As a layperson who works closely with the clergy and has seen firsthand how heroically selfless and self-sacrificing our Roman Catholic priests truly are, I have some advice for the beleaguered Catholic faithful of this country: Stop playing defense.
Like so many American Catholics, I am sick to death of the vitriolic attacks on our church.
Yes, we know that there are a few sinful priests out there who have sexually abused children. Yes, we know that there are some bishops who have attempted to keep the matter quiet and deal with it internally. Yes, we know that all of this is wrong and scandalous and that the guilty priests should be punished.
But for goodness sake, enough with the mea culpas!
This entire society is plagued with sexual problems, sexual abuses, sexual infidelity, sexual promiscuity and sexual deviance.
Ever since the 1960s, we have been traveling headlong down the path of increased sexual freedom and openness. Is it any wonder the clergy is experiencing some problems with sexual misconduct?
Sexual temptation is everywhere we look.
It's impossible these days to turn on the television or listen to the radio without being assaulted by sexually explicit imagery, sexually explicit language and sexually explicit lyrics.
You can't even attend Mass on a Sunday afternoon in the summertime without seeing girls in scanty, sexually provocative clothing.
Is it really any surprise that the clergy has been affected, at least to some extent, by the same disease that is infecting the rest of the culture? Of course, this doesn't mean that we should ignore the seriousness of these despicable crimes. Perverts and sex offenders -- no matter what their profession -- must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
And the church must make sure it has a policy to deal with these offenders quickly and harshly.
Critics seize opportunity
But come on; we know what this is really about, don't we? The media feeding frenzy has little to do with any real concern for the victims of sexual abuse.
Throughout the United States, haters of the Catholic Church are grinding their axes, ecstatic at the chance to cut down an institution that has staunchly opposed the social, moral and political credos they adhere to.
After all, prominent Catholic bishops have already openly admitted to making mistakes in handling abusive priests.
Pope John Paul II called an unprecedented meeting of U.S. cardinals in Rome recently to emphasize the importance of dealing with this issue forthrightly. Yet these clearly penitent actions have done nothing to tone down the venomous rhetoric against the church that we see daily in the newspapers and on television.
No, something more is going on here. While no one doubts the sincerity and anguish of the victims going through this crisis, some of the indignant cries for justice emanating from the church bashers in the media are a sham.
Sentencing guilty priests to long jail terms will never appease them, nor will a million apologies from the bishops or the Vatican.
Undermining moral authority
Their true aim is to hurt the church, to damage its credibility in order to reduce its ability to work effectively against the immorality of an increasingly godless society, to discredit it so that the politically conservative influence it exerts in matters such as abortion, pornography and gay rights is minimized. That is the real meaning of these attacks on the church.
The hands of both priests and bishops seem tied. If they protest too loudly against the one-sided treatment they are receiving in the media, they will undoubtedly be accused of gross insensitivity to the victims of sex abuse.
It's time for the rest of the faithful -- those of us in powerful organizations such as the Knights of Columbus, the Knights of Malta, the Catholic League and Priests for Life, as well as the millions of other loyal Catholics in this country -- to quit turning the other cheek.
It's time we started to defend our church.
Anthony DeStefano is executive director of Priests for Life, an international association of Catholic clergy and laity with more than 150,000 U.S. members.