By Philip Foley
Two recent
articles in the New York Times caught my eye.
The first http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/16/movies/anita-hill-is-celebrated-in-the-documentary-anita.html?_r=0
was about Anita Hill the reluctant
witness in the explosive Thomas confirmation hearings back in 1991. I remember
watching the hearings as Ms. Hill was grilled in excruciatingly graphic detail
by an all-white, all-male Senate Committee about her assertion of sexual
harassment by Clarence Thomas. I
believed her then and I believe her now. My question is will she fare any
better in the public eye two decades later as the movie of her life Anita opens.
It is unlikely
when you still have statement by women like Carrie Severino, chief counsel of
the Judicial Crisis Network, an advocacy group indicating that “I honestly
think she’s just making it up,”.
In the second
article about the Catholic Pope naming members to an Anti-Abuse Group http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/23/world/europe/pope-names-members-of-anti-abuse-group.html
The article
stated that the committee will include four female members, including Marie
Collins, an Irish woman who was abused as a girl in the 1960s and later became
a national activist to help other victims.
Since the
Catholic Church has been accused of covering up sexual abuse by its Priests for
at least five decades what real expectations can one have of the success of
this commission.
I believe it is
best summed up in the article by the statement made by The Survivors Network of
those Abused by Priests, a group founded in the United States that has now
become international, said the panel “perpetuates the self-serving myth that
Catholic officials need more information about abuse and cover-ups.” It added:
“They don’t. They need courage. They know what’s right” already.
I wish Ms. Hill
and Ms. Collins all the best in their fight for justice and I applaud their
courage to speak in spite of overwhelming odds. It is my hope that the public
as a whole has evolved in the understanding of abuse. My experience is it has not.
