INQUISITION NEWS: Child Abuse in the Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church: Pedophile Priests

The Roman Catholic Church: Pedophile Priests

Diane Evans

Child Abuse in the Catholic Church - Pietroizzo

Pedophilia is not a new development in the Catholic Church. It goes back to the earliest years of Christianity when the Apostle Paul first denounced it.

Pederasty existed in ancient Greece and Rome as well as other ancient civilizations. The earliest historical records describe it in various ways, but usually it involved a relationship between an older male and a boy between the ages of 14 to 20. The boy's attraction lay in his youth and beauty, as well as the promise of his future intellectual and physical abilities. The older man became the boy's teacher and protector who served as the child's model of virtue and wisdom. Generally the relationship ceased with the appearance of the signs of puberty in the boy, when the adult molester found another subject for his attention.

The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) describes pedophilia as an addictive behavior in which adults show a marked sexual preference for children in the prepubertal age range. This addiction doesn't wear itself out or kill its proponent as many drug-related addictions do, but it can persist well into old age without any noted side effects to the older males involved. However, not all abuse is directed toward the boys - the priests often abuse the little girls as well.

Clerical abuse often leaves serious emotional scars on the children, and they grow into adulthood with a great deal of emotional damage.

The Apostle Paul

According to Sarah Ruden in her book, Paul Among the People: The Apostle Reinterpreted and Reimagined in His Own Time, in the first chapter of Paul's Letter to the Romans, the Apostle severely criticized pedophiles as well as homosexuals for their unnatural, cruel, and rebellious acts against God and humanity.

Pedophilia and the Church

While pedophilia accusations from Switzerland, the Netherlands, Ireland, Austria, the United States, Brazil, Germany, Canada, Australia and Mexico -- only to mention a few -- have come in during recent months and years, the church has always attempted to downplay the reports. But now the sins of the church have rocked it to the point where it can no longer ignore the charges that it has acted as an enabler to these priestly sex offenders.

Much to the horror and frustration of the laity, it has attempted to maintain a secretiveness regarding its own activities in protecting and hiding the offenders. Church authorities insist that the allegations against its molester priests are false, even as it makes out-of-court settlements, and sends the priests off on retreats and on to new assignments where their reputations are unknown. However, the church is reluctant to remove its offending priests.

The clerical abuse has left its victims emotionally shattered, and there are many instances reported where they have committed suicide and left their families traumatized. Victims groups, such as the Survivors' Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), have organized support groups which can advise the victims and their families on legal action.

Settling Out of Court

Ultimately, the Vatican prefers to make pay-outs than subject itself to public scrutiny, and the priests seek to avoid the emotional turmoil of a trial. Often, the church asks its victims to report their complaints to the church itself rather than go through legal channels, however most families are going to civil courts instead. Father Thomas Doyle, an Air Force chaplain near Ft. Walton beach explains that the parishoners are not complying with this request because "they're fed up with being manipulated, lied to and jacked around."

As the settlements pile up, the church coffers are dwindling. On the NBC Nightly News on March 18, 2002, Tom Brokaw stated that since the mid '80s, the church has paid out over one billion dollars in lawsuits stemming from child molestations by Catholic priests. As the scandal and the payoffs roll on, it is questionable how long the church can continue without bankruptcy.

A Nun's Story

In 1871, in Australia, a young nun, Mary Mackillop, stumbled upon a disturbing sight. She witnessed a pedophile priest molesting a boy. When she reported it to the Catholic hierarchy, they threw her out of the convent and excommunicated her.

Almost 140 years later, as an act of atonement, Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed her as Australia's first saint on October 17, 2010. Somehow this seems like "too little, too late" for the Vatican to apologize for its error.

However, it took only 350 years for the Vatican to finally admit that Galileo was right when he stated that the Earth is not the center of the universe. Maybe the church is finally beginning to catch up with the real world.