Gulf Pine Catholic

Gulf Pine Catholic • April 5, 2019 8 “But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” -- 1 Timothy 5:8 The world needs more gentlemen. The older I get the more I recognize the challenges that men face. What a daunting set of responsibilities a man has on his shoulders when he grows to adulthood! Mothers attempting to raise their sons to be strong, humble, masculine, honest, respectful, diligent, smart, God fearing, and nice; know how difficult it is. Our boys get so many mixed messages from the world and our men don’t get enough credit. So much effort is placed on making sure that girls realize their potential, avoiding harassment and exploitation, it seems that our boys are suffering from a lack of direction and common-sense supervision. If we want our society to become more stable and productive, we need to build virtues in our boys that will create men capable of weathering the storms of life. Men that women want. I have 16-year-old twins. A boy and a girl. They are very different and equally beautiful. Watching them grow side by side has illustrated the wisdom of the traditional family so clearly. The structure of the family created by God places a man as the head of the household with a woman as the nurturer and admin-istrator in chief. The responsibilities of children are to respect and honor their elders and to learn from them how to create a stable and loving environment designed to raise children and care for others. Women have fought so hard to be seen as equal contributors in our modern world that I think we have forgotten the beauty and importance of our differences. We are not all the same and yet we are all equal. Remember -- a full complement of gifts is given to each community through the Holy Spirit if we are open. No one should feel threatened or exploited and everyone should be valued. Doesn’t that sound idyllic? When I respect my husband, he looks to me for guidance. My value in his eyes and my power to do good in our world grows simply by being present to his needs. There are so many difficult family circumstances and so many hurting people that we must create stability in our homes for healing to take place. I never dreamed that I would relish in my role as a homemaker. NEVER. I am child of the 70’s. (“I can bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan…”) I identified with the messages propagated by the media during the sexual revolution and worked hard to prove myself in a “man’s world”. I just don’t see the world the same way anymore. Girls -- we have proven ourselves. Embrace your feminine genius. Be beautiful. Be noble. Be life giving and life affirming. And, please, encourage men to be men! “The motto of chivalry is also the motto of wisdom; to serve all, but to love only one.” -- Honore de Balzac LIVE MAS! Michele Pisciotta is a retired obstetrician and gynecologist who heads up the Diocese of Biloxi’s Pro- Life Ministry and Natural Family Planning education initiative. She can be contacted at gulfpinecatholic@ biloxidiocese.org. Living Large Pisciotta Living large and praising men Abuse Fordham Panel Zollner From page 1 Father Zollner has traveled to 60 countries on six continents to speak with church leaders and laypeople. He said the clergy abuse issue is not in the forefront of church or public concern in 75 percent of the countries, although there are cases and some are reported. This is caused by a combination of factors including both church and society not making it a priority, and concern with other types of child abuse such as sexual violence, child labor, child soldiers, and inadequate education, health and safety for children. While he was encouraged by the nominal increase in awareness of the issue by participants in the Vatican summit, Father Zollner said he was disappointed that “in some quarters of the church,” there is still active resistance to identifying clergy abusers and little acknowledgement of the damage done to victims. He attributed some resistance to historical experi- ence. Father Zollner explained but did not condone the actions of leaders in former Communist countries where interactions with the police were sometimes bru- tal. “Reporting a priest who has abused is like handing one’s son over to execution,” he said. Father Zollner said restoration of shattered trust in church leadership must include consistent positive action, change of attitude, help and expert advice from laypeople and a willingness to embrace responsibility, accountability and transparency. Even in places where the tightest child safeguard standards are in place and victims are heard and com- pensated, like the United States and Australia, people are still angry and frustrated and think “their bishops don’t get it,” Father Zollner said. “People suffer from safeguarding fatigue.” They need to be able to believe that their leader will mean what he says and listen, commit and follow through on an action, he said. Father Zollner cautioned that stricter norms and laws are not an automatic solution and will not change people’s behavior. Different church laws are needed for dealing with various categories of abuse, he said. In addition, a change in the culture will require a change in attitude. Father Zollner said the Vatican is on course and has a timetable to do specific things, including enacting a new law for reporting allegations in the Vatican City State and a guideline for jurisprudence on how bishops and religious superiors should handle and document abuse allegations. He said task forces of three or four people will soon be deployed to each continent to help bishops’ confer- ences and religious orders develop and implement guidelines for response and action. “There will be follow-up and concrete measures,” he said. Researchers Smith and Terry described their two comprehensive surveys of the abuse crisis, which cov- ered the nature and scope of the crisis beginning in 1950, and it causes and context. They confirmed that despite an increase in report- ing, the data over a period of more than 60 years shows that the bulk of abuse incidents took place from 1974 to 1982; approximately four percent of priests in ministry in U.S. dioceses had an allegation of abuse. And 3.5 percent of the priests with allegations were responsible for 26 percent of the total victims. Half of the accused priests had one known victim; and abuse persisted for an average of 4.9 years. Victims were male in 80.9 per- cent of cases and most were between 10 and 14 years old. “This is a problem whose total extent is unknown but whose incidence is consistent,” Smith said. Statistics gathered from dioceses for the John Jay report in 2002 exactly mirror those collected by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate for a 2017 report, she said. Smith and Terry said their findings show pedophilia is uncommon and neither homosexuality nor celibacy cause people to abuse a child. Most abusers are “gener- alists” who abuse without regard to gender or age. Smith said 80 percent of men who abused minors also had been involved with adult women. She said abuse may be a response to loneliness, lack of intimacy or lack of respect for boundaries. There is no scientifically valid way to profile potential offenders and education is the best way to reduce the vulnerabil- ity of potential victims, she said. The symposium was organized and hosted by the Fordham Center on Religion and Culture. Moderators included David Gibson and Peter Steinfels, the center’s current and founding directors, respectively, and Kerry Robinson, global ambassador for the Leadership Roundtable.