There’s a bit of legislature floating around that is having a hard time becoming law. It’s called the Child Victim Act, and here is a great article talking about how the New York Catholic Conference, a Christian lobby group,  is pushing to kill the act. The CVA is designed to extend the statute of limitation on child abuse by another five years, thus allowing abuse victims a longer “window” to come forward. Anyone who has ever been abused as a child will tell you how difficult a process this is, and the extra time is designed to accommodate for this difficulty.

Of course, Catholics are crying bloody murder, saying this extension will basically bankrupt the Church because of all the settlement payments they are having to dish out. Even if that was true, why the fuck should we care? Perhaps they should have thought about that before they started shuffling child molesters instead of bringing them to justice. No religion that practically institutionalizes child abuse should be exempt from the laws of the land. The fact the Church is even fighting this goes to show how they really feel about children.

The saddest thing is the collusion of the some of the faithful in vilifying the victims, and accusing them of trying to take the Church’s money. It’s a sad day when people identify more with the abusers than the abused. (thanks Kylyssa for the correction there) I’m not sure any of those people would feel the same if their own children were victims of abuse. Child abuse ruins people’s lives. That the Catholic church is fearful of losing money should concern no-one. If you’ve done the crime, you need to do the time. That’s all there is to it.

I think most of you know I’m not a big fan of Mother Teresa. I think she gives atheism a bad name, but that’s a whole other story altogether. I found her corrupt, nasty, and evil just like the institution she represents. What a surprise to find someone close to her was also a steaming pile of shit: Father Donald Maguire, a frequent spiritual advisor to Mother Teresa is facing charges of child molestation. Again.

You can read about the guy in this detailed article. I’ve written enough about why this kind of thing isn’t really surprising anymore, and why we need to look at all of these travesties with fresh eyes. It’s obvious people within his own organization knew something was up, since they kept on rotating him around (it’s the common practice to deal with these guys: send them to a new parish to enjoy fresh meat).

I had someone comment a little while ago who herself had been a victim of child molestation. In her case, it wasn’t by a priest, and she found a great deal of solace from the Church. She even tried to apologize for their behavior:

As a person who was molested myself, (not by a priest) I understand the psychological, emotional and physical trauma. Nothing will truly make those experiences go away, and the pain changes a person forever. I apologize to all who have been hurt by the wrong doings of Catholic Priests. I know that my apology is insignificant compared to the damage and the pain. Still. I apologize from the bottom of my heart for the pain you or your loved ones are going through. It is not what the Catholic church – it’s people as well as its leaders- hope to ever happen. If offense, hurt and disappointment is all that you have found in the church I am really, really sorry. I can tell you that the only way I’ve been able to cope with the trauma of what I went through is through the Catholic Church. The priests, deacons, and community at large have listened to me through my tears and have helped me begin my healing. And I am a better person for it today. Healing. Compassion. Forgiveness. This is what the Catholic church aims for. Please, forgive us when we fall short of our goal.

Jessica, I can appreciate the fact these guys helped you through a rough time. And of course most of the people involved are good, decent and caring; they are human for God’s sake. The point, however, is it’s not YOUR job to apologize, it’s THEIRS. And they need to do more than say “we’re sorry”. The entire organization is infested with these monsters, and all the church does is hide their indiscretions. There is nothing you can do to erase the pain and suffering countless children have suffered at the hands of these guys save one: stop supporting them. It won’t stop until you do, this I can promise you.

Ok, I want you to pretend that you just woke up from a coma, and you’ve developed near total amnesia. Not only do you not remember anything about yourself, but you’re also unfamiliar with any recent news or events. You do, however, maintain your own moral code of conduct, which still allows you to judge what is right and wrong (in other words, you aren’t a drooling invalid here).

Curious about the outside world, you begin to peruse the web in search of information, and happen to fall upon this little article (which has since been removed, please read the follow-up here). It details the fact that one of the head officials of the Catholic Church in Chicago was aware of over 25 priests who had been abusing young children, but had stayed silent about the abuse.

You certainly would be more than a little disappointed by the Catholic church; you’d be jumping up and down, furious with rage that 25 (try just counting to 25 to see how many that is!) priests in the Chicago region alone were abusing kids. You would be consumed by anger at the fact that even in this paltry article, there seem to be no names or arrests. “What the hell is going on here?”, you would wonder. Why is no one in jail? Basically you’d have a” Holy Shit” moment, one the rest of us desperately need to have.

Your next move would be to keep digging. You’d naturally wonder “are there other instances of priestly abuse out there?”. A simple search on Google would probably make you want to vomit with rage at how many kids around the world have been, or still are, abused by these robed monsters.

You’d probably be very confused as to why no one seems to be freaking out about this. Well, truth be told, we’re all so accustomed to it that it hardly surprises us anymore. We’ve become almost shell shocked, and because so many people still revere this crooked and disgusting institution, it’s not a big deal anymore.

Now I don’t want everyone to suddenly develop amnesia, but I did wish we could look these abuses with fresh eyes. This piece of shit bastard needs to rot in jail, along with all his molester buddies. I don’t care if he was not involved in the abuse; his silence was his crime, for it allowed these monsters to ruin the lives of so many countless children.

On a related note, I think I figured out how the Catholic Church can completely cut down on all child abuse: just enforce castration for priests. I mean, you’re not using it anyways, so why not get rid of it and we can stop worrying you’re going to keep forcing little kids to play with it.

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.

I never thought I’d see the day where the Pope isn’t welcome in Ireland. But hey, a 2,900 page report detailing the sexual, physical and emotional abuse of children by the Catholic Church is enough to make even the strongest believer feel overwhelmed. A new survey reports that until the current Pope does more to compensate the victims, the majority of Ireland doesn’t want him visiting.

I got news for you: even if the Pope does apologize, it doesn’t change the fact that Benedict XVI, prior to holding the position of Pope, was the main guy in charge of investigating child abuses in the clergy, and his report suggested the Church keep quiet about it. In all likelihood, he would have probably heard about what was going on in Ireland, but did nothing to stop the abuses there and elsewhere.

It’s an encouraging sign religious belief isn’t what it used to be in Ireland. Perhaps in a couple more decades, it’ll be as secular as the rest of Europe. We can only hope…

It was inevitable the Vatican would say something both offensive and wrong in regards to the debacle in Ireland over the Ryan report, which chronicled decades of sexual, physical and emotional abuse at the hands of Catholic priests and nuns. Cardinal Antonio Canizares recently said abortion is worst than child abuse. Here is his direct quote:

What happened in some schools cannot be compared with the millions of lives that have been destroyed by abortion. It (abortion) has legally destroyed 40 million human lives.

This is the typical response you can expect from an institution which systematically covered up centuries of abuse by the Catholic church. It is only in the past few decades that we have been able to demonstrate the extend of their evil, but the Catholic Church has known for a long time pedophiles make up a significant percentage of their employees. There is such a strong culture of abuse that I wouldn’t be surprised if they somehow felt it was a mere inconvenience rather than an actual problem. Father Bad-touch apparently isn’t the bad guy; the real villain in the story wears a lab coat, folks!

In any case, if they feel abortions are so wrong, they might want to read up on miscarriages. Roughly 1/4 of early pregnancies result in a spontaneous abortion. This makes God the biggest abortionist of all time. I don’t see many people in the church freaking out about all this baby killing, though. I can understand why the Catholic Church is so upset about abortions though. I mean, think about how many nubile young boys and girls aren’t being born? That’s 40 million kids they could have molested!