If you’re playing Catholic Rapist Bingo, then congratulations for those of you with Ohio on your card. You’re one step closer to the grand prize, which is a lifelong hatred of the church. I’ve won this prize long ago, so it’s up for grabs.

Yet another depraved human being operating under the watchful eye of the Catholic Church has been arrested and charged for the crime of sexually abusing his young flock. In this case, it sounds like the sort of dramatic fiction that belongs to serialized dramas, and not real life.

For 15 years, Rev. Michael Zacharias used his influence, and the power granted to him by his position to lure troubled kids into a life of drug addiction and sexual slavery.

Testimony and evidence at trial showed Zacharias developed relationships with the victims’ families when they were young to gain their trust, prosecutors said. As the victims got older, he exploited their fears, their housing instability and their criminal records to force them into commercial sex.

If you’ve ever wondered how these kinds of crimes can perpetuate for so long, look no further than the cult of secrecy that manages it. The Catholic Church is the master when it comes to covering up crimes. They make even the most terrifying drug lords look like rank amateurs. The fact is that reporting abuse has far reaching consequences to anyone with career aspirations. The internal “legal system” of the church allows pastors to sue each other for slander and libel if the charges are not proven (which given the timeframes of the crimes can be quite difficult). They also face excommunication in some cases, which to a believer is equivalent to being cast into the fiery pits of hell.

It angers me that even the news outlets that has covered this story didn’t publish any testimony from the victims, but allowed a guilty man to continue to preach his innocence, as though he had nothing to do with the decades of abuse he perpetuated. Every news organizations that report on priestly abuse tend to bend over backwards to publish the bullshit lies from the PR department of the Vatican, which pretends to give a crap about the abuse of children.

Zacharias had been moved several times during his career. These types of shuffles are not uncommon for priests who start getting complaints from upset parents. I’d like to hear impact statements from the victims, not the crocodile tears of the very institution that had this man on paid leave while the investigation into the abuse continued. They had access to the same information the police did, and no doubt more, and yet they chose to stand by him until he was found guilty.

Now if there is any credit to be given to the church (and very little should be), it’s that they quite literally invented the word for pedophilia. In their twisted view, they want credit for discouraging the practice societally. I would grant it except for the fact that there are plenty of other cultures that reject it, so it does not take a great deal of moral fortitude to be against the abuse of children. Given that I know from my own father’s experience in the Catholic educational system, I can assure you that sexual abuse was only one of the forms of torture visited upon children by this vile institution. Decrying something, and then performing these same actions in the safety of the worlds most secretive organization should impress no one. It only highlights the failings of the priestly class to live up to the most basic moral precepts. Who else but a group of sexless men would want to be congratulated with inventing the word for abusing kids? As this generation’s youth would say, that’s highly sus.