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St. Patrick, patron saint of Ireland, rendered in stained glass. (photo: Fergal OP via Flickr)
Yesterday evening, Irish television station RTE One broadcast a new episode of their news documentary series “Would You Believe” that came with the title “Unspeakable Crimes.” These unspeakable crimes are described on their website like this:
Just when the Irish bishops were beginning to come to grips with how to deal with the clerical sexual abuse problem, Rome intervened and tried to enforce Vatican policy which put the interests of the priest, not the victim, first.
In a strictly confidential letter seen by WYB, the Vatican threatens the Irish bishops that if they follow their new child protection guidelines it would support the accused priest if he were to appeal to its authority.
The letter tells the Irish bishops that the Vatican has moral reservations about their policy of mandatory reporting and that their guidelines are contrary to canon law.
The letter itself is here [PDF], and it says exactly what RTE claims it says.
The study document referred to in the letter are the 1996 guidelines that the Irish bishops proposed, which included mandatory reporting of abuse to the secular authorities. (PDF of the study document is here.)
The Vatican’s reaction to that section of the study document was to say this: “In particular, the situation of ‘mandatory reporting’ gives rise to serious reservations of both a moral and a canonical nature.” The Vatican goes on to say something to the effect of “you English-speaking people seem to have this problem all over the place, so while WE study what WE want to do about it, you just keep on doing what you’re doing, according to the rules WE laid down earlier in canon law, and forget all about YOUR study and its proposed mandatory reporting clause.” The actual phrasing of that last part is more delicate, of course, but the implication is clear: shut up, and “at the appropriate time” we’ll tell you all what to do.
They also attach a nice theological threat at the end: “in the sad cases of accusations of sexual abuse by clerics, the procedures established by the Code of Canon Law must be meticulously followed under pain of invalidity of the acts involved if the priest so punished were to make hierarchical recourse against his Bishop.” IOW, if you don’t follow the old way, and thus punish a priest, and the accused priest appeals to Rome, Rome is going to back the priest and you will end up with a black eye.
Shorter Vatican: “Nice diocese you’ve got here, bishop. It’d be a shame if anything were to happen to it . . .”
The saddest part of the whole thing? This threat worked.
But now, with the revelation of this letter, the tables are turned.
If I were a prosecutor in a state with mandatory clergy reporting laws, I’d be looking back at old files right about now. As of April 2010, those states included Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
Hmmm . . . speaking of Wisconsin . . .
If I were a prosecutor in Milwaukee, where the archdiocese declared bankruptcy a couple of weeks ago in a move that some suspect was aimed at preventing (or at least postponing) discovery in child abuse coverup cases, I’d have some very, very direct questions I’d aim at the present and former archbishops, their assistants, and their staff members. Those civil cases are one thing, but if the archdiocese did not report cases of abuse in defiance of Wisconsin state law, that’s a criminal offense. And if the Vatican coerced them into doing so, as they clearly did with the Irish bishops, I believe that’s called a conspiracy.
Oh, and among those former Milwaukee diocesan staffers is current New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, now president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.
“Nice diocese you’ve got here, bishop . . .”
56 Comments
Uh-oh. That’s going to leave some scowls in their cowls.
And bring some hollers from their collars.
Wow,…my relatives in Milwaukee are totally Catholic, the Church plays a huge part in their lives. This is going to be hard on them.
The saddest part? Hmmm…
The saddest part Peter is your unwillingness or inability to focus on the insidious nature of sexual abuse. You are, or come across as, simply another Church basher with your own agenda, common really.
My sincere hope in having found D2L is to have found an organization with the maturity to truly focus on this danger in the human condition, and help correct it, rather than resort to subjective social commentary. Try reading about abuse in the public schools. Try reading about abuse in foster homes. Who’s guarding those stats, Peter? Do you know the main human organization within which abuse takes place? The human family; mommy, daddy, brother, sister. Sexual abuse, alienation, abandonment, even child exposure (leaving helpless children to the elements) all are happening right here, right now. How do your comments help?
But regardless of where it is, and it’s everywhere, it does only one thing; it destroys. It destroys relationships, people, families, organizations, lives. Has apparently destroyed something within you, and I’m sorry. My invitation to you, Peter, is to join us. Help us learn about ourselves as human beings rather than clubbing us over the head with our weak social organizations. If this evil can invade even our churches, how does it affect our very social structure, and how can we use this to help us?
