I’ve made some family members upset lately with my postings on Facebook regarding the Catholic Church pedophile controversy.   Yes, my family is very Catholic and very conservative.   Some of my relatives are even in the clergy.

Many Catholics take my posts about the disgraceful actions of the Catholic Church as a personal offense.  I understand that their lives are entrenched in Catholicism, and controversies like this reflect on the religion itself.

Because it’s uncomfortable for them, they don’t want to hear the reports that expose their religious leaders for what they really are.  They change the channel when a reporter starts to report on yet another bishop who ignored the law in order to avoid the embarrassment of having one of their clergy exposed as a pedophile.  They tell me to keep my opinions to myself.    It’s like a child holding his hands over his ears and yelling “LA LA LA LA”.

Unfortunately, ignoring a problem helps nobody.  As long as they continue to remain silent, that’s implicit approval of the way the Church is doing things.  As long as they continue to put money in the collection plate, they are helping to finance the legal settlements that require victims to remain silent about predator priests, and to subsidize the luxurious lifestyle of the Pope and his cronies while they knowingly hide knowledge of criminal activity from law enforcement authorities all over the world.

It’s ironic that they take such offense at my words, yet remain silent about the crimes of priests and the Catholic hierarchy.   I’m very sorry that they have been offended, but I’m not sorry for being appalled at the fact that the Catholic Church is more interested in protecting priests than children.   They care more about saving their reputation than saving souls.   They are not holy men.  They are criminals with fancy hats.

As offended as they are by my words, I am equally offended by their desire to ignore the fact that thousands of children have had their lives ruined by an organized crime organization masquerading behind a clergyman’s collar.  I’m offended that they could help rid their church of corrupt leaders but instead choose to support them financially.  I’m offended by the fact that they say things like “it’s only a few priests” or “it’s not pedophilia, it’s just homosexual activity”.    I’m offended that they could actually excuse this behavior.

I’m not saying that all priests are pedophiles.  It’s true that it’s a very small minority.  However, the problem is that this small minority has been shuffled from parish to parish,  thereby helping to increase the number of victims available to these perverts.  If  you’re in a Catholic parish, there’s no way of knowing if that new priest who just arrived has been fiddling with altar boys in his last assignment.  Unfortunately,  the Catholic mentality puts priests in a higher position, so Catholics tend to trust priests unconditionally.  That is why this problem is so prevalent.

I love my family, but if my posts result in even one child to be saved from sex abuse, I’ll accept the fact that it comes at the price of offending someone’s misplaced trust.

Catholics, please consider this:  If this issue revolved around the Church of Scientology or your local school system, rather than the Catholic Church,  would your attitude be the same?

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This entry was posted by Nick Bulka on Tuesday, May 11th, 2010 at 4:27 pm You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.