NBC Uses Penn State Scandal to Slam Catholic Church
On Wednesday's NBC Nightly News, anchor Brian Williams followed a report on the child sex abuse scandal at Penn State University by drawing this comparison: "A lot of people watching this scandal unfold at Penn State, watching the human damage pile up, watching an institution get badly soiled, can't help but think of the scandal that rocked the Catholic Church in America. There are a lot of parallels."
In the full report that followed, correspondent Anne Thompson gratuitously used the opportunity to slam the Church: "Almost ten years ago, the Boston Globe broke the story of priests abusing minors and the cover-up by Church officials, shattering the Archdiocese and the faith of many American Catholics. One of its reporters sees parallels in the Penn State case....Critics say these are institutions of power, secrecy, mythology, dominated by men who circled the wagons in a crisis."
In the report, a sound bite was included from David Clohessy of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests: "We, as a society, have to learn that we must come down like a ton of bricks on men who hide and ignore child sex crimes. Quiet resignations, sudden retirements, that doesn't cut it."
However, Clohessy himself failed to report to police child sexual abuse allegations against his brother, a Catholic priest, in the 1990s. Thompson failed to mention that fact.
Near the end of the segment, Thompson revealed the source of the Penn State/Catholic Church comparison: "In today's New York Times, Jonathan Mahler writes both the Church and Penn State, 'In the face of a moral imperative to act, chose silence,' failing to live up to their own ideals of integrity and honor."
In that article, Mahler declared:
A better comparison would be the sexual molestation scandals that rocked another insular, all-male institution, the Roman Catholic Church. The parallels are too striking to ignore. A suspected predator who exploits his position to take advantage of his young charges. The trusting colleagues who don’t want to believe it – and so don't. Even confronted with convincing proof, they choose to protect their institution's reputation....This was the dynamic that pervaded the Catholic clerical culture during its sexual abuse scandals, and it seems to have been no less pervasive at Penn State.
Here is a full transcript of Thompson's November 9 report:
7:04PM ET
BRIAN WILLIAMS: A lot of people watching this scandal unfold at Penn State, watching the human damage pile up, watching an institution get badly soiled, can't help but think of the scandal that rocked the Catholic Church in America. There are a lot of parallels. Our report tonight from NBC's Anne Thompson.
ANNE THOMPSON: Penn State football is the latest institution to learn the high cost of silence. Just as the Boy Scouts of America did, losing a multi-million dollar sex abuse case last year.
PAUL MONES [SEXUAL ABUSE ATTORNEY]: No jury has returned a verdict against the Boy Scouts of America of this level ever.
THOMPSON: And most notoriously, the Catholic Church.
TOM BROKAW [MARCH 2002 NIGHTLY NEWS]: Accusations of a cover-up against yet another powerful member of the Catholic hierarchy
THOMPSON: Almost ten years ago, the Boston Globe broke the story of priests abusing minors and the cover-up by Church officials, shattering the Archdiocese and the faith of many American Catholics. One of its reporters sees parallels in the Penn State case.
KEVIN CULLEN [THE BOSTON GLOBE]: The institution overrode the importance of taking care of children. And that's what happened here, too. And it happened all over the country when it came to the abuse of children by Catholic priests.
THOMPSON: Critics say these are institutions of power, secrecy, mythology, dominated by men who circled the wagons in a crisis.
DAVID CLOHESSY [SURVIVORS NETWORK OF THOSE ABUSED BY PRIESTS]: We, as a society, have to learn that we must come down like a ton of bricks on men who hide and ignore child sex crimes. Quiet resignations, sudden retirements, that doesn't cut it.
THOMPSON: In today's New York Times, Jonathan Mahler writes both the Church and Penn State, "In the face of a moral imperative to act, chose silence," failing to live up to their own ideals of integrity and honor. No one more so, says Mahler, than Coach Joe Paterno, who built his brand on those very values.
JONATHAN MAHLER: This man who had prided himself on molding young men, who was this sort of paragon of character and virtue, behaved like a coward.
