Colin writes:
<< As for the Bishop of Boston, surely at the very least he should be jailed
for aiding and abetting serious crimes? >>
Colin, I have never agreed with you more.
But sadly -- and disgracefully -- Cardinal Law (or Cardinal Above-the-Law, as
he is called on one radio call-in show here in Boston) will never see the
inside of the prison cell that, in my opinion, he deserves to be in for the
rest of his life.
If this fiend had been a politician, or an educator, or a police official, or
anyone else who had allowed these horrific crimes against children --
numbering at least in the hundreds -- to go on and on for decades, he would
have been cheerfully locked up years ago and the key would have been
gleefully thrown away.
It's hard to imagine that any institution could be powerful enough to protect
such a monster, but the Catholic Church is that powerful, especially here in
Boston. In fact, while 40 protesters called for the Cardinal's resignation
outside Boston's Cathedral of the Holy Cross this past Sunday, 600
parishioners on the inside gave him a standing ovation. Tears come to my eyes
when I think of how the victims must feel when they hear such news reports.
What's more, many wealthy and influential local Catholics (such as Peter
Lynch from Fidelity Investments, who reportedly gave $10 million to the
Archdiocese of Boston last year) have remained absolutely silent on the
matter. Can you believe that anyone could remain silent about the rape of
children? Can you believe that people who profess to do God's work could
actually cover up such despicable crimes? Well, it happened, and it is more
than likely still happening throughout the world. I wish I could feel assured
that this little meeting of American Cardinals with the Pope would make
things better, but as long as the likes of Cardinal Law are in power, I see
very little hope for change.
I was not the brightest child in the world, but for some reason I saw and was
repulsed by the hypocrisy of the Church from a very young age. (If my parents
did nothing else right, I was lucky enough to be sent to public school,
rather than parochial.) The fact is, my first confession was my last, and I
managed to tune out the Church until I was a teenager and joined a Protestant
youth group. I always saw very plainly that the Church had more than its
share of bad men and women, but I never could have imagined -- even with my
very low opinion of the Church -- that the Church would ever be complicit in
the rape of hundreds, and most likely, thousands of children throughout the
world.
But that's not all. A local class action lawsuit recently awarded a large
group of victims of priest rape about $87 million, I think it was. Now the
Archdiocese of Boston is whining about how they're going to pay for all the
damages, and they are asking parishioners to dig a little deeper to help
defray these costs. Excuse me? I would think that in an age when van Goghs
sell for $100 million, Vatican officials could find some long-forgotten art
work in some out-of-the-way storage room in Rome and come up with what would
amount to chump change for these victims who have suffered way more than most
of us can ever imagine.
And for any good Catholics out there -- and I know there are literally
millions of them in the world -- if you feel offended by this post, please go
back and read it again. Unless you are raping and/or covering up the abuse of
children, or supporting slimeballs like Law, it's simply not about you.
--Bob
