This article from CNS shows us very nicely how the Church is dealing with the investigation of a priest who “sexually abused” former Congressman Mark Foley 40 years ago. The most impressive thing to note is how the Church leadership is talking tough on the subject and not trying to brush it under the proverbial rug…even though the mainstream media is.

I’ve a few observations about the whole mess. First, it was most interesting that Foley’s attorney essentially got up a few days after it all started and said, (paraphrased) “Mark Foley isn’t making any excuses, but he does want you to know that he’s gay, alcoholic, and was abused by a clergyman as a boy.” Well, it was pretty common knowledge that Foley’s background was Catholic. Who within the Catholic Chuch calls their priest a “clergyman.” Some sort of weird legal-speak going on there.

On top of that, this seems like a perfect opportunity for the “old media” to me. They have one story that now tears down both the Republican Party AND the Catholic Church. There are many times in the past when they would have been milking this story for all it’s worth. But now, apparently, there are more important things out there to attack the Republican Party for now that we’re 2 weeks out from election day. The public is apparently sick of Mark Foley (more accurately, the public was sick of Mark Foley 2 weeks ago) so the media has moved on. I bet the conversation comes up again if the Dems get control of the Congress back.

Politics in America.