More Evidence of Catholic Child Rape and Conspiracy in the U.S.

Timothy Dolan, Roman Catholic Archbishop of New York (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It is a question one often hears from atheists: "How can someone possibly believe in gods in this day and age?" It is a fair question to ask, and we recognize that there are many different answers. Individual religious believers have different motives for setting aside reality.

I wish this was the question I was asking today, but it is not. Instead, I find myself once again asking how any decent person could be aware of all the abuse scandals involving the Catholic Church and of all the evidence of deliberate attempts by high-ranking church officials to conceal these crimes and still maintain any association with this corrupt criminal organization.

In April of 2012, I wrote a post titled As Catholic Child Rape Details Emerge in Court, What Are Catholics Waiting For? In it, I asked a version of this same question:

What would the Catholic Church have to do in order for American Catholics to leave in droves? How bad does this have to get before Catholics wake up?

Remember what happened for decades at Catholic-run reform schools in Ireland? Remember Christian Brothers in Australia? How about England and Wales? How about the Netherlands? Germany? And for the Americans who refuse to look beyond their borders, remember what happened in Philadelphia or Missouri? No? Connecticut? How about the 200 deaf boys in Wisconsin? You must remember them! On and on it goes, with no end in sight and apparently no limits to the depravity of this organization.

I find myself asking this question again today in anticipation of the release of records from 42 priests' personnel files and deposition transcripts from New York cardinal Timothy Dolan, described by some as the highest ranking Catholic official in the U.S. Here is how The Journal Sentinel described what we expect to be released today at 1:00 pm:

According to interviews and court records, the documents are expected to include: details about how church officials shuttled abusive priests from one parish or school to the next without divulging their histories; correspondence between the archdiocese and the Vatican, which has the final word on defrocking priests; evidence that the archdiocese under Dolan paid some priests to accept that decision without protest; and graphic accounts of sexual assault of young people.

Once again, I call on all American Catholics to wake up. You are enabling evil, and it is becoming impossible to excuse or ignore. Please do the right thing and leave the Catholic Church. It has betrayed basic human decency and must be held accountable.

H/T to Friendly Atheist