Viewing crisis from the outside

"It is troubling," he noted. "I think it would be troubling to any priest. I have reservations to the manner in which the press is treating it, as if it's all priests. But I look at it as part of human frailty -- not as an excuse, but the accusers have their own bones in their closets."

America isn't the only country where the Church has dealt with scandal. Father Magesa cited reports last year about some priests in Africa sexually abusing nuns: "Again, they made it sound like all African priests rape nuns."

However, he said, that revelation didn't become a national outrage in Tanzania as the sexual abuse scandal has here.

"There is a big difference between the U.S. and Africa," he explained. "The publicity about that situation was more in the Western world than in Africa -- so the thing just kind of died down on its own. And also, these were adults. It didn't involve children."

On the current scandal, Father Magesa has concluded that "I tend to agree with the bishops here who say we are wiser by hindsight. Those bishops who were moving priests from place to place, I think they thought that was the most pastoral thing to do. They weren't encouraging priests to go and do this in another place."

He compared the current furor over bishops' decisions years ago to criticism over whether President George W. Bush should have taken memos about possible terrorist attacks more seriously before Sept. 11.

"If you were in the same situation, you would have pooh-poohed it, too," he argued.

Still, said the priest, "I'm not defending the bishops. I think they made mistakes." (KB)

(05-30-02) [[In-content Ad]]