When are
they going to get it?
What
happens if I go out, take a shine to a 13-year old kid on the playground, offer
him candy and the coolest tennis shoes (which his mother won’t buy him because
she can’t) and then take him home and rape him? Well, the cops do an
investigation, there’s a trial, and if convicted, I go to jail.
OK—what
happened when a Catholic priest
sexually abused a minor? Here’s what the archbishop of San Juan had to say:
“En
una investigación preliminar el sacerdote admitió el abuso al entonces menor.
Fue suspendido, quedando relevado de sus funciones ministeriales el 7 de
septiembre de 2010. El día 30 de diciembre de 2011 el Tribunal Metropolitano
culminó la investigación preliminar y el 4 de enero de 2012, el Tribunal
Metropolitano remitió el expediente de este asunto a la Congregación para la
Doctrina de la Fe, dando cumplimiento al trámite requerido por el orden
jurídico canónico”, aceptó González Nieves.
(“In
a preliminary investigation, the priest admitted to the abuse of the (then)
minor. He was suspended, being relieved of his ministerial duties on the 7th
of September of 2010. On the 30th of December of 2011, the
Metropolitan Tribunal (a church court) culminated its preliminary investigation
and on the 4th of 2012, the Metropolitan Tribunal submitted the file
on this matter to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, complying
with the process of canonic law,” accepted González Nieves.)
Full
disclosure: this quote comes from a blog called Cristianos Bíblicos, which attributes it and
the whole post
to an article in El Nuevo Día. A cursory search in El Nuevo Día’s website revealed no
results for the title of the article, Dinero a cambio de silencio; víctima
de violencia sexual en la iglesia católica en Puerto Rico.
Another
disclaimer: from my reading of the paragraph, it’s not entirely clear whether
the victim was a minor at the time she or he made the complaint, though it’s
clear that the victim was a minor at the time of the abuse. And that’s
important because, as Telemundo assures
us,
De
igual forma, González Nieves confirmó que la Iglesia no refiere a las
Autoridades los casos de sacerdotes pedófilos si las víctimas ya son mayor de
edad.
(“As
well, González Nieves confirmed that the church doesn’t refer to the
authorities those cases of pedophile priests if the victims are currently of
age.”)
OK—so
let’s assume that the quote is indeed by González Nieves, the article did
appear in El Nuevo Día, and that the victim was of age at the time of making the
complaint. So what? The archdiocese has a sexual predator on its hands—one who
has confessed to the crime, by the way, and for which it has taken the church
over a year to “investigate”—and they don’t go to the cops? And weaseling out
by saying that the victim is now of age is—however legal—questionable morally.
If the priest abused some kid once, will he do it again? Very likely.
Oh,
and remember this quote from my February 13, 2014 post
(extracted from childwelfare.gov)?
Puerto
Rico
P.R. Laws Ann. Tit. 8, § 446(b) (LexisNexis through Dec.
2009)
Any person
who has knowledge of or suspects that a minor is a victim of abuse,
institutional abuse, neglect, and/or institutional neglect shall report that
fact through the hotline of the department, to the Puerto Rico police, or to
the local office of the department.
True—it
says “a minor.” But look, González—where’s your law degree? How do you know whether
the statute of limitations has run out? Shouldn’t you let the District Attorney
figure that out?
You know,
González, we’re talking about a crime here. We’re talking about a trial,
prison time, “rehabilitation.” And what have you done? You’ve completely
usurped the civil authorities, taken off your sanctimonious robes, and turned
yourself into the cops, the judge and the jury. And so you let a criminal go
scot free—since the “priest” is no longer on the island and no longer a priest.
I’m not a lawyer, either, González, but you know what I’d call it?
Right—obstruction of justice.
Of course,
there’s something else I’d call it: aiding and abetting a criminal. And by the
way, did you have the perpetrator under 24 / 7 surveillance all that time? And
I don’t care whether the victim was currently of age, because, guess what?
Relieved or not of his priestly duties, he could well have been screwing little
kids all during your yearlong investigation. He probably had more time to do
it, in fact.
You know,
I’m so frigging tired of the overwhelming, overweening, arrogance of the
Catholic Church. I watched a guy, Colm O’Gorman, on YouTube yesterday describe his abuse at the
hands of an Irish priest; I heard the story of how the priest made the
fourteen-year old kid feel that it was his fault. I heard the story of
how the kid left home before he was 18, and landed on the streets of Dublin: it
was better than the abuse at home. And he pulled himself together, went on to
make a good career, have a life. No thanks to your church, González.
So some guy
on your payroll rapes a kid and you take off his collar and buy him a one-way
ticket to somewhere. News flash, González:
The
guy—very likely—is still raping kids out there.
Sleeping
well these days, González?
