UNITED STATES
Waiting for Godot to Leave
You know, the sex scandal was typical. I don’t mean that priests typically molest kids and bishops typically let them get away with it. What I mean is, the way the Church handled the sex scandal is the way they handle everything.
For example: below are all things I can vouch for in my twelve short years as a Catholic, though the names have been changed to protect the guilty – if any names are used. Some of these events I was involved in; others happened to friends.
A teacher at a Catholic grade school handles a situation very poorly in class. Mom and Dad complain to the principal. The principal responds by circling the wagons, threatening the parents, and bullying them behind closed doors. The parents complain to the pastor. The pastor responds, “I have full confidence in Principal Raw-Knuckle. This matter is entirely hers to handle as she sees fit.” The problem recurs and is not fixed. The parents move their kids to another Catholic grade school,which is run by a principal who is even worse, and by a pastor who is even more hands off. Eventually, the parents remove their children from the Catholic grade school system entirely (to save their faith, for one thing. The best indicator of adult apostasy – twelve years of Catholic education). A problem arises with a teacher at the public grade school (she was telling the kids in class to tell their parents to vote yes in the next election to allow embryonic stem cell research in our state). The parents complain to the public school principal, who sincerely apologizes and promises that he will handle the situation with the teacher, and that the issue will not arise again. “She should not be campaigning in class,” he simply and plainly admits. The parents are treated professionally and courteously. No threats, no circling the wagons, no bullying. The problem does not recur.
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