PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Daily News
IF NOTHING else, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia is consistent - sickeningly so.
It still refuses to own up to its role in subjecting children to the sick whims of perverted priests.
This week, the archdiocese demeaned the pedophiles' victims and wasted its moral authority by denying its complicity in the sex scandal.
Stung by a blistering grand jury report that accused top church leaders of an "immoral" campaign to conceal sexual abuse in its ranks, the church sought refuge in a ridiculous defense: The report was motivated by anti-Catholic bias.
Unbelieveable.
The allegation of prejudice is a groundless and transparent attempt to deflect blame and defuse the most damning account of cold-blooded moral corruption I have ever read.
The grand jury report detailed a calculated policy by church leaders, up to and including former Cardinals Bevilacqua and Krol, to conceal the crimes of predator priests by transferring them from one place to another, sacrificing the safety of children to save the church from scandal.
Frankly, the only equivalency that comes to mind in terms of institutionalized inhumanity - as much as I usually avoid inflammatory Holocaust metaphors - is the Third Reich.