Our father, who's not in heaven...

At the desk, 7:05 a.m.

Yesterday, it was the priests who pissed me off. I mean, I could make a list of those who pissed me off yesterday, but a lot of them seem like they have a job to be an ass and they are doing that job. And they aren't my Senators or Representatives.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm still mad at the priests. You see, it turns out that US priests are behind the Vatican's crackdown on nuns. And because they have nothing else to do, they are now scrutinizing the Girl Scouts.

This really sticks in my craw.

You see, in the United States alone:

• an estimated 4% of Catholic priests molest children. In the US, 4392 priests and deacons sexually abused primarily boys between the ages of 10 - 14 years old. (Given the nature of the crime, you know this number is low.)

• as of 2004, 10,669 people have come forward to state they were abused. Given that 60% of sexual assault victims do not report the crime, well... you can do the math. (The numbers come from the 2004 John Jay report. A good summary is here.)

Because of the nature of priests and parishes, most of these pedophiles and their behavior was well known to the hierarchy at the church. In fact, prior to the 2001, the church did everything in their power to protect and support the priest. Enormous efforts, at every level of the Catholic Church including the Vatican, were made to obfuscate discovery of their priests behavior. The Church, and priests in particular, did little or nothing to protect the victims. They did and have done little to help the priests. When forced to do something about it, the Church has fired some priests, so they can perpetrate among us, retired a few, and paid for representation of a few others.

And trust me, more victims continue to come forward. I personally know three men who will never come forward. (Another priest was caught in Ireland this year. The church had done an investigation, was given names of victims, yet failed to do anything about the priest or protect the victims.) Of course, the Catholic League calls these victims "a pitiful bunch of malcontents."

What does all of this have to do with the nuns?

"U.S. Archbishop William E. Lori, of Baltimore, sparked the initial investigation (of the nuns), backed at the Vatican by the infamous Cardinal Bernard F. Law -- disgraced former archbishop of Boston who covered up innumerable cases of child molestation cases by priests. After media reports revealed he had permitted priests accused of sexually molesting children to continue serving, Law resigned in 2002, only to reinvigorate his career in Rome.

"Reportedly other American churchmen backed Lori’s petition, including Cardinal Raymond Burke and Cardinal James Stafford. The investigation itself was led by former archbishop of San Francisco Cardinal William Levada." (link)

U.S. Archbishop William E Lori petitions for initial investigation. He contacts disgraced, pedophile enabler Bernard F. Law at the Vatican - and the Vatican cracks down on the nuns.

1 + 2 = 3

And the nuns?

The Vatican is upset with the nuns for their support of "radical feminist themes incompatible with Catholic doctrine".

What is key radical feminist issue?

Sexual assault

If you need to look it up, here's a .pdf of the history of sexual assault awareness and prevention. Awareness and criminalization of pedophilia is, and always has been, a major tenant in the feminist movement.

I'm pretty sure I don't need to say more here. But if you need me to connect the dots, I am angry because Catholic priests have decided to crack down on nuns and the Girl Scouts because their 'radical feminist ideals' have led to uncovering their pedophilia.

To my mind, Priests and Bishops should worry more about cleaning their own house than a aged, diminishing branch of the churches support of the poor, sick, and abused.

If you'd like to learn more from a less pissed off source, NPR has a wonderful set of articles:

1. This is a fabulous interview with Sister Catherine on All Things Considered.

"We as Catholics believe our experience informs our faith and our faith informs our experience. It's - how can I say this? When you don't work every day with people who live on the margins of our society, it's much easier to make easy statements about who's right and who's wrong."

2. Nuns and the Vatican: A Clash Decades in the Making

3.An NPR blog post on the topic.

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