As a Catholic, I appreciated Courtney Dowd's April 9 column, "Media Exploits Current Catholic Crisis." I wondered, however, if Dowd was observing the same media coverage that I was. Although one can argue whether or not the news media is too "liberal" in its handling of current news issues, I disagreed with several of Dowd's points. Indeed, the situation has been frontpage news, but Dowd's commentary seems to understate the very nature of the scandal while misrepresenting the tone of media coverage and overstating the subsequent reaction of many Catholics. While these few weeks have been painful for even the most distant patrons of the Catholic Church, chalking the emotions up to media "hype" misses the point entirely.
Frankly, I could not believe that Ms. Dowd skimmed over what is the crucial point of the entire media focus on the scandal. Pedophilia, while certainly a significant factor of the story, is nothing new to the Church. What has really driven the story has been the discovery of an apparent framework organized by the leadership of the church to cover up past allegations of sexual misconduct against the clergy and shield its offenders from prosecution. Dowd correctly mentions the case of Cardinal Law in Boston, but there are similar charges in New York. Cardinal Edward Egan, of the Archdiocese of New York, after initially refusing to cooperate with authorities, finally relented to massive multilateral criticism and released internal Church documents listing decades of sexual abuse allegations. The Archbishop of Brooklyn has followed suit and then reversed an earlier stance by announcing that future allegations against his clergy would be forwarded to the common law authorities. The list goes on, but you get the point.
This is not a media "spectacle" intended to "drag the Church through the mud," nor is the media using the crimes of a few priests to attack the values of the Church itself or its patrons as Dowd suggests. Rather, the media coverage I have seen has forcefully exposed a systemic problem amongst the leaders of the Church-a disturbing cover-up of past sexual abuse cases-and has appropriately criticized several key figures in the church for their hesitation in cooperating with authorities and its overall disgraceful handling of the situation.
I also question the "hysteria" Ms. Dowd cites amongst parishioners of the Church. Her statements that "many Catholics aren't so sure if they can trust the Church anymore," does not jibe with the results of a recent Quinnipiac University poll published in Friday's edition of The New York Daily News. In that survey, 83 percent of Catholics said that the controversy has not shaken their faith and 90 percent of Catholics said that they trusted their priest around young people. If anything, Catholics are angry and intent on changing things amongst the leaders.
As for the issue of celibacy vows taken by priests, I also disagree with Dowd's take on the media commentary. The true focus for the critics of the church's insistence on celibate ministers was not the link between celibacy and pedophilia but rather the dwindling number of priests in the clergy. This could clearly be construed as a reason why the leadership of the Church is reluctant to expunge criminal priests for fear of losing a significant portion of the clergy, but it will most likely be a key point of debate, as the Church seeks reform.
I shared Dowd's positive experience in the Catholic Church as a youth. But that should not cloud the need to uncover the truth to these allegations, nor should it temper the criticism of the appalling lack of leadership demonstrated at the top levels of the Church. Nor should it cause Catholics to falsely blame skewed media coverage as attacking their faith or values, when the news media clearly focused on the individuals who committed these crimes and their leaders who shielded them. Dowd mentions that the media portrayed priests as "superhuman" and seemed "to be harder on the priests than it would be on laypeople." Dowd should, for starters, advocate that the perpetrators and those that covered up their crimes be accountable to the same system of laws as the rest of us. As amply demonstrated, the Church leaders' form of justice has been an unmitigated disaster.
Dave Nardolillo '98
Best lip sync in Amherst history
In a series of lip sync performances that can only be described as the best and most innovative in Amherst lip sync history, the top room draw picks went to the most deserving groups by far, blowing the other groups out the water. The top pick of the sophomore class went to a titillating performance by three young men whose interpretation of Madonna's "Like a Virgin" almost outdid the Queen of Reinvention herself. However, the highlight of the evening was the winning performance of the group of male rising seniors who took cross-dressing to a new level. Sure, any woman can dress as a woman, but when men dress as women, it becomes a delicious and insightful farce into the strict, conservative views to which our supposedly liberal school actually adheres. This should have been enough to secure their victory, but these handsome gents in drag chose not to settle for mediocrity and took their act a step further, dancing to popular songs from the 80s and 90s. As if the dynamics between men and women weren't complicated enough, the audience was challenged to face the prospect of a man singing with a woman who was actually a man. Many issues were tackled within the performance, such as the group's probing questions of homosexuality/transgender issues, of what is "real" and "fake," of class and regional problems-police versus civilian, Boston versus New York and, of course, Amherst versus Williams. The audience was able to focus more directly on the issues at hand and laugh uproariously at them at the same time. It was a well-deserved victory.
The winning group's closest competitor was generally considered to be a group of seven girls who performed a tightly choreographed, obviously well-prepared dance montage to "Grease." Admittedly, these girls had clearly spent considerable time on mis-en-scène, choreography and lip sync precision, but where was the creative Amherst spirit? By resorting to the clichéd theme of Grease, these girls merely showed us a "traditional" lip sync. Where was the bawdy comedy mixed with the probing questioning of our life and times at Amherst? For all those with aspirations to compete in the lip sync next year, I can only advise that what would be considered an excellent lip sync performance at a lesser school simply will not go over well here at Amherst. Be creative. Which is to say, "dress as a woman." Can you think of any other gesture which turns our stuffy school on its head and simultaneously charms those old judges? Girls, I'm sorry. When you dress as yourselves it's simply not funny and, sadly, not particularly creative. Also, don't even think of dressing as a man. The fact that girls wear pants ceased to be a radical idea before coeducation 25 years ago. You're just going have to work a bit harder. After all, a number one pick in room draw doesn't come with just a little song and dance.
Sarah Walker '03