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	Catholic Scandal Raises Questions By Rich Coleman The Daily Collegian April 2, 2010 http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2010/04/02/catholic_scandal_raises_questi.aspx There are some adages that I have trouble understanding. "Can't have your cake and eat it, too." Why not? It's cake isn't it? You're supposed to eat a cake, right? How about this one? "You're only as good as the company you keep." What? That seems a little unfair, doesn't it? If you're a good person, but your friends aren't, why should that reflect negatively on you? You hold the door open for people, you pay your rent on time, you maintain good grades, you've got a good relationship with your parents. Why should your image and reputation be tarnished because you've got some friends who like to urinate in public and will never hold a decent job for more than a week? But, thanks to the organized religion of Catholicism of which I have been an official member since birth, I've got a solid grasp on what that adage means. And I can safely say the Catholic Church is not company I want to keep. It's not exactly the shock of the century that another priest is involved in a sex scandal. Since 2001, these sorts of incidents have been rearing their ugly heads in the media and most of these incidents date back to the '50s, '60s or '70s. As of late there's been a scandal involving a priest from Wisconsin, Reverend Lawrence Murphy, who worked in a school for deaf children from 1950 to 1974 and died in 1998. In his time working at the school, reports say Father Murphy molested as many as 200 young boys, most of who were deaf, and he, apparently, felt no remorse for his actions. This isn't just the bias of an angry ex-Catholic talking here; this is actual fact. According to The New York Times, Milwaukee's archbishop, Rembert Weakland, hired a social worker that specialized in treating sexual offenders to evaluate Father Murphy after receiving numerous complaints about incidents involving him. The social worker found that Murphy admitted to his crimes and felt no remorse for his actions, the Times said. This alone might be old news for some people. Well, the real kicker here is that Archbishop Weakland wrote to Cardinal Ratzinger, who now goes by Pope Bendict XVI, in 1996 to inform him of these crimes. Weakland wanted Murphy "defrocked," which means he wanted him to be dismissed from the clerical state (Funny, I would think prison would be a more appropriate punishment in this case). So, did Ratzinger do anything about this? No, not at all, and this is coming to light while he faces similar accusations of inaction when he served as Archbishop in Germany and the Vatican's Chief Doctrinal Enforcer. Is this company you want to keep? Don't answer right away. All of this news is horrifying and should make any devoted Catholic feel betrayed. These are our leaders? These are men of the cloth? Vessels for the Holy Spirit? When Jesus Christ told his disciple Peter, "On this rock will I build my congregation," I doubt he had conspiratory cover-ups in mind. But what is truly despicable about this entire ordeal is how the Catholic Church is responding to this scandal. Ratzinger, the pope, will not apologize for, essentially, harboring known pedophiles. Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, gave new definition to the word "ignorance" when he appeared on "Larry King Live" and said, "The vast majority of the victims are post pubescent. That's not pedophilia, buddy. That's homosexuality." When in doubt, blame the homosexuals, right? That same ignoramus, Donohue, wrote a column on CNN.com attacking the media for its handling of this scandal, accusing them of inflicting "selective justice" to Catholic priests while rabbis and schoolteachers do the same thing year in and year out. This argument is irrelevant and just distracts from the main point: Supposed men of God have committed heinous acts of molesting children in the past, and the current pope and other religious officials did not discipline those men in any way. Just because it happened 30-some years ago does not change the fact that the Church still tried to cover it up in order to protect itself from embarrassment. Well, guys, it backfired. You should all feel embarrassed at this, and you owe every single Catholic on this earth an apology for betraying their trust. But don't bother apologizing to me. I've decided that, after 22 years as Catholic Christian, I no longer wish to be associated with this organization. After all, you're only as good as the company you keep, right?
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