THOMPSON: Tonight people are asking how a program like Penn State, that followed NCAA rules to the letter, couldn't follow a very basic human rule. When you think you see a child being sexually abused, call the police. Anne Thompson, NBC News, Washington.
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Comments
on any given night NBC gladly
Submitted by jkwtrading on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 5:27pm.
on any given night NBC gladly glee's over homosexuality, but when an institution like Penn State gets caught, they carry and wave their self righteous card.
Don't go there.
Submitted by motherbelt on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 5:36pm.
There is a huge difference between this and what goes on between consenting adults.
Toadly Agree, motherbelt
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 5:39pm.
A big difference.
But there will be one commonality between . . .
Submitted by Galvanic on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 5:55pm.
. . . MSM coverage of the Penn State scandal and that of the Catholic Church --
Despite the fact that the preponderance of cases involve adult males and boys, they will not describe it as homosexual pedophilia.
This is unlike cases involving other media 'classifications' of human beings. For example, should an evangelical clergyman be charged with pedophilia, the MSM will always point out that the perpetrator is an evangelical Christian, but not that he is gay, when for the sake of accuracy, he is both.
Not all homosexual males are pedophiles, but neither are all evangelical Christians, but the MSM will do their duty to smear one and not the other.
I saw a lot of this when I was in the Navy and stationed for years in the Norfolk, Virginia area. The media there was decidedly anti-Navy for many years, so one often read headlines like this:
EX-NAVY MAN SUSPECTED IN DOUBLE MURDER
One would come to find out that the individual was a 50 year old pipe-fitter who enlisted for a 3-year hitch in the Navy when he was 18. So, why not PIPE-FITTER SUSPECTED IN DOUBLE MURDER. They had an agenda.
There are differences
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 5:36pm.
In the case of Penn State, they didn't shuffle Sandusky off to another University.
I'm thinking, most Americans got a Catholic Church flashback on this Penn State Scandal.
Somebody tell me it ain't so.
Hold on there chief. Oh yes
Submitted by Soldat44 on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 6:14pm.
Hold on there chief. Oh yes they did. Sandusky moved his 'Second Mile' program OFF campus and the university didn't follow up. They looked the other way. They put tradition and money ahead of child safety. It's the same every where. Churches (all faiths), public schools, colleges, etc. The USCCB failed with the priest abuses and the university administrators failed with this Penn State abuse. Same exact process.
Cowardice.
God Bless.
I see your point
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 6:24pm.
Which really draws the parallel even tighter.
That was my point. Good
Submitted by Soldat44 on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 10:02pm.
That was my point. Good gravy...
It's also like..
Submitted by 4Deuce on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 6:14pm.
Penn State's coverup of longtime child abuse is also much like NBC's fialure to divulge and report on Jack Kennedy's sexual piccadilos.. well know by nearly every DC NBC correspondent and TV talking head associated with the netowk. I wonder why they had to throw stones at Catholicism when an equally similar instance happened to them - but much closer to home. Oh yes, now I know.. JFK was a Democrat and nobody in leftist NBC wanted to acknowledge THAT plain truth.... becuase when JFK was bedding bimbos, NBC was an all-male dominated network - both in front of AND behind the cameras...
Queers-homo's-pedophiles-whatever you call child molesters-
Submitted by JIMMY1660 on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 6:40pm.
whether they wear a collar or a coaches whistle-should be hung by the neck until dead
God calls what they do an...
Submitted by vrwc13 on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 6:58pm.
a·bom·i·na·tion /əˌbɒməˈneɪʃən/ Show Spelled[uh-bom-uh-ney-shuhn] Show IPAnoun
1.anything abominable; anything greatly disliked or abhorred.
2.intense aversion or loathing; detestation:
3.a vile, shameful, or detestable action, condition, habit, etc.:
Right in there with adultery, child sacrifice and beastiality.
