Demonic: New Report Exposes Horrors of Child Sex Abuse in Pennsylvania’s Catholic Church

How does a person of faith read this story and not weep, in their spirit? How do you hear of these things done to the most vulnerable and weak in our society, done by those who are to uphold the Word of God and be a light in the world, and not be overcome by righteous anger?

I don’t think there is a way. I think, for a person of faith, you go through it, you allow yourselves to feel everything you feel, and then you call out the guilty.

Make no mistake. The world is watching, and this is a powerful weapon for the enemy of God’s people to use, so there is no freedom to treat this with kid gloves.

Evil is in the church.

Of course, I’m speaking of the grand jury report that came out on Tuesday of six Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania, detailing the events surrounding over 300 priests and the sexual abuse of more than 1,000 children.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro is calling it the “largest, most comprehensive report” of this kind, covering child sex abuse in the Catholic Church in the United States’ history.

Before we rip into this disgusting, wicked thing, let’s be clear that the report goes back more than 70 years, to 1947. At some point, it must have intersected with the reports from the earlier Catholic child abuse scandal that emerged in the 80s and 90s.

We need to be equally clear that this isn’t just a problem with the Catholic Church in the United States, either. Other nations have had similar issues of reported, even substantiated abuse, that resulted in predator priests being shuffled around, rather than outed and served due punishment for their crimes by the church hierarchy. Most recently, Australia and Chile have had to deal with the scandal.

What do they think they’re doing? Sure. They hid those abominable crimes from the world, for a time, but did they think they were hiding them from God? Were they willing to take on God’s wrath, because protecting the reputation of the Catholic Church was more important than being obedient to God’s Word?

They did the wrong thing.

And no, this is not an attack on the Catholic Church, alone. The Protestant church has its own list of failings.

The facts are, the church Body, as a whole, meaning every denomination of the Christian faith, wrestles against their own flesh and the draw of sin. How the Body responds when these issues arise matters. Those who are waiting on us to show them our God need to see us willing to stand against what is evil, even when it is one of our own.

“We believe that the real number of children whose records were lost or who were afraid ever to come forward is in the thousands,” the grand jury report says.

“Priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing; they hid it all. For decades. Monsignors, auxiliary bishops, bishops, archbishops, cardinals have mostly been protected; many, including some named in this report, have been promoted. Until that changes, we think it is too early to close the book on the Catholic Church sex scandal.”

The dioceses in Philadelphia and Altoona-Johnstown were not a part of this report, but were investigated earlier, and also yielded instances of abuse.

“There have been other reports about child sex abuse within the Catholic Church. But never on this scale,” the grand jurors wrote in Tuesday’s report.

“For many of us, those earlier stories happened someplace else, someplace away. Now we know the truth: it happened everywhere.”

How depressing.

How enraging.

Will anyone pay for this?

Not enough, considering that many of the reports are well past the statute of limitations on such cases. A priest in Erie and another in Greensburg will face charges, but to date, that’s it.

Investigators say more charges may come, as they press on.

Some of the cases listed in the report are so vile and detestable, it is not an overreaction to say that this wasn’t just a case of weak flesh, but something absolutely demonic in origin.

Among the gross details of what sounds like a text book case of predatory behavior – victims given alcohol, then groped, molested, or raped – there are the reports that push the boundaries of disgust.

These cases were all covered up by the Catholic Church leadership.

Another priest in Greensburg groomed middle-school students for sex, according to the grand jury, by telling them that Mary had to “bite off the cord” and “lick” Jesus clean after the Nativity.

What?

In Harrisburg, a priest abused five sisters from the same family and collected samples of their urine, pubic hair and menstrual blood.

Also in Harrisburg, a priest raped a 7-year-old girl who was in the hospital after her tonsils were removed, according to the report.

In Pittsburgh, church officials said that a 15-year-old boy “pursued” and “literally seduced” a priest. A church report later acknowledged that the priest had admitted to “sado-masochistic” activities with several boys.

A priest in Allentown, Pennsylvania admitted to sexually abusing young boys and sought help, but was kept in his ministry for several more years.

Also in Allentown, a priest who had abused several boys, according to the grand jury, was given a recommendation to work at Disney World.

Yes. Disney World is the perfect place for the Catholic Church to send a child molester.

One of the cases reported involved a young boy forced to stand on a bed, nude, and in the pose of Jesus Christ on the cross, as priests took pictures and circulated the sacrilegious child pornography as part of a collection of photos in their kiddie porn stash.

The report is opening old wounds, for sure, but to be clear, if these are things that are still happening, and there was widespread failure on the part of the Catholic Church to address this corruption in its ranks adequately, then it is a wound that need to be reopened and properly treated.

The sad reality is that even as the Catholic Church determines how best to deal with pedophile priests, it  cannot buy back the innocence of those children.

The damage is beyond the physical and mental. These are things that can be dealt with, though the process is often long and arduous.

The kind of damage these priests inflicted was the deeper, spiritual damage. They infected the image of God with the image of horrific abuse.

They traded God’s truth for their own lusts. They used their positions of godly authority for their own corrupt purposes.

In July, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Archbishop Theodore McCarrick from the College of Cardinals, one of the church’s most powerful bodies, amid allegations of molestation and sexual misconduct. McCarrick, 88, had been a popular and politically influential leader in Washington. He maintained his innocence in June against some claims and has been unavailable to comment on others.

The sexual abuse accusations against McCarrick reveal a “grievous moral failure” within the Catholic Church, the president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops said July 31.

“Our Church is suffering from a crisis of sexual morality,” Daniel DiNardo said. “The way forward must involve learning from past sins.”

Indeed, but as this new report seems to suggest, the path to this point has not included the necessary changes, but rather, shows that the Church has only learned how to cover up and protect the abusers, through the years.

Matthew 18:6 ABPE –  “And everyone who commits an offense against one of these little ones who believe in me, it were profitable for him that a donkey’s millstone would be hung around his neck and he be sunk in the depths of the sea.”