Deliver Us From this Evil

[Update: The court okayed the out pay of $660 million from the LA diocese.]

So, the LA diocese is going to fork out $600 million for the victims of sexual abuse. I wonder if that includes the victims featured in a documentary I saw, 'Deliver Us From Evil.' If you watch the trailer, take note of the priest, Cardinal Roger Mahoney, at the end in all his obstructionist glory - bishop of the diocese of Los Angeles. Mahoney had the raw audacity to say this: "There really is no way to go back and give them that innocence that was taken from them. The one thing I wish I could give the victims ... I cannot," Mahony said. "Once again, I apologize to anyone who has been offended, who has been abused. It should not have happened and should not ever happen again." Mahoney has headed the LA diocese since 1985 so who else is responsible? It only happened because Mahoney was the one making it happen.

In 2000-2001, I was attending Ursuline College in Ohio, majoring in Religious Studies, close to graduating in fact. I was fairly active in our parish, St. Pius X in Bedford, as an Eucharistic minister and a member of the Social Justice committee. This was the setting I found myself when the pedophilia scandal broke wide in Boston. The manner in which Cardinal Bernard Law in Boston handled the crisis, and most certainly as Bishop Anthony Pilla of Cleveland handled what went on there - my involvement in our parish and in the church began to seriously wan. I was thoroughly sickened and disgusted by what went on. Even more sickened when one nun in particular defended the priests involved from the Cleveland diocese. It was a battle to not lose respect for her as she had been involved in Comunidades Eclesiales de Base in El Salvador, along with my favorite priest - Fr. Bob, who truly had a genuine knack for short, sweet, to-the-point homilies. [We were in church at 9:00, out by 9:47 am, no later than 9:50 am, and usually sitting at 'Chris's Restaurant' by 10:00 am for breakfast. The thing with Fr. Bob, those homilies were hard-hitting, thought-provoking, and on the money, AND he always had props. He was the prop king.]

I returned home to Idaho in summer 2002 and have yet to return to church. I've tried; I'm simply not interested and part of the reason is the betrayal described in this film, Deliver Us From Evil. The movie documents the tactics by Cardinal Mahoney, who had the gall today to say this: "There is no way to go back and give them their innocence." Mahoney was the most evasive and greatest of hinderances, obstructing justice. He, as well as the priests who perpetrated the abuse heaped on girls, as well as boys, should be in jail. There isn't a hell hot enough for the likes of this scum. Another, more local example, a priest who happened to end up in Boise, Fr. Mel Baltazar, was "an extern priest from the Philippines, Baltazar has a history of abuse of boys over a 20 year period while serving Diocese of Cleveland, Diocese of Philippines, US Navy, Diocese of Boise, Idaho, and Diocese of San Diego. He served as chaplain at an area hospital, pleading guilty to lewd conduct "with a 15-year-old boy he met while serving as chaplain at St. Alphonsus RMC in Boise. Prosecutors dropped additional abuse charges in return for the plea." Cleveland, Boise, San Diego . . . . .

Fine example of those who claim they are the representatives of Christ on earth, don't ya think?