In article <gPGdnQxDWY96LTzanZ2dnUVZ_q7inZ2d@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
Peter Kelsey <peter_a_kelsey@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> posted:
>
>
> Who cares?
Clergy Abuse and the Catholic Church
The Crafty Perpetrators Remain
By Patrick J. Wall
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
More than a month ago, Sister Sheila McNiff of the Society
of the Holy Child Jesus published a Los Angeles Times Op-Ed
piece claiming that the clerical ***ual abuse problems in
Los Angeles have come to an end.
I do not blame her for attempting to close the door on an
ugly decades-old chapter of the Archdiocese's history --
she was just doing her job. Those of us who have worked for
the Roman Church were all taught to protect the Bishop. And
that is exactly what she is doing.
The op-ed's chart and accompanying text do the
"numerator/denominator shuffle" by ****traying the state of
the local church as one with new procedures that have
miraculously stopped bishops, priests, and deacons in the
archdiocese from ***ually abusing minors and vulnerable
adults.
That is simply not the case. The truth is actually much
scarier: only the simple criminals have been caught. The
craftier clerical pedophiles and ephebophiles remain. Or
better put: how can a couple of rules stop a 2000-year
SECRET history of ***ual abuse? The church (under the rule
of the Pope) has been secretive for its entire history -how
can one Cardinal change it? More im****tantly, why would he
want to?
Pope Benedict XVI in his Encyclical Spe Salvi reminds us
that the laws of reason, will and love ultimately govern
the world. But we also know that reason and the powers of
observation tell us that ***ually abusive clerics were and
are in active ministry.
The first time Catholic bishops met with the goal to
implement controls over clerics who ***ually abused
children was at the Council of Elvira in 309 A.D. It didn't
work.
More than 1600 years later, abuse was still a serious
problem ~ in 1922 Pope Benedict XV issued a worldwide
procedure, De Modo Procendi in Causis Sollicitationis,
instructing Bishops on how to proceed with accusations of
clerical ***ual abuse. The do***ent was kept secret for
more than 90 years.
In Los Angeles, the problem is endemic. We now know that
Former Los Angeles Cardinal Timothy Manning sent and
visited an Archdiocesan priest, George Pausch, at the
Servants of the Paraclete in the 1950s to deal with
clercial ***ual abuse. These visits were kept secret until
recently, when more than 500 civil ***ual abuse cases
unearthed do***entation of the meetings.
Also, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops met
at Saint John's Abbey in 1985 in closed session to discuss
the national scandal. Why was the meeting closed and its
purpose kept secret? And what will Mahony do to change this
tradition? Nothing.
Since 2001, the L.A. District Attorney's office has
prosecuted several L.A. clerics for conduct after 2001 -
with little to no help from the Archdiocese. What will
Mahony do to help law enforcement? Nothing.
Thus, reason and history dictate that we will see new
criminal and civil cases in 2008 and beyond.
Why? Because of the secrecy.
One of the classic defense arguments is that the "will" of
Cardinal Roger Mahony has produced policies and procedures
that have rooted out abusers. In short, defenders claim,
things are getting better and better everyday. But facts
are facts: It is sheer folly to even consider that the
"will" of the Cardinal or any cleric can change the 2000-
year-old culture of the Latin rite church.
Let's look at what Mahony's "will" could not do:
Cardinal Mahony did not have the will to stop clerical
abusers as vicar general and auxillary bishop in Fresno. As
bishop of Stockton, he did not have the will to stop
abusers like Oliver O'Grady. Finally, Cardinal Mahony did
not have the will to stop Fathers Baker, Wempe, and Lopez
in Los Angeles. It was only due to the secular criminal and
civil legal systems that these predators were finally
stopped.
But these are the sloppy perpetrators. As more and more
clerics are exposed as abusers, I believe that the more
clever men -- men like Donald McGuire -- will slowly be
ferreted out. And considering the size and history of the
Los Angeles Archdiocese, I think that there are many clever
men who are still actively serving and actively
perpetrating. The sloppy perpetrators were able to abuse
countless kids in spite of "reforms" and "studies" within
the church. Smarter men will have no problem cir***venting
any new regulations that come their way.
Until Roger Mahony cooperates fully with law enforcement,
tells the truth about abuse, and comes clean about what he
knows and what he has done, all of the "reforms" in the
world will not make the Archdiocese a safer place.
As we approach the Lenten season, I contend that God's love
will conquer the darkness of the clerical ***ual abuses the
Cardinals of Los Angeles attempted and still attempt to
hide from the public. I have hope -- not in internal
Archdiocesan or Papal procedures -- but in the police and
prosecutors who now have the history and experience to help
us stop the craftier clerical criminals yet to be
discovered.
More at:
http://patrickjwall.wordpress.com/2008/01/30/the-crafty-perpetrators-remain/
Jai Maharaj
http://tinyurl.com/24fq83
http://www.mantra.com/jai
http://www.mantra.com/jyotish
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Hindu Holocaust Museum
http://www.mantra.com/holocaust
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http://www.hindu.org
http://www.hindunet.org
The truth about Islam and Muslims
http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate
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