Immunity

Now here's some news I just heard tonight for the first time--even though it made a limited number of headlines two years ago. Sam and I were channel surfing tonight and came across the movie, Deliver us From Evil, a documentary about sexual abuse in the Catholic church. It chronicled a massive cover-up by church officials at every level of the hierarchy in regards to the approximately 100,000 children who have been sexually molested by priests. Well over 500 priests in the Los Angeles diocese have been accused of molestation. However, Cardinal Mahoney has not put forth the effort to investigate these priests or bring justice and closure to the hundreds of victims.

The movie, which was featured at the Sundance Film Festival, showed a psychologist who works with pedophile priests, who stated that 10% of the graduates from St. John's seminary are pedophiles. If 10% of Harvard graduates were pedophiles, something would be done to correct that--or Harvard would be closed down. But not the Church.

The same psychologist pointed out that a number of priests enter seminary at a point when their sexual knowledge and identity are not fully developed. Because of their vow of celibacy they believe that any sexual contact is sinful. It doesn't matter what the sexual contact is--it's all the same and all bad. Having sex with a woman, groping someone, or fondling a child--it's all in the "bad" category with little differentiation. Because many of these young priests have arrested sexual development they seek out someone for intimacy who is at their same delayed level of development--someone younger than the age of majority. This doesn't seem as bad somehow in the beginning--it's just two boys having contact. But it is very, very bad as they become habituated to this behavior. Only about 20% of the molestations ever get reported. Reported, not convicted. Which means that about 80% of molestation victims never tell anyone, tell the right people, or do tell and are told to keep quiet.

The clincher in this movie for me was the final statement that rolled before the credits: President Bush issued immunity to the pope so he could not be tried in connection with a sex abuse case. Apparently, when the abuse crisis hit the church, Cardinal Ratzinger was given the assignment to head a taskforce to deal with child abuse allegations leveled against priests. He was subsequently involved in a conspiracy to protect a known pedophile priest who is now a fugitive. By his actions, he assisted the priest to avoid prosecution. Ratzinger states that the Church's handling of cases related to child sexual abuse are subject to "pontifical secret." His behavior is hideous in terms of the blatant belief that he is above the law and can get away with it. But perhaps more vexing is our own president's decision to grant him immunity. What message does this send American citizens about the moral fiber of this country? About turning a blind eye when to do so works in your best interest? Who is advocating for the safety of children if the Church and even our president doesn't hold abusers accountable? The laws to protect children that we try to put through congress are a travesty if our own president lets an entire system continue to abuse children. Yes, the argument has been made by the Bush attorneys that for them to prosecute the head of the Catholic church would cause political intrusion into a religious organization--something protected by the Constitution.

I am incensed.

The film makes the observation that the way sexual abuse has been shoved under the rug by church authorities is yet one more way that abuse survivors are revictimized. A very thin veneer of piety covers the ugly truths that celibacy does not work and that powerful organizations are more important than the people whom they purportedly serve. And the victims wonder what God, church, and faith have to offer them if this is what they encounter in God's name. Sobering.