Opinion
Featured Image
U.S. Catholic bishops on June 14, 2017 at a Mass in reparation for clerical sex abuse Claire Chretien / LifeSiteNews

September 17, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – I recently came across a posting by author George Neumayr, who has spent the last few weeks trying to track down Cardinals McCarrick and Wuerl. In the video he posted, he stood outside Little Flower Church in Bethesda, Maryland with a small group of protesters who were seeking to speak to the priests gathered there for a meeting with the cardinal archbishop of Washington, D.C.

One particular priest, later identified as a Jesuit, spoke at length with Neumayr. He mentions, early on in the recorded conversation, that he is a psychologist, and begins the tired repeat heard around the world after the Boston Globe’s 2002 exposure of clerical pederast abuse: All of this abuse, although regrettable, really wasn’t understood as such in the 1960’s and 1970’s. He suggests that psychologists recommended rehabilitation, and thus the bishops acted in good faith. When pressed by Neumayr that the law was clear in these cases, the Jesuit finally conceded – but it was clear that the talking points were being formed to defend Cardinal Wuerl, and others like him.

They didn’t know. They are so terribly sorry. Let’s change the subject, shall we?

Back in 2001, I was discerning my vocation within the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, St. Faustina’s order. I was quite young, not yet 20, but even then, after the story of the Boston clerical sex abuse broke, I knew the excuse that the bishops “had trusted psychologists” was an attempt to obfuscate responsibility.

No one in their right mind would think that a member of the reigning clergy – who spent years in theological, philosophical, legal, and psychological formation – was incapable of distinguishing acts of violence and sodomy on children and young men from rightly-ordered heterosexual intercourse between husband and wife.  

I had liked Cardinal Law up until that point. He visited the convent a few times, and encouraged the sisters to take an active role in promoting the Divine Mercy message. As a classically trained vocalist, I appreciated his love of sacred music, which was emphasized at his Masses at Holy Cross Cathedral. When the story broke, however, like so many faithful, I was at a loss. How could a spiritual father betray his children in such a way? How could he not take responsibility when it was clear the psychologists were wrong, and the predators were often repeating their abuses?

How very naïve I was.

The narrative was driven by a political media claiming this was pedophilia (not the homosexual pederasty/grooming it was in reality), and all members of the Catholic Church permitted it. We became the perverted church. One year later, Cardinal Law would resign as other Church leaders like Cardinals Mahony and McCarrick sanctimoniously thumped their breasts and initiated “training” for all who would work with children through the Dallas Charter. Two years after that, Pope John Paul II penned, “Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way,” and far too many thought the worst was behind us.

Alas, for some of us, we found ourselves alone, screaming against an oncoming storm as predators like McCarrick continued to molest and intimidate boys and young men. In the early days of this pontificate, many who expressed concerns were dismissed from all corners of the Church. We were alarmists, “self-absorbed promethean neo-pelagianists” – insisting on spreading “fake news” like those engaged in “the sickness of coprophilia.”

The initial exposure of pederast clergy revealed in the John Jay Report should have rid the Church of those seeking to “build bridges” between homosexually-inclined men and Holy Orders. So much blame was piled onto Cardinal Law, but the rest of the hierachy absorbed so little responsibility, and the scapegoat was slaughtered for the sake of false peace.

In reality, the tip of the iceberg had been exposed in the United States. Underneath the fetid waters, the scum of the earth promoted one another and preyed on the trusting.

Recent whisperings of corruption and abuse coming from every corner of the earth have prompted many believers to hope the Vatican will engage the impending crisis head on. Yet, it is within the Vatican that we see many of the predators (and those who protect them) given prestigious places as advisors to this pontiff.

Reportedly, Pope Benedict XVI received a two-volume “red bound dossier” linking homosexual predators all the way to the highest levels of the curia and resigned shortly after. If true, the pontiff who succeeded him would have also received this dossier. A reasonable deduction would validate Archbishop Vigano’s testimony, on this alone.

Vigano’s personal account solidifies what so many of us have suspected: Pope Francis was fully informed on the extent of the homosexual rot in the clergy. Why, then, did he promote individuals like Cardinals McCarrick, Farrell, Wuerl, Coccopalmerio, Cupich, and Maradiaga to advise and surround him? Why does he have Archbishops Paglia (infamous for commissioning a homoerotic mural in which he himself is depicted) and “Tucho” Fernandez (infamous for his book “Heal Me With Your Mouth”) as advisors? Why promote rebellious heterodox priests like Fathers Rosica and James Martin to speak on behalf of the Chair of Peter? When exposure does occur, the spin is close behind – and the personal attacks on those who dare to ask questions are vicious.

Author and historian Henry Sire was one of the first to provide real evidence of the motivation and machinations behind this in The Dictator Pope.

But it was Archbishop Viganò who finally broke the dam.