Leviticus 18:22
v
The burden of life is from ourselves, its lightness from the grace of Christ and the love of God. - William Bernard Ullanthorne
Be nice now 13
Submitted by mandrake on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 7:05pm.
We're finally getting some rational people around here.
Is your comment meant to be satirical, mandrake?---
Submitted by matthewdean on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 8:13pm.
vrwc 13, when posting, has never, ever, been not nice or out of line.
MD
Of course
Submitted by mandrake on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 8:18pm.
I thought you knew me by now ;) Now I can sleep soundly.
mandrake---
Submitted by matthewdean on Fri, 11/11/2011 - 12:54am.
Well, all righty, then.
MD
The Elephant in the room
Submitted by wingnut55 on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 6:52pm.
If it is Pen State or the Catholic Church or an evangelical Christian, the elephant in the room is homosexuality. The media is afraid to be labeled a "homophobe" and it will never say that the person was a homosexual because they know where their bread is buttered.
You are all forgetting one thing..
Submitted by EvilCon555 on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 7:07pm.
The elephant in the room is RAPE. OF A CHILD. What Pres Kennedy did was more than likely a sexual act between consenting adults. Poor behavior, but nonetheless not the same. What Sandusky did and others ignored was sick, perverted, shameless, and criminal. And Joe Pa and others turned away from that 10 year old boy when they should have saved him. They turned away and they played football and were worshipped. We are all in trouble here folks.
EvilCon555
"All great change in America begins at the dinner table" Ronald Reagan, Jan 21, 1981
Ironically they never see a
Submitted by kg on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 8:08pm.
Ironically they never see a scandal when the problem is public school teachers and statutory rape. They also never see it as a homosexual problem in the church and Penn State..
"DumbAssity of Dope"
In regards to public schools . . .
Submitted by pylgrym on Fri, 11/11/2011 - 2:38pm.
the incidence of "educator sexual misconduct" is horrendous.
From a Department of Education Report 2004 Report:
http://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/research/pubs/misconductreview/report.pdf
Pg 17
To get a sense of the extent of the number of students who have been targets of educator sexual misconduct, I applied the percentage of students who report experiencing educator sexual misconduct to the population of all K-12 students. Based on the assumption that the AAUW surveys accurately represent the experiences of all K-12 students, more than 4.5 million students are subject to sexual misconduct by an employee of a school sometime between kindergarten and the 12th grade.
What's the point?
Submitted by djm159 on Fri, 11/11/2011 - 1:38pm.
Bill Clinton raped a woman and became president - was that a consenting act between two people? I don't think so. What's your point? Keep children as far away from homosexual males as possible. That solves the problem. Stop the political correctness and realize a deviant act when confronted with it. I don't understand why "Coach" Sandusky is out on bail. Lock the bastard up, he'll get all the sex he requires in jail if they don't kill him first for raping children which, by the way, would harm no one. Paterno followed the chain of command to the letter. It was up to his bosses to call the cops and they didn't. Hindsight is always 20/20, coulda, woulda, shoulda, but didn't. I am surprised we haven't heard from "Act Up" yet, telling us how homophobic we are; or from NAMBLA, another upstanding organization or for that matter the ACLU telling us how stupid we are for objection to gay men raping children. The blame is Sandusky and the homo should receive the death penalty one way or another.
Botcott any company that
Submitted by jessieH on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 7:06pm.
Botcott any company that advertises on NBC. Problem solved in two weeks time.
...
Submitted by EvilCon555 on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 7:44pm.
What.....? Jessie, I don't mind boycotting NBC....oh never mind.
EvilCon555
"All great change in America begins at the dinner table" Ronald Reagan, Jan 21, 1981
So gay pedophiles infiltrate
Submitted by eaglewingz08 on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 8:42pm.
So gay pedophiles infiltrate the Catholic Church and Penn State under "diversity" policies and they create chaos and criminality in those organizations where single sex hierarchical authority is the rule. And gays, despite the destruction they've caused to the Catholic Church (or maybe because of it) have seduced the military to allow openly gay officers who have hierarchical and sweeping powers over their underlings, and this is not a recipe for sexual abuse scandals to rock the military in ten years?
well said eaglewingz*
Submitted by cajun2 on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 8:53pm.
