Visit the Photo Place

Church lacks the moral authority to comment

Church lacks the moral authority to comment

Date published: 8/12/2003

The report by the Massachusetts attorney general "The Sexual Abuse of Children in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston" reveals that by the church's own records 789 victims have complained of sexual abuse by the clergy and accused 250 priests and church workers of the abuse. The attorney general's report states that as many as 1,200 Catholic clergy in the United States have been accused of sexually abusing more than 4,000 children.

Now we have the pope issuing his "Considerations regarding proposals to give legal recognition to unions between homosexual persons" to help "guide" public law. In his report, the pope states: "Allowing children to be adopted by persons living in such unions would actually mean doing violence to these children, in the sense that their condition of dependency would be used to place them in an environment that is not conducive to their full human developmentthe best interests of the child, as the weaker and more vulnerable party, are to be the paramount consideration in every case."

Where was the pope's paramount concern for the best interests of the child during the years that he allowed his subordinates to sexually abuse children?

The Catholic Church is still covering up. Brooklyn Bishop Thomas Daily, criticized for his role in the Boston church sex scandal, retired. His replacement is Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of the Diocese of Camden in New Jersey. In March, the Diocese of Camden agreed to pay 23 plaintiffs a total of $880,000 to settle claims that priests had sexually abused young parishioners.

By continuing to move these men around, the Catholic Church is telling us that it is not serious about stopping this abuse. The Catholic Church needs to clean its own house, from the top down, before attempting to influence public law.

James C. Amsbaugh

King George

Follow us on

Date published: 8/12/2003