Roman Catholic Church’s Massive Violation of Civil Rights in Massachusetts

catholic-church-symbols-papallogo_colorIt is Sunday. The day Christians have set aside for us to pause and think of God. Often it is called the Lord’s Day. I believe this is the right time for us to consider this matter in a calm, relaxed manner while our thoughts are not on earthly matters.

Just when you think you have had enough with the Roman Catholic Church up pops its extraordinary violation of the civil rights of the citizens of Massachusetts. This open obvious ongoing outrage on our civil rights must be brought to a head and those in positions of responsibility must do something about it. How long, I ask, how long will it be allowed to continue? What is the complicity of those public officials with connections to the Catholic Church in perpetuating this?

We have seen how a small group of priests in the Catholic Church committed vile acts against a small number of children and the outrage that produced. The result of that sent a Boston cardinal fleeing to Rome for sanctuary and the widespread disillusionment toward the Church and the great sorrow of many in the Church that such could have happened and been covered up. It was not only in Massachusetts but the disease among some of its priests spread throughout the nation and was found all over the world. It has resulted in some people leaving the church especially the young unaware how the actions of those evil few had no bearing on its teachings.

As should be kept in mind with respect to this sexual abuse scandal the actions of the priests were no worse than those in any other section of society. It was said, as noted here, by Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, “We don’t see the Catholic Church as a hotbed of this or a place that has a bigger problem than anyone else, I can tell you without hesitation that we have seen cases in many religious settings, from traveling evangelists to mainstream ministers to rabbis and others.”   Also as noted in that article 96% of priests had nothing to do with abusing children which is consistent with the norm in other professions although one  would have hope priests would have been better than others.

This new scandal that I now write about cannot be minimized by pointing to the small number of priests involved. It is fair to say that just about all the members of the priesthood are involved in conspiring to carry this violation of a person’s civil right out. It is especially noticeable among the special order of priests such as the Jesuits but also among the orders in the church one step below the priests, the brothers, such as the Xaverian or Christian Brothers who have been involved in running high schools such as Boston College High School, Catholic Memorial and Xaverian.

The motivating force behind this is the pope and those who assist him in the Vatican. There is nothing that can be done about that because it is a separate country with its own laws. It does not give the same enlightened civil rights to its people as we have here in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Yet, it is behind this massive violation that is occurring here and there is no doubt that it is aware it is acting in defiance of the civil rights of Massachusetts citizens yet it has indicated its intention not to do anything about it.

How this will affect the membership in the Church remains to be seen. It appears that many Catholics simply do not care that their Church is violating the civil rights of others. Their high schools continue to operate in defiance of the law. How can it be that such widespread discrimination is allowed to continue?

I will not go into the law that is being violated today so as not to interfere with your Sunday. I will continue to discuss this throughout the week not specifically in reference to the Church but you will after reading the following posts understand how much the Church flaunts the law.

 

 

12 Comments

  1. Matt, I bet has neither the all male clergy nor the abuse issue up his sleeve, but something else entirely. Probably Notre Dame’s and Xaverian’s lack of girl football players.

  2. “The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing opened 328 investigations into new applicants and existing credentialed teachers for sexual crimes against children last year, more than double the amount in 2008-2009, according to a commission report.”
    Now, 328 out of about 250,000 California teachers is about 0.15%.
    But 8 out of 40,000 is about 0.02%, roughly eight times less.
    So, after my exhaustive study and relying on my mathematical prowess, I’d conclude that teachers are 8 times more likely to be sexual abusers than clergy.

  3. Matt’s number of 4% is correct: Between 1950-2000, there were about 4,000 priests ACCUSED out of 110,000 priests.
    Today, of course, some priests still are sinners. On average, 8 out 40,000 priests will be accused annually of some type of sexual misconduct/abuse.
    “The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), the independent research organization out of Georgetown University, has been tracking abuse data regarding United States Catholic clergy for several years. CARA issues annual reports through the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
    According to CARA, here are the numbers of “accusations” (my emphasis) involving a current minor (me: legally a minor is under 16) that were even deemed “credible” each year from 2005 to 2015:
    Year / # of accusations:
    2015 5
    2014 6
    2013 10
    2012 6
    2011 7
    2010 8
    2009 6
    2008 10
    2007 4
    2006 14
    2005 9
    Meanwhile, according to government numbers, in the single year of 2010 alone, there were some 63,527 reported cases of child sexual abuse in the United States – an alarming societal problem that has received very little media attention.”
    The next time a cleric molests, it’ll be a nationwide front-page story. A handful of the 63,527 other cases may get some local coverage.

  4. Here’s a good site if you want to look at some FACTS:
    http://www.themediareport.com/fast-facts/

  5. 1. Ed: In my entire life of of going to church and attending catholic high schools and colleges (from 1950 to 2010), I met only good priests, brothers and sisters. That proves 0% were involved in bad behavior.
    2. Ray Flynn said he’d personally known hundreds of priests in his lifetime, and only one was found later to be an abuser.
    3. Is Ed’s, mine or Ray Flynn’s data more credible?
    4. A Pennsylvannia professor (I think named Jenkins) said there is no more likilihood of sexual abuse among single persons than married persons. Secondly, he pointed out, that during one time period when hundred of priests had been “accused” of misconduct of several decades, there were reports of four million acts of sexual misconduct in public schools.
    5. The long-running show “To Catch a Predator” caught many government employees, one protestant cleric, one rabbi and no Catholic clergy.
    6. I’ve read studies that the Boy Scouts and Teachers Unions had far higher percentages of abusers that Christian clergy. But the leftist media would rather attack the church.
    7. I’ve also been told of many persons wrongly accused. Anyone can make a claim. In America, you’re innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Want to guess how many priests in America in the last 50 years have been found guilty?
    8. In 80% of the allegations, the issue was not “pedophilia” but homosexual priests molesting adolescent males. Pedophilia involves children.
    9. I’ll post some facts below . . .

  6. 96% not pedophiles? Over a twenty five year period from the early 60’s to the 80’s, my local parish in the Boston Diocese had five of them that we know for sure. The first of the series was an uncle of one of my parochial school classmates. With approximately three to four priests assigned to the parish at a time, that would be at least 25% of the priests assigned to that parish.

    • Ed,
      Similar experience. Same time period. Two separate parishes in the Aaachdiocese of Boston.
      They never got their hands on me, though……Thank God.

      Grew up in the hottest of hotbeds of Boston Irish Catholicism.

      No longer Catholic, talk to priests, or have anything to do with the Catholic Church.

      My faith, my connection with God, and my spirituality are stronger than ever.

      To each his own.
      God Bless

  7. No female priests or bishops? Then it is a good thing grounded in the Church’s mandate. Too many federal, state and local laws are in defiance of Nature, that is, God’s plan incarnate.

  8. Is running all boy schools the problem? First Amendment religious freedom trumps any state law.

  9. OK. I’m curious. Have at it.

  10. flouts the law, maybe?

    Looking forward to reading more about this …