The Vatican was kind enough this week to give yet another excuse to SHUT THEM DOWN PERMANENTLY.
Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican’s permanent observer to the UN, made a statement assuring the UN human rights council that Catholic priests involved in having sex with young boys aren’t really engaged in paedophilia, it would "be more correct" to speak of ephebophilia, a homosexual attraction to adolescent males.
"Of all priests involved in the abuses, 80 to 90% belong to this sexual orientation minority which is sexually engaged with adolescent boys between the ages of 11 and 17."
Ohhh that’s okay then…. you stupid fucking asshole.
Apparently Archibishop Clueless made this statement after an international representative of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, Keith Porteous Wood, accused it of covering up child abuse and being in breach of several articles under the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Archbishop Clueless also accused other churches of having an equally bad track record of child abuse, something that Irwin Zalkin refuted when I interviewed him earlier this year.
Clueless went on to say that “available research” showed that only 1.5%-5% of Catholic clergy were involved in child sex abuse. As The Daily Irrelevant noted:
Only???
And that’s your defense of what happened? Really?
The USA has easily the largest percentage of their population incarcerated or on probation of all countries in the world.
There are 1 in 32 people in the US either behind bars or on Probation, and that’s for ALL convictions combined.
That’s less than 3%. And the vatican has the fucking nerve to say it’s “only” 5%.
Folks, I ask again – when are we going to shut the Catholic Church down? It’s a disgrace. At the very least, in Australia, we should be having a Royal Commission into the levels child abuse perpetrated by the Catholic clergy in Australia over the last 70 years, like the one they recently concluded in Ireland.
When I interviewed Dr Wayne Chamley from Broken Rites a few months ago, he suggested that if we had a Royal Commission into Catholic child abuse in this country we would discover TENS OF THOUSANDS of victims.
Let’s do something about it. If we don’t, history will judge us as a bunch of spineless, assholes with no integrity.
Oh sure, everyone seems more than happy to throw the book at Polanksi, but go after the Catholic Church? Oh no, we couldn’t do that.
(link to the story via The Daily Irrelevant – thanks Russell)
Sounds like a good idea to me. I think they have too much influence for it to get off the ground though. They has to be real political will to do it and I don’t see it happening.
Cameron, google reader comments I gathered up as a THANK YOU, may your pasta be plentiful with teh divine sauciness.
Comments (6)
David:
The Vatican is a terrorist state. — Use the conservative word play against them.
me:
With a private army with the gayest, most flamboyant military uniforms EVAR!
Stephen Allen:
What you don’t like those medieval (sp?) costumes? I think the baggy pants are quite the statement.
BTW we had another priest here in Cana-duh caught with child pornography on his laptap just this past week. I’m not a religious person because quite frankly most organized religions are corrupt in my opinion. These priest diddlers should be put away for life if convicted! I’m generally against corporal punishment, but I think I could make an exception for this kind of evil. They destroy so many lives — If there is a heaven these priests should never get in.
me:
Actually Stephen, I don’t mind the medieval outfits at all, they’re so archaic it makes them fashion-forward.
me:
Since the priesthood is such a convenient place to hide for those unprepared to (not gay) marry (and have optional kids), the Church(es) are actually MISSING the opportunity to HELP society by keeping their eyes open and taking appropriate action. I’m not talking consensual sex between adults, I’m talking pedophilia and (statutory or not) rape and all the horrible evil things were heard about…. such as the priest that said to the young girl “go ahead and tell your parents. They’ll believe me anyway when I tell them what a sinful lying b*tch you are” (paraphrasing)… Anyway, a number of religions have turned an OPPORTUNITY to help rid society of these miscreants and FACILITATED the continued abuse of vulnerable people. Parents, please don’t assume that a “man of the cloth” is incapable of being a perverted sex criminal.
me: P.S. I have direct experience with a closeted priest in Spain… I was hired to play the organ for a Christmas thing… He showed up once at the house bearing a gift – a “Richard Clayderman” record. I was 17… he was forty something. I got the distinct impression this is/was common in the Catholic priesthood in Spain, since it was unacceptable to be “out” (not very long after Franco died) … I’m leaving out the scandalous bits of course.
Cameron,
Did we ever find out about the Senate recommendations?
Yeah the Senate did nothing, mate. As expected.
I have contacted Dr Chamley to see if he can direct me to the appropriate documentation. What a pack of spineless c*nts. And now we have Joe Hockey preaching on In Defense of God, could Church and government get any tighter?