SEAN HANNITY SUCKS

When Will I’m Sorry Not Be Enough?

 In the Catholic Church’s most recent failed attempt at rationalizing and defending themselves in Pope Benedict XVI letter to the country of Ireland, they simply continued to disappoint, condescend and dismiss the millions of victims and hundreds of millions of their faithful, as well as the population of the world, while it’s eyes were once again on them.

 

This time, I had no expectations.  To think that the Vatican, with this Pope in particular was going to claim any ultimate responsibility was naive at best, and delusional at worst.  That would mean acknowledging his own role in this massive cover up, and that was not going to happen.

 AIG had to change its name after the Wall Street collapse because they felt, rightfully, that they had lost all credibility.  Kentucky Fried Chicken changed it’s DBA to KFC because it didn’t want to be associated with fried food.  Craigslist, which serves over 20 billion page views per month, in 50 countries, dropped its “Erotic Service” category after one killing was linked with their service.

 Yet the Catholic Church, time and time again is reported to essentially run a pedophile ring, with no serious consequence.  Where is the outrage?  Not the individual outrage.  Not the magazine or newspaper article outrage, but your outrage?

 We constantly read about the “Abuse of the Catholic Priests”, or the “Crisis in the Catholic Church”.  Trying a very simple, unscientific test I typed the following into Google: (hits)

 Priest Abuse                 6,250,000

Priest Rapists                1,580,000

Priest Pedophiles             820,000

Priest Serial Rapist             19,900

These people should be called what we would call everyone else accused of these crimes, serial rapists, serial pedophiles, rapists, sadists, torturers, abusers and murders, conspirators and co-conspirators.  The lives they have ruined can never be calculated or even speculated on.  The victims are not just the children, and not just the families of the children, but the good, innocent priests that were afraid to go outside with their collars on, the accused who were innocent, all the devout followers of the Catholic Church who felt betrayed and more.  The victims spread out like the limbs of the tree that Jenny was buried under by  Forrest Gump.

Continuing on my unscientific Google research, how many hits do you think Priest Jokes would return?  Between dirty jokes, jokes, abuse jokes somewhere around 3,500,000.  That’s what this has become over the course of my life.  Something that has become so common place that it is as much a joke as anything.  Do you think the victims would find most of these jokes funny?   Do not get me wrong, I am a very sarcastic, humorous person and have no doubt I’ve used or maybe even created one or two of those jokes, but my point is this has become a systematic worldwide abuse and cover-up that has become too easy to accept.

Take the case of Gilbert Gauthe as outlined in the book by Jason Berry, Lead us not into Temptation.  Father Gilbert Gauthe was the Pastor of St. John Parish in the Village of Henry, Louisiana, deep in the very religious Cajun country.

The first child finally broke down to his parents.  His father was a very compassionate man.  As is so typical, slowly the story came out.  Then the story of how is brother was also raped, then his cousins, then multiple alter boys.

The father, a good man, raised well, generations of good, Catholics held in his rage and did what he thought was best and went to see the appropriate Bishop.  He was told that they knew Father Gauthe had “problems” in the past of “misguided affection”.  The man was simply stung.  The Bishop was concerned about “ruining a mans career”.

He was sent out of the Parish to a psychiatrist.  He acknowledged the allegations, many of them.  After stopping to pick up his belongings he had sex with a 15 year old boy.

 This case then goes on to become one of the most involved and longest legal battles of it’s time, civil and criminal.

 I identify this story for a number of reasons.  In 1984 he was convicted of 34 counts of “sexual misconduct” with 11 different boys  It had been confirmed that he had sexually abused and raped children in every church since being ordained in 1971, by his own admission.

 Gilbert Gauthe molested and raped hundreds of boys, the actual number will never really be known, but is estimated anywhere from 250-500.  He was sentenced to 20 years in a deal to avoid a trial.  It was to be without parole or early release.  He served nine years.

 He was released in 1995 and in less than one year he was charged with the sexual assault of  a three year old boy.  The charged was reduced to “injury to a child”.  He was sentenced to probation.  In 2005 he was arrested for not registering as a sex offender.

