Pope Enabled Molestation of 200 Deaf Boys

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in Rome (Sant'Uffizio). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When the person in charge is informed of wrongdoing by his or her subordinates, we expect action to be taken. When the person in charge received repeated warnings a subordinate is doing something truly awful, we expect the action to be swift so that the behavior is quickly brought under control.

Suppose instead that the person at the top decides to ignore the reports, look the other way, and try to sweep the whole thing under the rug. In such a case, we are likely to view him or her as sharing at least some of the blame for the continued bad behavior of his or her subordinates.

Maureen Dowd wrote a good Op-Ed in the New York Times this weekend on the subject of Pope's involvement in concealing child sexual abuse by Catholic priests. It is good to see more and more people speaking out against this man, his church, and the atrocities that continue to surface.

Now we learn the sickening news that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, nicknamed “God’s Rottweiler” when he was the church’s enforcer on matters of faith and sin, ignored repeated warnings and looked away in the case of the Rev. Lawrence C. Murphy, a Wisconsin priest who molested as many as 200 deaf boys.

A priest molested 200 deaf boys and was ignored by Ratzinger. 200 deaf boys. Just when I think this sick enterprise cannot possibly get any worse, we learn not only that this happened but that the victims have spent 30 years of their lives trying to get the church to pay attention to them!

Then Cardinal Ratzinger was informed about this abuse and chose to look the other way. How can anyone reconcile this with the whole infallibility thing?

Decade after decade, the church hid its sordid crimes, enabling the collared perpetrators instead of letting the police collar them.

I realize that the faithful report that their beliefs provide a source of comfort and that their involvement at church is a positive force in their lives. This seems like too high a price to pay for such comfort.