Agenda is the issue, consequences never concern liberals.
And the agenda being the
Submitted by Kenny Bunkport on Fri, 11/11/2011 - 12:14pm.
And the agenda being the destruction of said institutions.
the leftist agenda driven media
Submitted by Kuso Jiji on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 8:57pm.
is covering up for the child sexual predators in our public school systems.
A broken clock can be right twice a day
Submitted by djwolf12 on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 10:16pm.
I am a fierce critic of NBC and MSLSD, but they do get this story right (for once). The Catholic church DID cover up the molestation charges and you cannot deny that fact. To add insult to injury, the board for The Second Mile WAS notified of the molestation allegations in 1998. Who sat on that board you ask? Names like Jack Ham, Franco Harris, Joe Paterno, etc, etc. I think this will go down as the WORST scandal in American History, even worse than Nixon and Watergate.
Jesus asked his disciples who
Submitted by okie-pastor on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 11:14pm.
Jesus asked his disciples who do you say that I am?
Some said that people believed he was a prophet or John the baptist come back from the dead.
Then Jesus asked but who do you say that I am?
Peter said "you are the Christ. Son of the living God."
When asked, the same question. How would you answer?
I for one agree with Peter, Jesus is The Messiah, the Son of the living God. The only way to heaven (jn 14:6)
And the only hope for mankind.
After Peter answered, Jesus said blessed are you, Simon barjona for upon this Rock (confession of Jesus as the son of God) I will build MY Church.
Fortunately for us Christians the media can not accurately define what the church is.
?
Submitted by Boudin on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 11:56pm.
Would it not be better if the media could/would? I do not find it fortunate at all.
Peter means rock
Submitted by NBF on Fri, 11/11/2011 - 12:59pm.
Jesus said, 'You are Peter (kepha/rock) and upon this rock (Peter) I will build my church.
That's the whole reason Jesus renamed Simon to Rock/Kepha.
http://archive.catholic.com/thisrock/1998/9801word.asp
http://thecatholicconvert.webs.com/staplespetertherock.html
http://archive.catholic.com/thisrock/1998/9811chap.asp
Some would beg to differ...
Submitted by vrwc13 on Fri, 11/11/2011 - 1:21pm.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clarke's Commentary on the Bible
Thou art Peter - This was the same as if he had said, I acknowledge thee for one of my disciples - for this name was given him by our Lord when he first called him to the apostleship. See John 1:42.
Peter, πετρος, signifies a stone, or fragment of a rock; and our Lord, whose constant custom it was to rise to heavenly things through the medium of earthly, takes occasion from the name, the metaphorical meaning of which was strength and stability, to point out the solidity of the confession, and the stability of that cause which should be founded on The Christ, the Son of the Living God. See the notes at Luke 9:62.
Upon this very rock, επι ταυτη τη πετρα - this true confession of thine - that I am The Messiah, that am come to reveal and communicate The Living God, that the dead, lost world may be saved - upon this very rock, myself, thus confessed (alluding probably to Psalm 118:22, The Stone which the builders rejected is become the Head-Stone of the Corner: and to Isaiah 28:16, Behold I lay a Stone in Zion for a Foundation) - will I build my Church, μου την εκκλησιαν, my assembly, or congregation, i.e. of persons who are made partakers of this precious faith. That Peter is not designed in our Lord's words must be evident to all who are not blinded by prejudice. Peter was only one of the builders in this sacred edifice, Ephesians 2:20 who himself tells us, (with the rest of the believers), was built on this living foundation stone: 1 Peter 2:4, 1 Peter 2:5, therefore Jesus Christ did not say, on thee, Peter, will I build my Church, but changes immediately the expression, and says, upon that very rock, επι ταυτη τη πετρα, to show that he neither addressed Peter, nor any other of the apostles. So, the supremacy of Peter, and the infallibility of the Church of Rome, must be sought in some other scripture, for they certainly are not to be found in this. On the meaning of the word Church, see at the conclusion of this chapter.
v
The burden of life is from ourselves, its lightness from the grace of Christ and the love of God. - William Bernard Ullanthorne
You want to talk "parallels"? Let's talk parallels...
