Santorum church sex-abuse redux

Rick Santorum on the Catholic Church's sex abuse scandal in 2002 [emphasis mine]

"It is startling that those in the media and academia appear most disturbed by this aberrant behavior, since they have zealously promoted moral relativism by sanctioning "private" moral matters such as alternative lifestyles. Priests, like all of us, are affected by culture. When the culture is sick, every element in it becomes infected. While it is no excuse for this scandal, it is no surprise that Boston, a seat of academic, political and cultural liberalism in America, lies at the center of the storm." [Catholic Online]

Rick Santorum defending his statements & clarifying the above in 2003 [emphasis mine]

"In this case, what we're talking about, basically, is priests who were having sexual relations with post-pubescent men. We're not talking about priests with 3-year-olds, or 5-year-olds. We're talking about a basic homosexual relationship. Which, again, according to the world view sense is a perfectly fine relationship as long as it's consensual between people. If you view the world that way, and you say that's fine, you would assume that you would see more of it." [AP]

The facts about sexual molestation by Catholic Priests in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, at least some of what the church admitted to a grand-jury according to this morning's Inky [emphasis mine]:

• There were more than 50 abusers, stretching back to the 1940s. About half abused more than one child; one priest allegedly victimized at least 12. In all, there were more than 100 victims.
• Children were assaulted in summer camps, Shore houses, schools, parish rectories, the seminary - even in churches themselves.
• Abusers were in positions of power and trust. Six were principals of Catholic high schools.
• The archdiocese for years enforced a rigid code of silence, keeping parishioners in the dark about predatory priests. "You're to keep your mouth shut," one priest was instructed by superiors.
• After offenders left the church, the secrecy allowed some to resurface as teachers or in other jobs that put them in contact with children.
• Even in the rare instances when priests were arrested, they went unpunished by their religious orders or church officials. In three cases, priests kept their collars after being charged with sex crimes.

Rev. Nicholas V. Cudemo allegedly assaulted 8 girls, including one who says she was raped by him when she was ten years old. Another priest has been accused of preying on multiple families: groups of brothers, sisters and cousins of both sexes. A Monsignor assaulted at least 1 set of sisters (molesting one while the other, who shared the same bed, overheard). When molested children sought the help of other priests, they were often "comforted" by a priest who proceeded to molest them and, in at least 4 cases, priests were reassigned and permitted to continue to molesting children in different parishes.

This, of course, has nothing to do with the church's tacit condonation of this behavior by enforcing a code of silence, it has to do with liberal atmosphere surrounding the church infecting it. As well all know, the culture in Philadelphia dating all the way back to the 1940s, like that in Boston, was a sick (read: liberal) one that supported alternative lifestyles that permitted these homosexual deviants to infiltrate the church. The girls? Well, we're not talking about 3-year olds or 5-year olds, so I guess lil Ricky considers them fair game as precociously pubescent jezebels who engaged in basic heterosexual relationships with these priests as well.

Tags: Rick "man on dog" Santorum; Politics; conservatism; child molestation; Catholicism

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