Catholic Church to American Courts: "Thank You, Sir. May I Have Another?" by Doug Wrenn

Catholic Church to American Courts: "Thank You, Sir. May I Have Another?"

By Doug Wrenn

March 12, 2008

One of many classic scenes in the movie, "Animal House" involves a then new and relatively unknown actor named Kevin Bacon, clad only in his undershorts and bent over in a line of other young men similarly dressed and situated during a college fraternity initiation. As the large ogre in the black hood stands over Kevin Bacon, he continually and violently paddles Bacon's backside with a ping-pong paddle. Wincing, Bacon continually repeats, "Thank you, Sir. May I have another?" as his senior hooded fraternity brother further obliges the pain-enduring pledge with a menacing grin.

It's high time that somebody say this, so hate me if you so choose, but enough already with the Catholic Church on this insidious and inane mea culpa tour of doling out millions of dollars to alleged victims of sexual abuse from 20 or 30 years ago. How many more times is the Church going to keep saying, "Thank you Sir. May I have another?"

For several years I have been a frequent donor to the Catholic Bishop of Northern Alaska and a recipient of its complimentary "Alaskan Shepherd" newsletter. The CBNA is one of my favorite charities. Also known as the Diocese of Fairbanks, it is primarily a rural missionary diocese, encompassing roughly 2/3 of the state's entire geography and where its few priests hit the circuit on the vast, desolate and dangerous frontier to save souls by any available means of transportation, plane, snow mobile and even dog sled. More than one of them has also died in the process.

Last week I received a very disturbing form letter from Bishop Donald Kettler, informing CBNA donors that the Diocese intends to file Chapter 11 to settle the onslaught of sexual abuse claims. An Associated Press piece on the online version of the Juneau Empire states that 150 such claims have been filed against the diocese from the 1950's to the 1980's, with 135 more cases still pending.

Now this week, the Archdiocese of Hartford has announced that it will pay $600,000 in an out of court settlement to a man who claimed that a former Bloomfield priest abused him when he was an altar boy in the 1970's.

A quick, one page perusal of a Google search yielded similar bankruptcy cases. Filings have already been made in Davenport, Iowa, Tucson, Arizona, Spokane, Washington and Portland, Oregon. Just beginning the process or considering it, are dioceses in Boston, Massachusetts, San Diego, California and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Meanwhile, parishes are closing left and right in Boston, which became ground zero for the outing of the sexual abuse scandal, New York City, and in Connecticut, and that list is by no means complete. Catholic schools and hospitals are also failing from the financial bite. It seems many more are being hurt by the few who are allegedly being helped. No surgeon worth his salt would ever allow a patient to hemorrhage like this. No reputable civil engineer would ignore such a leaking dam. Why does the prostrate Catholic Church just knowingly and willingly lie there, taking this, and slowly deflating to its eventual demise like a balloon with a pinhole in it?

There is no dispute that the sexual abuse scandal, which is more accurately about homosexuality than pedophilia, occurred, and while only among an infinitesimal number of priests as compared to the thousands who serve, a large number nonetheless. The unanswered question however, is how many of these claims are legitimate and how many are fictitious?

I don't hear anybody else asking this question. Political correctness has seldom, if ever, been even a speed bump to me, let alone a roadblock. To those who legitimately suffered at the hands of diabolical priests, my heart truly goes out to you, but at this stage of the game, I can't help but feel deep in my bones that what we are seeing now is also a bunch of gold diggers jumping on the band wagon.

