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	Henry Briggs: Non-Violent Regime Change By Henry Briggs Main Line February 19, 2011 http://mainlinemedianews.com/articles/2011/02/19/main_line_suburban_life/opinion/doc4d5ffab902c22883270730.txt I learn a lot from reading newspapers on the internet. Last week, for example, I followed protests from Tehran to Cairo, attempts at non-violent regime changes to create a better world for the protestors' children. It worked better in Egypt than Bahrain, Libya, Algeria, Iran, et. al, where hundreds of protesters were killed, probably because the Egyptian military also manufactures everything from dishwashers to Jeeps; presumably they want to be nice to their customers. I learned that an American, Gene Sharp (BA and MS for Ohio State and D. Phil from Oxford) inspired the non-violence strategy. Sharp has written numerous books on the subject, noting autocrats, religious or secular, derive power solely from obedience of their people; if people don't obey, there is no power. He even details 198 steps for taking power back. These teachings (derived from Gandhi) were involved in democratizing parts of the Soviet Union, the Balkans, and now the Middle East. Also last week I saw a Philly.com report about the grand jury's indictment of Monsignor William Lynn for failing to protect children from sexual abuse. Lynn, who was head of the Philadelphia's Archdiocese Office for Clergy from 1992 to 2004, allegedly knew that Rev. Charles Englehardt, Edward Avery, and Bernard Sher had raped and sexually assaulted a boy at St. Jerome's School from 1998 (when he was 10) to 2000. Msgr. Lynn answered to Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua and his successor, Cardinal Justin Rigali. Since 2004, Lynn has been pastor of St. Joseph's in Downingtown. A mother at the school told the Philadelphia Inquirer, "I am absolutely stunned. We totally trusted him." Translation: "we obeyed him." This story appeared a little over 5 years after another Philadelphia grand jury accused the Archdiocese of "immoral cover-up" of sexually abusive clergy. Lynn was mentioned 652 times in that report, including "repeating failing to investigate abuse charges, reassigning abusive priests, and concealing their crimes from civil authorities and the Catholic laity." The current grand jury report cited 37 priests in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia who have been accused of molestation but remain in active ministry. "I assure all the faithful that there are no archdiocesan priests in ministry today who have an admitted or established allegation of sexual abuse of a minor against them," said Cardinal Rigali. As long as priests don't admit or establish molesting children, Rigali's OK with it? That prompted a search for "priests" at NYTimes.com, LATimes.com and others. In Ireland, the Rev. Tony Walsh allegedly raped and assaulted children, but was shielded by the Vatican, which expressed "serious reservations" about even reporting such abuse to the police. The L.A. archdiocese paid $660 million in 2007 to settle sexual child abuse cases. Nevertheless, the Rev. Martin P. O'Loghlen, also at one time on a sexual abuse advisory board, was only recently removed from parish work because of alleged sexual child abuse in the 60s. The diocese of Wilmington, Delaware just settled on $77 million for 146 victims of sexual abuse. The sticking point was not money; it was the victims' demand that church records be published for all to see, In Germany, long after he was shown to have molested boys, Father Peter Hullermann was re-assigned to another parish, not arrested. The current Pope, once in charge of reviewing sexual abuse cases for the Vatican, has been linked to Hullermann's re-assignment. Similar stories about sexual child abuse and re-assignments were reported in Belgium and the Netherlands. All these articles were published in one five day period. The common denominator: Worldwide cover-up of child abuse. Clearly the entire hierarchy is not corrupt, but cover-ups have been documented worldwide - for decades. Such is the power of a worldwide, centrally controlled religion. Which brings us back to Egypt's regime change. Wouldn't it be nice if Catholics around the world followed Egypt's example and simply stopped obeying the church until they effect a regime change. Henry Briggs writes a regular column for Main Line Media News.
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