Submitted by stage9 on Fri, 11/11/2011 - 12:27am.
P e d o p h i l i a Chic
If you thought s e x with children was taboo--think again.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/001/333rtj...
P e d o p h i l i a Chic, Part 2
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/001/334jui...
H o m o s e x u a l s seldom openly admit that they want to s e x u a l l y assault children, but their literature and their actions tell another story. In the January 1-8, 2001 issue of The Weekly Standard, author Mary Eberstadt exposed the clear link between h o m o s e x u a l activism and the growing North-American Man- Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) movement. Writing in “’P e d o p h i l i a Chic’ Reconsidered: The taboo against s e x with children continues to erode,” Eberstadt notes:
"The reason why the public is being urged to reconsider boy p e d o p h i l i a is that this ‘question,’ settled though it may be in the opinions and laws of the rest of the country, is demonstrably not yet settled within certain parts of the g a y rights movement. The more that movement has entered the mainstream, the more this ‘question’ has bubbled forth from that previously distant realm in the public square.
Eberstadt notes that the book, Male Inter-Generational Intimacy: Historical, Socio-Psychological, and Legal Perspectives edited by pedophile Edward Brongersma is currently available in the “g a y/l e s b i a n” sections of bookstores like Borders. This book, which openly promotes p e d o p h i l i a, was first published in the Journal of H o m o s e x u a l i t y in 1990. The Journal is edited by John DeCecco, a psychologist at San Francisco State University. DeCecco is a board member of the Dutch p e d o p h i l e journal, Paidika.
The h o m o s e x u a l magazine Guide published a pro-p e d o p h i l e editorial in its July, 1995 issue. In referring to p e d o p h i l e s as “prophets” of s e x u a l freedom, the Guide editorialist wrote: “We must listen to our prophets. Instead of fearing being labeled p e d o p h i l e s, we must proudly proclaim that s e x is good, including children’s s e x u a l i t y. . . . Surrounded by pious moralists with deadening anti-s e x u a l rules, we must be shameless rulebreakers, demonstrating our allegiance to a higher concept of love. We must do it for the children’s sake.”
______________
Psychiatrist Jeffrey Satinover reflects on the Journal of h o m o s e x u a lity's "Male Intergenerational Intimacy":
"This special issue reflects the substantial, influential, and growing segment of the h o m o s e x u a l community that neither hides nor condemns p e d o p h i l i a. Rather they argue that p e d o p h i l i a is an acceptable aspect of s e x u a l i t y, especially of h o m o s e x u a lity. Indeed, the San Francisco Sentinel, a Bay Area g a y -activist newspaper, published a piece arguing that p e d o p h i l i a is central to male h o m o s e x u a l life."
In proportion to their numbers (about 1 out of 36 men), h o m o s e x u a l males may be more likely to engage in s e x with minors: in fact, some research suggests a possible 3-to-one ratio. These statistics do not, of course, take into account the cases of h o m o s e x u a l child abuse which are unreported.
Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, for example, says that about one-third of his 400 adult h o m o s e x u a l clients said they had experienced some form of h o m o s e x u a l abuse before the age of consent, but only two of those cases had been reported to legal authorities.
While no more than 2% of male adults are h o m o s e x u a l, some studies indicate that approximately 35% of p e d o p h i l e s are h o m o s e x u a l. Further, since male-on-male p e d o p h i l e s victimize far more children than do h e t e r o s e x u a l p e d o p h i l e s, it is estimated that approximately 80% of p e d o p h i l i c victims are boys who have been m o l e s t e d by adult males .