And to that extent, this is the perfect crime. What physical evidence can a plaintiff bring 20 or 30 years after the claimed offense? What credible, and how much corroborating testimony from witnesses can be bring to bear? Is this not still the United States, where the accused are presumed innocent until proven guilty? Does the Catholic Church in the United States have no rights as an institution, made up of American citizens? Why is there no statute of limitations on such claims? I have heard of filing deadlines for plaintiffs in class action lawsuits. At one point does this roller coaster ride end, in the next millennium? Later? Are we going to start advocating "reparations" to children and grandchildren of those who claimed to be sexual abuse victims like some have tried with the slavery issue? How many more apologies do we need from priests, bishops, cardinals and even our popes? The Catholic faith teaches that once a sinner confesses his sin with true remorse and true intent to sin no more, he is forgiven, and he must then forget the sin and move forward. Why do we keep seeing re-runs of apologies from our clergy? How more fats, floggings and hair shirts many are necessary? Pretty soon, the Catholic Church will have to apologize for permanently closing because of all these settlements. Somehow, all those jokes associated with guilt and being Catholic aren't so funny any more. This current situation is utterly ridiculous.

I am not hard of heart, but I am not soft of mind, either. No institution can withstand this infinite hemorrhage of revenue and resources. The abused have been traumatized, probably even more so than anyone else because their predator was a supposedly holy, and thus, trusted priest, and many of these boys and young men were altar boys, who were devout Catholics and who came from families of devout Catholics. I get all that. I understand, or at least, I think I understand, the tendency to want to keep such an ugly incident quiet for so long. I get that, but somewhere, there realistically must be a cut-off point. It's no picnic for any victim of sexual abuse to come forward to the authorities. But this ludicrous, incessant open door policy to legal attack based on perpetually unforgiven self-guilt must soon end or the American Catholic Church itself will end. And I know full well that if that were to happen, that there would be long lines of raucous cheerleaders from the secular anti-Catholic left, just like the mutant Palestinians today who cheered the slaughter of several Jerusalem school children from a Hamas fanatic. That would also be the same ilk that cheered when we were hit on September 11th. Money is not the only motive here, but whatever the reason, it is becoming more apparent to me that some of these so-called "victims" are flat out liars, seeking either assault on the Church or some coin in their pockets, or maybe even both. Those involved in economic development preach, "Build, and they will come." Memo to the Church: "Dole out cash without limit, and they will come in droves!" Please forgive me, but WAKE UP AND SNAP OUT OF IT!

It is worth bearing in mind that the same Jesus who advocated turning the other cheek also made a whip out of ropes and physically ejected the moneychangers from His temple. No doubt Jesus inspired Kenny Rogers when he produced the song, "The Gambler," which aptly prophesied in its lyrics, "You've got to know when to hold 'em, and know when to fold 'em."

I also understand the Church wishing to seek closure to this matter as well as to offer closure and healing for those legitimately affected. But those legitimately affected need to now buck up, come forward, or stay put and shut up. Keeping the gravy train running will not bring closure. Money won't heal these wounds. All it will do is attract annoying pests like bad meat left out too long, and I fear that process may have already started.

I am now giving second thought to the many accused priests who have steadily denied any wrongdoing. Yes, that is what they are expected to say, but who is now questioning the credibility of the growing waiting line of accusers?

Another ugly aspect to the sexual abuse scandal is the cover-up that was involved, mostly because the hierarchy at that time was weak and didn't know how to properly address the problem. Accused priests were simply transferred. But now, we are crucifying them. Ask any priest you know about what they endure when they go around in public while wearing the Roman collar. I have heard some pretty ugly stories. And then reflect that the vast majority of those priests never did anything wrong.

The Church seems to be putting too many eggs into one basket. Yes, many of the flock have departed and are still doing so, but not because of the abuse scandal. That was just more gas on the fire. The priest abuse scandal came about because of the seminaries liberalizing and lowering their standards. Homosexuals and those with their own agenda soon took over an entire generation of priests, even harassing and coercing many good priests into leaving the seminaries and even their vocations.

