Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.
Matthew 23:13
Holy shit.
A few weeks ago, a grand jury report shed light on internal documents from six Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania that show that more than 300 “predator priests” have been credibly accused of sexually abusing more than 1,000 child victims. And it could be more. “We believe that the real number of children whose records were lost or who were afraid ever to come forward is in the thousands,” the grand jury report states.
Also from the report: “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. For decades. Monsignors, auxiliary bishops, bishops, archbishops, cardinals have mostly been protected; many, including some named in this report, have been promoted.”
Promoted.
Rape = Promotion.
Let that sink in. I’ll give you a minute.
How’s that sitting with you?
I repeat, holy shit.
Let me ask this question as succinctly and as straight forward as I can: If there is an organization that has repeatedly been outed for decades with the perpetuation of child abuse and systemic pedophilia that has run rampart throughout the Catholic Church all over the world, but specifically here in the U.S., why should it be allowed to continue as such?
This is a serious issue. Right? Children being raped by priests and the institution hiding it from the public and the continued protection of predators against children being either mostly ignored or at least in a twisted sense being accepted as some kind of “new normal” these days is sort of important, no? And this in an era when outlandish reactions to say something like ISIS in the Middle East and the embarrassingly moronic current reaction by this federal government and many of our citizens to illegal immigration, both of which is treated as if the wolf is at the door. But where is the outrage and special taskforce or movement to oust the Catholic Church from our shores as a dangerous, predatory, criminal organization?
Where is the major presser from Attorney General Jeff Sessions — obsessed with jailing brown people and pot users — about launching a major investigation, fuck that, a War on the Catholic Church?
Three hundred priests protected by an organization that systemically rapes children, boys AND, by the way, girls, lest we get the usual “gays are predators” nonsense from the Bigot Brigade. This happens. Here. In our country; where we have concentration camps for the children of illegal immigrants. A multi-billion-dollar untaxed conglomerate is raping kids and not only making excuses for it and/or covering it up, but spending millions to do so.
Millions of dollars, I might add, given into baskets by Catholics, who unfortunately for them are complicit in this unchecked horror show.
Paying for rape.
This gets a HOLY SHIT.
The grand jury described the church’s methods as “a playbook for concealing the truth” after FBI agents identified a series of practices they found in diocese files.
And to make it even more sickening, this has been a discussion of fact for more than half a century here and for over a century in counties like Ireland, which has now begun a rightful public uproar for the church to do something about it, like holding the current Pope responsible. None of this, though, seems to resonate here, where there are now Religious Freedom Task Forces. What is that? A group that decides the best way to hide pedophiles?
How about we demand the Vatican extricate Pope Francis to our shores to stand trial for this heinous crime?
This is what we would do if a foreign or domestic organization’s CEO was pulling this shit, so why not the Pope?
Really, it is the timeline and the ignoring and the excusing and the hiding and the covering up that is the final mind-blower. This ain’t this week’s problem. This is what the Catholic Church does. It has become a haven for child rapists and, apparently, seemingly no one there cares a lick beyond protecting their money-making scheme. But the fact that we here in secular/law land don’t care is the bigger issue.
Example: Every night Chris Matthews, an avowed Catholic who was educated in its system and sent his children to Catholic universities, goes on TV and decries the gutless Republicans who continue to walk like zombies in the disdainful shadow of this buffoon president of ours. However, the day this news broke, he admitted he would still go to church. This is the length and breadth of hypocrisy. Or is it? Do we have some kind of disconnect to our religious institutions? Do we allow it to continue this behavior because they are beyond reproach? And if this is true (and after reading this, who doesn’t’ think so?) then how dangerous is this whole thing?
Aside from the violent retribution, what is the difference between an untouchable, untaxable, outside-the-law religious group imposing its dogma on the public at large and the dreaded Sharia law we’re all supposed to be frightened of?
Yeah…nothing.
Now, lest anyone think this is another case of Campion slamming organized religion and its bloated institutions, I think it is interesting this investigation came out of Pennsylvania, (the report covers six dioceses in Allentown, Erie, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Scranton) as the 2012 Penn State incident regarding a massive cover up of years of sexual abuse by the now infamous Jerry Sandusky went from a national disgrace to what officials at Penn State currently call “a complicated complex and emotional” situation. In other words, we went from disgust to contemplation in a few years. Hell, even the NCAA reduced what were initially slap-on-the-wrist penalties after two years. Apparently, religion and football and the passage of time make it okay for us to accept the raping of children.
People still venerate Penn State saint, Joe Paterno, who covered up these crimes for years.
Rape = Veneration.
I am out of holy shits.
Best argument of all: This grand jury report came out two weeks ago. Last evening, I watched six reports about how Donald Trump, American flag fan, doesn’t know how to color it in. Yeah, I get it, the president is an idiot. But there are children being raped right now in this country and the rapists are being promoted by a non-taxable, untouchable institution protected by superstitious nonsense.
That is the story.
What are we doing about it?
Nothing.
Okay…one more…
Holy shit.
Do yourself no favors and “like” this idiot at www.facebook.com/jc.author or, if you dare, follow on Twitter (@FearNoArt) and Instagram (@jamescampion)
James Campion is the Managing Editor of The Reality Check News & Information Desk and the author of “Deep Tank Jersey”, “Fear No Art”, “Trailing Jesus”, “Midnight For Cinderella” and “Y”. “Shout It Out Loud – The Story of KISS’s Destroyer and the Making of an American Icon”
And coming in June, 2018; “Accidentally Like a Martyr – The Tortured Art of Warren Zevon”
