CATHOLICISM: Michigan stories of abuse, etc......

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The Detroit Free Press had a huge, two part cover story, starting on the front page titled “What becomes of priests who prey” Sunday (11-14-10) with part II on Monday. The subtitle was “Many Catholics torn by love for leaders, outrage over abuse”. I urge all Catholics to read the entire piece; you can get it on-line at freep.com.

I have seen this phenomenon even in my own small community. My sister belongs to St. Dunsten in Garden City and even though her pastor (Father Ron) was not a child molester, he was removed from his duties for mismanaging church funds; story goes he liked to gamble and visit some questionable establishments of the sexual kind. My sister told me how the parish was split and how things became really nasty for awhile and the parish may never recover.

The Free Press story was divided into many sections. One that caught my eye was titled: “Abuse suspects find help in nonprofit…Defense fund draws criticism”.

The organization called OPUS BONO SACERDOTII or Work for the Good of the Priesthood raised over $3 million to help priests who are accused and/or convicted of sexual abuse. The head of the organization, Joe Maher, defends what he does by saying that Jesus forgives all sins and sinners and that is why he feels compelled to help these priests. He also said that he asks each priest that he helps to give him Christ’s blessing, a gift given priests even though the priest may have abused that gift.

I have a problem with what Maher is doing (and making a living at it) and I have a problem with people that contribute to this organization because I don’t quite understand. How can you possibly care for and help someone that has sexually abused innocent children? Yes, God may forgive them but you are not God and you can’t forgive them because they have committed a grievous crime and they have to pay for that crime; if anything, you should seek to help the victims of their crimes and not them, the perpetrators; how sick is that?

Another article that caught my eye is: “Michigan victims have short suit window” and “Michigan victims in priest abuse scandal face tougher legal battles than in other states”.

In Michigan, you have until your 19^th birthday to file suit. Bills in the Michigan congress to extend the age limit to 38 have been vigorously fought by the Michigan Catholic Conference and I can see why: money.

Well, shouldn’t this issue transcend money? What about doing what is morally right.

The Catholic Church worldwide, including and especially the Vatican, has committed grievous sins against innocent humans in their care and for this they must pay, monetarily and spiritually. The Church has broken the trust of the people and is not fit to represent Christ on earth.

I will be interested what “letter to the editor” have to say about the Free Press series which I think should appear this Sunday.

Related articles

• Vatican Calls for Crackdown on Abuse - Wall Street Journal (news.google.com)
• William F. McMurry: Protecting Children from the Church's Abuse Of Power (huffingtonpost.com)
• Bishops must take more action on abuse: Vatican (reuters.com)
• Vatican to issue abuse guidelines (bbc.co.uk)