Sinead O’Connor is being lionized for her “bravery” in ripping up a picture of Pope John Paul II on “Saturday Night Live” in 1992. Her fans are commending her for calling attention to clergy sexual abuse. The reaction has been effusive.
“She was proved right” says Harvard Law School instructor Alejandra Caraballo. Brenna Moore, who teaches theology at Fordham, called her “a kind of prophetic truth-teller.” America magazine senior editor James T. Keane wants to know “when are we going to apologize to her?” Indeed, there is a Facebook page called, “Apologize to Sinead O’Connor NOW.”
If a Martian landed today and read this he might well conclude that Sinead was a scholar who commanded great prescience. In fact, she was a troubled soul who was badly educated (I know because I debated her on TV). She was no more a “truth-teller” than are her fans who have written on this subject.
The truth is that anyone who talks about clergy sexual abuse and refuses to tell the truth about the oversized role played by homosexuals is either ignorant or dishonest: they were responsible for 8 in 10 cases of molestation. And they got away with it because of the gay subculture that orchestrated the cover-up. All of this is detailed in my book, The Truth about Clergy Sexual Abuse: Clarifying the Facts and the Causes.
The Associated Press (AP) has an embarrassing article on Sinead. It cites as authoritative the pro-Sinead remarks of David Clohessy, the man who once headed the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP). He had to leave in disgrace. As I show in my book, he was shown to be an utter fraud. I am delighted that the Catholic League played a major role in his ouster.
AP reports that Clohessy was in his early 30s when Sinead pulled her “SNL” stunt. It says that “he had only recently recalled the repressed memories of the abuse he suffered.” Never mind that the idea of “repressed memory” has been thoroughly discredited—no serious psychologist defends it anymore—Clohessy has said that his memory of what allegedly happened to him was jarred when he and his fiancée were watching a Barbra Streisand movie. That would do it.
Michael McDonnell is quoted in the AP article speaking favorably about Sinead. He is identified as the “interim executive director” of SNAP. Poor Mike has been the “interim director” for quite some time now. The reason he is still “interim” is because SNAP does not exist anymore. It’s nothing but his cell phone.
AP also cites comments by Jamie Manson, the lesbian head of an anti-Catholic pro-abortion group, Catholics for Choice. Manson said that when Sinead ripped up the picture of the pope she was “feeling a call to the priesthood at the time.” Now if a male Catholic activist said he once felt called to be a nun, wouldn’t it make sense to call the mental health hotline?
Molly Olmstead at Slate wrote a beauty. She goes after Pope John Paul II for his “role” in covering up the scandal. The link she provides is to a story by National Public Radio saying the pope was aware of accusations against homosexual predator, and former cardinal, Theodore McCarrick.
The pope should have listened to New York Archbishop John Cardinal O’Connor. He had McCarrick’s number and explained in detail to the Vatican why he was alarmed. Instead the pope was persuaded by two high-ranking Vatican officials who took McCarrick’s side. He heeded the wrong advice, but this is not the same as instituting a cover-up.
Olmstead resurrects fictitious tales about the Magdalene Laundries, where Sinead stayed, so she can bash the Catholic Church. As I recount in my monograph, “Myths of the Magdalene Laundries,” data contained in what is known as the “McAleese Report” demonstrate that these homes for wayward girls that were run by nuns were not anything like its harshest critics have alleged. No one was imprisoned, forced to stay or engage in slave labor. Not a single woman was sexually abused by a nun. Not one. It is all a lie.
It is true that Sinead was sexually abused. But not by a nun—it was her own mother who molested her. So it was hardly surprising that her father decided that she would be better off being taken care of by the nuns.
Olmstead says that “Bill Donohue of the Catholic League led the public charge against O’Connor back in 1992,” I would have been happy to do so, but I didn’t become president until 1993.