Look even at how it has affected our relationship, yours and mine, and how we are pressed to use our time. Rick Steinberger
Question Peterr suppose a child abusing Priest confesses to the priest incharge of investigating him Priests can’t reveal whats told in confession.
Is there any indication the church is using this as a tactic to avoid reporting crimes?
Thanks for the amplification, Peterr.
Rick, your amplification on child sexual abuse issues is also helpful reminder. But it seems to me that your attack on Peterr is really out of line. Without further information, one might think you need to protect the church. If that’s the case, then I am truly sad.
Blessings
Then let me be clear; we cannot afford for church, public school, private school, daycare franchise, family bonds, close friendships, you-name-it to shield from public exposure any who have committed child sex abuse. Period.
I’m not sure how to be any clearer. As I said, “regardless of where it is, and it’s everywhere, it does only one thing; it destroys. It destroys relationships, people, families, organizations, lives.”
I disagree with Peter because he takes the easy path, mouths what he has found in the media, joins in the rock throwing. How out spoken would he be against his uncle, his high school coach, his sister-in-law. Would he shout their names in public forum, or would he protect them? Seek legal means? Hopping on the public band wagon is an easy way to look concerned with something which is so vile as to be Satan incarnate. Get involved for real. Find out how to really make a difference in the lives of people, please.
How do we keep it from happening? One way is, we don’t allow ourselves to become distracted by media hype, which has never proven itself to be particularly trustworthy; which can, itself, become a shield to hide behind.
And, if I am now to be remanded for attacking the media as well, well… really let me have it! Rick Steinberger
Great list! Definitely West Virginia. See FranklinCase.Org.
Does your title imply that there is some commonality, in methods and means, for example, if not goals, between the Roman Catholic Church and the Mafia, other than that they both spring from Italian soil?
If I were a prosecutor, I would also use this letter as Exhibit I in attempting to prove that, contrary to repeated assertions, all principal decisions on this issue came/come from Rome, and that therefore it is Rome and not just the local church and its limited assets that are responsible for paying just compensation to victims.
This is not an attack on the Catholic Church or individual members. It is an attack on specific policies of the Church – and the leaders who promoted and followed such policies – that promoted the interests of the Church – deniability and immunity from claims – exclusively and at the dramatic emotional and financial expense of its weakest members, their families and their communities.
Surely, the former Cardinal Ratzinger,Archbishop Dolan and their colleagues remember this quote from seminary training:
“Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done [it] unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done [it] unto me.”
Imagine telling a peasant village carpenter’s son’s mother to STFU about the abuse of her child for the good of holy mother church.
It is not time to look only forward. Looking back will not turn anyone or any institution that does into a pillar of salt. Looking back, taking note of what we see and taking steps to prevent it is the only way of doing so. Otherwise, we will simply beget, beget and beget more of it.
Rick, I’ve been very outspoken about this. I’ve taught about it in the parishes I’ve served, I’ve had people come to me and told me of the horror of being abused, and I’ve sat with them as they’ve spoken to investigative authorities.
I’ve also been the pastor who has had to pick up the pieces after a former pastor was arrested for child sexual abuse of a member. I’ve named the names of abusers — in public, from the pulpit, and done so in the face of some who couldn’t bear to admit that their dear friend and pastor could possibly have done what he was accused of doing. I’ve been there and done it, so don’t lecture me about “subjective social commentary” and needing to read the stats. I’ve seen what it does to relationship, over and over and over again.
I know the stats. I’ve taught the stats. I’ve worked with churches and bishops and religious camps and all kinds of other organizations, teaching them how to do better at child abuse prevention, how to recognize the symptoms of abuse, and how to respond when a child comes to you and tells you what has been happening to them.
I write about the church on this issue, and the Catholic church in particular, because all too often, they have enabled abusers to continue their abuse. If you poke around what I’ve written here at FDL and MyFDL for the last several years, you’ll see that I consider Father Thomas Doyle a true hero for his work to hold his church accountable.
Please don’t lecture me about “how to really make a difference in the lives of people.” You clearly don’t know much about who I am or what I do.