 I wouldn’t be outlining this if it were an isolated incident, especially since there have been books and articles by the dozens devoted to this one person.  However, this was in 1984.  The actual scandal “broke” in 2002 by the Investigative Staff of the Boston Globe, outlined in their book,  Betrayal; The Crisis in the Catholic Church.  So there were 31 years between Gauthe being ordained and this book.  Try to imagine what took place in-between. 

 Now, let’s take the case of Cardinal Bernard F. Law, which is exactly what it should be.  As the Boston Globe story started exploding, one of the things they discovered was incontrovertible evidence that Cardinal Law, one of the most influential prelate’s with the Vatican was not only aware of what was taking place, but had gone to great lengths to a massive cover-up to protect the Church, with Cardinal Law being personally involved.

 The Church continued to try to ignore the issue, but with pressure becoming increasingly intense it was virtually impossible.  Documents were produced in cases in Boston that showed that not only Cardinal Law but also his top aides were aware of these priests, and their rapes, but they continued to put these pedophiles and rapists in positions to continue to be in direct contact with children, over and over.  These documents eventually led to his resignation as the archbishop of Boston.

 At least Cardinal Law did the right thing and resigned, left the church and was never heard from again.

 Guess again.  Apparently it seemed more fitting that he get a promotion out of his stellar work in the Boston Dioceses.  He is currently the Archpriest in Rome, in charge of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, as well as being a member of four different congregations.

 Now, we get to the case of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.  Obviously we are working our way up the food chain, since Cardinal Ratzingers promotion to Pope Benedict XVI.

 There are actually many parallels between Cardinal Law the then Cardinal Ratzinger.  This is all a matter of record and very easy to find.  You will see some remarkable, disgusting similarities to some things previously written in this article. 

 In 1980 a priest had been abusing children and this was brought to the attention to his superiors, details included.  I will spare you those.  He is sent to a different town for “counseling”, while continuing his work, which includes molesting children.  A few years later, he is actually convicted for molesting children, released and, with church officials covering his past, allowed to continuing working as a priest, with children!

 Finally, he is removed from his post on March 13, 2010.  I want you to let that sink in.

 The superior who reviewed his file and sent him to another town to continue his molestation of children was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who was eventually put in charge of reviewing all sexual abuse cases at the Vatican and was a key figure in keeping as much of it as quiet as possible.

 I’m not breaking any new ground with this, but why does everyone just accept this behavior, this horrible, horrible behavior?

 Sometimes when discussing this I run into the same old tired apologists arguments.  I’m a Catholic basher, what  about all the other people who abuse children, it’s all exaggerated.  One thing in all these debates has remained consistent.  Their lack of facts.  I have a lot of them, but I am normally encountered with emotion. Part of me understands because these people are having their church and faith attacked.  The vast percentage of books, articles and outrage I’ve read and researched on this subject are from Catholics, some very high up, with many leading the way in demanding justice, but others still do not want to accept the truth, especially the whole truth.

 Without naming anyone, other than Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity, two of the aforementioned Catholic apologist, I’d like to illustrate a point and bring to light something that I think is important.  Bill O’Reilly specifically, was outlining the case in Vermont of a Judge who sentenced a man who had raped a six year old girl over a four year period of time, to 60 days in jail.  That’s right, days.

 Sean Hannity had also expressed his outrage.  In a rare course of events, I agreed with both of them, completely.  Honestly, it would be hard not to in this case.

 Then there is the case of former New York Yankee baseball player Mel Hall.  Mel Hall was convicted of raping a 12 year old child, in Texas of all places.  He was convicted to 45 years in prison and will not be eligible for parole for 22 ½ years.

 I would like to point out some important factors.  I am not defending  Mel Hall.  He is a pedophile and rapist and belongs in jail, period.  I do think it is worth noting some other specifics of the case that I find disturbing.

 I’d like you to think back to my outline of the Gilbert Gauthe case and even go glance back if need be.  Gilbert Gauthe was a white Catholic priest with a number of political connections.  Gilbert Gauthe was convicted of 34 counts of “sexual misconduct”, even though he himself admitted to years of abusing children.  20 year sentence, out in 9, then convicted of molested a three year old, charges reduced, placed on probation.

