Priests and Abuse: A Violation of Trust
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Date: 8 April 2010
The Vatican in Crisis
The sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church has now exploded in Europe and Latin America. Some media stories have even implicated Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, in the cover-up. The Vatican, however, is hunkering down, likening itself to victims of anti-Semitism and lashing out at critics. Jesuit priest Tom Reese explains what's at stake for the Catholic Church.
Thomas Reese, S.J., Senior Fellow of Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University
A Victim's Story
Begins at 22 min 30 sec
There's one perspective often missing from the priest sex abuse coverage: a victim's insight. The scandal has resurrected painful memories for Northern Virgina resident Becky Ianni, who was molested from ages 9 to 11 by her parish priest. She joins us to name her experience...and her abuser.
Pictured: The photograph that brought back repressed memories of abuse for Ianni.
Becky Ianni, director of the Virginia chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP
Web Extra: Click here to listen to our full interview with Becky Ianni
The Psychology of Abuse
Begins at 30 min 15 sec
Abusive priests all over the world have been removed from ministry. But where do they go from there? The Saint Luke Institute in Silver Spring, Md. provides psychological treatment for priests and nuns with a range of problems, from alcoholism to sexual disorders. The institute's former president explains why he believes pedophile priests can be successfully treated, and why they must never return to ministry with minors.
Pictured: The Saint Luke Institute in Silver Spring, MD
Monsignor Stephen J. Rossetti, former president and CEO of the Saint Luke Institute
Commentary: 'Father Does Not Know Best'
Begins at 42 min 1 sec
When it comes to reforming the Catholic Church, you can’t use the master’s tools to dismantle the master’s house. That's according to feminist theologian Mary Hunt, who argues for a radical overhaul of the Catholic hierarchical structure and a new, horizontal model of church.
Mary E. Hunt, author of "Father Does Not Know Best: How to Fix the Catholic Church," and co-founder of the Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual, or WATER
The Texas School Board: Rewriting History?
Begins at 46 min 10 sec
The Texas school board is making some big changes. In mid-March, they voted for a new curriculum that will alter what teachers must cover and what’s in the textbooks. If approved, the new curriculum will play down the role of Thomas Jefferson, play up the importance of Ronald Reagan, and assert that the founders intended the U.S. to be a Christian nation, among other things. That doesn’t sit well with Susan Jacoby, who worries that this mostly conservative board may be re-writing history.
Pictured: Thomas Jefferson, who was removed from a list of revolutionaries in the Texas curriculum
Susan Jacoby, author of Free Thinkers: A History of American Secularism and a panelist for the Washington Post and Newsweek’s blog, On Faith
