Ritröð Guðfræðistofnunar - 01.09.2011, Blaðsíða 14

Absence of a critical and robust ethical position
The proposed revisions to the Roman Catholic Bishops’ Dallas Policy on
the sexual abuse of children held some interesting revelations. The Bishops
directly tied the definition of sexual abuse to a moral standard based on the
6th Commandment in Hebrew scripture. „You shall not commit adultery.“
If this is the basis of their ethical understanding of sexual abuse, then no
wonder the perception persists that the Bishops simply don’t „get it.“ The
average layperson would rightly ask, „I thought adultery was about adults
having sex with someone they are not married to. What does sexual abuse
of kids have to do with adultery?"
The fundamental ethical question is „why is it wrong for an adult to
be sexual with a child or teen?“ It is a betrayal of trust, a misuse of adult
authority, the taking advantage of a child’s vulnerability, and sexual activity
in the absence of meaningful consent. When you add to this the fact of
a priest being sexual with a child, it is also a betrayal of the role of the
pastor. Our job as clergy is to nurture the flock, protect them when they
are vulnerable, empower them in their lives - especially children and youth.
Our people assume they can trust us not to harm them — because we are
clergy. Sexual abuse betrays that trust.
In other words, sexual abuse harms the child or teen. It is a sin to cause
this harm. In Christian scripture, Jesus is very clear: „It would be better for
you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into
the sea than for you to cause one of these little ones to stumble. (Luke 17:2)“
The Bishops got the wrong commandment. Instead of the 6th, they should
have gone to the 7th: „You shall not steal.“ To steal is to take something that
doesn’t belong to you. To sexually abuse a child is to steal their innocence
and their future, often with profound and tragic consequences.
When an acknowledged pedophile priest can say that he did not see what
was wrong with his behavior with a child since he was taught not to have
sex with adult women, we can begin to see the inadequacy of this ethical
analysis. The sexual abuse of a child or teen is about the misuse of power by
the adult. It is about theft: taking advantage of a child’s naiveté, stealing his
or her future. Theft enriches the one who steals at the expense of the victim.
Similarly, in the Protestant denominations in the past 30 years, the
obsession with determining whether LGBT people can be active in churches
or in ordained ministry has consumed exorbitant time and resources and
remains a point of conflict today. Yet many of these denominations have
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