The Problem

       For the record I include the fact that while this tragic abuse is most frequently practiced and publicized in Catholicism it’s by no means confined to that faith group. It has been broadly based, so that virtually no branch of Christianity is free of it. In my own denomination, The United Church of Canada, we have had this dreadful, indeed horrifying, experience: a BC judge, told a 77 year old man, — a supervisor at a United Church school for very young native children – – that he had committed the worst sexual abuse the judge had ever seen, including forced oral sex on small children. He called Plint “a sexual terrorist” sentencing him to 11 years. Plint showed no remorse. Is there no way that the church leaders could have seen through him before hiring him? Probably not.

      In the film we saw, the city paper called The Boston Globe, is the centre of the action. The story is about how the paper persisted –- through a team of five or six people who comprised a department called Spotlight — who in the face of evasion and deflection, finally unearth a virtual catalogue which revealed almost countless incidents of abuse. The film, in its rough yet subtle style, makes one thing especially clear: the story is not mainly about abusive priests. It’s mainly about two other dimensions of the problem: first the Boston hierarchy which, they reveal, provided subtle cover from the journalists, and secondly the endless wearying persistence of the reporters who, in due course, finally penetrate that cover. They work night and day until they locate the files of documents that reveal the ugly truth. It was hidden not so much by the hand of the hierarchy, but by a broad citizenry who with the proverbial wink and nod, quietly managed to just shunt it aside and put the wraps on it all. So in 2001, their paper, The Boston Globe revealed all. And then won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize.

      As we know, it is not just in Boston or indeed the entire United States where Catholics have been shocked, or heart broken, by the sexual misconduct of some priests. It happened in a diocese which embraces my hometown in Cape Breton. I mean the Nova Scotia Diocese of Antigonish, which includes the island of Cape Breton. In 2009, the Bishop of Antigonish announced to the public that the Diocese had reached a $15 million dollar settlement of a lawsuit filed by numerous victims of sexual abuse by priests of the diocese. It was a deep wound to the Catholic people of the region, a diocese known not just for devotion but their reverence for the priesthood as a calling. As you may already know, things got worse when the Bishop himself was charged not for pedophilia, but for importing child pornography, when his carrying bags were searched at customs upon his return from Europe. He naturally resigned and his whereabouts, as far as I know, are not widely known.

    What about the issue itself and the question often asked, even by me: What causes it and what cures it? There’s no absolute answer. But there’s fresh hope. When I was still a university student, majoring in psychology, we’d touch the subject and then refer to what my memory says was called, “The American Psychiatric Directory of Disorders.” Year after year, I would go down the list to the designation used over the years: “Pedophilia”. And year after year the sentence beside the designation was always the same. It read: “Causes are unknown and therapeutic outcomes are unfavorable.” Not very encouraging. But there’s some good news in recent years.  Moreover the good news is emerging in Toronto, at an institution now drawing international respect: CAMH, which stands for Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. In the last few years, a very respected psychologist, Dr. James Cantor, has with his research  staff, based on scientific evidence, come to the finding that pedophilia is not a disorder caused by some childhood incident, but a biologically rooted condition, one that is permanent. His team’s findings are respected worldwide, and are used to further research on the issue. Among his group’s findings is the fact that pedophiles share a number of physical characteristics, one being the distinct difference in brain wiring. And his group has discovered that one to five percent of men are pedophilic, hence attracted to children, male or female. Many do not act on their inclination.   

    That’s it. So is this finding alarming or acceptable? Well, new research reveals that many who suffer from pedophilia, do not molest. One of this group now runs a website for such men – men who are burdened with the condition but can honestly say they do not molest. His website, apparently directed at men who think and act as he does – never molesting – is working, according to an article in one of Toronto’s major papers. His purpose is to reduce the stigma against men who are (a) pedophiles, but (b) are chaste – that is they fully control any impulse due to their orientation. Well, that will please some, but to be honest here, when it comes to being assured by this man’s well intended efforts, many people with young children will still be wary.

      In fact, most informed psychologists and some men who are given to pedophilia, maintain that no credible “cure” has been reached. This was explored and maintained in recent years by a writer on the respected publication, The Atlantic, in an essay in which Dr. Cantor was asked to answer a few major questions. One was “What evidence do we have that pedophilia is a sexual orientation.” The essence of his answer was:  “No one chooses to be sexually attracted to children, although people do choose whether they act on their sexual attractions. Therapists have been trying to turn pedophiles into non-pedophiles for a very long time. But no one has presented any objective evidence of any enduring change in sexual interests… We do not appear able to change the pedophilia itself.”

   That said we are left, as a society, to depend on the character of our citizenry. For the moment we can hope for the integrity and influence of a society formed for men drawn to children. It’s called Virtuous Pedophiles, dedicated to preventing child abuse. A member has said this: “We can resist the temptation to abuse children sexually, and many of us present no danger to children whatsoever. Yet we are despised for having a sexual attraction that we did not choose, cannot change but can successfully resist.” That sounds plausible. By the way do go to see “Spotlight.” It’s educative. In fact I know a father who is taking his twelve year old son to see it. They’re part of our family. Good for them.

All past blogs are archived on my website: your comments are welcome there: www.kennethbagnell.com.