"M" for Media Vendetta

The attorney for Florida Rep. Mark Foley, who is accused of sending inappropriate emails to young boys serving as pages, said yesterday that Foley had been molested by a clergyman when he was younger. The article linked above also goes on to mention that he was a Catholic from Boston.

Let me start by saying that, if this did happen it is a terrible tragedy, just as it is that it has happened to so many others. We certainly should be able to (and do) hold our priests to a higher standard. They of all people should know better than to commit such a sin.

This one report is all I have heard, and have heard nothing yet to contradict it, so I am giving Foley the benefit of the doubt and assuming that this really happened. Now, does that mean that he has an excuse for doing these same things with young boys. Absolutely not. Anyone who has been through this is another person who should know better, because they know first hand how devastating it can be to a person. I know people who have gone through sexual abuse as a child, and they did certainly did not turn to that when they got older. They turned to Christ.

What frustrates me most about this is that it seems that the media is now going to use this to shift the blame from Foley onto the Catholic Church. With all of the media's focus on "tolerance" of all, it is still mind-boggling to me how they can lead the charge on one of the last socially acceptable prejudices.

Pray for our Church, and that the hearts of the uneducated are not turned away by these things.