The Impact of the Sexual Scandals

First came the sexual scandal by the clergy in the Catholic Church, which was taking down priests and then later bishops who covered up the scandals.  These sexual allegations goes back decades that even dead priests were accused.  Then came the #MeToo Movement, which was taking down powerful men in business, Hollywood, and politics.  However, as a result of the #MeToo movement, women are now being locked out in the world of business, government, and elsewhere.  According to the New York Post:

Men are scared, and feminists are delighted. But the urge to call out and punish male sexual transgression is bound to clash with an inescapable truth: We’re all in this together, men and women. 

Consider what’s happening in the capital of Florida. Female staffers and lobbyists have found “many male legislators will no longer meet with them privately,” reported the Miami Herald. “I had a senator say, ‘I need my aide here in the room because I need a chaperone,’ ” lobbyist Jennifer Green told the paper. “I said, ‘Senator, why do you need a chaperone? . . . Do you feel uncomfortable around me?’ ‘Well,’ he said, ‘anyone can say anything with the door shut.’ ”......... 

This kind of thinking is catching on in aggressively P.C. Silicon Valley, where men are taking to message boards like Reddit to express interest in sex segregation — sometimes labeled “Men Going Their Own Way,” or the “Man-o-Sphere.” How will that work out for women in the tech industry, where they already face substantial challenges? 

Across industries, “Several major companies have told us they are now limiting travel between the genders,” Johnny Taylor, president of the Society for Human Resource Management, told the Chicago Tribune, citing execs who tell men not to go on business trips or share rental cars with women co-workers. UCLA psychologist Kim Elsesser, the author of “Sex and the Office,” sees a nascent “sex partition.” If men start to back away from women, at least in professional settings, it’s difficult to see how that will aid the feminist cause. 

Women are now seeing a decrease in business travel, mentoring, and even invitations to business holiday parties.  The aftermath of the #MeToo Movement has turned men and women into two contentious and opposing sides, which is not good for either of them.

So, now we see the impact of the #MeToo Movement.  Now, what is the impact of the sexual scandal on the Catholic Church?  

First of all, we already know that more Catholics left the Church.  There is a rapid decline of Catholicism in the United States and Europe as these decades old sex scandal were published in the media.

Secondly, there will be less priests and bishops as more of them are being accused.  It does not even matter whether the accusation is true or not.  The Church had already abandoned the Truth and chose to believe all allegations.   

In the third place, the Catholic Church will lose much of its assets and services (parishes, Catholic schools, etc.).  In the U.S., the impact may not be so noticeable.  In Guam, which is a very small island with limited amount of land, it may be a different story as more and more lawsuits come out.    

Finally, as we are now seeing, bishops are turning against each other.  According to one news report (the bold is mine):

In his testimony, dated August 22, Archbishop Viganò, who served as apostolic nuncio in Washington D.C. from 2011-2016, states that in the late 2000s, Benedict had “imposed on Cardinal McCarrick sanctions similar to those now imposed on him by Pope Francis,” and that Viganò personally spoke with Francis about the gravity of McCarrick’s abuse soon after his election in 2013.

But he says that Francis “continued to cover him” and not only did he “not take into account the sanctions that Pope Benedict had imposed on him” but also made McCarrick “his trusted counselor” who helped him to appoint a number of bishops in the United States, including Cardinals Blase Cupich of Chicago and Joseph Tobin of Newark.

Archbishop Viganò also implicates Cardinals Sodano, Bertone and Parolin in the cover-up and insists various other cardinals and bishops were well aware, including Cardinal Donald Wuerl, McCarrick’s successor as Archbishop of Washington D.C.

So, now even the Pope is being accused of covering up the sexual misconduct of Cardinal McCarrick with ADULT seminarians and priests.  Bishops are now pointing fingers at others. This is the impact of the sexual scandal in the Catholic Church.  Just as the #MeTwo movement brought men and women against each other, the sex scandal is also bringing bishops against each other.