BishopAccountability.org
 
  A Changed and Transparent Catholicism and Child Abuse

By Phil Butler
Everything Pr
April 11, 2010

http://www.pamil-visions.net/child-abuse-and-catholicism/213922/

The news from the Vatican these last weeks has been nothing if not a tragedy of PR errors. Today the story takes two directions as the Holy See paint themselves as obtuse on the one hand, while on the other "transparency" from their Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (or "Inquisition") arm is set to go digital. With all the allegations of child abuse surfacing, can the Vatican catch up with the times?

The New York Times reported this morning the Holy See made a statement with regard to Pope Benedict XVI's dealings with a California sexual abuse case when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. In a signed letter to the already charged priest's bishop, Ratzinger basically prioritized Catholic church PR over the needs of even that bishops congregation, let along the victims of one Rev. Stephen Kiesle. Here is what the Vatican's lawyers had to say about Benedict's stonewalling of this California case:

"The future Pope Benedict XVI, dealing with a request to defrock a child-molesting priest in California, was handling it as a dismissal from the priesthood — not an abuse case — and acted "expeditiously" by the standards of the time."

Destroyed Spirits and Other Considerations

I cannot imagine what this says to the average reader, but to me it reads; "Child molestation is a secondary concern here." What exactly does "by the standards of the time" mean? Since when does God almighty look upon sexual predators wearing his holy garments, tending his flock, and professing to be the conduits to his everlasting grace change his opinion of such deeds? Whoever these lawyers are, or whatever imbecile allowed that statement to be released, needs a lashing – even if just because of bad PR skills.

Now we look at the other end of the "new" Vatican metamorphosis – digital transparency. According to another report, The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith , better known as the Inquisition, will be going transparent online Monday. According to the news, the office which has always dished out punishment (including burning people at the stake) will post an abbreviated guide to how they handle such cases. As if anyone needs to read that, it seems fairly easy to see how these cases are handled now.

In this AP release instances where Ratzinger (Benedict), as head of this arm of the Vatican for more than two decades, dragged his feet on sexual abuse becomes even more apparent. In other news from Inquisition headquarters, there is supposed to be a new "global" policy to curb abuse now. "High time, " is what we know victims of priests must be thinking. Judging from statements from one CDF (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith), Mgr Charles Scicluna, over the last 9 years there were only 10 people on staff investigating some 3,000 allegations of sexual abuse.

The Priesthood and Sexual Abuse Reporting

From what we know of sexual assault, rape, and same sex abuse cases, it seems clear that if there are 3,000 who came forward in the last 4 or 5 decades, there are probably 30,000 who did not. About 80 percent of those abused either fail to report, or recant their allegations once scrutiny is exerted in their cases. This data is, by the way, from about the time Benedict was in charge of investigating such offenses basically. Imagine a little child getting the courage to confront a representative of God.

From a PR standpoint it is actually amazing that an entity with the resources the Vatican has could possibly send out more pitiful signals in the wake of all this news. What's really more amazing is the church putting children in harm's way, which is what this is all about. If we cannot trust our religious leaders to love and cherish our most prized souls? Well, what can they be trusted to watch over? This is actually sad for me as many of my favorite people and most dear friends are Catholic. All the good they have done in their lives, gone down into obscurity because of people like these. Sad.

 
 

Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.