Sexual Abuse is an Institutional Endeavor by The Catholic Church
Recently the news has exploded with a truly massive concentration of sexual abuse in Pennsylvania state. A grand jury has released a scathing report that has identified around 1000 victims of sexual abuse by over 300 priests over the last 70 years just in Pennsylvania.
This report chronicles, in powerful detail, how these priests raped boys and girls of all ages (as young as 18 months), tied them up, whipped them, created child pornography, impregnated them and arranged for abortions, and priests did all this in secret groups. Priests worked together to keep their secrets, share their victims, and have been called a cabal of predators.
What I want to focus on is crushing the illusion that this is an isolated incident and that these actions are the result of deviant individuals acting in secret. Sexual abuse in the Catholic church is well known by all members of the organization all the way to the top. There has never been any meaningful attempt to stop sexual abuse among priests, there has only been an all encompassing campaign to conceal sexual abuse and protect pedophiles. This was expressly done to protect the image of the Church and maintain the illusion of moral authority, and I suspect, due to the widespread nature, that this was also to maintain the practice for the pleasure of priests.
How Widespread Is This Problem?
When the Boston Globe cracked the story of sexual abuse in American churches it was found the scandal involved nearly every diocese in the United States, with 1,200 priests preying on more than 4,000 children. (Follow that link for more statistics about the prevalence of abuse.) Previously, I wrote about how I am shocked that anyone could remain a Catholic and the power of denial in the average person. “’’My assessment is it’s only the tip of the iceberg,“ said William R. Stayton, professor and coordinator of the human sexuality doctoral program at Widener University in Chester, Pa.”
If that’s not bad enough. Sexual abuse among Catholic organizations has been spread around the world for decades, most likely for centuries, but our evidence only goes so far back. This comprehensive report attempts to capture the scope of abuse in America from 1950 to 2002 in everything from church, the Boy Scouts, the YMCA, and other organizations. It also provides a wealth of research material on the topic that document the scope of abuse, the psychological reasons behind it, the practice of predators, the efforts the church takes to cover them up and more.
Of course as the Catholic Church is world wide so is this scandal. You can go to this WIKI page and follow links to abuse cases all over the world.
As I said, sexual abuse in the Catholic Church is not the result of random deviants within the church. It is a proven fact that the Church has done everything in their power to foster a safe environment for pedophiles, to cover up any incidents of rape, and to protect priests legally at all costs.
At this moment there is an archbishop in Australia that has been convicted of covering up sexual abuse by priests underneath him. But if the saying tip of the iceberg were every appropriate this is the time.
During the current case of abuse in P.A., Bishop Zubik said “there is no cover up going on.” The Grand Jury however beg to differ, saying, the church followed a “playbook for concealing the truth.” The reasons mentioned were manipulating the view by downplaying the harm using language such as “inappropriate behavior” instead of rape, internal investigations were conducted by other priests who did not have proper training, priests were referred to Catholic-run health centers instead of real psychiatrists. Then worst of all, all church leadership is instructed to NEVER involve law enforcement and that it is to be treated as an internal matter. Victims are payed off, intimidated with legal action and excommunication, made to sign gag orders. The offending priests are quietly moved without telling anyone why. All of their expenses are paid to live in another city or town where they are not known. It has been documented that priests are often moved multiple times because they keep raping children and the Church NEVER takes steps to stop it.
Here’s one example of many:
For instance, one woman was raped by a priest at the age of seven in her hospital room after surgery on her tonsils, was raped again by the same priest at age 13, and then again at age 19 while pregnant; she considered suicide. What was the priest’s punishment for that and the other rapes and molestations to which he admitted? Bishop Ronald Gainer of Harrisburg, in submitting the case to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, stated: “I believe the scandal caused by his admission of the sexual abuse of minor girls has been sufficiently repaired by acceptance of the penal precept.” In other words, Gainer did not want the priest defrocked and so, as punishment, The Congregation for the Doctrine of the faith decided, after reviewing his file, that the priest in question should lead a life of prayer and penance.
You might want to believe that this is just an unfortunate mishandling of the matter by a few bishops, but the truth is that this is the exact same play book used in every diocese around the world and the effort to conceal these crimes goes all the way up to the Vatican. Many families are payed off and made to sign gag orders if they do speak up. This means that large sums of money are being approved by the Church to be paid to families all over the world regularly over decades. Because money in the Catholic Church flows up and is then handed down as needed by the higher tier, that means that if you’ve never donated money to the Catholic church then there is a chance that your money has been used to silence a family, pay living expenses of a pedophile, pay legal fees for abusers, and pay salaries for those covering up rape cases.
You might think the term playbook is metaphorical or unfair, but again you would be wrong. There is a literal fucking playbook. This document was written by Pope John XXIII in 1962 and disseminated through the church as an instruction manual on how to cover up sexual abuse scandals. These same tactics are used to this day and even after massive global exposure they have shown no sign of even slowing down their vicious attack on children.
Ultimately what I’ve shared with you is still only the tip of the iceberg, but it’s more than damning for the institution itself. There is no way to excuse the Church as an institution from these acts. It is time that everyone, Catholic and non-Catholic, realize that the church is an institution of evil that consciously engages in and protects child abuse. Right now the Church is providing the most powerful legal defense possible for the priests being charged with rape, after they’ve spent decades hiding these men. Most of these cases are long past the statute of limitations so victims cannot press legal charges or even legal suits.
Former abuse victim and state rep. in Pennsylvania, Mark Rozzi, is leading an effort to rewrite state laws in multiple states to give victims more time to sue their abusers. The Catholic Church is using it’s never ending wealth and power to fight against this effort, doubling down on their stance of protecting abusers instead of helping victims. Not once has the Church ever proactively helped a victim and attacked the abuser.
There is no excuse for this level of orchestrated violence against children. The Catholic Church has no defense and no right to continue existing as an organization.
