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	Clerical Paedophilia in the Catholic Church: Are Economic Migrants into the Priesthood to Blame? By Hemantha Abeywardena Asian Tribune March 28, 2010 http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2010/03/28/clerical-paedophilia-catholic-church-%E2%80%93-are-economic-migrants-priesthood-blame UNITED KINGDOM -- At the moment, the Catholic Church wants to be seen as an institute, metaphorically speaking, under siege in the wake of serious allegations about sexual abuse of children and the subsequent systematic cover-up, both in America and Europe. The burgeoning scandal in the two continents has started knocking on the central core of the powerful establishment; even its head, the Pontiff, is no longer immune from accusations. Nor is he above criticism any more. The Vatican was compelled to issue a statement through its printed media condemning what it called 'ignoble' attacks to smear the Holy Father, following a report in the New York Times which said that the then Cardinal Ratzinger, the present Pope Benedict, failed to take action against a priest who abused 200 deaf boys in the US in the eighties. It was only last week that the pope wrote to the Irish Catholics while apologising for what some of them suffered at the hand of a section of the Catholic clergy. It came in the form of an open letter to be distributed among the church-goers. Unfortunately, the letter didn't go far enough for the victims and the debate reignited on both sides of the Atlantic pool and then spread like wild fire; the pontiff has been forced to moonlight as a fire-fighter too, in addition to his demanding daily spiritual duties, with the long hose of Vatican's media unit at full stretch. Although, the Vatican has got an unlikely ally on its side, Mr Silvio Berlusconi, the Prime Minister of Italy, who praised the former for standing up to its enemies – meant media, perhaps, not owned by him – the defence offered by it is very feeble, indeed, to say the least. It is riddled with traces of defencelessness against indefensible. Defending the head of an institute is one thing; missing the whole point in doing so is entirely a different matter and even counter-productive. The statement issued by the Vatican went on to say that the paedophilia is not unique to the Catholic Church. Of course, it is not. It happens in schools, prisons orphanages and even at homes – basically everywhere. However, those who head these places are not in the habit of preaching morals on regular basis about how to lead sinless lives – something that the Church and its tentacles, by contrast, do all the time. That's the difference. Once caught, as far as the civil institutes are concerned, the heads roll, perpetrators get the sack or end up in prison and get humiliated for the rest of their lives. Then an inquiry is launched in proportion to the gravity of the problem and remedial measures are put in place, in order not to let history repeat itself. That hasn't happened in the Catholic Church; it is this well-documented, undeniable fact, which has become the issue. The alleged abuses have actually taken place in Europe and America decades ago. One may wonder why the victims come out now in seeking justice. The victims say that they have been fighting the injustice for years – and to get their voice heard – after being traumatized by the experience. The scars developed during the childhood can and do affect people in their adulthood in many form that in turn lead to family-breakdowns, mental illness and suicidal tendencies. I know an Irishwoman who has been haunted by the experience she had while in care in Ireland where she was brought up: her abuse had been physical in nature rather than sexual; but the damage had been done in her prime. The present pope had been issuing apologies for some time whenever the allegations of sexual abuse surfaced. Unfortunately, it is like putting a square plug in a round hole. It hasn't dampened down the seriousness of the issue. On the contrary, even the pope has been dragged into the mire of obscurity, as the steps taken by the Vatican were considered as a drop in the ocean. The grievances of the victims have not been addressed or listened to. A big part of the problem seems to be the mesmerizingly rigid hierarchy of the Church. Complaints against priests, as recent history shows, have been emulating air bubbles in a fish tank, rather than a progressively encouraging ascent: they get bigger and more significant as they move up only to burst before reaching the surface, leaving very little trace to take note of. The series of events that took place in the Church hierarchy following sexual abuse of children – from making complaints to get them opening up - is collectively branded as the great cover-up, something the present pontiff has been forced to defend quite robustly. On the face of it, what the Pontiff may have done, when he was a Cardinal, was simply forgiving a dying priest – who happened to be the paedophile – which is perfectly understandable in the context of Biblical teachings. He neither defrocked him nor took remedial measures to rectify the problem. Instead, the perpetrator had been just transferred to another parish – only to commit the sin again! The Cardinal may have thought a spiritual cocktail of confession and prayer would work on this particular individual – a mistake that casts a long shadow over his judgement. The Vatican can do very little to stop these scandals from grabbing headlines for two obvious reasons. First of all, the victims were children; secondly, they were mostly orphans. So, they were already hapless on many fronts. In the 21st century, the journalists can't highlight the Nazi atrocities and other forms of human rights abuses across the globe while turning a blind to the abuse perpetrated by some Catholic priests, just because they have a taken an oath for celibacy or they are in cloaks, simultaneously. That's why sensible Catholics want the pope to addresses this issue once and for all. The first sign of an effective remedial measure is an honest indication of how widespread the child abuse is. At present, perpetrators have only emerged in America and Europe – the indigenous white Caucasians. How about Asia and Africa? Are African and Asian clergy are of different cleaner stock? Absolutely, they are not. I do know that it happens in South Asia – and it is more widespread than the Church wants us to believe. Put the evidence, lack of openness, slavish obedience, poverty, dictatorial hierarchy, misplaced sentiments and questionable political affiliations into the kaleidoscope of reality and a picture emerges in the mirrors of ignorance and denial, which is far more disturbing than what we witness in America and Europe. It is hard to comprehend as to why the Vatican feels that it is under attack from all directions. Is it because the references made by the media to the role played by the present pope before reaching the pinnacle of Catholicism, the papacy or because the protests have reached even the famous St Peters Square where the Pontiff usually makes His appearance in a balcony to the faithful? Over a billion Catholics around the world are not going to quit the church on this issue; of course, the news is not hymnal music for the ears of the faithful. As far as we can see, neither the other denominations of the Christianity such as Evangelicals, Methodists and Anglicans nor the other eastern religions such as Buddhism, Islam, Jainism or Hinduism seem to be cashing in on the local difficulties of the Catholic Church. Nor are there any ambitious conversion drives in sight to attract the ex-Catholics by the other religions. We know abuses of every kind take place in other religious institutes as well, perhaps on a lesser scale. Sensible people know vast majority of the Catholic clergy are great compassionate human beings who lead immaculately clean lives in line with the Biblical teachings. It is them who feel embarrassed by the acts of a few in the first place. The recent case of Swamy Nithyananda in Southern India is a case in point. When he was caught in bed with Tamil actress Ranjitha in a less-than-holy position, he blamed everyone but himself for 'tarnishing' his 'image'. Then came the ludicrously pathetic defence: Ranjitha was caring for him while he was sick. Unfortunately, perhaps to his horror, in the video clips that were telecast all over India, Ranjitha was on top of the swamy – not the ideal postion to take up before caring for the sick! Ranjitha went into hiding and Swamy's ashram was set on fire by the heart-broken disciples. The sex scandals that mushroomed across Europe and America have shaken the Catholic Church as never before. Having felt the pinch, a leading Cardinal has called for 'housecleaning' as a measure of damage limitation. It will be a monumental task for an institute with such a highly-centred hierarchy to embark on the ambitious goal. Perhaps, they can take some measures at ground level. It is highly likely that those who commit these crimes are the priests who land in the priesthood due to economic reasons rather than those of spiritual. If they have suffered abuse at the hand of their superiors, there is a great chance of them following suit – and then handing down the trend to the next generation. The easiest pick-up joint for this practice is soliciting sex in the confessional despite the existence of a canonical ban; up until it is subject to the watchful eye of the trustworthy, the issue is going to damage the church for a very long time indeed, in an irreparable manner, which is really sad.
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