Granted I can't be objective about this issue, but our local news last night had me steaming and yelling at the TV. Yesterday the archdiocese of Philadelphia suspended 21 priests, pending outcomes of investigations of inappropriate sexual contact with minors. The news coverage was focused on how shocked the parishioners were -- stand-up interviews with nuns and congregants expressing how dismayed they were that their priest was being treated so badly, and that anyone who knew him would know that he would never do anything wrong or less-than-holy.
Which, okay, they're entitled to their reactions and one should guard against a rush to judgment. BUT! The news coverage didn't even ALLUDE to the fact that there are REASONS these 21 priests were suspended. No discussion of the history of abuse by priests, the ongoing collusion of church higher-ups to adhere to a code of silence, and NO mention of the potential/alleged victims. Twenty-one priests potentially abusing kids? We're talking hundreds of victims, conservatively*. To omit that from the newscast is unspeakably irresponsible. Motherfuckers.
* For context around this guesstimate: Gerald Klever was a minister near my hometown for approximately 5 years. When the news of his abuses came to light, over a dozen additional women came forward to provide evidence that they, too, had been abused by him as children. That's close to twenty women -- that we know about -- for one predator in a VERY limited timeframe. You do the math; I can't. It makes me want to vomit.
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the man who sits next to me at work (our fiscal guy) is a deacon. When I mentioned that one of the priests was supposed to marry friends of mine in the spring, he went on this rant about how priests can only work through god and everything they do is god's work and it is too easy to accuse someone of something they didn't do these days. he said that the only problem in all this is the COVER UP of accusations, which of course, wouldn't have had to happen if people didn't lie about the abuse.
you have no idea how shaken up i am about that conversation. i turned away from him and he sort of just stopped talking.
One of my priests was one of the men removed. We got this news yesterday after attending Ash Wednesday Mass, after beginning our Lenten journey of renewal. Let me tell you, it felt like a giant fucking slap in the face.
"Go and serve God, and one another, and BTW, your priest may be a giant molester!"
My response was similar, Ruth.
They are sweeping it under the carpet without talking about the alleged (and proven) abuses.
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