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April 29, 2002

A "new" church policy
In the tragicomedy that the Catholic church has become, a policy has been announced after the meeting of the cardinals:

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The American church leaders said they would recommend a special process to defrock any priest who has become "notorious and is guilty of the serial, predatory sexual abuse of minors." In cases that are "not notorious" they would leave it up to the local bishop to decide if such a priest is a threat to children and should be defrocked.
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Read that carefully. That word notorious is the key. What this means is that if the local bishop can somehow keep cases of abuse quiet, then the priest in question gets to stay in the Church, but if it hits the newspapers, then he's out. Isn't this the same policy the Church has been following for the last twenty years which got them into this mess?

This is ludicrous. This is beyond rationality. It really is saying that the church will continue to try to cover up evidence of criminal behavior and try to avoid involvement of civil law enforcement authorities. Priests of the church are not above the law, and if bishops try to cover up the crimes of priests, then the bishops are committing a felony. If the Pope supports this, then he's just as much a pedophile and just as guilty of accessory felony. This doesn't make any sense from either a legal or religious perspective. Why should notoriety be a factor in a decision of whether a priest has committed a mortal sin, or violated a law? It's time to start handing out jail terms, folks. Extradite the Pope to answer charges, too.

Once again, a real-life affirmation of my decision to avoid all involvement with any organized religion.

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