Dr. Nicolosi says that many of his clients' childhood s e x u a l contacts occurred with a trusted older person, and were perceived at the time of the abuse as loving. Other s e x u a l-reorientation therapists report similar high rates of m o l e s t a t i o n among their clients.
Tragically, the abused child is then more likely to become an abuser in adulthood. Thus, it would not be surprising that p e d o p h i l i a could be more common among h o m o s e x u a l men: since they are more likely to have been victims of abuse themselves, they would also be more likely to initiate a repetition of that abuse with a same-s e x child.
Psychoanalysis recognizes the child abuser as typically an immature man who wants to "give love" to a boy which he did not himself receive in childhood. He makes a narcissistic identification with the child, seeing him as an idealized version of himself, and perceives himself as giving the same love which he wishes he had received from his own father.
Thus the p e d o p h i l e cannot understand that he is inflicting emotional damage.
Popular g a y and l e s b i a n fiction often portrays adult-child s e x u a l relationships as fondly remembered, tender "coming-of-age" stories. Much of this fiction is clearly p o r n o g r a p h i c--is aimed specifically at teenagers--and is recommended to them on reading lists distributed by g a y -advocacy groups such as P-FLAG (Parents and Friends of L e s b i a n s and g a y s), or offered to them in some public-school libraries.
Dutch psychologist Gerard van den Aardweg points out that "non-coerced" s e x is a misnomer because there is always an element of coercion -- involving a misuse of adult authority, and a misuse of the child's need for affection. If a researcher sees no harm, "it may be because he is using the wrong glasses...not because there is nothing to see."
Even adult-child s e x which is mutually enjoyed, he says, is always an intrinsic injustice to the integrity of the person.
Victims of s e x abuse also appear to be at higher risk for s u c i d e, and may repeat the s e x u a l abuse in adulthood, in order to gain a feeling of psychological mastery over the experience. Children who experience prolonged abuse are more likely to view the abuse as positive or neutral, suggesting that as the m o l e s t a t i o n continues, children eventually identify with the m o l e s t e r.
If the abuse was h o m o s e x u a l, the boy is likely to question his s e x u a l orientation; if the abuser was a male and the child a girl, she may defensively turn to l e s b i a n i s m.
"If God is dead, somebody is going to have to take his place. It will be megalomania or erotomania, the drive for power or the drive for pleasure, the clenched fist or the phallus, Hitler or Hugh Hefner." — Malcolm Muggeridge
Best Response Is mine (*pat, pat, pat*)
Submitted by papagiorgio200 on Fri, 11/11/2011 - 1:48am.
I bumped into an actor the other day (a "cult" classic) at Starbucks, and I sliced and diced his positions with my points. See # 9 in the "contents"/Heading of this encounter: http://religiopoliticaltalk.com/2011/11/a-starbucks-encounter-michael-be...
Libs are "weak-sauce!"
Parallels
Submitted by tomaspain on Fri, 11/11/2011 - 8:58am.
Even a stopped clock is correct twice a day and while NBC is correct here it would be good to follow through and indict all of the Catholic Bishops who covered for the pedophiles. What would encourage me about the veracity of the MSM is an investigation into Planned Parenthood's failure to report child rape when they perform abortions and know the adult impregnator.
http://townhall.com/columnists/stevenaden/2011/11/10/penn_state_and_plan...
Recovering Catholic
They're not concerned with homosexual child abuse.
Submitted by NBF on Fri, 11/11/2011 - 12:35pm.
The Catholic Church has a lower rate of abuse than other churches, and a far lower rate of abuse than public schools.
But they dare not attack public re-education. Their target is the Church that dares to defy their liberal propaganda.
Jesus had the solution
Submitted by wingnut55 on Fri, 11/11/2011 - 7:07pm.
In Matthew 18:6 Jesus said that if anyone caused a little one to sin, it is better for them that a millstone was tied around his neck and he was dropped into the sea. I for one would be happy to tie the knot around these guy's necks.