One of my favorite movie moments from childhood is the scene from Rocky 4 where Rocky Balboa keeps getting repeatedly punched in the face by Ivan Drago (perhaps Doulph Lundgren’s greatest role), until finally, exhausted from punching, Drago is defeated. Rocky 4 was a true 80s cheese movie, complete with endless montages, pointless moralizing about steroid use, and of course, America winning the day. Despite its obvious flaws, the movie tries to covey the idea that no matter how many blows you take, you can still come back as long as you have enough sheer determination.

The Catholic Church must feel like Rocky right now. Every other day, some new allegation of clerical abuse is made, and you have to wonder how many more blows they can take to the face before they finally fall. The latest punch in the mouth comes from this article in the Independent, which deals with an abuse scandal of The Legion of Christ, an ultra-conservative, ultra-secretive sect of the church run by Father Marcial Maciel Degollado. A well connected and charismatic figure, Maciel was close to Pope Jean Paul II, and many considered him a saintly man beyond all reproach. As usual, this smokescreen belied his seemingly insatiable thirst for young boys:

A year after Nuestro Padre’s death in 2008, the Vatican announced an investigation into the Legion. An unnamed official told America’s National Catholic Reporter newspaper that the total number of Maciel’s abuse victims was “more than 20 and less than 100″. As a team of cardinals opens the locked cupboards of an organization that prided itself on secrecy – all new recruits had to take a unique private vow (abolished by Benedict in 2007) never to speak ill of the founder and to report to superiors anyone who did – the Catholic Church is once more mired in a scandal about the sexual abuse of minors, and the abuse of power.

When reports of abuse started coming in, the church did what they do best. They ignored it completely:

Then, in 1976, Father Juan Vaca…formally reported Maciel to his bishop for sexually abusing him from the age of 12. This was a time before the sexual abuse of minors by priests had been exposed. In 1978, fearing that his accusations had been swept under the carpet, Vaca sent a long statement about what had happened to him direct to the Vatican, and even received an acknowledgement. And then, nothing.

They story goes on to detail the restrictive and suffocating control Maciel has had on his followers. The Legion of Christ was no small institution; it had an annual budget of more than 435 million pounds, and ‘Our Father, or Nuestro Padre’ (as he was called by his followers) enjoyed a multitude of personal luxuries, including private suites, cars, and anything he desired to eat. Truly, here was a child molester living in paradise, able to control and manipulate his victims using the power of their faith to bend them to his will.

I’m not surprised this kind of stuff happens so often; the Church’s long policy of silence and secrecy makes it the perfect place for child molesters to hide. I’m not suggesting that all priests abuse children; but their beloved institution is corrupt to the core, with abusers at the highest levels of power. What I find surprising is how dismissive Catholics seem about this. No matter how many scandals come out, people still bring their children into the fold. Scary.

With Ireland still reeling over the Ryan report, many Catholics are simply tired of the lies, the abuse, and the hypocrisy of the church. For those ready to leave the fold, countmeout.ie offers a way for people to officially leave the Church.

Their mission statement is clear: they want to send a loud message to both the Catholic Church and the government that religion has no place in government. According to the site, most primary schools and hospitals are being run by the Church, despite being state-funded. In light of the fact this organization can’t seem to stop molesting young boys, I wouldn’t even let them run a hot dog stand.

So far about 551 people have defected, although I’m sure the number will increase in a few weeks when another abuse report (this time on the Archdioceses) comes out. If any of you know people who are teetering on the edge, maybe this is the push they need to send a clear message to this corrupt and vile institution.

You know what’s sad? I’m not shocked or surprised by terrible stories of priests molesting children. It’s so rampant there are weeks when I simply refuse to post these depressing stories simply because there isn’t much left to say about it. It’s a profession that seems to invite pedophiles, not only because of the unprecedented access to children, but also because of the ability to ‘spiritually’ bully them into silence. It’s a tactic that’s employed so often, I think it’s about time we stop giving these kinds of powers to anyone at all.

Our latest piece of shit pervert is Benito Catello, who ran a ‘church’ from his home, and catered almost exclusively to minors. Although the guy was in a wheelchair and had an oxygen tank, he was still able to coerce and force kids to have sex with him, threatening them with eternal hell fire if they talked. He’s being charged with 27 counts of sexual assault, and he’s already confessed the allegations are true. He claims the Holy Spirit made him sexually abuse those kids. I guess in his deluded mind, that’s how he justified it.

I’m not about to suggest every single priest out there is a child molester, but does it have to be so many of them? In the US alone, roughly 4% of Catholic priests have been suspected at some time of being pedophiles . That’s 4,392 men who were accused of sexual abuse. Of those, only 6% were ever convicted. Considering how difficult it is to get victims to come forward to report abuse, those are not encouraging numbers.

The Catholic Church has attempted to prevent such high rates of abuse by educating children to watch out for signs of pedophilia (like avoiding being alone with priests), but all this does is put the responsibility on children, and not on the institution. Hey parents, if you really want to protect your kids, try avoiding church altogether. That’s the simpler way to prevent abuse.