Things Santorum should know about Massachusetts

Sometimes the wrong people take offense. Take Sen. Rick Santorum's remarks blaming the Catholic Church's sex-abuse scandal on liberal attitudes in Boston.

"When the culture is sick, every element in it becomes infected," the Pennsylvania Republican wrote in a column for Catholic Online three years ago. "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."

While promoting his new book, "It Takes a Family," Santorum was asked about this weird essay. He did not recant any of it. Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy blew up and demanded an apology. Barney Frank, an openly gay congressman from the Boston suburbs, was more succinct, calling Santorum "a jerk."

With all due respect to Boston liberals, they aren't the ones who should be hopping mad. The party most entitled to feel insulted is the Catholic Church itself. Though almost no one noticed it, the implications of Santorum's argument are dreadful — that the church takes its moral cues from below rather than above. This is a devastating commentary.

The discovery of pedophilic priests traumatized church leaders and parishioners. The least damaging (and also best) explanation for this tragedy was that some corrupt priests had preyed on children, and a passive hierarchy did not stop them. If that was the problem, then the solution is clear: Weed out the bad actors, and tighten oversight. But if the broader culture caused the sex abuse, then there's nothing the church can do to fix what's wrong. It's better to admit that some church leaders failed as moral guides than to argue that they're not guides anyway, but followers of the depraved public.

So, Bostonians should shape up so that they can be better role models for the clergy. That's what Santorum was saying, and he wasn't joking. Walk his argument to the logical conclusion, and you end up with: No HBO for priests.

Massachusetts, of course, is the only state that has legalized same-sex marriage. Santorum's obsession with homosexuality might help explain why he lands on gay-friendly Boston as the epicenter of permissiveness. Let it be noted, for the record, that the scandal was nationwide — and that the highest percentage of predator priests was in the diocese of Covington, Ky.

Massachusetts as the liberal capital of anything-goes remains a constant in the conservative imagination. But what's going on in these conservatives' heads is a lot more exciting than anything going on in Massachusetts. In real life, the place is almost oppressively prudish. The cheerleaders are prim. No Miss Massachusetts has ever become Miss America, because she is too modest to strut properly in the bathing-suit contest.

According to the big social indicators, Massachusetts is actually one of the more conservative states. For one thing, it has the nation's lowest divorce rate. That traditional families thrive in the land of gay marriage is not an unexplainable paradox. The two are related. Husbands and wives who have strong domestic bonds are less likely to feel threatened by same-sex marriage.

Ask heterosexuals in Massachusetts whether marriage should be between a man and a woman, and most would probably say yes. But then ask them whether letting gays tie the knot somehow weakens their own unions, and they'd laugh at you.

In Massachusetts, gay marriage is seen as a way to formalize longstanding relationships. It's about licenses, not licentiousness. The culture likes order and loves privacy. Of what possible interest is the love life of the people next door, as long as they mow the lawn? Since gay marriage became legal a year ago, the sky has not fallen. Polls show fewer Massachusetts residents objecting to the idea than before.

Reasons given for low divorce rates in Massachusetts include later marriages and more education. But another is a high proportion of Roman Catholic residents. The church does not recognize divorce.

If Santorum wants to score points with conservative Catholics, he'd do better citing their admirably low divorce rates. Blaming liberals for misbehaving priests flies off the charts. Not everyone could twist a defense of the church into a dismissal of its moral power. It takes a Rick Santorum.

Providence Journal columnist Froma Harrop's column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times. Her e-mail address is fharrop@projo.com