Predators dressed in Priests Clothing

The denial and suppression of information about the decades of child sexual

abuse perpetrated by priests the Irish Catholic Clerical hierarchy is, according to

the conclusions of the new report submitted by the Commission of Investigation

into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin, nothing short of criminal. Criminal for

the abusers; criminal for their bishops and archbishops. The enormity of the

crime is incomprehensible in its scope and deeply disturbing in the complicity of

its participants.

The description of the profound, widespread and repeated abuse is, in a word,

sickening.

As bad was the stonewalling victims faced when pursuing a complaint against a

priest. Complicit too were the Irish police force that at times refused to

investigate complaints and instead referred them to church authorities to handle.

The political and religious system was riddled with cracks through which cases

slipped, some to languish for years. All because of a misguided loyalty to the

Catholic Church in Ireland, which some psychologists might describe as an

infantile need to please.

The Irish Catholic hierarchy, while claiming to address issues of abuse, hid

behind the coat-tails of cannon law protecting accused priests from the

ramifications of the due process of Irish civil law. They did this while at the same
time ignoring the very church doctrine they claimed to follow. This underlines the

hierarchy’s conspiracy of suppression. The affairs of the church were always put

above the concerns or needs of the victims.

The pedophile priests were empowered by an inferred moral authority

reinforcing their ability to deny – lie barefaced – when faced with accusations.

These are the traits of true sociopaths. Their sense of entitlement, their lack of

remorse or conscience, their ability to continue their actions against children

regardless of accusations sets them apart in their criminality. As it does the

actions, or inactions, of their protectors, their deniers, their superiors.

The widespread denials towed the church line and allowed a succession of

Archbishops to side-track and ignore these vile crimes against Ireland's children.

What is unmentioned is the other consequence of the actions of these predators;

the fraud perpetrated on their parishioners. These men – criminals - were not

men of G-d; they were devout atheists. Logic dictates that they didn’t – couldn’t -

believe in G-d by the nature of the terrible crimes that they committed over their

lifetimes as priests.

Parishioners therefore were led spiritually by a man with the spiritual depth and

capacity of a stone. Their intonations on the altar, their blessings, their guidance

was meaningless. These were a means to an end; that end being the raping of
children. As such their entire religious lives were a cover, a sham. The authority

of their priestly actions was no more relevant had they been performed by a goat.

Their duties are therefore null and void; baptisms, communion, confirmations,

marriages are technically illegitimate. How could they hold credence when they

were officiated by a monster masquerading as a priest whose authority was

certainly not from by G-d? There’s something to chew on your next cup of coffee.

What’s next then in this uncovering of Irish clerical criminality?

The first order of business is the continuing treatment of the victims of abuse.

The focus on financial compensation is something that will be dealt with in time.

No matter what the outcome no amount of money can make up what has been

done to these victims, many of whom have had their lives destroyed twice. First

by their rapist; the second time by church denial. A system to ensure that this

does not happen again should take the form, not of another government

bureaucracy but, of a widespread secular - frank - educational program aimed at

empowering children and parents.

As an institution the Catholic Church is loaded with rules for the faithful. There's

a penalty for missing mass on Sunday, another of the use of birth control, the

denial of communion for supporting a women’s right to choose.

What then is the penalty, one must wonder, for the crime of raping children?

How about the deliberate covering up the crimes? Excommunication is the

highest Catholic punishment available. Will it apply retroactively to the rapists

and their silent conspiratorial superiors? That would be an action that would

show that the Catholic Church is taking its responsibility to address these crimes

seriously.

If indeed the Catholic hierarchy were as complicit as the report states, they are as

morally repugnant as the predators they employed. Their inaction, delay, denial

and ignoring of accusations allowed countless others to be molested and

increased the depth of suffering.

If G-d is as just as we are told, the hierarchy will be enjoying the heat from the

same fires as the abusers who raped Irish children for so long.

Irish victims of sexual abuse needing help should contact One In Four,

http://www.oneinfour.org or by phone (local) 01 662 4070. For information

about child abuse prevention and crisis resources visit www.abusewatch.net in

the U.S., or www.abusewatch.eu in Europe. Report from the Commission of

Investigation into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin (pdf):

http://www.dacoi.ie/