Columnist Kersten has the sex abuse scandal wrong

In her op-ed in today's Star Tribune (April 11), columnist Katherine Kersten attacked the media for their coverage of the brewing sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. She wrote:

"The media's sensationalistic crusade against clergy sexual abuse is not so much about protecting children as it is about discrediting the Catholic Church. If media pooh-bahs' one-sided outrage can hobble the church's moral authority and sap its financial base, they will have removed a major obstacle to their agenda's triumph."

She sets up a straw man by creating a media conspiracy that I don't believe exists. She writes:

"The church draws the mainstream media's ire because, in a world increasingly characterized by moral relativism, it continues to teach enduring moral rules that don't shift with cultural fashions. It dares to challenge the doctrine preached by America's new priestly class -- our opinionmaking elite -- on social issues ranging from abortion and embryonic stem cell research to same-sex marriage."

But that's not the point. The real issue is about child abuse by some priests, clergy granted trust by parents and children who abused that trust in the most vile way and ruined the lives of young people. It is also about the alleged failure of the church hierarchy to respond appropriately or forcefully or, in some cases, to cover up the growing scandal from California to Minnesota to Ireland to Germany to the Vatican.

The church is an important and powerful institution that affects the lives of millions of its followers and non-followers alike. When its leaders act improperly or fail to address a serious problem, it should be subject scrutiny and criticism like any other major institution or government.

Furthermore, its leaders often make political statements, as is their right, about same-sex marriage, stem cell research, the health care bill's alleged lack of strong enough language on abortion funding and whether President Obama should have been invited to speak and receive an honorary degree at the University of Notre Dame. If the church wants to take a stand in the public square, it has to face the music when its own house is not in order.

I'm not sure what she means by this. I suppose supporting equal rights for all people, working for social justice, opposing war and trying to extend health care coverage to millions of uninsured could be construed as "playing catch-up with the culture." I guess I should feel lucky because she left my faith tradition, Reform Judaism, out of the mix. But as best I can tell, we are right in there with the Protestants and, by the way, many Catholics and Muslims.

I hesitated to write about the church scandal because it's always a bit dicey writing about someone else's religion. But then I talked to my wife, who was raised Catholic, attended Catholic school for nine years and whose uncle was a priest and theology professor for 30 years. She encouraged me to write about the sex abuse scandal saying, "It's embarrassing for anyone who grew up Catholic."

The church's response has been tepid and all over the map. One Vatican priest likened criticism of the church to violent anti-semitism.

The Washington Post, writing about the lack of coherent response from the Vatican, quoted a former spokesman for the U.S. bishops as saying, "My best answer would be a primal scream. It reflects a totally inadequate understanding and mind-set as to the whole subject of communications."

Public relations consultants usually advise their clients facing a crisis to level with the public, not to be defensive, accept responsibility and develop a plan to resolve the problem. Kersten's phony media conspiracy continues to ignore the ramifications of the scandal.