Roman Catholics appalled by the long-running scandal of sexual abuse perpetrated by pedophile priests, and the revolting cover-up by enabling Bishops that followed, have been eagerly awaiting Pope Benedict's definitive answer to the crisis. Well, now we know. As indicated in this New York Times article, the faithful and the angry victims get a pat on the head, while Benedict makes the utterly repugnant claim that the Church is a victim too. Meanwhile, nothing will actually change. No one will be held accountable. It appears that Benedict is channeling George W. Bush.
Details below the fold.
As every sentient being knows by now, the Catholic Church in America has been rocked by a wave of repellant sexual abuse scandals, generally involving pedophile priests molesting (mostly) young boys in dioceses across the nation. This catastrophe was facilitated and compounded by an utterly amoral Church policy that concealed the perpetrators and recycled them to unsuspecting parishes elsewhere in the diocese. These pedophile predators were thereby given direct access to more unsuspecting families and their children. Bishops across the U.S. were complicit in this policy, and many did their best to stonewall legal investigation when the truth began to ooze out.
The number of victims of such molestation has been estimated to be at least 13,000. The faithful parishoners whose donations support the Church have been punished a second time, because more than two billion dollars in legal settlements have been paid out to the abuse victims (and their lawyers). Two billion dollars would keep a lot of Catholic schools open for a long time. It would feed a lot of hungry people, house a lot of the homeless. Instead that money has been taken from the donations willingly given by regular parishoners, and used to pay off the victims of pedophile priests. Several dioceses across the country have been forced into bankruptcy by these legal judgments. My own diocese moved aggressively to put the squeeze on parishoners who had donated generously in the past. They suggested to my wife and I a dollar number in the tens of thousands as the appropriate "sacrificial giving" to bail the Bishop out. It made my blood boil. How dare you; how dare you ask me to pay for your crimes?
Loyal, faithful Catholics across the country have been looking for some sign of Benedict's take on this shameful episode in the Church's history. In part this is because John Paul II's response was absolutely negligent. John Paul II was responsible for appointing virtually all of the weak-minded Bishops who chose to try sweeping this wave of sexual crime under the carpet. His initial response to the crisis was to ignore it. As the outrage grew, he made a few cosmetic statements of dismay, but resisted any meaningful reform. He directed a council of American Bishops to address the issue, then watered down their recommendations to the point of meaninglessness.
And what has Benedict decided? The article above shows the way. Benedict is embracing the obscene notion that the Church is a victim too, that we merely need to "bind the wounds", forgive and forget, move on. Nothing to see here. No accountability for the Bishops who shuttled pedophile priests molesting hundreds of children from one parish to another. No immediate expulsion from Holy Orders for anyone committing such an offence. No asking foregiveness from the faithful for the Vatican's role in perpetuating this catastrophic crime wave.
For shame.
For shame.