Anonymous slam on the Roman church
From the Denver Post today:
Whether it was a pedophile priest, a school teacher or a Boy Scout official, responsible adults and their institutions should not be able to avoid accountability for their acts.
Ok, I can agree with this. Then we get this:
The church is arguing that Colorado law makes it tougher to sue public schools under routine governmental immunity laws and therefore it should be just as tough to sue the church for its pedophile priests. Church officials say sexual misconduct in public schools is a more serious problem than it is in the Roman Catholic Church. To prove its point, the church has come up with 85 cases of public school teachers in Colorado dating back to 1997 who had their licenses revoked or denied due to alleged sexual misconduct. Apparently the church considers that far more serious than Colorado priests who allegedly repeatedly molested altar boys and other young boys.
The numbers game is a blatant effort by the church to divert attention from its responsibility to compensate priests' victims. The fact is, the church is under pressure because officials knew that priests were abusing children in their own flock yet covered it up, quietly moving the priests from parish to parish. In Colorado, at least two priests have been accused in court by two dozen young men of abusing them as boys. The number of victims might be even bigger, but their day in court has long ago passed, thanks to the statute of limitations that some lawmakers want to relax or eliminate for future cases.
And that is based on what? Did the lazy editorialists actually check out the allegations against the teachers? If it is a "blatant effort to divert attention" then how about telling us that, say 73 of the 85 claims were XYZ, which is a very minor offense, if it happened at all. No, research requires time and effort, we'll just slam the church.
Now, just to be clear, I am more offended by the Roman church problem than the school teacher problem. The church claims to be following and teaching the tenets of Christ. The school isn't. But all of the offenders should be in jail and the institutions should pay. The Roman church is upset because they are talking about retroactively changing the law in a way that will cost them money, lots of money. That is surprising? They have done precious little to fix the problem IMHO, which would have been an entirely reasonable editorial. Cardinal Law booked the country and they won't extradite him. They put him in charge of a Basilica as a reward for his scandalous behavior. Write about that. But why slam an organization for working in their best financial interest through the open political system? Why not follow up on the the abuse claims against schools and find out that it is VERY hard to sue a school (or so I am told). Nope, let's just blast the Christian organization with no proof of anything.
And while we are at it, we'll do it ANONYMOUSLY. If I were King for a day. I love that thought. If I were king for a day it would be illegal to have an editorial in the paper without attribution. I have no problem with free speech and freedom of the press but I ought to be allowed to know who is writing offensive and stupid things in the press.
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