November 7, 2022

Catholic children REMAIN in DANGER.

And not just CATHOLICS.

And not just CHILDREN.

That's the cold, hard reality of the Catholic Church.

And the aftermath of the Catholic sex abuse crisis.

FOUR years after the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report.

TWENTY years after SPOTLIGHT and the Dallas Charter.

And FORTY-FIVE years after I was sexually abused by a priest named Father LeRoy Valentine at the Church of the Immacolata in St. Louis.

Abuse that was witnessed, at least in part -- KNOWN about -- by a man who is now a Cardinal.

And not the BASEBALL kind.

A Cardinal of the Catholic Church.

A potential future POPE.

The first AMERICAN Pope.

My Friend the Cardinal.

A man who is emblematic -- SYMPTOMATIC -- of the problem with the Catholic Church.

Evidence of why Catholic children REMAIN in danger.

And not just CATHOLICS.

And not just CHILDREN.

Instead of being PUNISHED for keeping his mouth shut about what he saw being done to us -- to ME -- My Friend the Cardinal was instead REWARDED.

Made.

Because of his loyalty.

His ability to look the other way.

And keep his mouth SHUT.

In the face of what was being done, to us -- and to ME -- in the rectory in which he lived, with my abuser, for two years.

His willingness to put the CHURCH before CHILDREN.

Which doesn't seem particularly consistent with -- and, I fear, gives the LIE to -- the whole Jesus thing.

In the Catholic Church, at least.

Or, at least, The Hierarchy.

It may be CATHOLIC, but it's certainly not CHRISTIAN...

And is driving the COLLAPSE of the Catholic Church.

In the United States, at least.

It's the HYPOCRISY, stupid.

Embodied by the INDIFFERENCE.

Show to us -- to ME -- as children, back THEN.

And as adults and survivors, NOW.

By My Friend the Cardinal, then.

And Pope Francis, now.

And the rest of The Hierarchy of the Catholic Church, today as then.

The Bishops and Archbishops, who think their job is to protect the church FROM Survivors.

Which, again, seems to COMPLETELY miss the point of the whole Jesus thing.

A contradiction young people, especially, can't help but see.

And be REPULSED by.

Worse, if they can do what they're doing to SURVIVORS, now, out in the open, without fear of consequence -- their open, performative, Arrogant Indifference -- why won't they show the SAME indifference for, and when it comes to the sexual abuse of, a CHILD?

If My Friend the Cardinal could and would ignore my and our abuse back THEN, at Immacolata, why can't and won't he do the same thing NOW?

And, if you think that's just fantastic, hypothetical fear-mongering -- sure, things were bad in the PAST, but all the problems have been solved -- I'd ask you a simple question.

Do you know about Bishop Stika, and Knoxville, and the Seminarian, Wojciech Sobczuk?