Reporting the “Summer of Shame”: Clergy Sex Abuse and U.S. Catholic Journalism in 2018

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Davis, S. (2021). Reporting the “Summer of Shame”: Clergy Sex Abuse and U.S. Catholic Journalism in 2018. Unc Charlotte Electronic Theses And Dissertations.
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Abstract

This paper explores how two US Catholic newspapers—the National Catholic Reporter and the National Catholic Register—reported on the topic of sex abuse in the Church in 2018, revolving around how they presented and discussed the events surrounding Cardinal McCarrick’s abuse revelations. Taking a close look at how these organizations tell the story of sexual abuse in the church, particularly over the course of the events of 2018, reveals how Catholic news media outlets have interests in maintaining particular narratives of sexual abuse in the Church. These interests are political, personal, and theological, as they are informed and expressed from a Catholic perspective. The narratives these papers generate are at times congruent, but other times quite contentious to the point of calling each other out by name. This contention becomes dramatically apparent after the Register publishes a letter by Archbishop Carlo Viganò, former papal nuncio to the United States, calling for the resignation of Pope Francis. For the Reporter, there is a continual focus on clericalism, Church teachings they see as problematic, and Catholic power structures as the root of the problem of sexual abuse in the Church. They tend to write to and from a survivor-victim advocacy perspective. The Register regularly cites lax teachings on sexuality, a gay subculture in the priesthood, and cultural relativism as causes of rampant sexual abuse in and out of the Church. Their perspective tends more towards questions of theology and doctrine.

Details
Author

Davis, Samuel

Title

Reporting the “Summer of Shame”: Clergy Sex Abuse and U.S. Catholic Journalism in 2018

Physical Description

1 online resource (93 pages) : PDF

Date

2021

Degree Granting Institution

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Abstract

This paper explores how two US Catholic newspapers—the National Catholic Reporter and the National Catholic Register—reported on the topic of sex abuse in the Church in 2018, revolving around how they presented and discussed the events surrounding Cardinal McCarrick’s abuse revelations. Taking a close look at how these organizations tell the story of sexual abuse in the church, particularly over the course of the events of 2018, reveals how Catholic news media outlets have interests in maintaining particular narratives of sexual abuse in the Church. These interests are political, personal, and theological, as they are informed and expressed from a Catholic perspective. The narratives these papers generate are at times congruent, but other times quite contentious to the point of calling each other out by name. This contention becomes dramatically apparent after the Register publishes a letter by Archbishop Carlo Viganò, former papal nuncio to the United States, calling for the resignation of Pope Francis. For the Reporter, there is a continual focus on clericalism, Church teachings they see as problematic, and Catholic power structures as the root of the problem of sexual abuse in the Church. They tend to write to and from a survivor-victim advocacy perspective. The Register regularly cites lax teachings on sexuality, a gay subculture in the priesthood, and cultural relativism as causes of rampant sexual abuse in and out of the Church. Their perspective tends more towards questions of theology and doctrine.

Genre

masters theses

Subjects--Topics

Religion
History--Religious aspects

Degree

M.A.

Keywords

Catholic Church
Clergy
Journalism
Mccarrick
Sex Abuse
United States

Subject Area

Religious Studies

Advisor(s)

Brintnall, Kent

Committee Members

Maguire, Joanne
McCloud, Sean

Degree Note

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2021.

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Rights Holder Information

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Identifier

Davis_uncc_0694N_12907

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/etd:2680