When the Catholic priest sex abuse scandal broke in Boston there were five priests initially charged for their crimes. Now a nightmare scenario is playing out in Pennsylvania where a full battalion of “predator priests” were implicated by a grand jury in the rampant, horrifying sexual abuse of more than 1,000 child and teen victims.
The details are graphic and disturbing.
More than 300 members of the clergy allegedly preyed on children over a number of decades, while their superiors allegedly systematically obfuscated, lied, hid evidence and ran out the clock on statutes of limitations in thousands of cases across the state. If Boston is any marker, both the number of abused and accused will grow, drastically.
Especially chilling is the church’s clinical damage-control process that held law enforcement at bay while providing layers of safe cover for the alleged perpetrators, with plenty of accommodations to ensure that their sexual appetites would continue to be satisfied. One priest was even given a job recommendation for Disney World.
The dioceses’ own archives were so overtly damning that the effort to hide the truth from the outside world would necessitate the institution itself to be nearly as involved in insulation as it was in the business of the gospel.
The report describes the alleged cover-up efforts in detail saying that for the Catholic Church, “The main thing was not to help children, but to avoid ‘scandal.’ That is not our word, but theirs; it appears over and over again in the documents we recovered.”
Analysis from the FBI found what the report calls “a playbook for concealing the truth” including moving and enabling known predators, discrediting victims and trying to prevent the involvement of outside expertise or law enforcement.
The damage caused to the victims, their families, and the rest of the faithful is incalculable.
One has to wonder if all the abusers and those who protected them are removed, how many clergymen will be left standing?