Finally, though, let’s turn to substance. Where, in what I’ve written here, is media hype? I linked to and quoted from the letter written by the papal nuncio to Ireland, and set it in contrast with the proposed guidelines written by the Irish church — also linked to. I quoted from the television station that first published the letter, to establish the context. What have I written that is unsupported or unfactual?
If Priest A is in charge of investigating Priest B, and Priest B says “I’d like to speak to you to make sacramental confession,” it is the duty of Priest A to say “No. You can make your confession to another priest, but you cannot make it to me in order to shield yourself from accountability.”
How do my comments help?
I write as a pastor and religious leader, active in religious institutions, and familiar with all the ins and outs of parish life. Some in the church try to dismiss criticism like this as the secular media conducting a witch hunt — but as a pastor, I can honestly say “that’s not me.”
I’m part of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church, and I’m tired of having its reputation tarnished by those who put institutional reputation ahead of the victims of priestly abuse. I may be Lutheran and not Catholic, but it’s my church too that we’re talking about here.
When I write here, I write on the larger religious and public issues. In other forums, I speak and write about the insidious nature of abuse, including its prevalence in the ordinary family. But ordinary families do not set themselves up as unaccountable arbiters of what society ought and ought not to do.
The USCCB does itself no favors to trumpet “a culture of life” when the church hierarchy has written letters like the one at the center of this post which puts the preservation of the institutional reputation ahead of investigating allegations made of heinous conduct by a priest.
I disagree with Peter because he takes the easy path, mouths what he has found in the media, joins in the rock throwing. How out spoken would he be against his uncle, his high school coach, his sister-in-law. Would he shout their names in public forum, or would he protect them? Seek legal means? Hopping on the public band wagon is an easy way to look concerned with something which is so vile as to be Satan incarnate. Get involved for real. Find out how to really make a difference in the lives of people, please.
If it were my Uncle Sister in Law whatever and they raped some kids and I had proof or a confession heck even if I was a Priest and it was told in confession I would turn them in.
Many victims tried to settle with the church quietly the church refused so they went to court where the church new that names would be made public.
Defending child molesting priests is… uh….(I got no words that could make it pass the Mods at the Lake on this)
We should note Peterr has frequently been quite outspoken. So his credibility has been proven. It is also been proven that the Vatican, has been concealing and protecting sexual predators for decades. Do not accuse some imaginary coach or slander Peterr’s relatives. It is a fact predator priests have been getting away with crimes protected by that sovereign state, the Vatican.
Your accusations against Peterr as you defend a dying corporation the Catholic Church, are despicable.
Maybe the Pope can stop hiding Cardinal Law and let him talk to the Cops if the Pope wants to improve his Public Relations Cred.
I so support Peterr on the post.
Yes, perversion is insidious but this is organized cover-up after the fact by an organization who is two faced in their approach and response.
Spot on, Peterr
It would take a miracle.
Then again, the church is in the miracle business, right? I know I’ve been praying for a few myself . . . like Thomas Doyle being named a bishop..
Many victims – assuming they pressed their concerns long and hard enough to get the church to deal with them – quietly settled with the church because they were bludgeoned into doing so by shame, guilt and the religious figures in whom they had placed their faith and the care and guidance of their children.
Those settlements, one should note, include rapacious clawback terms. They yank back settlements, which most families would have long since spent, should parents and guardians ever talk about the settlements or the facts giving rise to them.
That’s a good indicator of the church’s longstanding priority in these matters. Under its current leadership, it is not apparent that that priority has changed.
I support you Peterr. I think Riok is way out of line and appears to have a wide range of grievances unrelated to the specific topic of this article.
Spot on, Peterr
So because the world is imperfect, the Church should be allowed to protect child abusers. Nice spin job.
Peterr, thanks for posting this. It is really disturbing that this story is not getting more “press.” To me, this letter is nothing but verification of policy that I always thought the Vatican pushed. That policy being, keep it in the “family,” don’t tell the cops, and just transfer the priest someplace else. And now that you mention it, the move on bankruptcy in WI is very suspicious. The part that really gets me is where the letter states that notification of abuse to civil authorities would be embarrassing to the Diocese, and harmful to the church’s authority. (I am paraphrasing…) The church’s position on abuse by its priest has always been appalling. How anyone can defend the Vatican and its actions is beyond me. (And I was raised a Catholic btw, and still have memories of the Nuns pulling my hair and tripping me in the halls.)
