THE PRINCIPAL’S OFFICE
by Timothy Rollins, Editor and Publisher
Like little boys summoned to the principal’s office, American Cardinals made
a reluctant trip to Rome this week for a meeting with the Pope. Word had it
that they weren’t too happy about making the trip and that Cardinal Bernard
Law of Boston was the least thrilled of the bunch, given the deafening roars
being heard in Boston for his resignation – a call I wholeheartedly support.
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When
they got there, they were meeting with the press twice a day, which I thought
was something of a double-edged sword of sorts. The upside of it was they were
doing their best to finally be open about the matter now that they had been
forced to – especially in light of that chicken hawk priest (John
Geoghan) Cardinal Law had allowed to run loose in Boston for decades by continually
moving him around without warning parishioners about his past. Geoghan (in cuffs,
right) is now doing time for his crimes; if I had my way, Law would be his cellmate
doing time with him. Maybe that way, Law could see up close and personal for
himself the damage that Geoghan inflicted on the young boys that Law allowed
him to molest over the years. By virtue of his complicity in this matter, Law
has dishonored his priesthood, violated the sacred tenets of his calling and
is unworthy of the calling entrusted him – a sentiment I am sure that is shared
with many in the Boston archdiocese.
Anyway, the Pope (or his closest advisors) had them cut back on their press conferences, and now we are beginning to see the cloak of secrecy once again begin to fall back in place as the good old boys begin to circle the wagons. Why is this the case? It all boils down to one thing and one thing only – money. With well over $1 billion paid out in settlements – so far – and that number is expected to climb and double and maybe even triple in the United States alone, you know they are engaging in damage control on an unprecedented scale.
The important thing to remember here is that this problem is not unique to the United States – it’s just that the United States is a more open society than many other countries in the world and as so eloquently stated by the late Gordon Sinclair in his 1973 recording “The Americans”, we put out our dirty laundry for the whole world to see. With nearly 300 million people living in the United States, it provides a target-rich environment for pedophiles, which given the forced celibacy on priests since about 1074, has placed them in an unnecessary position of temptation and potential compromise – after all, priests are human and not automatons that are devoid of emotions.
One of the good things to come out of this is that the Pope did declare sexual abuse of children to not only be a sin, but also a crime to be handled by civil authorities as well, yet stopped short of issuing an apology. My guess on that one is he feared that doing such would further open the floodgates to even more lawsuits than they already have to deal with.
In the initial briefings to the press, there were discussions about a “one strike” rule – in other words, one violation and dismissal from the priesthood. When all was said and done however, church leaders said they would only recommend a process (can you say bureaucratic mess that takes forever?) to defrock any priest who has become “notorious and is guilty of the serial, predatory sexual abuse of minors.” In cases that are “not notorious,” they would leave it up to the local bishop to decide whether such a priest is a threat to children and should be defrocked.
Recommending such action is not enough. It should be automatic in the following manner: Once charges are made, it should go to the District Attorney’s Office, the offending priest is suspended from all pastoral duties pending resolution. Upon conviction, the offending priest would be automatically and permanently defrocked.
Unfortunately, American Catholics have once again been short-changed by not only their archbishops, but by none other than the Pope himself. Nothing less than a blanket statement of a one-strike rule would have been acceptable. As stated in an earlier press conference, there is a homosexual sub-culture within the Catholic priesthood, and the failure to institute the one-strike rule will only go to further deepen and ingrain this, thus making it harder to root it out and attract only the best and brightest Catholic men to the ranks of the priesthood.
Such an action is indeed a disservice to all American Catholics, whose faith in the Church has in many instances been rocked to the core. Many of them are having a hard time justifying donating any more money to the church knowing that it will be used to pay for the actions of rogue priests that had no business being priests in the first place. As for placing their kids in Church-sponsored programs: Who are we kidding?
Some have said it is time for the Catholic Church to re-evaluate its position on the possibility of having married priests in its ranks and having celibacy as a voluntary practice for its priests. While only the Church itself can decide, they had better do some quick thinking and fast before this matter gets further out of control than it already is. ***
© 2002 Timothy Rollins
COPYRIGHT © 2002 BY THE AMERICAN PARTISAN. All writers retain rights to their work.
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