June 14, 2002

Bad Touch Father, For You Have Sinned
   by mike <mike@pfft.net>

I may publicly renounce any religious affiliation. I may be a staunch atheist, but that doesn't mean I can't have opinions about how the Catholic church affects the public. I refer largely in part to MSNBC's coverage of the recent Bishop's conference where they voted on a new abuse policy that "falls short of zero tolerance". For the love of the God in which I do not believe...

These guys, after having been slammed with sex abuse cases involving priests since January, have the holy (unused) balls to get together and vote on a policy that would remove abusive priests from the public eye, in a sense, but allow them to remain priests. This is utterly outrageous. Being a priest is supposed to represent dedication to your faith, strong will and a desire to help your fellow parishioners. It is not supposed to mean you can touch a kid or make them watch pornography and still be allow to stand for those ideals.

Mark Serrano, of the Survivors' Network of Those Abused by Priests, put it best: "This is akin to telling a street killer in the city, 'We're sending you to the country.' They will find children to prey upon." I agree, sir.

Bishops will be left with a decent degree of discretion when it comes to defrocking a priest, and that's another one of the main problems. Bishop discretion was what got us here in the first place! Of course they can't act with objective impartiality, and no one blames them for that - but don't leave them in control! These bishops are in a position tantamount to providing abusive priests with the opportunity to molest or otherwise abuse children. Where I come from, we call that 'criminal facilitation' and you go to jail for it. You might be singing a different tune after a fat guy named Bubba rams you with some 'poetic justice.'

Lastly, why hasn't the law gotten into this more? The police should be investigating criminal charges in every abuse case and taking appropriate legal action. I know the separation of church and state is a touchy subject for people, but there must be some serious pressure brought to bear on the church so that those convicted (not simply accused - I can be fair too, you know) in criminal/civil court of any kind of impropriety involving children are automatically kicked out of the priesthood, no second chances, no appeals. I'm sick of this. It's zero tolerance time, you cowardly bastards. You're just afraid of how many people you'll be forced to remove.

Is this really what you think God would want? You'll find out when he kicks your sinning hide down to hell. PFFT.

Published: June 14, 2002
Editor: stacy