Peterr, you did the right thing here. This stuff must be aired in the light of day. No other way around it. Only then can we find justice.
The really remarkable thing is that list doesn’t include all of the states. How can anybody possibly justify not requiring the reporting of child rape?
Latest FaBlog: Fait Diver — “Oh Lord Please Don‘t Let Me Be Misunderstood!”
There will never be justice as long as there are any lawmakers who defer to the religious leaders.
I agree, the priority in the settlements is the same as the priority set by the Vatican: hide the abuse.
Thanks, Peterr. I always love reading your posts.
Oh my, and haven’t I found a black little hole.
Priest and all. What are the words; everything hidden will come to light; something like that.
My friend, if you have EVER been in the pulpit, please get back in the pews. Return to prayer. First, Catholic priests publicly identify themselves, always, by the title “Father”. I don’t know what you’ve got here in “Peterr”. I could call myself an attorney, but it would make me physically ill to do so.
Aside from that, and I hope I’m wrong, but I get the sense you simply may not understand the depths of the darkness you are, so casually, speaking about. Do you understand? Then tell us. Right now. Each of you…
Tell how intimately aware you are of sexual abuse in your life. Isn’t that what the discussion is about. Leave nothing out. Tell the TRUTH! You lied about your names to get in here, what would be the point of lying about “your” life now. Who here will speak from experience and not from fourth hand BS, political posturing, artificial faith. Tell us, please.
Do you know Sara? Sara is not a fictitious person.
She is a fifteen year old drug addict living in Washington DC, who is accusing her soccer coach, a thirty year old woman, of sexual misconduct. Female rape. And, it’s all true.
But do you know how Sara came to be a fifteen year old drug addict, victim of such disgusting actions. How she came to be led into such a situation.
Her mother, a highly educated international attorney began to take
Zanax, to help her cope with the pressures of life; raising a family while building a financial fortune (things get tense). When her husband left, unable to cope with her, she began to give her prescription drugs to her daughter, then fourteen, to help Sara stay calm through the family crisis. (I encourage you to read the warnings attached to a Zanax prescription).
The addiction was immediate. Escalated in a matter of months. Sara began to explore alcohol, sex and other drugs and quickly came under the watchful eye of her soccer coach; a Sunday going Baptist if I remember right.
I hope this is what the discussion is really about. But, of course it’s not. No! We have the throat of the Church in our hands!!!! Forget the innocents, let’s have it! I’m despicable! I’m defending the Church! I can’t read!
Oh, friends! LOL !!!
But I can read. I read your words, Father Peter.
I read the book of Luke. Love & Responsibility by Karol Wojtyla (Blessed John Paul II), The Lives of the Saints, others. I read how Sara is recovering, spending time with her father.
I read about ruined lives because of abuse. That’s what I read.
Write what you like, I won’t return to this forum or this site to reply. It’s a pit. Go back. Go back to your evening fun time, the Catholics are all ready to be slaughtered by your Grand reasoning. Each of you is so well spoken! Some kind of sick joke. rick@ricksteinberger.com
And let us please remember that this letter was written and sent during the tenure of Pope John Paul the second, who, by the way, installed then Cardinal Ratzinger in his job at the Vatican. The late Pope got to play smiley face while letting Ratzinger police the liberal thinkers in the Church.
Rick, you seem unable to accept that your Church has hurt many, many innocent people and has yet to have the courage to face the problem, and to deal with the victims in a truly caring and Christ-like fashion.
If you want to continue to believe in the Roman Catholic Church, and find sustenance in its teachings, fine. Please remember, however, that there are those of us who genuinely do not want that Church imposing its philosophy on us, when we are not members.
so these men in black dresses are the caretakers of the religion founded on the teachings of jesus, the same jesus who said ‘it would better for you to be cast into the depths of hell rather than harming a child’?
are we proposing that these men in their chosen profession should be held to any lower standard of behavior?
given this guidance from jesus, shouldn’t they be held to the most rigorous standards? as i recall from my years in catholic schools, all of us were expected to adhere to a clear code of morality. i was not aware that the clergy were granted exemptions.
when the superintendent of a large public school district is caught hiding abuses, we’ll discuss abuse in those contexts. tonight it’s the vatican’s turn to explain why they are criminally hypocritical.
