Catholic Church Pays Hush Money To Pedophile Priests ...

Church Funds Not Only Used To Silence Victims and Thwart Police Investigations

When the Catholic Church's worldwide child sex abuse scandal erupted, the Holy See's initial response was to pretend ignorance and deny any knowledge of these horrific acts.  We now know that a massive institutional cover-up stretched all the way to Pope Benedict XVI (then Cardinal Ratzinger) who used the power of his office, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, to protect the molesters from law enforcement agencies.  (Hypocrisy Alert:  This same "Prince of the Church" that had been hiding pedophile priests from the police would later call committed same-sex couples "today's most insidious and dangerous threats to the common good.")

Now it's come to light that yet another bejeweled prelate - it's not easy keeping track of corrupt Catholic leaders - has been aiding child rapists by providing church funds to these malignant criminals.  His Worshipful Cardinal Timothy Dolan (who can hardly take a breath without denigrating LGBT Americans - y'know, cuz he's so "moral") is not above providing a little financial assistance to his clerics who sexually assaulted youngsters.

Igor Volsky reports for Think Progress:  Cardinal Timothy Dolan has led the charge against same-sex marriage, describing gay and lesbian unions as “unjust,” “immoral,” and unnatural. “This is a very violation of what we consider natural law that’s embedded in every man and woman and we’re really worried as Americans that it’s going to be detrimental to the common good,” Dolan said in a radio interview in June, as New York prepared to legalize marriage equality. “[W]e still worry about the detrimental effect upon society, upon culture, and certainly upon our individual churches.”  But church documents showing that Dolan paid off priests who had been accused of sexually abusing minors suggest that the prominent Catholic leader was willing to overlook these very same religious convictions to help colleagues accused of egregious wrong doing.

From the New York Times: Cardinal Dolan, who is president of the national bishops’ conference and fast becoming the nation’s most high-profile Roman Catholic cleric, did not respond to several requests for comment.  A victims advocacy group, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, sent a letter of protest to the current archbishop of Milwaukee on Wednesday asking: “In what other occupation, especially one working with families and operating schools and youth programs, is an employee given a cash bonus for raping and sexually assaulting children?”  Experts in the Catholic Church’s response to sexual abuse say that payouts to dismissed priests are not uncommon.

Why are people still giving their hard-earned dollars to the Catholic Church?  Stop it.

Related Post:  Little Girls Are Often the Victims of Priestly Abuse
Related Post:  New York Bishops Fighting Marriage Equality, Protecting Pedophile Priests
Related Post:  Protesters Target Priest Who Abused Girl - and then got a scholarship from the Church!
Related Post:  The Rot at the Top - Pope Benedict XVI, Unholy Pedophile Enabler
Related Post:  Pope Benedict Says Therapeutic Abortion is Worse Than Child Rape
Related Post:  Catholic Bishops in Ireland Shield One Hundred and Seventy Pedophile Priests