Catholicism and American Culture

[David Morris]

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/098/metro/US_view_of_scandal_not_shared_by_world+.shtml

''No one [in the Vatican] thinks the sexual abuse of kids is unique to the 
States, but they do think that the reporting on it is uniquely American, 
fueled by anti-Catholicism and shyster lawyers hustling to tap the deep 
pockets of the church. And that thinking is tied to the larger perception 
about American culture, which is that there is a hysteria when it comes to 
anything sexual, and an incomprehension of the Catholic Church,'' said John 
F. Allen Jr., Vatican correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter.

''What that means is that Vatican officials are slower to make the kinds of 
public statements that most American Catholics want, and when they do make 
them they are tentative and halfhearted. It's not that they don't feel bad 
for the victims, but they think the clamor for them to apologize is fed by 
other factors that they don't want to capitulate to.''






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