Tuesday, April 05, 2011

Prosecute Those Responsible in the Priest Sex-Abuse Scandals

Since the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy has shown no inclination to clean its own cesspool like ranks and rank and file Catholics refuse to grow a backbone and demand reforms, the best way to solve the literally world wide conspiracy to protect predator priests is to start prosecuting both the sexual abusers and their enablers and protectors. The Seattle Times ran a point on editorial that has been reprinted in the Juneau Empire. It's worth a read and one can only wish that members of the Church hierarchy would begin to be arrested and criminally prosecuted. Here are highlights from the editorial:
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After decades of silence, deceit and settlements, the Roman Catholic Church’s sexual-abuse scandal might finally be headed where it truly belongs, U.S. criminal courts.
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Church leadership has been granted extraordinary latitude in handling epic cases of sexual assault against children who put their innocence and trust in religious figures who violated them, sometimes for years. Again and again, bishops invested more loyalty in the clergy responsible for the assaults than in the people in the pews.
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In the U.S. and elsewhere, the church was given authority and deference it did not deserve and repeatedly violated in the handling of cases that date back decades. Instances of abuse are still being revealed. Unconscionable acts with injurious results have been met with the most hypocritical behavior.
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The church’s response has amounted to an international cover-up for heinous acts from California to Connecticut, as well as Australia, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Ireland and Germany.
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Worldwide the pattern has been to hide the truth, mount counterattacks about Catholic bashing and stall.
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The outside world did not sully a sacred vocation. No more operating above the law. Turn those accused of assault and abuse over to secular authorities. Send the guilty to jail.

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