A headline article that appeared in today’s Denver Post details the thousands of cases of child molestation by Christ’s representatives here on earth. The article that quotes the New York Times, accuses Pope Benedict XVI of blatantly ignoring requests by one of one of his priests to act on allegations that a Milwaukee priest had molested over 200 deaf boys in Wisconsin. In case you forget, these boys were forced to have oral and anal sex with a person of trust. Not just one boy, but 200.
Benedict, then a Cardinal, did what so many of the Church hierarchy did here in the United States, in Mexico, in Ireland, in Germany, in Switzerland, and in many other countries. They ignored the problem, or sent the priest to counseling. When the offender was “cured” he was sent back to molest again. Tens of thousands of children over the years. Civilian pedefiles are tried in a court of law, and if convicted, are sent to prison here.
In the mean time, we have area bishops and archbishops who unashamedly chastise those who do not follow the doctrines of the church. Think recently of the little girl in Boulder denied access to The Sacred Heart of Jesus school because her parents were lesbians…talk about the sting of rejection, no less from The Sacred Heart of Jesus.
In Matthew 19:14, Jesus exhorts his followers, “let the little children come to me.” Unfortunately, the flinty, cold, hard heart of Denver Archbishop Charles J. Chaput decided to follow the letter of church doctrine rather than the spirit of Christ. The child was not allowed to attend the Catholic Church. This is the same church leader who commanded his flock not to vote for politicians who supported abortion rights. Politically active, morally bankrupt.
The church rails against birth control, or abortions, even though birth control would prevent abortions. Instead, in developing countries, Catholic parents continue to have children, many who fall into neglect. The church tacitly support actions that put these little ones in danger. Many who have ended up in Catholic orphanages are then subjected to the will of the priest in charge.
Meanwhile, very little is heard about the outrages committed against the innocents the church is sworn to protect. Sure, millions are paid out to the survivors but only after lengthy court fights. The church continues to protect their own.
The news first broke in Canada’s province of Quebec in the late 80′s and from there spread rapidly across North America. Within a few years it had spread around the world- the unalterable proof that Catholic priests had sexually abused children.
The outrage, convictions, resignations, obfuscations and settlements have cost Rome hundreds of millions of dollars and today challenge the very seat of Catholic power, Pope Benedict XVI.
But a few and rather embarrassing questions have yet to be asked, the most important of which are quite simple; How is it that only priests are being exposed? Every Cardinal, every Bishop, every Pope was once a priest, and while in the priesthood did not one of them ever abuse a child? Are we to believe that children were not for years molested by some of those who today form the hierarchy of the Vatican?
Don, you make an excellent point. I have never seen the issue of child sexual abuse at higher levels of the Vatican structure mentioned in any media reports, only its concealments.
It was no accident or spur of the moment decision that Cardinal Angelo Sodano, DEAN of the College of Cardinals, began the Easter Mass event by defending Pope Benedict.
Sodano described the public’s revulsion against child sexual abuse as “petty gossip” and the public revelation of Benedict’s complicity in its coverups is called a “vile” smear campaign by the Vatican’s newspaper. These statements may ease the concerns of some Catholics or others who refuse to accept the proven widespread abuse, but it only further confirms that the Roman Catholic Church has, indeed, lost its “moral authority.”