ARLINGTON (VA)
Royal Examiner [Warren County VA]
March 26, 2024
The Archdiocese of Arlington is proposing a new facility in Front Royal despite 37 archdioceses in America declaring bankruptcy to avoid financial accountability for the over 11,000 accusations of abusing children in this country.
Many in Warren County sure seemed worried about some books possibly harming kids but not at all about the actual abuses of children by members of the clergy in the Catholic Church.
If all Catholics answer to one pope, then why is the Archdiocese of Arlington morally shielded from the fiscal and legal responsibility of their brethren in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Oakland, or 35 other dioceses in the US alone? Are they not their brother’s keeper? They have money to expand here but not tend their flock? Surely God’s laws supersede organizational jurisdiction.
The Catholic Church has shown little to no good faith in their response to victims or prevention, for decades. This could well be an attempt by this archdiocese to pour liquid assets into tax-free property preceding their own well-timed bankruptcy. For society to continue to accept this organization’s schemes are well intentioned is grossly negligent.
I attended Catholic school through 8th grade and still appreciate the education and experience I received there; I wish I trusted everyone could have that experience. What I learned there taught me the Vatican’s response: allowing the defamation of victims upon cross-examination, relocating accused priests to remote parishes, and using the shield of American financial law to avoid accountability for guilty judgements – is in-congruent with Christ’s teachings, Catechism, and basic human decency.
While state laws and fancy lawyering might allow the Catholic Church to skirt true accountability, we have a chance now to say “enough”.
Warren County’s Board of Supervisors must reject this bid for expansion by the Archdiocese of Arlington in our area. It is a moral obligation to hold Catholicism accountable for victims in Virginia, the United States and around the world. There are plenty of empty seats in other churches where abuse is not actively covered up, enabled or brushed aside.
Griffin Gough
Linden, Va.