Sometimes I am reading the news and I see red. Today was one of those days.
Rant starts.
Stop the presses. Pope benedict has just topped (blitzed indeed) UN Chief Ban Ki-moon as the recipient of the ‘Most Fatuous Statement of the Month’ Award.
Indeed - the Pope’s statement cannot possible beaten by any rational human being so I am giving him the Annual Award - six months before the year ends.
(I say rational human being because Fox and the Tea Baggers and steaming nitwits like Michele Bachmann top this kind of stuff every day - but insanity or lies - or just being a honking tosser of epic proportions - do not count in the awards)
And I could construct an argument that by definition the Pope is not rational -but for the purposes of this award I have given him temporary rationality.
The report in the Sydney Morning Herald says - in part:
“Pope Benedict has begged forgiveness for the "abuse of the little ones" by pedophile priests and pledged to "do everything possible" to stop the scourge.
"And so it happened that, in this very year of joy for the sacrament of the priesthood, the sins of priests came to light, particularly the abuse of the little ones," Benedict said at a mass in St Peter's Square marking the end of the Catholic Church's Year for Priests.”
They came to light this year? In the year of joy for the sacrament of the priesthood? Excuse me?
Now I accept that the Pope probably doesn’t watch TV - and gets most of his news from The Catholic Weekly and Vatican Radio. And I accept that these probably do not have a ‘Weekly Pedophile Profile’ or a public service announcements section detailing the daily charges against priests across the globe.
But we do know that he has been personally involved in the cover up of a number of incidents and surely at breakfast every now and again one of his staff may have mentioned - even in passing - that say, Bishop Mulroney in Cork has been knowing small children in that very special Catholic way. The Shepherd - your Infallibleness - has been buggering the Flock!
Ah well - His Magnificence would say, I forgive him because he does an otherwise excellent job keeping Satan at bay and the children will get over it because they are after all very small and doing a great service for the church. In years to come they will think about Bishop Mulroney fondly - as they do their grandparents.
The Pope has nicely described all the problems with one succinct sentence. For hundreds of years this ghastly steaming corrupt ruin of an institution has been knowingly and willingly allowing its help to molest, torment and rape children on a scale so colossal that it boggles the mind.
During that same period the church has done everything it can to suppress the stories, protect the perpetrators, victimize the victims and stifle news and debate.
There is a sad little bastard called Dennis Ferguson living in Australia. he is a convicted pedophile and served time in the slammer. He does not enjoy the protection of the church so is hounded mercilessly wherever he goes throughout the land.
He is followed by the media and - wherever he ends up - his living arrangements are reported in the media and vigilante squads form to hound him out of the area. The NSW State Government even introduced legislation in parliament so that they could evict him from public housing if he ever turned up there.
Dennis deserves no better. He is an odious little grub who has consistently demonstrated that he should not be allowed into the community.
But he is no worse than many of the monsters in the catholic church who perpetrated atrocities over many years - were protected by the church - and were moved to new feeding grounds when they were discovered by the community.
The point I am making is - where were the vigilantes and the legislation in respect of the perverted priests among us? Where is the public enquiry by the church or indeed by government - to identify remove and charge all of these monsters who hid behind the power that only the church can give them?
Does anyone think that if it was not the church but - say - another type of agency - there would not have been external intervention. In the USA there would be a House Committee - but no one in the USA is going to touch a church.
Now - after all this time - the lid has coming off the whole steaming cesspit. The start of the process of illuminating the horror has accelerated and hundreds more case are appearing - and will continue to appear.
And this in an institution that is founded on the great fairy story that there is an invisible man who lives in the sky and watches over us - and even hears our prayers.
Well - what a Crackerjack job he has done so far. Just look around today. Watch the news today or read a newspaper and tell me that someone is out there watching over us.
As George Carlin said ‘this is not the work of a supreme being - this is the work of an office temp with a bad attitude’
Rant ends
And you should read Kristin's story of child abuse
