Friday, December 21, 2007

Not Light Reading

From Gerald's review of Leon Podles' new opus, "Sacrilege":

One of the best, and most shocking, books I've ever read is Leon Podles' "Sacrilege", on sex abuse in the Catholic Church. He doesn't have an axe to grind. He did yeoman's work, the equivalent of moving neck-deep in shit, in researching endless documents, reports, affidavits, articles and put together a book that shows the systematic, mostly homosexual, partly hetero- and partly pedophile, abuse within the Church. In addition, and this is more shocking, the systemic attitudes by monsignors, vicar generals, bishops and archbishops that enabled this culture. An attitude that set avoiding scandal first, protecting pervert priests second and protecting children last. This "don't make waves" approach permeated the entire hierarchy, with few exceptions...

The Boston Globe's expose is mentioned--unfairly, Marie Rohde's work at the Journal-Sentinel is not (at least in the review...)

...Vocations directors who first care about the flock, then about the shepherds, are the key. Bishops who first care about the flock, then about the shepherds, are the key. Unfortunately, for decades we had far too few of those. Priests, vicars and bishops who didn't care, brushed it off, swept it under the table. I feel worst for the victims, but I also feel bad for the countless good and holy priests who had to serve while these perverts were given free reign by chanceries and bishops. Many of the enablers are still in office. One hopes that the younger generation is better. A diocese stands or falls with the bishop.

Frankly, it's a book I don't want to read.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

My personal experience is that the Roman Catholic Church loves to operate behind the scenes no matter what the purpose. The pope initiated the Jesuits and in the same period of time reestablished the Catholic banking system. This scourge continues to run the world that we live in today while the church reaps a healthy portion of the profits and maintains control with the help of the society of bankers. That is what the vatican is about: money and power. The Roman Catholic Church loves to influence the flower of youth through fraternal organizations like vespers or the order of demolay. Abuse of children and teens is just one aspect of the abuse perpetrated by these people.

Dad29 said...

Your personal view is somewhat unhinged. Evidence? Linking DeMolay with the Catholic church.

DeMolay is a MASONIC group...

But hey, have fun. I'll leave your comment for others to read.