When atheists say that the Catholic Church attracts pedophiles, we aren’t just making a crass joke. The way the Church has shielded it’s members from prosecution, the effort its put into lobbying governments to lower the statues of limitation on sexual crime, and the amount of money they have given away to keep mouths shut sends a clear message that if you are attracted to innocent children, you should join their ranks.

It seems as though Broderick Witt got the message. He was studying to become a priest, until he was eventually arrested after the police were tipped off that he possessed a bunch of really disturbing child pornography, including images with victims as young as 6 years old.

The Archdioses of Cincinnati released this rather amusing statement:

“The seminary and the Archdiocese of Cincinnati have strict policies against, and take significant precautions to prevent, anyone from possessing or accessing material of this type, regardless of whether they are a student, faculty, or staff. Discovery of such material will result in immediate termination or dismissal and notification of law enforcement,” Rev. Anthony R. Brausch, Rector said in a letter to the seminary community.

They’re finally notifying law enforcement now? That’s a pretty big departure from their regular mode of operation. You may recall that former Pope Benedict XVI had issued a memo during his tenure as the head of the Inquisition (renamed “Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith” as it seems the centuries of bloodshed had somewhat tainted the name). It specified that Church leaders were to keep any information of abuse secret, and authorities were not to be contacted without approval from the higher ups (which they never would). I guess when you haven’t yet joined the club, they take a bit of a different approach to dealing with child predators. That means we just have to catch them before they can benefit from the protection of a trillion dollar organization. Good to know.