![[tmbchr]™](/journal/popocculture-blog-logo.jpg){kind=logo}
Bishop Admits He Was Abused By Priest
This is a very surprising news story:
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton said Wednesday he was sexually molested as a teenager, becoming the first Catholic bishop in the United States to admit being abused by another priest.
Gumbleton, 75, said he was sexually molested by a priest when he attended Detroit Sacred Heart Seminary’s one-time high school for boys.
“I feel that I have something that is perhaps unique among the bishops. … I understand why victims of sexual abuse need this new window of opportunity. … I know how difficult it is for me to speak about what happened,” Gumbleton said.
Gumbleton traveled to the Ohio state Capitol Wednesday to lobby legislators to pass a law to allow long-ago abuse victims to sue predatory priests and Catholic dioceses.
Seems crazy somebody would become a priest after having had that done to them. At the same time though, I wonder if he really is “unique among the bishops” in having experienced such things. Somehow I doubt it!
January 11th, 2006 at 8:42 pm
i bet you’re right about that. remember all the talk we had here a while back about initiation rituals a while back?
January 12th, 2006 at 9:22 am
Gumbleton is a rather unique Bishop in far more ways than having just had the horrible misfortune of being abused by a priest as a youngster.
He’s a founding member of Pax Christi USA and has been one of the most outspoken U.S. Catholic clergy when it comes to the international peace movement. His active and vocal nature has been something of a thorn in the side of his more worldly and low-key bretheren and gained him a reputation as ‘leftist’ in some circles. He was a vocal critic of nuclear arms and U.S. machiantions in Central America throughout the 80s and is quite vocal against U.S. policy toward Iraq today. Lately, he has lent his support to gay activists in working to abolish Catholic teaching on sexual morality. Additionally, I believe that he refused to submit his resignation as a Bishop upon reaching mandatory retirement age early last year. The guy is not afraid to stand up for what he believes in.
I recall that he spoke a few times at my old high school. (I tell ya, those Jesuits and their whole ’social justice’ kick weren’t afraid to stir shit up! To this day, my mom suspects that my Jesuit education has something to do with me becoming a ‘lapsed’ Catholic. She may be right… but that’s a whole ‘nother discussion. lol) All in all, Gumbleton came off as quite an intelligent and passionate guy, if a little bit creepy in that gung-ho activist way (but I think that perception has more to do with my then adolescent squemishness at standing out too much from the pack.) He got props from me and many of my friends for having the stones to walk the walk, that’s for sure. Its so much easier to SAY one supports what is right and just than it is to get off our butts and collectively DO something about supporting it. Just as so many people are armchair athletes… most people are armchair activists…
As for it seeming ‘crazy’ that someone would still choose to become a priest after being ‘molested’… I don’t think it is necessarily so hard to understand. One thing people tend to confuse is the actions of individuals with the faith (ideal) that they espouse. Many clergy sought that vocation because they felt called to do so because of their faith. Abuse by clergy is horrific, but it has more to do with a failing of the individual and flaws in the the human institution of the clergy than the core faith, whatever it may be. People need to realize that ‘the Church’ (in this case, the Catholic Church), as a collection of fallible humans may be just as Fd up (if not moreso) as a big business like, say, General Motors. Big institutions are prone to insulate bad behavior because of their size and the fact that, ***at some level***, the bad behavior is rewarded. If there is one thing I have gleaned from working in corporate design, it is that when something is Fd up… and identified as Fd up… but CONTINUES to be Fd up, even upon close scrutiny… then somebody is benefiting form it being Fd up. Somebody is profiting from what appears to be a very Fd up state of affairs. Its that simple. In the case of religion, it manifests itself as a perversion of faith. (The Church is no longer about making people aware of God’s light and love - in them selves and the world… its purpose is to generate money and members to prop up the institution and infrastructure.) In business, it manifests itself as a perversion of purpose or a loss of focus. (General Motors, for instance, has become a better bank - thru its financing arm, GMAC - than it is a car company.) If you wanna understand why something is Fd up, look who stands to gain from it being Fd up. Unfortuantely, individuals’ faiths and livelihoods often end up being collateral damage.
January 12th, 2006 at 12:48 pm
[…] his story, please pardon my writing laziness while I wholeheartedly lift my rather lengthy response to Tim Boucher’s coverage of this story o […]
January 12th, 2006 at 3:56 pm
Wow, that’s some great information and insights all around, sketchmonkey. Thanks!
January 12th, 2006 at 6:50 pm
Im not from a religious background but reading about bishop Gumbleton gives me alot of respect for the spirit of the man and he encaptulates how i would like to envisage the church. I find it difficult however to draw comparison between a corporation and the church because the core ethics are in absolute opposition. whilst i agree human nature is fallible a corporations core ethic is to feed and grow which gives it the morality of a shark. If there are cover-ups or wrongdoings in a company it has no moral obligation except to itself. Because the church is built upon the precept of moral authority then that should be the rule with which it measures itself. I dont know enough on the subject of theoligy but if the church was aware of abuse where does that leave the validity of all the christenings, marriages,last rights etc carried out by said clergy. I agree that the church forgets its core values but i feel it does reflect, rightfully or wrongfully upon the faith itself because when the church authorities
put there own public image before the immortal souls of there flock this does go to the core, not to god but to the moral authority of the orthadox church. Humans are fallible but god isnt.