BishopAccountability.org
	Catholic Church Mess Calls for Accountability News Leader May 18, 2010 http://www.newsleader.com/article/20100518/OPINION01/5180304 Right off the bat there are two ways to look at the Vatican's response to a lawsuit against it concerning sex abuse in the church. Lawyers are by definition defenders of their clients, and in this case defending the client means claiming the Vatican has little to do with the messy quagmire of pedophilia and its cover-up. The other way, of course, is to see this as simply another example of the Roman Catholic Church failing to take responsibility for the heartbreaking and widespread abuse of children. Oh, defenders of the Catholic Church quickly will point out that criticizing the church is unfair and uncalled for, that sexual and other abuse is no more prevalent in Catholic churches than it is in other places of worship. What sets the Catholic troubles apart is that it has gone on for more than a decade. That is when accusations of priests abusing children came to light. That is when accused priests were shuttled off to other jobs, bishops were chastised for cover-ups and Cardinal Bernard Law got a sweet new job for his part in the travesty. Information dragged out in depositions showed Law was taking part in the cover-up, hiding suspected priests and protecting pedophiles. Perhaps as we watch this tragic series of events play out in Europe, the most sickening part is that no lessons were learned from what happened in America. Arrogance played a role — the "problem" must be related to the lack of values in America — certainly measures to stop it here wouldn't be needed elsewhere. Sadly, however, children were being abused and as the church and its leaders looked away in Ireland, Germany and who knows where else. In America, Catholic churches instituted policies to check out people who work with children — and not just priests. It's a system that at least in theory will give warning for possible crimes. The lawsuit filed in Kentucky seeks to depose Pope Benedict XVI after claiming newly disclosed documents implicate him directly in "a shroud of secrecy over clergy sexual abuse cases in the United States," according to court documents filed by Louisville attorney William McMurry. The threat of deposing the Pope no doubt sends the Vatican into a fit, spurring the dubious claim that bishops are too far removed from the Holy See to implicate the Vatican. Horse-hockey. Lawsuits won't be the salve to soothe the damage done by child abuse, but given the church's incessant denial of culpability, it's what the victims have left. It's another tragic chapter in the story of the Catholic troubles, a book that will end only with a sincere and absolute confession by anyone involved in the crimes. Whether we will see and hear that grows more doubtful by the day.
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