OPINION: A letter to Catholic apologists
Photo Courtesy of Creative Commons, flickr.com/photos/tm-tm. Several controversies continue to surround the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.
By Andrew Kletzien
Copy Editor
Fifty-eight men have been accused of molesting or raping young children in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee since 2003. This particular archdiocese was a hotbed for these allegations and continues to be a center of controversy among Catholics and Catholic opponents.
The Archdiocese recently changed their online site to say, “All reports of sexual abuse are forwarded to civil authorities.” Well, bravo.
It only took you a few millennia to clear that one up, and God knows that wasn’t your policy until a few brave young men and women came out and filed official reports.
While I was in my hairdresser’s salon, I was astonished to hear a few Catholics from this very diocese (where I am from) talking about the incident.
This included one devout Catholic man and a sister of my sixth grade parochial school teacher.
The man and woman’s conversation started out with the news they had heard of the Catholic Church attempting to reunite these child rapists with their victims to make some “amends.” Needless to say, they were inspired—inspired at the idea of reuniting these children with the people who have left them with horrendous memories for the rest of their lives.
I would like to propose that this is not only a horrific idea, but one that I believe many Catholics can stand against. One can only speculate whether or not such an action would be attempted if these convicted criminals did not have the label of “Father” before their name.
I would like to speculate that they would not.
Only an institution which tried to cover up these scandals would attempt such a reprehensible “reuniting.”
The conversation did not stop there. The two then had the discussion that they didn’t think it was right that their church donations were going to the families and victims of these horrific offenses. What was their reasoning? “Well, it wasn’t our priests that did it.”
At what point did it become okay to say that the world’s biggest business (and that’s what the Catholic Church is—a corporation) cannot give to the victims of the outrageous offenses committed by their very ordained?
This is the same church, remind you, that uses the Bible, which says to give everything you own to the poor and live a simple life.
This is the same church that sits its highest officials in a multi-billion dollar palace in Rome, places their pope on a golden throne, and clothes themselves in the most ornate and decadent outfits money can buy.
Let’s put aside past regressions, like the Inquisition, the Crusades, or the execution of the most brilliant scientist known to man. Let’s put aside its condemnation of natural law as church heresy or its constant battle with advocates of marriage equality in every country it can put its wealthy hands on.
I’d like to make a proposition. I am a democrat—a liberal one, at that.
If I found out that over the span of 20 years the Democratic Party has hidden countless sex scandals involving young children (58 from one diocese, remember), I would immediately withdraw my support, without question and without hesitation.
But Catholics, at least in America, preach the “few bad apples” hypothesis and expect us to write it off. It’s not so easy for me, you see. Even if I were able to write off the countless offenses to humanity as a whole over the past millennium, this would be enough to withdraw my support.
I was never a Catholic apologist to begin with, but let me tell you, nothing is more telling than hearing Catholics complain about money being given to the children who their priests raped.
I would like to assert a simple question: when are we going to move past the era where regular Americans can sit back and give institutions a free ride for committing heinous acts of remarkable proportions and continue participating in the very same institutions?
At what point will we stop giving “due” respect to an institution which literally watched while their priests raped children and tried to cover it up?
The Catholic Church would love for this scandal to go away, but I refuse to let it.
I pulled my last straw from the Church many years ago, but the insanity refuses to stop.
Andrew Kletzien is a copy editor. He can be reached at akletzien@luc.edu.
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Let me tell you something about reuniting victims with rapists. I have an older cousin who lives on the West Coast. As a kid, he grew up in a place much like Milwaukee in as much as there was an epidemic of child raping that was known to the Church from day one. We’re talking 40 priests minimum. When allegations were made, the Church simply transferred the sick men and their illness to another parish only to have the crime repeated time and again. How ironic that an institution that claims it can lead a person to salvation DESTROYED the beautiful souls of hundreds, or more likely, thousands of children. I digress. My cousin was sodomized dozens of times. Not one priest, not two, but three sons of bitches. The scars? Shame and self hatred. Fast forward 44 years. My cousin joins a class action lawsuit against the diocese and it is in the courtroom where he is reunited with his rapers and soul killers. From the “victory” in court, fast forward 14 months. His weeks in the courtroom staring down these evil men was far from cathartic. It almost killed him. He relived time after time the thought of those priests as they laid on top of him and rammed their penises in his 10-year-old anus robbing him of his life. Does that make anyone uncomfortable? Maybe I should publish the court documents. You’d be sick to your stomach. My cousin went into a deep, deep depression. A suicidal depression. Thankfully, he had support from family and friends. He said joining the lawsuit was the worst decision he had ever made in his life. In the big picture, it was just a few bad apples. However, those apples made the tree rotten to the core. Instead of confession, the Church concealed. Instead of preaching truth, the Church lied. Instead of exposing sin, the Church covered up the crimes. Not one person from the Catholic Church apologized to him. Not one. I still attend Mass. I probably always will. I would like to see the day when a priest devotes even a single sentence of his homily to talk about Catholic priests raping children. It’s never happened. Not once. We must speak of our sins and ask forgiveness. Until that happens in every church, in every town, the holy Sacrament of Confession is mocked by the institution which created it. Ralph Braseth, Ph.D. School of Communication
Dude you go to Loyola, in case you haven’t heard, that IS a Jesuit Catholic institution. Why are you even going there if you have such a problem with them? Your arguments are completely nullified by the fact that you are giving them your tuition money every year despite posting passive aggressive internet articles denouncing them.
And I went to a Catholic Jesuit high school. That does not inhibit the value of free speech and independent rational thought.
My articles are not meant to be passive aggressive — I engage in these debates in theology and philosophy classes as well. The great thing about a university Campus is its emphasis on encompassing the entire student body, not just those that adhere to the moral and theological beliefs of the administration.
I’m not saying you don’t have the right for free expression. I’m merely questioning why you chose to go to a catholic institution when you are very clearly morally opposed to many of their stances. You are literally feeding the hand that (you feel) has shot at you. I agree that the university campus is intended to be a secular and diverse place but I feel like Loyola is one of the least secular colleges in the country. I would know. I went there for a year and absolutely detested it.
And that’s where you would be false. Loyola is one of the most secular Catholic universities in the country — one of the reasons I came here.
Jesuits provide excellent educational resources, I went to a Catholic high school for that very reason.
I do not “shoot” (Are we Sarah Palin now? Using military terms?) at the Catholic Church because it has merely “shot” at me. I believe it has committed heinous crimes against humanity.
Where you get the idea that Loyola has a minimal secular presence I would like to know. There is a new student group starting right now — a Secular Student Alliance. I would know — I’m founding it. And it’s gaining ground.
What scientist was executed by the Church?
Who is this great scientist that the Church executed?