I read (Kenneth) Chandler's April 8 column ("Tradition and the Secret Sin of the Church") and disagree with his diagnosis of the root issue in the cause of pedophilia. "Child abusers usually become such because they are victims of their own traumatic psychological experiences at a young age," he states. This makes child abusers seem less than human, pushed around by forces beyond their control, unable to stop the negative karma that has been pushing them since childhood.
There are some problems with this argument. For starters, it frees the child abusers from guilt -- "My mommy made me do it." Secondly, it makes them less-than-independent moral agents, incapable of ever inflicting the same negative (or positive) effect on their children that was inflicted on them. If they can't stop the negative impulses within them, they necessarily can't be the first cause of a positive impulse in someone else or themselves. Thirdly, the opposite scenario is never true. I grew up in a home where I was loved and cared for, yet I am not a hopeless charity addict. Ted Bundy (the serial killer) said in an interview he did the day before he was executed that he "grew up in a wonderful home with two dedicated and loving parents" (Read the interview -- http://www.pureintimacy.org/online1/bundy.html.)
The Catholic Church throughout history has a diagnosis that accounts for all of reality. (I am not Catholic, and I am not angry.) That diagnosis is that humans are imperfect from birth and have a bent towards depravity. That explains why Ted Bundy and I both have negative impulses without child abuse or neglect in our pasts. The best part about this diagnosis: I am in charge of the choices that I make, and I can have dignity in the fact that I do not have to be victimized by "psychological experiences."
Benjamin L Meredith
Senior
Religious Studies
The length rule was waived.
