Santorum blames church sex scandals on ‘liberalism’

Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, who has been touted in some circles (not here) as a candidate for president in 2008 and who is facing a tough reelection fight next year, repeated a remark first made three years ago claiming that liberalism was at the root of the scandal over child sex abuse in the church.

"Priests, like all of us, are affected by culture," Santorum wrote in a July 12, 2002 article for the Web site Catholic Online. "When the culture is sick, every element in it becomes infected. While it is no excuse for this scandal, it is no surprise that Boston, a seat of academic, political and cultural liberalism in America, lies at the center of the storm."

Santorum should immediately apologize to Catholics, liberals, citizens of Boston. Sexual abuse happens in all quarters of American society. And, to borrow from Santorum’s recent book, It takes a family to solve the problem. Blaming liberals for it is only passing the buck.