Finally one of the sex abuse victims of a priest (actually a bishop, but WTF) had the gumption to record meetings with a church official about his abuse. And it is not pretty.
This was in Belgium, and the rapist was Belgian Bishop Robert Vangheluwe, and the victim was his nephew, who was apparently abused from age 5 to 18. The church official was Cardinal Godfried Danneels, a fuckin’ prince of the RCC, and the head of the Belgian church.
These meetings weren’t years ago – the first was in April of this year, long after the Church had made all kinds of promises of openness, and punishing the offenders and blah blah blah. What we find is a cardinal just trying to keep the lid on, and totally unwilling to pursue the case through the church hierarchy to punish or otherwise discipline the bishop. Just like old times.
And the cardinal has known about this for a long long time:
The victim is now 42 years old, and hasn’t been publicly identified. and good on the Belgian press for keeping it that way. If there’s any good news out of this, it’s that the victim wouldn’t be swayed, and the bishop resigned within weeks, admitting he had abused a young man. Apparently, the discussions weren’t in English and there is not yet a good English language transcript, according to the author of one of the linked articles.
I am also real tired of the pretense that all these parishes, dioceses, and whatnot are entirely separate entities. These abuses have come to light in place after place, year after year, and the church’s response is always the same. There has been a great deal of collusion at the very least.
It’s past the time when all people of good conscience should start leaving, in droves. And start filing criminal charges both for the crimes AND the conspiracy to cover up the crimes.
I always found it sickening how these people seem to be above the law. If some other organization was doing this, would there ever be any question about going after both the accused and the people covering it up?
Exactly how I felt. Throw the pedophiles in jail and those who covered up the crime as well. It’s even more disgusting that they justify covering it up,
When it’s Muslims, you guys are all “Only some of them are evil! Of course they should build a mosque.” When it’s Catholics, it’s all “I don’t see how anyone can still be in that religion. It’s obviously evil.”
The story happened in fucking Belgium. You know how many kiddie diddlers there are between here and there? Teachers, fire fighters, skeevy uncles, Pizza Hut cashiers? Or are they not important because they’re not part of a religion you hate?
And now, a reading from the Book of Simpson, Chapter 20:
12 And it came to pass that HOMER, after leaving his only son Bart standing in the rain for hours, appeared and spake unto him, saying,
13 I know you’re mad at me right now, and I’m kinda mad too. I mean, we could sit here and try to figure out ‘who forgot to pick up who’ until the cows come home. But let’s just say we’re both wrong and that’ll be that.
Slight difference, Chessic. Schools, Fire Depts, and Pizza Hut are not famous (infamous) for trying to cover up the sexual abuse committed by their employees.
The Catholic Church is one big top-down organization. The leader of that organization was up to his neck in the cover-up. None of that is true of Islam.
Most of the ire appears to be directed towards the Catholic hierarchy and wondering when the laity will finally get sick of them and find greener pastures. But unlike Islam, which is as de-centralized as many Protestant sects, Roman Catholicism is absolutely centralized and hierarchical. The point that many posters are making or alluding to, particularly the OP, is that up and down the leadership hierarchy appears to be a tolerance for if not complicity in the molestation and sexual abuse that is further uncovered every year and in numerous places. Without even the appearance of moral authority, the Roman Catholic Church is just an ornate and increasingly anachronistic social club.
The people making these decisions are Bishops and Cardinals. That is upper management in a single top down system. The Catholic Church is a very controlled organisation. These people are OK’d by and report to Rome directly. It’s a very different situation than a rogue Iman or priest.
I daresay any teacher’s union, fire department, or pizza franchise that engaged in systematic, decades-long obfuscation and cover-up of child rape perpetrated by its members would deserve an equal amount of opprobrium.* Do you know of any?
Skeevy uncles… well, they’ve always been a rather disorganized group.
Particularly if, out of the “other side of their mouth,” they continuously sermonized on the immorality of a vast encyclopedia of comparably harmless pecadilloes, with no apparent sense of irony or shame. As vast and powerful as the Catholic church is, it’s mind-boggling that they haven’t hired anyone savvy to counsel them on public relations.