Earlier today I posted a link on my Facebook feed to a story about how then-Cardinal Ratzinger intervened to cancel pedophile priest's church trial for his repeated abuse of children. The article cast it in the greater context of historical church cover-ups and concern for suppressing scandal. Predictably, the Vatican has responded by attacking the messengers/victims, claiming the usual laundry list of anti-Catholic conspiracy, greedy lawyers and decadent Americans in general. I even received an "article" emailed to me from someone who ought to know better, but obviously doesn't, which basically defends and excuses the Catholic Church from any blame in the ongoing child sex scandals, because hey, Protestants are way worse. And then this article goes on to list all the good works the Catholic Church has done over the decades, and all the bad things Protestants have done, like, forever.
Yeah, pretty much guaranteed to set me off.
Yes, both Catholic and non-Catholic religions--be they Protestant, Muslim, Buddist, etc.--have scandals, often of a stomach-churning sexually abusive nature. The difference is that the Catholic Church continues to systematically cover it up. During the U.S. scandal--indeed, even now--Vatican officials say it's a vendetta driven by lawyers and others out to make money, and that it's not really a problem. And if it IS a problem, it's only a problem in the U.S. because of our poor morals.
Then BOOM, lo and behold, turns out that there's a longtime pedophilia problem in Ireland, an overwhelmingly Catholic country, in which children were abused in state-sponsored, church-run schools. The overriding concern of the Catholic bishops and Vatican was not for the victims, but to protect the image of the church. They leveled the same accusations against the accusers they had before in the U.S., then trotted out the tired line that "this is just an isolated incident." In Pope Benedict's recent letter on the subject, he went so far as to cast partial blame on the victims and their parents. There's compassion for you.
Now BOOM, another HUGE child sex abuse scandal in Germany, dating from when then-Arch-Bishop Ratzinger was the ranking church official in that country. Again, cover up, denial, and accusations against the victims. Even as the scandal continues to grow and more victims come forth.
What's the next country to explode? How many "isolated incidents" will there be in the future, how many before they're not isolated anymore? I'll wager EVERY SINGLE country in the world that has significant Catholic populations will eventually be touched by this scandal.
It's not that these events happened that is so offensive. It's that the Catholic Church at every level worked to cover it up, and transferred pedophiles to other parishes in secret where they were free to continue abusing children, and EVEN NOW FIGHT TO KEEP THESE DOCUMENTS SECRET in the face of criminal investigations. Back in the 1980s, we had a priest in my parish who had a problem. And just to show my contempt of the whole secrecy cult, I'll name him: Brian Crooks, at St. Anthony's Catholic Church. Crooks was Irish, drank way too much, and made an effort to interject sex at every opportunity. He was a troubled alcoholic. He told explicit sexual jokes at church gatherings that troubled my mother. He went out of his way to tell the students--the boys, at least--in CCD classes that sexual desires were normal and that they should be accepted, with an eagerness that unnerved me even then. He made repeated drunken, late-night sexual overtures to the Nuns of the parish, to the point that they eventually requested transfer to Wisconsin. After this, his drunken binges became so troublesome that the leading laity of the parish went to Victoria, seat of the diocese, to speak with the Bishop, Charles V. Grahmann, about getting Fr. Crooks some help--any kind of help. Bishop Grahmann refused to meet with them, said they "ought to be ashamed of themselves" and sent them away. Fr. Crooks was transferred away a year or so later.
Here's a fun fact about Bishop Grahmann--you see, unlike other folks, I keep track of these things--he was transferred to Dallas and became Bishop of Dallas in 1990. And what was Grahmann's greatest claim to fame as shepherd of more than 1 million Catholics? His involvement in the attempted cover-up of pedophile Priest Rudy Kos' crimes. Kos sexually assaulted hundreds--that's right, hundreds of altar boys--while a priest, and the response of Grahmann and his predecessor was straight out of the Vatican playbook: Transfer him secretly to another parish where he would be free to victimize more children. Such lofty concern for the victims eventually cost the Diocese of Dallas $23 million in settlements, an amount, if you ask me, that is far too low. And based on my first- and second-hand knowledge of Bishop Grahmann's handling of troubled and troubling priests, I suspect he was ultimately much more complicit than he ever admitted. It wouldn't surprise me if Fr. Crooks was an abuser as well, considering his out of control alcoholism and creepy preoccupation with sex.
Call me naive, but I hold my church, that which purports to be the DIRECTLY DESCENDED REPRESENTATION OF JESUS CHRIST ON EARTH should be a tiny bit more concerned and compassionate when it comes to their priests RAPING CHILDREN. All these so-called apologists who write articles defending the Catholic Church "because other people are worse" are completely missing the point. Excuse me if I think the Catholic Church should be held to a higher fucking standard that doesn't include the cover-up of child rape, because like it or not, that's what's going on.
Update: Oh, look! More "isolated incidents" in Italy, and a grudging, hostile reaction from the Vatican, which included "The bishop of Verona, Monsignor Giuseppe Zenti, initially accused the former students of lying." Nice. Jesus is so proud right now.
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