ORANGE COUNTY (CA)
The Orange County Register
September 22, 2018
By Steven Greenhut
I’m having a hard time understanding why the recent Pennsylvania grand-jury report dealing with the Roman Catholic Church’s child-rape scandal sparked so much shock and outrage. Indeed, the allegations contained in the report are shocking and outrageous. But, as someone who reported extensively on the issue in Southern California 10 to 15 years ago, I’m not surprised by the revelations. Obvious questions jump to mind.
Why hasn’t the church, and the secular authorities responsible for filing criminal charges against abusers and rapists, done anything more substantive about the problem in the ensuing years? Why aren’t legions of priests – and the hierarchs who put protecting the church’s image above protecting its most vulnerable members – serving hard time in prison? We’ve known about this scandal for ages in all its gory detail, but for some reason little was done about it.
The Pennsylvania report, released last month, referred to internal church documents suggesting that 300 predator priests had potentially thousands of victims. “Priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing; they hid it all,” according to the grand jury. “For decades. monsignors, auxiliary bishops, bishops, archbishops, cardinals have mostly been protected; many, including some named in this report, have been promoted.”
If there were thousands of victims in Pennsylvania, how many were there nationwide?
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