Father Thomas P. Doyle is rather well spoken himself.
http://reform-network.net/?p=3595
As I am not a Catholic priest, but a Lutheran pastor, I go by the title “Pastor” rather than Father, but I give Father Doyle his due. Father Doyle’s biography is rather illuminating:
http://www.richardsipe.com/Doyle/doyle-bio.html
But I suppose he’s just casually speaking about the darkness, too, and out to strangle the church. He couldn’t possibly be so upset with what the church has done that he’s trying to get the church to wake up and deal with it, right?
I’ve told you my background, and you refuse to accept it. If you refuse to believe what I’ve already written about myself, I fail to see how any more would help.
So keep attacking, deflecting, ignoring, spinning, and with a 15 year old drug addict. The DRAMA is overwhelming. You are totally ignoring the real issues and the topic of the Post. Same as the old men who control the Catholic Church as they are destroying it.
But there is all sorts of sexual abuse from an unnatural, perverted celibacy that promotes abuse of children. Then there is the sexual abuse that disrespects and disallows women from being equal members of the Vatican Hierarchy. Of course, the motivation for celibacy in the priesthood, was to keep the property of a priest from going to a wife.
let’s not confuse the teachings of the catholic church with the administrative crimes of the vatican. this is the same organization that preaches against nuclear weapons, the death penalty, in favor of open immigration and a living wage.
it seems that they get into trouble when they wander into unfamiliar territory, such as reproduction and the care of children. perhaps the celibacy thing should be rethought. i’ve been married long enough to watch my kids and wife grow in wisdom, even as i’ve shrunk. the church denies that experience to its priests.
“Rick, I’ve been very outspoken about this.”
You speak against Christ as a *edited in moderation*. Only the customers listen.
***MODNOTE: disagree with the message but do not attack or insult the messenger. doing so will result in your comments being moderated***
You promised not to embarrass yourself further.
…I won’t return to this forum or this site to reply.
Those are words to live by. It is to be hoped that you keep your word.
Rick, I think you are fighting the wrong battle here. The people here are not your enemies. We’re not defending sexual abuse of any kind. Many of us, myself included, are victims of it. In fact, my abuser was my grandfather and a protestant minister. It’s not a Catholic problem or a religious problem. And, in case you missed it, Peterr is not a Catholic priest. He mentions he’s a Lutheran pastor.
“I’ve told you my background, and you refuse to accept it. If you refuse to believe what I’ve already written about myself, I fail to see how any more would help.”
Oh, I accept your background, Pastor. And here are the words of your followers…
“But there is all sorts of sexual abuse from an unnatural, perverted celibacy that promotes abuse of children. Then there is the sexual abuse that disrespects and disallows women from being equal members of the Vatican Hierarchy. Of course, the motivation for celibacy in the priesthood, was to keep the property of a priest from going to a wife.”
But now I am being moderated. Love and luck.
So in essence, the church is threatening the diocese not to report a felony. Curious. What would Jesus do?
Sorry, the Roman Church is about magical thinking and superstition, not reason and science. John Stuart Mill proved the impossibility of the concept of a ‘miracle,’ which holds if you are reasonable and accepting of the scientific method. (Rough sledding, if you’re not!)
Anyone who protected pedophile priests should face the law…including Pope Palpatine.
Yes, I follow Peterr’s Posts because they are wothwhile. But religiously I was owned by the Catholics until I discovered sex, drugs and Rock ‘n Roll.
But I have got to wonder, are you some Opus Dei freak?
There is only nature, there is nothing supernatural. There is only physics, there is no such thing as metaphysics. There is only language; a meta-language is a contradiction in terms. As the man said, “Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must remain silent.”
Religion offers…what??
Bah! Crush the infamous thing!
Personally, I’m reluctant to rely on the marital and family advice and advice on the education of children given by unmarried, childless, celibate, eastern and southern European men (who dominate the church’s hierarchy), who come from cultures that still negate the role and equality of women, and whose church manifestly still does. That would seem unfair to both sons and daughters as well as to their families.
But that’s a personal observation and side issue to this discussion. This issue is about institutional power and adherence to ethical restraints on the use of that power in situations of conflict between the public and the church’s members, and the reputation and assets of the church. (Child and sexual abuse I regard as public concerns, for they most assuredly affect the commonwealth.)
