Like politicians,
some priests have no shame
[Now that a Roman Catholic priest trial
is underway, Gibbs republishes this essay.]
The report of Roman Catholic priests molesting children is simply amazing.
The study found that 4,392 of the 109,694 priests who served from 1950
to 2002 had been accused of sexually abusing 10,667 minors. That is an
enormous amount of children abused over 52 years by supposedly men of
the cloth.
This is not just another report of Catholic priests sexually abusing those who were under their care and guidance, this particular report is a look at the overall problem in America--from priests raping children to priests raping mentally delayed adult men; this is an unbelievable mosaic of abominable behavior.
We have seen priests rape little boys, little girls, big boys and big girls; we have seen them rape retarded men and women. There seems to be no shame even by those who teach, or supposedly teach, that there should be no morally questionable behavior practiced by them or members of their congregations.
Beyond the little boys, the little girls, the women and wives, it has been reported that the Catholic Church maintained a facility that treated mental patients on a seven-day a week, 24-hour a day care basis, and at that facility, charges were brought against priests sodomizing men and performing other sexual acts with the patients.
The widespread nature of the sexual abuse of children is documented worldwide. But there seems to have been more than the abuse of children. There is open homosexuality and rape of men by priests. This sexually predatory behavior is seemingly without any checks; even the person drafting the rules for handling sexual abuse cases has been involved in sexual abuse acts. Therefore, the rules that he wrote need to be scrutinized by someone who is not tainted by this sin, if there is one in that church administration.
What this Catholic experience has shown is that those who are supposedly watchers for the flock will as easily eat the flock as the wolves outside. The priests are supposed to protect the members, yet the one who writes the rules for that protection is himself a predator.
There are wolves within the Roman Catholic Church and have been there for many years. The church and all its ministers are supposed to be paragons of virtue, yet they are little more than self-serving politicians who have no shame. []
Gibbs staff
[Republished 3/12/05]