THE CARNAGE LEFT BEHIND BY PEDOPHILE PRIESTS
by Jack Watts
COMMON SENSE—Scandal in Catholicism: When a victimized boy of a pedophile priest grows up, this is his prayer: “I don’t want anything to do with that priest ever again. I don’t want anything to do with the Church; and I don’t want anything to do with You, God, because you let this happen to me, and I didn’t deserve it.”
For those who have been sexually abused by a pedophile priest, or by any other person having any spiritual or religious authority over them, this is the typical prayer or mindset of those who have been targeted. The anger of the victims, which is completely justified and even appropriate, is directed at the perpetrator, the religious institution, and at Almighty God.
Obviously, the perpetrator, who robbed the innocence of a child, purely for perverted gratification, is guilty of behavior that in not only sexually abusive, but it is also illegal. Not having reached the legal age of consent, what these pedophile priests have done is clearly criminal behavior. In Pennsylvania, they have raped and sodomized more than 1,000 children, but the consequences of this spiritual abuse runs much deeper than the physical act. By violating these children, these reprobate priests have also raped the minds and souls of their victims, leaving them to suffer from the pain of a lifetime of emotional issues.
Robbed of their innocence, these victimized children have difficulty ever getting past their violation. For some, it’s impossible. Eventually, when the current victim cast aside for a newer, younger child, those who are discarded are left to face life without the capacity to ever be able to trust again.
The victim’s anger at the Roman Catholic Church is equally justified. Like sleazy politicians, for decades the Church’s hierarchy has been more interested in covering up the scandalous behavior of more than 600 pedophile priests than it has been in protecting its flock from predatory behavior. By moving pedophiles from one parish to another, once their deviancy has been discovered, the Church never adequately addressed the consequences of the priest’s aberration.
Instead, they provided the pedophile priest with a new crop of innocent children to be sexually exploited. Because those in authority refused to deal with an unpleasant issue, which was their responsibly, the Church shares equally in the guilt of this massive pattern of criminal behavior. The actions of the pedophile priests should have been exposed to the light of day for the entire world to see. By not being transparent, they are paying for their error in judgment.
The victims’ anger at Almighty God, however, is another issue. Although understandable, by blaming God, rather than seeking Him out, the wounded deprive themselves of the Source to achieve lasting healing. Because of their wounding, they lash out at God without thinking it through. If they did, and we are encouraging them to do so, their futures would be much more fulfilling than their past experiences have been.