 Mel Hall is a black man in Texas.  He was convicted of “rape”, one count.  Sentenced to 45 years in prison, eligible for parole in 22 ½ years.  Is this a comparison of one case versus another?  No, sadly it is not.  We know, because any reasonable view at statistical analysis will clearly indicate that the conviction rate, sentence length and early parole for a priest are all far more lenient that others convicted of similar crimes, never mind crimes no where near the heinous acts of Gilbert Gauthe.

 I’m going to throw this at Fox News since they seem to lead the charge in moral outrage, no matter how misplaced it often is.  I frequently hear about sex offender registry lists, stiffer sentences for sex offenders and pedophiles.  Does that only apply to the creepy guys in the top coats or the ones that seemed like such nice guys?  I’m sure you can come up with some condemning quotes and speeches about the priests, but I have no doubt it’s rare, if at all.

 I apologize to the people at Fox as this is not intended to be an indictment of them, but if they fought this with the vigor they go after other injustices, maybe something would get done.  If you are that outraged at President Obama for going out for a cheeseburger or filling out an NCAA pool, maybe you should help shut down an organization that has been harboring serial pedophiles for over a century.  Though I disagree with much of the politics of Fox News, they could be a leader in this fight, which is properly placed.

 The Pope, the “Holy See”, needed his lawyers to seek protection of immunity from prosecution in a case that involved the cover up of sexual abuse.  The Vatican lawyers claim that as a “Head of State” he is granted automatic immunity.

 Honestly, I don’t really care about any of that, but to think that the Pope, the American Citizens, the world population has to read about immunity being granted to the Pope to visit the United States of America should give the average person some insight to the absurdity of what this has evolved into.

 We start with priest raping children, I’m sick of hearing about “abusing”, then we move up the Bishops moving them around and protecting them so then can continue to rape.  Then, we move up the Cardinals who do everything they can to protect themselves, the Bishops and most importantly, the Church and now we’ve gotten to the Vatican.

 What in the hell do you people need?  A live demonstration at half-time at the Super Bowl? 

 It’s hard to decide who the worst criminals are, the rapists, or leaders of the church who allowed these sadists to not only do what they did, but then knowingly put them in positions to continue doing it, not once, not twice, but time after time.

 This is clear deference to the church and religion in general, and no, I’m not attacking religion, I’m attacking a corrupt organization that fosters, coddles and protects child rapists, abusers and conspirators.

 I would honestly like someone to take a few minutes and think about the things that have taken place within the Catholic Church and apply it to any other organization and imagine what the reaction would be.

 Imagine if the Church of Scientology was guilty of hiding pedophiles.  Do you think they would still be in business humming right along?  They are a religion just as Catholicism is, simply with fewer followers, but tax exempt and recognized by our government.  Catholics and many other Christians may scoff at such a comparison, but that is one of the problems with religion.  They have the same standing in this country but they sure wouldn’t under these circumstances. Why am I skeptical they would survive hiding any, much less thousands of rapists?

 How about PETA, UNICEF, The Democratic Party, Greenpeace, the NFL, the Daycare Industry (remember the outrage, and the WRONGLY accused).

 They Daycare scandal became the biggest thing in the country and everybody associated with one got dragged into courts, accused, etc.  Remember the McMartins?  It was like the Salem Witch Hunts all over again.  But thousands of rapists and abusers and sadists and serial pedophiles go about their business and it’s like we forgot!

 By Shawn Pogatchnik, Associated Press writer:

 On Wednesday, March 20, 2009 an Irish Commission published a 2600 page report that was 9 years in the making.  The report detailed decades of rape, humiliation and beatings at Catholic run reformatories for castaway children.

 “The 2600 page report painted the most detailed and damning portrait yet of church administered abuse in a country grown weary of revelations of child molestations by priests”.

 This is new information.  These are state supported schools and they have proof that the Vatican has secret records of hiding pedophiles back to the 1930’s. 

 The Catholic religious orders that ran more than 50 workhouse style orphanages that made children make rosaries, then beat, raped and humiliated them whether they made their “quota” or not, offered words of “apology, regret and shame”.

 However, when questioned, the church leaders said they would not turn over the names of the abusers that had never been reported to the police, but instead transferred to other places to continue to rape and abuse.

 One institution which ran several homes that appeared to house a number of serial rapists and sadists sued to prevent turning over the names of the accused, dead or alive, and won.

