If you’re Catholic and think the clergy sexual abuse scandal is behind you, think again.
Here’s a “post”-scandal story of Father Luis Eduardo Ramirez, who was arrested in January in Anaheim for suspicion of child annoyance or molestation and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The city of Anaheim didn’t publicize the case, and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange — which fancies itself as being “open and transparent” when it comes to priests who mess around with children — only placed an item in the church bulletin of the accused priest’s church, Our Lady of the Pillar.
As a sexual abuse expert will tell you, the vast majority of molesters have many victims. The idea of being open and transparent is so a) the community is warned and b) other victims can come forward. A single article in a parish bulletin doesn’t cut it. What if another victim left the church? Or didn’t go to church that Sunday? Or wasn’t a member of that parish?
I also love that the priest’s religious order bailed him out of jail and allowed him to continue his holy work in a monastery. Actually, putting molesting priests in monasteries is a perfect spot for them — if they are never allowed to be around children or given leave without a chaperon. But that’s not usually the program. If only Catholic leaders who listen to the advice of St. Basil of Caesarea. The fourth (4th!) century priest got so fed up with sexual abuse that he set up a detailed system of punishment to deal with clerics at his monastery who molested boys. Among other punishments, perpetrators were to be flogged and put in chains for six months; they were never again allowed unsupervised interaction with minors.
But the church’s reaction to Father Ramirez’s arrest tells it all. The church still has two priorities: to protect the institution and to help its brother priests. Nothing else matters. You can’t change 2,000 years of culture is a five-year period. The Catholic Church — and its high-priced PR consultants — can speak of openness, transparency and caring for the victim first, but that’s not how the priest, bishops, cardinals and pope have been trained. Not even more than $1 billion in payouts can change that.
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5 responses so far ↓
1 Drew // Aug 20, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Why should they change anything? People still flock to the church and throw money at them. So far as they’re concerned, they are doing nothing wrong…
2 Iron Pol // Aug 20, 2008 at 11:50 pm
Interesting analogy, here. Just like police have the “blue wall,” priests have long been accustomed to a “brown wall.” (Please, no puns required).
Perhaps it’s just my belief that church and state cannot be absolutely separate, but I dislike the approach that the church “must” handle these situations because they are somehow specifically church related. A felony is a felony.
Imagine if it was found out that a school district “shuffled” a teacher between schools because that teacher was found to be abusing students.
3 Bob Schwiderski // Aug 21, 2008 at 1:23 am
Iron Pol, in the school systems it is called PASSING THE TRASH.
As in the church institutions, the public school systems also are worried about image and their “brotherhood.”
The religious and educational communities still need to learn, it about the children - not the money or image. Bob
4 hrh // Aug 21, 2008 at 5:21 am
The official payout amount is now about $3,000,000,000.00. This does not include the decades of hush money, intimidation money and bribery to buy the silence of the victims of predatory clergy.
And how about the millions and millions paid by dioceses for their $$$$$ law firms and PR spin firms?
All courtesy of the Kool-Aid drinking sheeple. Please know your local Bish Club thanks you. Now go pray, pay, obey, and leave them to their luxury lifestyle.
5 Albino Luciani // Aug 21, 2008 at 7:35 am
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/abusetracker for daily verified coverage of the ongoing curia crimnal cover up costing American laity to date at least $3 Billion Dollars, with no end in sight, no correction, child endangerment still pervasive, and guilty cardinals like Mahony, Egan, McCarrick, Law, O’Malley, George, Maida, Rigali, DiNardo, Leveda, Keeler, Scola, Sodano, Bertone, Sodano, Re, Schoborn, Hummes, Pell Rivera, left in office and still unpunished.
The only solution is for laity, like St. Peter Damien suggest almost 1,000 years ago: TO STOP DONATING!!!
http://www.amazon.com for over 90+ recently published books on the subject, from such salient and cogent authors as: Roman Catholic Bishops Jeffery Robinson and Thomas Gumbleton, as well as Dr. Robert Grant, MD, Jason Berry, Attorney Marci Hamilton, David Yallop, Richard Sipe, Dr. Leon Podles, Fr. Thomas Resse, SJ, Fr/Dr Howard Bleichner, SS, and Fr/Dr/Canon Lawyer Thomas Doyle, OP, to name only a few.
No Curia Accountability? No Laity Monies!
Ciao e pace,
Albino Luciani
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