Readers Write: Newspaper cartoon ignores Catholic Church’s critical contributions

The Island Now

Matt Bodkin’s editorial cartoon published on March 30, Good Friday, was an attempt to support the Child Victims Act, a proposed law recently under consideration in the state legislature.

Unfortunately the cartoon characterized the Catholic Church as an organization with a “long history of victimizing children.”

Even a cursory look at the Catholic Church’s record as an institution belies this characterization.
Every Catholic acknowledges sinfulness, and those who commit crimes justly deserve punishment, but if one looks into the “long history” mentioned in the editorial, one finds a record of holiness and charity that is hard to deny.

Some of these achievements include: St. John Bosco caring for hundreds of street children in 19th century Italy and establishing a religious order to continue this work throughout the world; St. Vincent DePaul reaching out to the poor communities of 17th century France, an initiative which continues to aid the impoverished young of many nations; St. Elizabeth Anne Seton, a New Yorker, founding the American Catholic schools; St. Frances Cabrini establishing centers of charity for poor immigrant children throughout the U.S., beginning in New York; St. Katharine Drexel founding scores of schools, missions, and charitable works for African-American and Native American children, a work which continues today in twenty-one states and Haiti.

This is only a tiny sample of what the Catholic Church has done and continues to do for children.

Finally, what can be said about the church’s influence for the good of humanity over two millennia? It is incalculable.

As Robert Wilson, a retired New York hedge fund manager and an atheist remarked after donating over $20 million dollars to New York Catholic schools in 2007: “Let’s face it, without the Roman Catholic Church, there would be no Western Civilization.”

Joseph R. McCleary

President

The Schools of St. Mary

Manhasset

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