Victims of Sexual Abuse Stand up to the Vatican, by Tanya Bingham, University of Idaho Women's Center, October 6, 2011

Victims of Sexual Abuse Stand up to the Vatican

By Tanya Bingham
University of Idaho Women's Center
October 6, 2011

http://uiwomenscenter.wordpress.com/2011/10/05/victims-of-sexual-abuse-stand-up-to-the-vatican/

An event with monumental implications has taken place. The head of the Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI has been held accountable for his knowledge of Catholic officials sheltering sexually-abusive priests. This is evidence that no one is untouchable when it comes to accountability for heinous acts against the human body and spirit.

The Center for Constitutional Rights in conjunction with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests submitted a 20-page document to the International Criminal Court, implicating Pope Benedict. He was named due to his former position with Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a church group, which in 2001, was assigned the position to oversee all abuse cases. Other cardinals named in the complaint are: the current head of Doctrine of the Faith Cardinal William Levada, the current secretary of state Cardinal Angelo Sodano and former, Pope John Paul II.

CCR senior staff attorney Pam Spees said crimes against tens of thousands of victims have come down from the highest levels of the Vatican.

“In this case, all roads really do lead to Rome,” Spees said.

On page 14 in the complaint, it said church officials repeatedly valued the church hierarchy and protected the image of offending priests rather than seek justice for victims and their families. Sexual abuse survivors in the United States, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands have come forward to see that justice is demanded for these actions, whether overt or behind-the-scenes.

“As is detailed below, there are documented cases showing that church officials have gone so far as to obstruct justice and/or destroyed evidence in national legal systems and have consistently engaged in the practice of ‘priest shifting,’ i.e. transferring known offenders to other locations where they continued to have access to children or vulnerable adults and who officials knew continued to commit rape and other acts of sexual violence.”

The Rolling Stone recently published an article that supports this argument. The article followed a criminal case in which five priests were charged with sexual abuse in the state of Philadelphia. This has been a recurring theme in modern times -a slew of criminal cases have turned up since the late ‘90s -but Rolling Stone made a statement about what separates this particular case from others before it. A high-ranking Catholic priest -Monsignor William Lynn allegedly hid documents incriminating priests in sexual abuse cases, in the “Secret Archive Files.”

Documents kept in these “Secret Archives” have listed details of instances where senior officials in the Philadelphia archdiocese worked to silence victims, to reassure victims that priests were removed from duty and that the problem had been “handled.” Several victims later learned the priests were still serving in the ministry and had simply been moved to another parish where children were still within their reach.

The Philadelphia District Attorney’s office said so much material was found when the “secret archives” were opened, they would still be presenting to the grand jury now if they followed every lead.

What does it say about our basic human rights when high-level officials are permitted to enact this systematic violence? And worse, perpetrators are protected and placed in positions where they are enabled to do this again. The whole idea is abhorrent to any logical adult.

All of this secretive action took place to preserve the ideals of a social institution. What did they think would happen when it was revealed? That is the thing about perverse secrets – they don’t stay buried for long. The damages the Catholic Church could sustain as a result of a horrendous concealment like this are great.

Maybe the benefit of this situation is to show victims of sexual violence that no matter whom the offender, no matter how high up the ladder perpetrators are protected, truth and justice can give victims the peace of mind and knowledge that their perpetrators can never hurt someone else. All victims deserve that peace.