It's a sad state of affairs when new allegations of Catholic priests accused of sexual abuse are greeted with the same measure of surprise as another Tiger Woods porn star: none at all.
At this point the story has to take a particularly egregious and shocking turn to warrant front-page news coverage. This week it did. The Vatican -- not a local parish, or a local papal leader, but the Vatican itself -- stands accused of halting an investigation into a Wisconsin priest believed to have molested 200 deaf boys over a 20-year period. (Yes, you read that correctly.)
As reported by the Associated Press, the case bears disturbing similarities to a case in Italy in which a group of priests is also accused of preying on a group of deaf children, and on that matter the Vatican is also accused of dragging its feet. But even more shocking, the New York Times reports that during his tenure as Cardinal, Pope Benedict was cc'd on a 1980 memo that notified him and others of the return of a known pedophile to a parish. The priest was eventually convicted of molesting boys there. But I'm sure that came as no surprise to the people who helped put him there, which, no matter how you dress it up, includes the current Pope. And that's what makes these stories a turning point.
Let me ask you a question: if a memo surfaced making it clear that a CEO knew that a product was highly dangerous but turned a blind eye as the product was given to children during his career, ultimately injuring thousands of them beyond repair, would that CEO keep his corner office? No, because every mother and father of an injured child would demand his head, or at the very least his resignation. Yet for some reason the Vatican appears willing to protect Pope Benedict at all costs, despite the fact that his judgment has been proven reckless at the very least, and legally questionable at worst. For years, the leadership of the Church has tried to convince us that it operates with a level of confusion and disjointedness equivalent to the FBI and CIA pre-9/11 and that this is to blame for its own homegrown terrorist disaster. But now these documents have revealed that that is simply not true: the Church operates deliberately.
Before anyone starts the "you-must-be-anti-Catholic-and-anti-faith" chorus, let me say that nothing could be further from the truth, as regular readers of my writing know. I am not anti-Catholic, anti-religious, or anti-faith, but I am anti-pedophile, and I am even more fervently opposed to those who would protect pedophiles.
You can always tell a lot about a person, organization, or institution by how they respond to a crisis. President Bush's handling of Katrina will forever be haunted by echoes of "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job," which became a YouTube symbol for how hopelessly out of touch he and his administration were. But the most telling sign is when those who stand accused, and whose guilt is in the process of morphing from maybe to certainly in the eyes of the public, go on the attack. Think former president Bill Clinton angrily declaring, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman," and then going after the "vast right-wing conspiracy." (Yes I know there probably was one, but I think we're all in agreement by now that we can't really blame them for Lewinsky.) Think Gov. David Paterson insinuating that his gubernatorial woes were, in part, racially based. But when the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano recently attempted to blame the media for its current image crisis, it demonstrated a level of gall wrapped in chutzpah with a good dose of delusion sprinkled in that not even Bush, Clinton, or Paterson could match. The media was accused, in part, of acting as if the church "were the only one responsible for sexual abuses -- an image that does not correspond to reality."
Yes, the reality is that there are pedophiles elsewhere, many of them in prison where they belong, but many more not. But is the Vatican arguing on the record that it should be viewed just like any other business or institution in the secular world, where vigilantly protecting children from pedophiles is simply the price of doing business?
People of faith should -- and do -- expect more of our religious leaders, especially when these same leaders continue to try to dictate the morality of others.
But hypocrisy aside, the impact and level of victimization of this scandal reaches far wider than Jim and Tammy Faye Baker, Jimmy Swaggert, and Ted Haggard combined, as does Pope Benedict's role in this victimization. Yet while they all tearily resigned, his job so far appears to be safe.
If Pope Benedict is interested in saving his "company" -- the Catholic Church, in this instance -- then he should do what any CEO who had a role in distributing a dangerous product would do: fall on his sword by resigning. If he does not, then he and the church he leads are sending a clear message that they consider themselves above not only the law but possibly God. And if that is the case, then perhaps its remaining parishioners should send the Church the same message that they would send to a company that endangered their children with its products: boycott that company right out of business.
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And, I don't think the Church is well equipped to deal with this evil in their ranks; the Catholic Church, like any church (and more than most; think Galileo), is committed to doctrine, to the extent of ignoring empirical data if it should conflict with doctrine. In particular, anyone with (empirical) experience in criminal justice or penology will tell you that sex offenders, pederasts in particular, are the most incorrigible of criminals, with recidivism rates near to 100%. The correct answer to the question, "Under what circumstances should a known pederast be allowed unsupervised contact with children?" is "Never this side of Hades!"
But, for the Church to deny a pederast Priest (one who confesses his sin and repents) the opportunity to continue to, um, "serve God," would be to deny the redemptive power of God's grace as dispensed by the Holy Sacraments of the Church. This is WAY out of the RCC doctrinal comfort zone; might as well deny the Trinity, the Resurrection, and the Divinity of Christ while you're at it!
Let's put it another way - if we can arrest a sitting Pope, then George Bush, Dick Cheney et al could have been arrested during their time in office. Same principle.
This as well as other reasons is why I do not believe in organized religion.
I have a story: One weekend, this young woman went to visit her brother at a seminary in Quebec, and while she was waiting for him in the hallway, a young priest asked her to join him. He then asked her to sit in her lap, and started to slide his hand up in her "nether regions". She jumped up, totally shocked - she didn't know how to react. She didn't tell anyone until she told me, decades later.
This young woman later married and raised a family, and carried the shame of this event all those years. Yes, this woman is my mother, and this happened around 1930.
These sex crimes have been going on for a very long time, and priests have always used the excuse that God will forgive them if they make a heartfelt confession. This way they do not need to go through the criminal justice system. So they can go and sin again.
PROSECUTE THE POPE!!!
Demand prosecution of the pope. Since when does anybody get a pass when they rape and torture children? I'm sorry pope, no wiggle room here. This holy man (sic) is guilty of aiding and abetting child rapists and sodomizers. Let us not mince words here. This man is a criminal, prosecute him. If he is the head of his own state, then let's put sanctions on this corrupt and criminal enterprise that is the catholic church/state.
And i would also like to see them change the "celibate priest" thing and allow women to have equality with men in the church.
That is, as long as there has to be a Catholic Church, which at this point is just a giant money laundering organization. Its all about power, isn't it, because it certainly isn't about the people who believe. We have more "enlightened Catholic CHurches that i know of around here in CA, but the old Roman boys club has made the "official" Catholic Church nothing more than a cult.
Come to think of it, that's the same deal with the Republicans. Coincidence? I don't THINK so. After all, both sets of followers like to be told exactly what to do.
Because of all this and the recent revelations in Ireland and Europe that yes, indeed, there were pedophiles in every country in which the CC had parishes, there truly is only one solution: the Pope needs to step down. Because of his leadership positions through the years, he was directly or indirectly involved with this mess and, fairly or not, his credibility and moral authority is rendered bankrupt, claims of infallibility notwithstanding.
However, no one should be surprised by any of this - progressive Catholics were heartbroken when Benedict was selected, as it was truly a regressive choice, one that meant further backtracking from Vatican II and John Paul II's progress on many issues. Hopefully the CC has learned its lesson.
Those court cases would have tied up the media and the Congress, big time. There is still time to get more mad about it. I will be watching with you.
Of course, Americans already know god makes mistakes. god told GWBush to invade Iraq, according to GWBush. Either god made a mistake or GWBush lied. My bet is that faux gnus et al would blame god for his mistake before they would admit GWBush lied.
lets face it, the CC is a mess and always has been.