On a slow day, when much of Goa is closed due to the Ganesh festivities (Cafe Prakash will be shut for the next ten days, and some of us are in mourning over that!) I thought of going through Averthanus L D'Souza's article "Clergy sex abuse and celibacy" in Renewal/Renovacao, June 1-15, 2010.
Can't say that I could disagree more with some of what Averthanus writes. He starts by saying: "Some (of those responding to the sex abuse cases) pretend that the problem is not as bad as it is made out to be by the media of mass communications." So far so good, and then, in diverse arguments below, he goes on to take exactly such a similar position. For instance, he writes: "Sex 'abuse' inside the Catholic Church is not something new...." Uhh? Meaning? And the quotes around abuse? Also: "Sexual abuse is also widespread in political, commercial and other institutions." Little consolation! This one takes the cake: "There is no doubt whatsoever that movements to 'liberate' women (from what ?) inevitably led to the condoning of undesirable sexual practices by children. Governments, specially in the "west," removed legal restraints in schools and colleges which were intended to protect children from premature indulgence in sexual activities. Could someone tell me what is the connection between these two issues? The link offered seems week, lame, conjectural and coincidental: "Sociological studies have convincingly shown that teenage pregnancies have steadily risen since the 1960s and 1970s. This coincided with the "women's liberation" movement all over Europe and the United States of America." Read this: "What started as a demand for political franchise for women soon snowballed into the 'sexual revolution'." Bizarre to say the least, since the campaign for political franchise for women came quite some decades earlier, and, in any case, what argument can anyone have against political franchise for women? Let's ignore, for a moment, the mix-up between women's rights, "women's liberation" and the "sexual revolution", assuming that everyone has the right to define and appreciate (or decry) at least the latter two -- maybe all three -- depending on one's political, ideological, and gender biases. Hello! This is the material that reaches out to priests and the laity. I remember times when Catholic magazines like "On the Move" were active. (Goanetters like Nazar da Silva of Moira were involved with it, and so was Fr Fermin D'Souza sj, who took a voluntary shift of province to remote Liberia in Africa, recently, also, if I recall right, the late Norman Mendis of Margao.) They offered a different understanding of Christianity, and what it meant to those claiming to practise it. Unlike the dominant discourse in Goa today (and not among Catholics alone), their intent was not to simply target the sub-human ghantis, but to see a human being in them, and stand up for their rights. Just like any Goan migrant who expect basic human rights for him or herself in any part of Planet Earth. --FN Frederick Noronha +91-9822122436 +91-832-2409490
