Catholic leaders guilty of hypocrisy

The Catholic church is vocal when denouncing legal abortion for women; however, the church adopts a “code of silence” when dealing with sexual abuse by men — the clergy.

The bishops of New York state were quick to condemn the Reproductive Health Act, signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in January, emphasizing their opposition to abortion in any form.

The church’s position on abortion is contrary to the views of most Americans. According to the Pew Research Center, 58 percent of Americans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases while 37 percent think abortion should be illegal in all or most cases.

Abortion is legal in our country; sexual abuse is not. Nevertheless, the Catholic church has been reluctant to deal with clergy who have been accused of sexual abuse. The church has often aided and abetted the accused priests, in many cases simply relocating them.

Sexual abuses have persisted within the church over many decades. For example, Pope Francis recently defrocked former Cardinal Theodore E. Mccarrick after the church found him guilty of a long history of sexual abuse of minors and adult seminarians.

Further, under pressure, the Pope acknowledged that there has been a long history of sexual abuse of nuns and religious women by Catholic priests and bishops and that abortions had sometimes resulted.

The Catholic church is guilty of hypocrisy, condemning legal abortion while only paying lip service to sexual abuse. The church aggressively works to control the reproductive rights of women, but eschews its responsibility to seriously confront sexual abuse by men.

Don steiner

Schenectady