By Jared Byrd
Though not a recent phenomenon, it has become
common in recent months to hear case after case
involving priests in the Catholic Church committing acts
of sexual abuse in areas all over the world.
On March 18, according to CNN, the FBI announced that
two priests were among 40 people arrested who
belonged to a child pornography ring on the Internet. The
prior week, a bishop in Florida resigned after admitting to
molesting a teenage boy 25 years ago. In
Massachusetts, 85 plaintiffs are suing the Roman
Archdiocese in Boston over sex abuse allegations
against John Geoghan, who was convicted of fondling a
10-year-old boy a decade ago. In addition, two cases
against Catholic clergymen in France and Poland are
currently taking place.
Why has it taken so long for the public to find out about
these acts of sexual abuse? In some cases, they were
covered up. For example, according to an article by Ian
Paisley of the European Institute of Protestant Studies,
one pedophile priest in France went more than two years
without receiving any punishment from the Church,
despite a complaint from a parent. Even in some
instances where it was known that a priest was a
pedophile, they were just transferred to another church. In
other cases, the victims have simply been afraid to come
forward … until now.
What should be done to these priests? There is no
doubt they should be removed from the Church entirely,
and not transferred to another church. These acts of
committing sexual abuse have proven they are potential
dangers to others, and it is unfair to members of another
church if a priest with a checkered past gets transferred
to their church, only to commit more acts of sexual abuse
without anyone being aware of his previous history. The
priests should be arrested, and serve the same amount
of time in prison as anyone else who commits this crime.
In addition, following their release from prison, the
neighborhood where a convicted former priest decides to
live should be warned prior to when they move in, just like
with any other sex offender.
Finally, what can be done to prevent incidents like this
from happening? Allowing priests to get married does
not necessarily mean acts of sexual abuse will end; after
all, married people have been convicted of sexual abuse
before as well. One suggestion would be for the Church
to conduct more thorough background checks. Even
though the Catholic Church currently has a shortage of
priests, (hence the television, radio and newspaper
campaign promoting the idea of becoming a priest),
conducting a more thorough background check would
hopefully prevent incidents like these from taking place.
Pope John Paul II has addressed victims of sexual
abuse by members of the Catholic Church on at least two
occassions. In November 2001, he sent an e-mail to
churches around the world condemning the acts of many
bishops and priests after the National Catholic Reporter
ran a series of articles about the sexual abuse of nuns
and other women by priests, bishops and missionaries.
The reports cited incidents in at least 23 countries, such
as forcing nuns to have sex with them, and in some
cases committing rape and forcing the victims to have
abortions. Last month, Pope John Paul II sent a 22-page
letter to priests around the world which briefly mentioned
the current scandals, in which he issued guidelines
urging bishops to report any instances of sexual
misconduct to the Vatican. Hopefully, taking these
measures will result in a decrease of sexual abuse
within the Catholic Church.
Be the first to comment