When does this crap end?

(Sigh) Here's the original story.

How long does this crap keep going on? I'm thinking it's already been well over eight years. You'd think the little light would come on for these clerical clowns and they'd realize it's long past time to own up to the coverups that made this problem so egregious. It isn't that there have been pedophile priests in the Church, for what it's worth independent studies have shown Catholic priests have a lower rate of pedophiles than even public school teachers. This doesn't excuse it, I just throw that out to try to put it all into context. That context is that a relatively small bit of evil has been allowed to grow and morph into something larger than it should ever have been.

Some public school teaching pedophiles have even been transferred around their districts in much the same way pedophile priests were, so the game of CYA isn't confined solely to the Catholic Church.

Two things make it much worse though, and this is where the bishops and the apologists for the pedophile priests get it wrong;

1) A cleric, no matter what his affiliation, is and should be held to a higher standard. No ifs, ands, buts or maybes. End of story there.

2) Covering up this problem validates the claims of some that God has left His Church. How can the most innocent of the flock be victimized by their supposed shepherds and then be ignored and further victimized by the superiors of those shepherds? It's bad enough the original acts happened, it's worse there was a cover-up on the part of 2/3 of the bishops at the time. The inability to acknowledge the complete scope of the problem, even at this late date, is completely exasperating.

What's really frustrating is the "blame the victim" mentality that keeps seeping through all of this. The attitude that those who complain are "troublemakers" who should work within the system and not air the dirty laundry of the Church. If the bishops had done their jobs properly this dirty laundry wouldn't exist to be aired.

IMHO homosexual abuse is the most vile evil that can be perpetrated on a child. And childhood doesn't end at puberty, in our culture it continues on till the late teenaged years. It's particularly evil because that child will blame themselves for what happened. They will grow into adulthood always questioning their sexuality, the acts they suffer from will stay with them for the rest of their lives. No amount of therapy will erase it, it will only somewhat ease the pain. They'll question every relationship they have, even the nonsexual ones. For those wondering how a flangeheaded turd chaser like myself is so knowledgable about this, I bought the tee-shirt at the age of fourteen. And no, it wasn't a priest. But being able to identify in even a small manner with those whose trust in God's servants was betrayed, I can understand the rage and frustration they must feel.

How can supposed men of God engage in these coverups? That's what makes the scandal in the Church so awful. Those who supposedly were called by Christ Himself to care for his Church on earth turn their backs on the most innocent and helpless of their charges. This makes them even more despicable than the pedophiles they protect. The continued denial and refusal to apologize, the implied arrogance and hubris, are enough to gag a maggot. It's long past time to admit the sins of God's less-than-perfect servants here on earth and get on with the healing of the Church.

I believe it's best summed up by the words of one victim, quoted in this article.

"Why? Why? Why is he refusing to apologize for this cover-up?"