Lepers, Molesters, and You

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Apr 13, 2003

Fr. Stephen Rossetti (America, 9-9-95) on clerical sex abuse:

Fearing contagion, Hawaii's government sent the victims of Hansen's disease [leprosy] to a settlement on the island of Molokai. The fear, a mixture of clinical facts and centuries of misinformation, fueled an irrational response to the disease. False legends and popular myths made those afflicted with Hansen's disease a dreaded people. It might be argued that child molesters are different from those with Hansen's disease in that they are guilty of a crime, while lepers suffer from a physical disease.

(Most of us would feel that this distinction is not one that "might" be argued but one that must be made -- one without which moral reasoning entirely collapses. But moral reasoning seems fairly peripheral to those who treat abusing priests. If you've been paying attention to the post-modern "fear of the Other" cant that seems to reign undisputed at the Saint Luke Institute, you can probably guess the pay-off line:)

Child sex molesters are singled out for particular loathing and punishment that is now being institutionalized by state governments. Truly, they bear the mark of Cain.