The Holy Roman Catholic Church, as the explicit successor to imperial Rome, was and is built on obtaining and maintaining its institutional and secular (as well as religious) power. The care and feeding of the flock is a priority at once both older and much more recent. Hiding child and sexual abuse is a generations’ long problem for this church, one it has yet honestly to come to grips with.
As Peterr says, this is a problem for society at large, too. But the church specifically puts itself in the position of parent. It, therefore, assumes parental obligations regarding the children under its care. But the church is not a human parent, with individual limits, foibles and failings. It is a powerful, corporate, self-interested institution. Its leadership, and the multiple checks and balances on this issue they create and rule by, have failed and continue to fail to meet those obligations.
“Of course, the motivation for celibacy in the priesthood, was to keep the property of a priest from going to a wife.”
Slightly more complicated story that. I’ll leave aside religious dogma and discussions of St. Paul’s misogyny (and those who agreed with it). The medieval church had an overweening institutional concern in reaffirming celibacy as a requirement (an often neglected one). It related to keeping the massive property holdings managed by bishops and abbots from being regarded as personal rather than church property, to keeping their positions of rank from being regarded as personal, both in order to prevent them from passing from one son and generation to the next like ordinary noble estates.
The rights of women didn’t much enter into it, since they had none.
I’m trying to reconcile this treachery with the new slick ad campaign from CatholicsComeHome.org, which says “We are family. Welcome Home.”
Jesus would be twisting on the cross if he knew what these boneheads had done with “his church.”
Nothing short of RICO should be utilized to apprehend the “family” hierarchy.
Because this post imparts information and observations pertaining specifically to apples, you accuse the writer of ignoring fruit.
Remind me to send you a box of syllogisms for your birthday.
The reason it is important to publicize, yes I said publicize, the way the Catholic Church has shielded the perpetrators in the ranks of their institution is because many parents, even now, put their full faith in the Church, and do not allow any criticism of it or it’s priests, equating them with God. The parents, who may put their children in harm’s way, or fail to heed warning signs, are the ones who must be alerted that the institution is working to protect itself, at the expense of their children.
I grew up Catholic, and I know this mindset well. The Church and it’s clergy can do no wrong, and they are given more power over the children than any stranger ought to have. The child knows this, and when he is abused, is fearful of not only the priest, but also of exposing it to his parent, who should be his ultimate protector. This is entirely different than a day-care or high-school coach (although it may be on par with a relative as well). If you listen to the victims, many of them waited until they were grown-ups to even reveal this to their parents. But if a parent is alerted by the child, they must be disabused of the notion that this is something to be settled with the priest and church directly. I take this as the intent of the article.
Anything that raises awareness of the corrupt practices within the church should be considered desirable. It is NOT rock-throwing. And it is, unfortunately, relevant to a large number of people.
More to the point: Luciano Storero, Papal Nuncio by title, is declaring himself in writing to be a co-conspirator with the child abusers and a blatant obstructor of the Irish criminal law.
A criminal.
Private codes and prescriptions for civil conduct — such as Papal Law — have no force or standing except as recognized explicitly under criminal statues. Confession is the one area with special status. Papal law is mere ink on paper.
If this man had set a foot on Irish soil, he should have been charged, arrested, and hopefully convicted for his contributions to abuse of children.
Let him place his private code ahead of criminal law, but confine the effects to a cell at Portlaoise. Same for this Azi-nay pope, if he was in on it.
Indeed.
Hear, hear !
Sixth “family” ?????
You’d have to live in NY, NJ or maybe MA to get the meaning of that right off.
Actually, yes, celibacy was to keep the property of priests in the church, but it was about keeping it away from firstborn (or any other) sons, as they would actually be the ones to inherit under primogeniture.
Indeed.
This letter is a “smoking gun”, establishing the catholic church as a criminal conspiracy from the top down. There have been similar problems in mormonism and jehovah’s witnesses, just to name two, to which their adherents took the same “I see nothing, and you are evil for mentioning this; you just hate god,” approach.
The fact that evil is widespread justifies none of it.
I understand why the comments were moderated, but it is a shame they were.
Rick convinced no one and clearly demonstrated – better than any reasonable person could – the mindset that victims and their families have faced for centuries.