But there is another criminal organization on a comparable scale that largely parallels another that I’ve been researching, that also squeaked by without facing justice: the Catholic Church. And this one for me, full disclosure, is indeed personal. I was raised Catholic and was a believer for nearly two decades, even considered joining the seminary instead of attending college. It wasn’t until eight years after graduating from Alfred University that my deeply-buried childhood trauma came raging back to the surface.
WHAT WE KNOW
FOLLOW THE MONEY
The Catholic Church is, was, and continues to be an international institution that shields, fosters, and protects child rapists. This is factually true. Due to the statue of limitation laws, hardly any priests have faced criminal penalties nor has the larger institution itself faced legal consequences. Instead, they shell out money to victims, pat them on the head, and carry on with their regularly-scheduled raping. How do I know? Because even as of May 2019, only 6 states in the U.S. legally require clergy to report child sex abuse to law enforcement. Anyone who thinks the Catholic Church has reformed since being globally exposed in 2002 is mistaken. As of 2018, the Church has shelled out nearly $4 billion over sexual abuses. Think of how much wrongdoing had to have occurred to carry a price-tag like that. How can they afford it?
According to the Catholic tradition, church-goers are supposed to donate 10% of their income every Sunday (usually referred to as “tithing”, though in this application legally constitutes extortion), some invariably coming from the very same families whose children were abused. I grew up in a lower-middle class household and my parents would always follow the 10% rule each Sunday despite the financial hardship on our family. Right after mass my father would be on the couch clipping coupons from the Sunday ads so we could afford enough food. This is what happens to victims of a cult. Their faith in the Church evolves into blind-faith as certitude becomes cemented. If a priest says that Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame is anti-Catholic, then a victim of their cult boycotts the film without a second thought. Over time this extends in a variety of large and small ways, but interweaved becomes a system of control. This is how twisted their system of abuse is and is why the cycle has been so successfully maintained. The cult of Catholicism is financially self-perpetuated, in part, by it’s very victims.
If lawmakers weren’t bought off, wouldn’t they all be fighting to change the statute of limitation laws so justice could be obtained? If the NSA can access all electronic communications globally, wouldn’t they have all the dirt off the Vatican servers already? Then why doesn’t the Justice Department issue immediate warrants for the arrest and extradition of those who enabled the rapes of at least a million children even after the evidence has been obtained??
Inaction hasn’t been because those in power don’t know what is happening, but because those in power do and are actively a part of it.
I know that’s difficult to accept, but how else can it be explained? How is it rational on any level to STILL remain loyal to an organization that systematically raped over a million children and (this is important) continues to do so?
If you found out that your child’s daycare was systemically, sexually abusing kids, you’d pull your kid out of there immediately and the place would be shut down by the authorities and anyone responsible would have gone to prison. Right? That makes sense? Good. Now without bias apply the same standard to the Catholic Church. If you find yourself still unable to agree, don’t you find it even the slightest bit odd? You wouldn’t let your kid anywhere near that daycare with the child molester again but you would still go to a Church run by child molesters? Every Sunday? Why do you trust them?
Even the most fervent believers of Catholicism must possess some inkling of doubt. Some part of the brain must be considering the possibility that you could be wrong. Don’t ignore that possibility. Run toward it because it’s humbling and often revealing and you’ll be better off for it. If you’re lucky, maybe even enlightened.
Whatever “good” the Catholic Church allegedly does for our communities, a common talking point, is a drop in the bucket compared to the long-standing and ongoing injustices it perpetuates. The Church should be shut down entirely, by law, and disbanded, as should any institution that rapes over a million kids no matter how many sweater vests they donate to the homeless. We can find a better means of getting them clothes, folks. Don’t worry. What we should worry about is the criminal Empire the world has turned a blind-eye to, though it has recently begun to unravel (GOOGLE: Jeff Epstein’s Pedophile Island). And while I won’t hold my breath that lawmakers will ever take the seriously bold steps required to fix the problem, individual Catholics have the power to strike a blow overnight. Just find another denomination to continue your worship if you wish, but cease to identify as a Catholic. If enough do so, the revenue slows up and the Catholic Church’s influence becomes greatly reduced. And it’s important to do this right now over 60% of Catholic Charities is government funded. The Catholic Church is one tentacle of the US Empire and we win only when we starve the beast:
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If you still haven’t yet seen the film Spotlight, I highly encourage everyone to do so especially if you are a Catholic and possess an open-mind.
While I certainly do take this issue personally, I’m clear-eyed about what I am espousing. It’s not with resentful bitterness that I speak against the Church, but a genuine concern for those who continue to follow, donate, or otherwise support such a truly evil institution. You are also a victim. But you also are responsible for being humble enough to admit that maybe… just maybe… I’m right. And maybe… just maybe… you were duped into a cult. It’s okay, but with that knowledge it’s now your choice to get out. And that decision is worthy of judgment becomes it takes real courage and real character and real self-love to take off the blindfold. Do it and share your stories.