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Saturday, April 27, 2002
Catholic Church leadership must expel pedophiles
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Posted: April 27, 2002 1:00 a.m. Eastern By Rev. Jerry Falwell
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- � 2002 WorldNetDaily.com It is time for the Catholic Church to get serious
about protecting children.
The fact is, any cleric � Catholic or Protestant �
who molests a child to satisfy his own dark urges should be immediately
dismissed and severely punished. Period.
However, church leaders have gone blind to their
responsibilities. Revelations that top U.S. clergy protected pedophiles and
failed to prevent them from interacting with credulous children is simply
unforgivable. It is criminal! This is not the time for compromise, settlement or
bargain. It is time for the church to attend to ridding itself of pedophiles and
painstakingly ensuring that virtuous and honorable men are recruited to replace
them.
President Bush has stated that any nation that
harbors terrorists is guilty of terrorism. Similarly, any church leader who
provides safe haven for a pedophile priest, pastor or rabbi is just as guilty.
It is unthinkable that men who have yielded their lives to ministry would
descend to such depths that they would sexually abuse little children. It is
just as unthinkable that a church leader would protect these men.
Twenty years ago, a child was brought into the
nursery at my Thomas Road Baptist Church. When a nursery worker was changing the
child's diaper, she discovered several bruises all over the child's body. She
reported this finding to our senior children's pastor who called the parents in
to discuss the situation. The parents said the child had simply "fallen down."
We did not report this situation to the
authorities. But we should have. A couple of weeks later, the same child was
hospitalized after a severe beating. Our children's pastor was arrested because
the law requires the church � or anyone else, for that matter � to report what
was earlier discovered.
Later, a court dismissed the charges against our
pastor but gave a stern warning to our church that we have no right to determine
the genuineness of these situations. I discovered that my staff and I are under
obligation to do what is right, even if it means angering the family involved.
Today, all of our church workers are aware of their responsibilities in these
situations.
And responsibility is the issue within the Catholic
Church. Tragically, the Church has bishops and cardinals who are aware of
homosexuality and pedophilia and are advising that only mild censure take place
with the guilty. It is even more astonishing that they would place guilty
priests back in ministry where they have access to little boys. I can imagine my
horror if I learned that my children or grandchildren had been placed in harm's
way in such a reckless manner.
Thankfully, the pope said this week that he would
no longer tolerate pedophile priests. But he must ensure that his subordinates
solemnly carry out his message and ensure that the denomination rids itself of
these predators.
I'm not just targeting Catholic priests. My call
for justice and penalty includes Baptist preachers and ministers of any other
denomination who may be guilty of child sexual abuse. Any man who would abuse a
child should be immediately subjected to harsh criminal indictment.
I also believe the media is acting hypocritically
in reporting on the controversy within the Catholic Church. The mainstream media
has been typically critical of the leaders of the Boy Scouts of America for
attempting to prevent similar situations from becoming pervasive in their
organization by banning homosexual Scout leaders.
Because the Scouts took this common-sense approach
to safeguarding their young members, they have been labeled as purveyors of
hate. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is obvious that we live in a
distorted world where such men hope to prey on innocent children. Preventive
measures � no matter how politically incorrect � must be taken.
The same media that is clobbering the Catholic
Church for harboring these guilty priests is the same one that has unleashed the
brutal assault against the Scouts. The Scouts actually look pretty wise right
now.
Furthermore, the U.S. Supreme Court acted unwisely
by recently legalizing virtual pornography of children. This terrible decision
struck down the Child Pornography Prevention Act which attempted to close a
loophole for pedophiles by banning the creation, distribution and possession of
what is known as "virtual child pornography" � sexually-explicit images of
children through computer-generated programs.
According to the court's majority, the law was too
vague and theoretically could be used to halt worthy works of art. The hope is
that Congress will immediately rewrite the law to address the concerns of the
court, while retaining the virtual child porn ban. In this age of descending
moral standards, it is imperative that our lawmakers compose sufficient laws
that keep our children safe from sexual predators.
And it is imperative that church leaders earnestly
attempt to prevent this type of outrage from ever taking place again.
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Rev. Jerry Falwell, a nationally recognized
Christian minister and television show host, is the founder of Jerry Falwell
Ministries and is chancellor of Liberty University in Lynchburg,
Virginia.
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