The Last Acceptable Prejudice

269 Pages·2017·2.01 MB·English

The New
Anti-Catholicism:
The Last Acceptable
Prejudice
Philip Jenkins
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
The New Anti-Cat holi c ism
Also by Philip Jenkins
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A His tory of the United States
Hoods and Shirts: The Extreme Right in Pennsylvania 1925–1950
Pedophiles and Priests: Anatomy of a Con temporary Crisis
Us ing Mur der: The So cial Con struc tion of Se rial Ho mi cide
In ti mate En e mies: Moral Pan ics in Con tem po rary Great Brit ain
A Hist ory of Modern Wales 1536–1990
Crime and Justice: Iss ues and Ideas
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Images of Terror: What We Can and Cann ot Know About Terrorism
The New
Anti-Ca thol i cism
The Last Ac cept able Prej u dice
Philip Jenkins
3

2003
3

Ox ford New York
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Copyright © 2003 by Philip Jenkins
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Lib rary of Cong ress Cata l ogi ng-in-Publ ic at ion Data
Jenkins, Philip, 1952–

The new anti-cat holicism : the last acceptable prejudice / Philip Jenkins.

p. cm.

ISBN 0-19-515480-0

1. Anti-Ca thol i cism—United States.

I. Title.

BX1770.J46 2003

305.6’2073—dc21 2002012488

Book des ign and typesetting by
Glen R. J. Mules, New Rochelle, NY
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of Amer ica
on acid-free paper
Con tents

Pref ace vii

1 Limits of Hatred 1

2 The Cath o lic Men ace 23

3 Catho l ics and Libe ra ls 47

4 The Church Hates Women 67

5 The Church Kills Gays 93

6 Catho lics and the News Media 113

7 “The Perp Walk of Sacr amental Perverts”: 133

The Pedophile Priest Cri sis

8 Cath o lics in Mov ies and Tele vi sion 157

9 Black Lege nds: Rew riti ng Catho l ic Hist ory 177

10 The End of Prejudice? 207

Notes 217

In dex 249

v
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Pref ace

A
s always, my main debt of gratitude in writing this book is to my wife,
Liz Jenkins. I would also like to thank my friend Marian Ronan for her
good couns el—though I am sure she will dis agree with much of what
fol lows!
I should say a word about my pers onal stance toward the is sues dis­
cussed in this book. Over the past dec ade, I have worked on a number of
cont rov ers ial topi cs inv olvi ng Cat holi c ism, part icu l arly on the theme of
child abuse by clergy. During the wave of nat ional concern about that is ­
sue during 2002, I arg ued that the rea lity of the “pedophile priest” iss ue
was quite dif ferent from what was be ing presented by the mass me dia,
and that the numb er of priests involved in this behavior was sig nificantly
smaller than was commonly ass umed. In the context of the time, my at ti­
tude was seen by some as a def ense of the Church, and not surprisingly it
involved me in some lively debates. As a result, I have oft en been asked
about my per sonal relationship to Catholicism. I was a member of the
Roman Cath olic Church for many years, but I left, without any particu­
lar ran cor, and since the late 1980s, I have been a memb er of the Episc o­
pal Church. (Within that tradition, I def ine myself as a small-c cath o lic, a
dist inct ion that oft en puzz les large-C Roman Cath olics.) I have never
been a member of the clergy in any church, nor a seminarian, nor was I
associated with any religious order. I have no vested int erest in def ending
the Roman Catholic Church, nor can I fairly be described as an uncritical
defender of Catholic positions.
vii
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The New Anti-Cat holi c ism