Ecclesiastical Two Step

The Catholic Church has figured out how to spin the priest abuse scandal so that it has minimal damage to its reputation. Initially, the Church played the “blame the liberal media” card. When that got old, it moved to “blame the lawyers”. Now, they moved to another phase which can best be described as a public relations two step. Church officials, namely bishops will proclaim from the rooftops that they have established best practices when it comes to ensuring the safety of children and vulnerable populations. Their lawyers then fight behind the scenes to keep their internal documents from public view. Take for example what’s happening in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the Diocese of San Diego. Both defendant dioceses settled their lawsuits over a year ago. Part of the settlement agreement, arguably the most important part of the agreement, was the dissemination of the church’s internal documents concerning their conspiracy of secrecy and coverup in dealing with sexually abusive priests. To date, both Los Angeles and San Diego are fighting to keep those documents from the public! It’s clear they don’t want their secrets and their practices out in the public arena. The fact that these documents remain hidden constitutes a clear and serious danger to the safety and welfare of all children. The abuse doesn’t stop until the secrets reach the light of day. Bad priests, even when removed from the priesthood, will continue to prey upon young victims if the truth about them is not known. The documents must be given to the public. It’s time to stop this ecclesiastical two step.