“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is known as the “Golden Rule” of Catholicism. After attending Catholic school for 13 years of my life, I can’t even recall the number of bulletin boards that this teaching was posted on.
Although before my First Reconciliation and First Holy Communion I had to learn the Ten Commandments and all of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, I always referred back to the Golden Rule. While everything else seemed to blend together, this made perfect sense in my mind, and to this day I try to keep true to it. Why would I copy from the math overachiever’s midterm next to me, if I wouldn’t want the annoying kid in my Spanish class copying from the midterm that I had been studying weeks for? And just because your neighbor’s door is wide open doesn’t mean they’re asking for you to take the 20 dollar bill on their desk.† If you were in the bathroom, you probably wouldn’t want someone to steal what took you over two hours of working your minimum wage job to make.
Expecting college students to treat everyone with respect is sometimes seen as a stretch for certain members of the underclassmen community, but expecting adults to treat everyone with respect is usually just a part of life.† And everyone would definitely expect leaders of organized religions to follow what they preach.
However, media and even members of the Catholic Church have been critical of these leaders since the early 2000s when the pedophilia scandals began to surface.† Someone who is seen as having the highest role in a religion and is referred to as a “man of God” being accused of sexually abusing young children was news that shook the nation.† It’s been about 10 years and it seems like people are only just beginning to be able to cope with these wrongdoings.† It was sobering to see that the Church was not as infallible as many people assumed. There are still plenty of snide remarks made about what priests do behind confessional doors.
Some very loyal followers of the Church have not been able to deal with the criticism and choose not to talk about the allegations, continuing to put all of their faith in their leaders.† Although many grandparents I know from back home would be very offended by the off-handed comments I often hear, it is hard to deny that pedophilia is not still a huge problem in the Catholic Church as recent reports have begun to surface.
Reverend Lawrence C. Murphy, who worked at a school for the deaf in Wisconsin, sexually abused groups of children that attended the school.† This went on for decades without any action.† The most horrifying part about the situation was that victims tried to get the word out about Reverend Murphy.† The New York Times reports that they told other priests, three archbishops of Milwaukee, two police departments and the district attorney.† They not only used sign language and other gestures, but also written affidavits to explain what wrongdoings Father Murphy had commited against them.
The Vatican and current Pope Benedict XVI knew about this case and despite the outcry from the victims, nothing was done about it and he died still ordained as a priest in 1998.† Whether their intentions were to hope that once again the general public would begin to forget about these scandals as they have in the past, or Catholic leaders honestly don’t feel a need to speak up against the recent uncovering, I think we can agree that the Catholic leaders are not acting as the example they should be.
Even understanding that some members will stray and not follow what they are preaching, it is up to the pope and other leaders to “do unto others as they would want to be treated.”† And the victims of these terrible acts deserve to be recognized instead of ignored.