The U.S. Catholic Church “is no greater (an) offender than anybody else. In fact, some of the statistics would say that priestly abuse among minors is less than other professions,” the cardinal said. “Now he knows that, he knows that, and yet he singled out the Catholic Church and continues to do so for negligence in this terribly important area.”
This reminds me of when I was teaching. If you chastised one child for doing something wrong, inevitably he would say, “well what about Joe there, he was doing it too!” Then, as in now, the response is—we were talking about you, not Joe. Don’t worry about Joe, take care of yourself.
Of course. It’s the waaaaaaay things are because it’s the way things are.
The sun sets behind a church in the Pittsburgh Diocese, one of six dioceses mentioned in the massive report on sexual abuse among Pennsylvania clergy. Gene J. Puskar/AP
Over 300 priests in Pennsylvania, and yet the true number?—over 1,000. Guilty. Abuse, coverups, transfers, whole families, boys and girls. And this is one state. Are there any innocents left?
Why has the Catholic Church not been shut down? Doors closed? Priests, Bishops, Cardinals, Popes, if not tried in courts of law, stripped of their protecting garments?
Protection and propagation is offered from a church that exhumed a buried Pope in order to take him to justice. (Or injustice.) Pope Stephen VIII tried the dead Pope Formosus in the Cadaver Synod, 897 ce. The corpse played an actual part. Can we assume he was found guilty?
If anyone has not seen The Keepers, on Netflix, please do so. The Church is not above any act, including murder, to protect the Brotherhood of Abuse. All levels of government and the Church are involved.
“The findings [Grand Jury] revealed a pattern of abuse that occurred in hundreds of parishes in 54 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties going back at least 80 years. It detailed how fellow clergy members conducted shoddy investigations into sexual abuse allegations and how bishops often sided with abusive priests.”
Heard on All Things Considered
How is it that all Catholics are not rebelling? And yet, I’ve heard the retort, for the lesser crimes spoken by nuns in their dark habits, knees blistered from kneeling, hands scrubbed raw. Is it not difficult to get out that damn spot?
The Pope does not speak for God, as God, unless he speaks ex cathedra (from The Chair, the Papal Chair). Then, and only then, does the Pope represent God. God will not let him speak wrongly. They are the very words of God.
It is easy to say then, the abuse, the silence, the coverups, were not the acts of the true Catholic Clergy, the most Catholic and Holy Pope of the Catholic Church. Ergo, the Church is innocent.
And this is where Faith comes in. Reason will not get you there.
I am embarrassed to say that I raised my children Catholic. I said the rosary every night in bed. I prayed the souls out of Purgatory on All Hallows Eve. Mea Culpa. Mea Maxima Culpa.
I still regret not saving the beautifully illustrated Seven Deadly Sins.
So I read the book. Then I listened to all of the music. Then I looked up all of the social media places. Maybe that’s not the correct order for everything, but anyway. This is a tough book to categorize. It’s not for mainstream reading, but it certainly is a Read. It’s not going to appeal to everyone but it appeals to so much: music, madness, obsession, abuse, determination beyond imagining. I give it an A. But and then, you must read portions inside before the purchase. It’s not something you’d give as a present to everyone. But a present it is.
Writers Ink—Writing and Stuff 