all of us, are affected by culture. When the culture is sick, every element in it becomes infected. While it is no excuse for this scandal, it is no surprise that Boston, a seat of academic, political and cultural liberalism in America, lies at the center of the storm.At least Pogge had the decency to put in a bit more context than MSNBC. Here is the full third paragraph of the piece:
It is startling that those in the media and academia appear most disturbed by this aberrant behavior, since they have zealously promoted moral relativism by sanctioning "private" moral matters such as alternative lifestyles. Priests, like all of us, are affected by culture. When the culture is sick, every element in it becomes infected. While it is no excuse for this scandal, it is no surprise that Boston, a seat of academic, political and cultural liberalism in America, lies at the center of the storm.You have to equate moral relativism with liberalism and you also have to accept that the media and academia are liberal institutions in order to be offended by this whole paragraph. Santorum is saying that he doesn't understand why the media and academics are so stunned by the scandal because they are the ones who promote the kinds of alternative lifestyles that "slippery slope" in to abuse. You can argue that point with Santorum if you like, but he has a fair point in my book. The problem with liberalism, as I see Santorum seeing it, is that there aren't any clearly defined boundaries of what is, and more importantly, what is not acceptable behavior.
Do I think promoting alternative lifestyles leads to sexual abuse of children? Honestly, I don't think so...but nobody really knows for sure. I definitely don't think doing so would lead to the scandal that has plagued the Church. The problem that the Church faces is that they have failed to do the right thing when they learned of the abuse. Instead of defrocking these priests and reporting them to the authorities, the Church protected these guys by moving them around. I don't blame the Church or liberalism for the abuse. I blame them for the sin of ommission.
Here is one point that Santorum makes with which I can agree completely:
The key to success, as the Pope stated in his 1999 exhortation, The Church in America, is to be "formed in the truths and values of the Church's social teaching and in the basic notions of a theology of the laity." A renewed, united effort of clergy and laity will transform the Church. That this does not already occur belies the greatest systemic failure of the Church in America where so many cradle Catholics have left the Church or go "unchurched" because of exposure to uninspired, watered down versions of our faith by those with deficient seminary training. In light of recent events, the laity must guide them back.That's the way I see it...because I am one of the "unchurched."
1:40PM Update
Apparently Santorum has repeated this line recently and hence the fury. I stand corrected on that point thanks to Captain Ed, who has more to say on the subject.Here is the relevant bit from the Washington Post:
Asked by the Boston Globe this week whether he stood by his remark, Santorum said he did. "I was just saying that there's an attitude that is very open to sexual freedom that is more predominant" in Boston, the Globe quoted him as saying Tuesday.Ther are better ways of phraising this sentiment, Senator.
