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A SPECIAL SECTION |
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An Ex-Cop in La La Land |
 I’M PROUD OF MY CATHOLIC CHURCH |
 The vast majority of Catholic priests are devout and decent men who commit no crimes against children |
Punish the perverts,
but spare good priests
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of TheColumnists.com |
As a fairly decent Catholic and a father of a 10-year-old
son, of course I’m duly concerned about the sexual habits
of some of the clergy. Okay, I’m more than concerned; I’m
watching it all like a hawk!
But coming from being a vice cop, what’s new? After all,
I’ve always been on the look out for anyone who comes near
my son, regardless of his or her profession or lack of one. In
a perfect world it would be nice not to have to live like this,
but this world is not perfect and the only perfect man, Jesus
Christ, was nailed to a cross. So, this tells me plain enough
to stay on guard.
I feel a deep sense of compassion for any kid who is sexually attacked by anyone, clergy or not. In fact, it makes me so angry I’d like to personally remove a guilty clergy member from the church, synagogue, temple or mosque by taking my old nightstick out of retirement and using it on the “sick dog.” But my good sense tells me that’s a “no-can do” item.
The Catholic Church is currently taking a beating in the media for the sins of a few perverts, but don’t even think about “tossing the baby out with the bath water.” Millions of Catholics in and out of the Church, KNOW that these relatively few do NOT represent our entire Catholic Church.
And let's get something straight right off the bat: Unless someone has been living under a rock, we all know that there are bad apples in every barrel. As a Chicago detective I made over 2,000 vice raids in my career and I arrested equal numbers of clergy from all the major religions. Still, their number was few in comparison to others. You should know that most of the people I arrested for sex offenses upon a child were those without a faith or any religion whatsoever. I will spare you the smutty details, but if my informal survey tells me anything, it screams that no one religion has the market cornered when it comes to perverts! Atheists, however, perpetrate more sex crimes upon our kids than all the known religions put together. Atheists, by far, supply the most sexual predators who are on the prowl daily, looking to attack your kids and mine.
Think of it, if an atheist is a pedophile and molests a kid, and gets arrested, the headlines do not read: “Atheist Arrested As Pedophile!” The story won’t go on to indict all other atheists, therefore parents won't be informed about the principal source of the predators who prey upon their children. It’s just that one pervert whose name will appear in the media--and mostly not even near the headline. But, if it’s a priest, rabbi, preacher, or any member of an organized religion, everyone thinks it’s their cue to try to destroy a religion because of the sins of the few.
A “bum rap” recently was given to our Los Angeles Archbishop, the Honorable Cardinal Roger Mahoney. Seems a mentally disturbed woman falsely accused him of a sexual molestation, and thanks to good police work and sound judgment of the D.A. this false charge was quickly proved to be unfounded. But the damage had already been done to Cardinal Mahoney. His name was smeared across the media landscape as if he were a “not to be trusted” priest, providing just another story to fuel the headline flames.
Certain columnists delivered blistering reports about Cardinal Mahoney, but I assure you their reporting that the allegation was unfounded was not nearly as well covered. Were any of us willing to indict and convict Cardinal Mahoney in our minds without his day in court? I bet there were lots of people who did exactly that. How unfair! Who among us would want to be tried and convicted without a fair hearing?
A handsome young priest I knew in Chicago, Father Louis, transferred himself out of our parish because a very young gay boy and a young heterosexual girl had the hots for him. These two teens chased after the poor priest until he had no way to avoid them except by putting on track shoes! I’m not suggesting this is the case with all the current complaints, but my guess is there are a few more cases of “unrequited” love in the headlines than we know.
I personally hope that every single case is NOT settled out of court, that they all will be forced to go to trial. Then I think we will get at the truth and see who is guilty and who is not. I am not without faith in our court system, and I’m betting we will see many of the “jump on the bandwagon” type cases (along with their greedy “ambulance chasing” attorneys) bite the dust. Those extortionists will head for the hole they crawled out of and those who were truly molested will be cared for with every resource available.
In the meantime, may I suggest that caution be our buzzword here, and that we thoroughly investigate every complaint, and not jump to conclusions. And if we find a guilty person here or there, let's not indict the place where they work. Instead, let's just put that person away where he can’t hurt our kids.
