Ironic That David Letterman Indicts Priests Over Sexual Behaviour? – OpEd

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On last night’s “Late Show with David Letterman,” the CBS host said he was “stunned” and “fascinated” by Anthony Weiner’s predicament. He then said the following: “Honest to God, is this the kind of behavior you’d expect from a congressman! No. In simple terms, no. It is not the kind of behavior you’d expect from a congressman. It is the kind of behavior you’d expect from a priest.”

In addition to Rep. Weiner, the following members of Congress have been involved in cases of sexual improprieties in recent years: Rep. Chris Lee, Rep. Mark Souder, Rep. Eric Massa, Rep. Vito Fossella, Rep. Mark Foley, Rep. Gerry Studds, Rep. Barney Frank, Rep. Daniel Crane, Sen. Larry Craig, Sen. David Vitter, Sen. John Edwards and Sen. John Ensign. In addition, the following governors have a sordid record: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gov. Jim Gibbons, Gov. Jim McGreevey, Gov. Eliot Spitzer, Gov. Mark Sanford and Gov. Bob Wise. President Bill Clinton was similarly compromised.

Regarding priests, 149 of them are responsible for 27 percent of all the alleged cases of abuse over the past half-century—out of a total of 100,000 priests. More important, almost no priests today are the subject of allegations.

We know one thing for sure: the average person working for David Letterman is far more likely to have been the subject of sexual harassment—by him, no less—than those working for a priest. Perhaps the next time he will be more accurate and compare himself to Weiner. But he should note one caveat: Weiner, so far as we know, is unlike Letterman in this respect—he did not commit adultery, never mind serial adultery.

William Donohue

William Donohue is the current president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights in the United States, and has held that position since 1993.

2 thoughts on “Ironic That David Letterman Indicts Priests Over Sexual Behaviour? – OpEd

  • June 16, 2011 at 11:27 am
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    “Regarding priests, 149 of them are responsible for 27 percent of all the alleged cases of abuse over the past half-century,” hits it right on the head. The statistics prove innocence of most priest beyond any shadow of a doubt. The Popes have said ex cathedra. What else could anyone want? There was never ever a sex scandal in the church until the sexual revolution of the 60-70s which drove hundreds of priests to be pedophiles,

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  • June 21, 2011 at 3:16 pm
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    This also means that the 149, like Fr Geoghan who had over 150 victims, were moved around by bishops who knew about it and didn’t care if future children were raped. Horrific.

    Note also that Weiner’s or Letterman’s indiscretions were with adults, which is really the heart of the issue. Catholics still don’t seem to understand the horror of having sex with children. Blaming adults for what adults do with adults is childish.

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