Pedophile Priests in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia

This is a post that I wrote for my other blog that is now defunct due to the fucking Internet, which I hate. I was really proud of this post, so I reposted it.


I have been reading a book that YCP Chick loaned to me. The book is an anthology put out by Disinformation called Everything You Know About God Is Wrong. It really is an amazing read and I would recommend it to anybody who isn't overly attached to their religious beliefs.

The article I am currently reading is excerpted from the report written by a Philadelphia Grand Jury and released in September 2005 detailing the abuse of children and the resultant coverup by the Church hierarchy. What is remarkable about the report itself is that is was written by a Grand Jury, which is made up of private citizens, rather than professional jurists. These patriotic and dutiful citizens gave up three years of their lives to investigate the systematic abuse and obstruction of one of the world's most powerful organizations. No prosecutions or convictions followed the report, because the unduly narrow statute of limitations prevented any indictments from being delivered. But the report is important because it shows how the Church has created a culture of impunity and even encouragement towards committing sexual abuse of children. If any secular organization, a corporation or a non-profit, had so systemically abused the children under its care and obstructed justice for so many decades, they would likely not be able to further sustain their existence. The people would have seen to it that they no longer had the funds or other resources necessary to continue. But since the Church demands the unwavering allegiance of so many people around the globe, it is able to so blight the people of our nation and get away with it.

The most remarkable event in my mind is described in the introduction to the report (on page three.) A priest who raped and impregnated an eleven year old girl forced her to get an abortion. That says everything you need to know about authority figures. I could not more succinctly illustrate my feelings towards the way our world works than to say that that does not surprise me one bit - in fact, it seems to me certain that that must have occurred several times somewhere along the line.