Nuisance lawsuits are common in the entertainment industry. This type of lawsuit is nothing more than quasi-legal extortion. Simply put, it means a person files a lawsuit knowing they have no chance to prevail if it goes to trial, but the mere threat will usually make the innocent party settle out of court just to avoid the bad PR it would produce in the media prior to trial. As a suspicious old cop, I think some of the complaints made today against the Catholic Church are nothing more than “nuisance value” attempts to shakedown the Church. These mostly faithless people who jump on the bandwagon are nothing more than extortionists. What’s their motive you ask? There are at least two main motives;
1. A chance to get in on some of those big cash settlements being paid. I recall a bus accident I was in years ago that occurred near a tavern on a busy Saturday night. There were only four people besides me on the bus, but 23 showed up at the hospital claiming they were on the bus and had back and neck pains. In their criminal attempt to collect from the bus company, they acted as if they hit the lottery! And some attorneys took their cases hoping to get at least 33 1/3 percent of the settlements as well as free publicity for their money hungry law firms.
2. Hatred for our Pope, who has made it clear he loves the sinner, but not the sin, when he flatly refused to condone some lifestyle choices that some people have made. These, mostly faithless people would enjoy hurting the Catholic Church by trying to lessen its importance. So, they try to push it down in their wrongful hopes it might elevate their feelings about their choice.
Because I can’t provide you with evidence to prove my suspicions just yet, I will tell you something my father always told me when it was not yet possible to prove a charge one way or the other. He said; “The same God who judges me will judge you, and I’m clean as a hound's tooth. How are you?”
So, to those who think because of these hard times that it’s open season on the Catholic Church, I would say; “Back off, pal! Just because of a few bad guys, it does not mean you have a right to attack my Catholic Church. This is the Church that our Savior, Jesus Christ, and his followers founded and it’s the faith of millions of Catholics still today, and even in view of the current allegations, I’m not ashamed to defend it.”
I still stand in awe of
my Catholic Church and the schools it operates for all the great
good it has done, just in my lifetime alone. I don’t know
of any other religion that has given more heart and bucks to
this world than the Catholic Church. The Church has always been
there for my family and me when we needed it most.
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for Andy and his family |
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Back in 1952 when I was a puppy-love sick boy of 12 and felt I needed to talk to a priest because the girl I liked gave me the gate. A priest took the time to talk to a silly kid that day and he was kindly.
And in 1985 when my wife, Ann Jillian, learned she had breast cancer, and I was fearful she would die, we called our Pastor, Father Larkin at our Catholic Church. It was long after normal business hours, yet he welcomed us with open arms. He even heard our sorrowful confessions right there at his desk, as Ann was to go into life or death surgery the very next day. We needed our priest and he was there for us. He still is, along with Father Jim, Father Jerry, Deacons Pete and Jack, and Sister Ellen Marie. Was I proud to be a Catholic that evening? You bet I was and I still am.
My son is in the fourth grade at a fine Catholic school. After being recently tested in their accelerated reading exam, we were advised that he was reading on an 11th grade level! Sure I know my wife, Ann, works with him at home, that she and Andrew read many hours each week for enjoyment, and Ann recently turned a den in our home into a well-stocked and cozy library, but my point is, when I hear complaints that so many public school kids can hardly read at their own grade level, it tells me the double cost we Catholics pay to educate our kids is well worth it!
Double cost? Yes, Catholics pay taxes that support the public school system, and then we do not put our kids in them (which would make them even more crowded), but instead we send them to Catholic school and we get to pay tuitions and expenses through the nose again to keep them there.
I know there are rough
times ahead for the Catholic Church, and we may have to kick
a few butts of both clergymen and civilians and propel them out
the door, if they are perverts, and make sure they're punished
for their crimes. Their crimes are not the crimes of all the
many others who are caring, loving and hard working individuals.
They work for Jesus Christ and serve his “flock” throughout
the world in His Catholic Church day in and day out. Our Catholic
faith in Jesus Christ will see us through these days, too. Until
then, on behalf of all Catholics, directed to those who would
falsely accuse our Church, I would repeat what my father said;
“The same God who judges me will judge you, and I’m
clean as a hound's tooth. How are you?”
© 2002 by Andy Murcia. The cartoons are from IMSI's Master
Clips Collection, 1895 Francisco Blvd. E., San Rafael, CA, 94901-5506,
USA.
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