 One of the Sisters in and orphanage said they were just “Money seeking liars who are incapable of admitting their guilt today”.

 Shortly after the release of the report, Archbishop Nichols had a few words to say to a congregation of 2,000 at Westminster Cathedral in London.

 He praised the “courage” of the Irish priests who abused the children and then confessed.

 He was immediately criticized for the comment, but that doesn’t alter the fact that this church is overflowing with people who think like this.

 This is not all about the report from Ireland.  Having read the book “Betrayal” by the Investigative staff of the Boston Globe already had my head spinning a long time ago.  My reactions to it were numerous, but probably most notable was due to the incredible lengths the hierarchy of the church went to in order to protect rapists, and the staggering numbers of known serial pedophile rapists that were identified. 

 For years they resisted legislation making it a legal requirement for priests to have to turn over information on child abuse to authorities similar to therapists, social workers, police and more.  Why would they object to the protection of children?  They resisted Attorney Generals, Prosecuting Attorneys, Grand Juries and most notably, their accusers.

 The vast majorities of these rapes and abuses were against boys.  This is the same hypocritical organization that stands on its pious pedestal casting its judgments telling the rest of the world that being gay is a sin against “god” and the church while they condone homosexual child rape.

 This is the hypocritical group that stands before us claiming to be the authority of some sort of moral and ethical compass?

 This is the same organization that stands itself up to the world has a shining beacon for helping the worlds poor yet spends countless hours and dollars preventing gays from being married, while harboring homosexual child rapists, and, has spent at least 2 billion dollars doing so.  Just imagine how many poor people could have been fed, clothed, educated and married with a couple billion dollars.

 They say some things publicly about how they care about the victims, but if you go back and actually spend time reading all the details from the 1960’s forward one of the things that you will be struck by is the complete disregard for the victims.  Their concern, which they made no attempt to hide, was for the church and the church’s reputation and protection.

 They keep insisting that they will internally deal with the problem.  They have been as successful with that as NAMBLA is with public relations. 

 The issue is not with faith, theology or the general Catholic population.  There are approximately a billion Catholics worldwide.  That is irrelevant.  The vast majority of Catholics, at least in the United States go about their lives and really don’t pay that much attention to the politics of the Church.  I don’t blame them.

 However, where I do hold them partially responsible is putting their money in the envelope every week while the church that they must blindly support goes about their business running the biggest pedophile ring in the world.

 I think everyone should think about something.  As described, in very little detail here, the lengths that the Roman Catholic Church as gone to shuffle pedophiles, rapists and abusers around, to hide them, shield themselves from any and all accountability through every possible legal means they can, should lead you to one inescapable question.

 With the ten of thousands of cases that have gone on, or are in process, or have yet to come to light, combined with the literally billions of dollars the church has spent on this, much of it tax exempt, ask yourself, how much has happened that we do not know about?  I think it is unimaginable.

 Cases are now starting to explode out of Germany.  Ireland has been devastated, one of the most devote Roman Catholic countries on the planet.  Long before, everyone said it was just a “United States” problem, after our country was thrown in to a scandal that shook the faith and trust of millions of people.  Since then, and before it has had a tremendous affect in Canada, Australia, countless European countries and South American countries, and it still continues as I type this.

 I realize this is not the only injustice in the world related to child abuse or torture, horror, starvation, poverty, war and the other of millions of problems we see globally day after day.  That is one of the common apologists arguments I run into frequently.  They all deserve attention, but this is the one I’m talking about, and I think this one is so far more sinister, depraved and sickening from top to bottom that the world should be to the point where they demand not only accountability, but an end, even if that includes an international demand that the Vatican open it’s sacred and sealed “vaults” and stops acting like it’s above the law of man.   They have proved, without any doubt at this point, they are less deserving of “divine protection”, much less ours.

 Finally, one of the things that I find the most outrageous, selfish and appalling are the people that I talk to that openly claim if their child were the victim, by anyone, they would cause a path of destruction and whoever was responsible would be nailed to a wall.  People, politicians, church leaders, community leaders, teachers and parents all talk about “our” children being the most precious and sacred thing there is, and they are right.

 However, it seems that they are only referring to their own children.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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