Vatican II has been misinterpreted and as a result, our modern day Church watered down. Priests now no longer wish to discuss Heaven and Hell, let alone abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality, contraception, premarital sex, purity, fidelity, shacking up, bearing children out of wedlock, and the various other now deeply burrowed in intrusions of moral relativism. The dress and demeanor of most of those who now do attend mass is an absolute abomination. If I were a pastor, I would stop 90% of them at the door and refuse them entry in God's House. The same people who dress to the nines to go to work, to a wedding or for a night out on the town dress like beach bums in Church. Actions do speak louder than words, and the misplaced priorities of these people are screaming. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is now ignored and ridiculed. The Eucharist is often received absent of a state of grace and in sacrilege. Many Catholics today doubt the presence of Christ even exists in it. Many young people prefer to be wed in parks, on beaches and in restaurants than in churches, and spend much more time and money worrying about tuxes, dresses, music, flowers and flowing booze than giving their relationship a solid foundation and a fighting chance against the present 50% national divorce rate that should no longer shock anybody. The Catholic clergy has weekend with the times. "Catholic pro-choice" (a classic oxymoron) politicians can receive Holy Communion (when they attend mass in election years) without a challenge. Many priests now dwell on the love of Christ, but not the truth of Christ, and neither is inseparable. Like good lawyers, many of those who pose the trendy question, "What would Jesus do?" often already have their own answer, steeped in their own agenda in mind before they even ask the question. Now, it's not about educating the congregation, laying down the law and saving souls. It's all about not giving offense, and to Hell with the souls, literally. Mother Church has seemingly now abandoned her parental role. It's all carrot and no stick. The same obsession with self-esteem our public schools foist unto our children is now akin to the self-esteem eschewed by the Church to its members. Now, from the pulpit, as well as in the classroom, God and His Ten Commandments seem to be replaced by Dr. Spock and his book. And we all know what that produced. Many clergy in the Church are desperately, foolishly, and blindly trying to retain and grow the congregation by the very same flaws and frailties that already drove most of it away. The abuse scandal did not cause the Church's demise. It was a byproduct of it. So this feel-good mea culpa tour, all emotional guilt aside, is fruitless of substance from that angle as well.

The Church needs to set a date and draw a line. And the courts need to agree. This travesty to justice has gone on long enough. Scandalous corporations have received more legal protection for their rights than the Catholic Church has, and the Church is now dying on the vine because of it. Having worked in various forms of emergency service work, I can tell you that protecting yourself is always the first priority. You can't be of much help to anyone else if you're dead. Likewise, The Catholic Church must now protect itself, zealously and selfishly, before it can have any real hope of helping anyone else. After the deadline is past, let those legitimately injured by miscreants of Mother Church come to her for healing, either within or with referrals to other professional, and if need be, even secular sources. All the money in the world won't make those scars go away. Money is only compensation, and only visits the wallet for a short time. Healing is forever, and is directed to heart, mind and soul. Trying to heal wounded people with money is like trying close an appendectomy incision with a band-aid.

Once the gravy train is derailed, the Church can once again have a chance to survive, thrive and tend to its flock, but it can also separate the chaff from the wheat. It won't be hard to do once the faucet flowing endless greenbacks is shut off. In more modern parlance, you can't see the cockroaches until you turn the light on.

The same loving Jesus that flipped over the tables and chased the moneychangers out of his temple with a whip was the same Jesus who instructed Peter to build His Church upon a rock.

Given this open ended legal quandary gone awry in the present day, I have very little doubt what Jesus would do.

Slowly, ever so gradually and in tiny increments, the remaining faithful are becoming stronger. There is a call to bring back the Latin Mass, the altar rail, and the true reverence for the Eucharist. The hey-day of the "pink palaces" is declining, if not over. More seminarians now are the real deal. Traditionalist Catholic periodicals such as The New Oxford Review and The Remnant, as well as some others and the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) are providing a home and a foundation for the movement to bring the American Catholic Church back to its principles, and back to its conservative and unabashed teachings and moralism. The Church is broken, but the illness must be treated as well as the symptoms. Slowly, that healing process is already beginning, but more needs to be done, and done correctly.

And one of the necessary prescriptions must read, "Amen," and not, "Thank you, Sir. May I have another?"

Like any deep, painful and serious wound, this one must also first heal from the inside, out.

Only then can there ever be any real semblance of closure.

Doug Wrenn