The September 29 resignation of Republican congressman Mark Foley of Florida, who sent “naughty emails,” as White House spokesman Tony Snow put it, to underage male pages, has sent shock waves throughout Washington. Official statements by congressional leaders regarding the scandal are not unlike statements released in 2002 by Cardinal Bernard Law after his role in the cover-up of child sexual abuse by priests was reported by the Boston Phoenix and detailed in the Boston Globe. Could it be that Foley himself, who is Roman Catholic, was molested by a clergyman when he was a 13, as his lawyer alleged on Tuesday? We’ll see.
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Talking point #1: trust
Law: “The trust that was broken in the lives of those suffering the effects of abuse is a trust which was built upon the selfless lives of thousands of priests who have served faithfully and well in this Archdiocese throughout its history.”
— Cardinal Law’s “Statement On the Issue Of Sexual Abuse Of Minors By Clergy,” January 10, 2002
Republicans: “Members of Congress are given the trust of the American people who have elected them to office. They are expected to live up to the highest standard by those who send them to our nation’s Capitol.”
— Joint statement by House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Majority Leader John Boehner, and Majority Whip Roy Blunt on the Congressman Mark Foley matter, September 30, 2006
Talking point #2: abhorrence
Law: “There is no way for me to describe adequately the evil of such acts. All sexual abuse is morally abhorrent. Sexual abuse of minors is particularly abhorrent. Such abuse by clergy adds to the heinous nature of the act.”
— Cardinal Law’s “Statement On the Issue Of Sexual Abuse Of Minors By Clergy,” January 10, 2002
Republicans: “The improper communications between Congressman Mark Foley and former House Congressional pages is unacceptable and abhorrent. It is an obscene breach of trust. His immediate resignation must now be followed by the full weight of the criminal justice system.”
— Joint statement by Hastert, Boehner, and Blunt on the Foley matter, September 30, 2006
Talking point #3: we’re aware that this is not what altar boys/pages are here for
Law: “As Archbishop, it was and is my responsibility to ensure that our parishes be safe havens for our children, places where they can experience all that the Church is called to be.”
— Letter from Cardinal Law, January 26, 2002
Republicans: “It is our responsibility to ensure that the students in the Page Program are as safe in the nation’s Capitol as they are in their own homes. While we have gone to great lengths to create a safe environment for House Pages, we must do more and we must also consider ways to protect them after they leave.”
— Joint statement by Hastert, Boehner, and Blunt on the Foley matter, September 30, 2006
