Thursday, February 09, 2012

Cardinal Edward Egan Rescinds Apology For The Catholic Sex-Abuse Scandal

The hubris and moral bankruptcy of the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy is breath taking at times. One has to wonder what planet these nasty douche bags come from. A glaring case in point is Cardinal Edward Egan, former Archbishop of New York, and further back in his clerical career, one of Cardinal Bernard Law's enforcers who intimidated victims and their families in the Boston archdiocese from speaking out about sexual abuse by priest. In short, in my view, Egan is nothing less than an accessory to the sexual abuse of children and youth. Yet the pompous bastard now has had the audacity to withdraw the apology he once made for the sex abuse scandal. I ask again, how can anyone with a shred of moral decency support the Church hierarchy and financially support these foul men? The Business Insider has details on Egan's arrogant action. Here are some highlights:

St. John Chrysostom, once said "The road to hell is paved with the skulls of bishops." Here's proof that he was right.

In an interview this week with Connecticut Magazine, Cardinal Edward Egan, withdrew his 2002 apology for the Church's handling of the sex-abuse scandal, which was once read in all New York parishes.

A decade after that letter, the former archbishop of New York, and former bishop of Bridgeport, now describes the handling of the priest-abuse crisis under his watch as “incredibly good.” He said of the letter, "I never should have said that,” and added, “I don’t think we did anything wrong.”

“I never had one of these sex abuse cases.” he said, before adding pompously, “If you have another bishop in the United States who has the record I have, I’d be happy to know who he is.” He also claimed that the Church had no obligation to report abuse to the civil authorities. These are lies, strutting around with pride.

Bishop Egan ran a diocese that was notoriously dangerous for children. Contrary to his claim, during his twelve-year enthronement at Bridgeport, Egan repeatedly failed to investigate priests where there were obvious signs of abuse, according to The Hartford Courant. His diocese had to settle the cases and awarded victims some $12-15 million in damages.

In short: Egan coddled child-abusers, and persecuted decent priests during his ignominious reign as a Prince of the Church. His entire interview reeks of a narcissism and self-regard that is so palpable it makes your eyes water.

Again, speaking as a Catholic, God is merciful with those who repent and do penance.
It is time for Egan to repent before his victims and before God.

And sadly, Egan seems to be the norm within the Church hierarchy: pompous, arrogant, contemptuous of others, and utterly devoid of decency and even minimal morality.

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