What the church of Rome needs is a good cleansing

To the Editor:

May 08, 2008 11:37 am

— Secular quote of the day: "Some things you must always be unable to bear. Some things you must never stop refusing to bear. Injustice and outrage and dishonor and shame." William Faulkner
Pardon me for raining on the parade, but the arrival of the Pope to glorious accolades strikes me as morally bankrupt. The aura surrounding the pontiff and his entourage evokes lofty praise, but there is something rotten in Denmark that will just not go away. The Holy Father may speak to us of his religious beliefs and offer his moral directives, but all of this rings hollow in light of the way the institution of the Catholic church was involved in its infamy of sexual abuse of children. The travesty that was perpetuated for decades on hundreds of innocent victims repudiates any right to preach to anyone on what is just and moral.
There is no doubt that there was full knowledge on the part of the Catholic bishops as to the abuse heaped on faithful boys and young men. There is ample evidence that the pedophile priests were known as such, and yet their pernicious deeds were swept under the rug with the perpetrators shuffled from one diocese to another, their evil slime trailing behind.
Sexual abuse of children? No problem: just transfer the beasts to another part of the country and let them lie in wait for the next trusting victim. Why bother with appropriate and ethical legal action when protecting the fraudulent scruples of the clergy? The image of the Catholic church was given priority over the lives of the abused time and time again.
Rather than being a matter of isolated cases, this was a pervasive corruption that continued unabated for years on end. For me the only legitimate reason for the Pope to show his face on our shores is to beg forgiveness for allowing this evil to have continued in silence and acquiescence, as I cannot believe that the knowledge of this did not extend to the highest reaches of the Vatican. Rather than preaching to his flocks, perhaps Mr. Ratzinger should go to each and every diocese in abject contrition for what was so mind-numbingly condoned.
How about this thought for those who were complicit in the priest's treachery: ex-communicate to eternal purgatory any and all of the priests and bishops who sat by quietly while immorally enabling the abuse of those who had put their faith and trust in predatory priests who were elevated on a moral pedestal. Why are any of these people still permitted to be a part of the Catholic Church? They should be ignominiously ousted. The church of Rome needs a cleansing, and I for one prefer to not hear anything about the Pope until the institution is rid entirely of its evil-doers and their enablers.
Jeffrey Davis
Swanton