More Catholic Church Sex Abuse Bomb Shells Coming

In the USA the Catholic Church hierarchy continues its anti-gay jihad in the wake of the New York State same sex marriage vote. Meanwhile, the roof is about to blow off again in Ireland where yet another report on the Church's cover ups and malfeasance is soon to be released. And then in Africa - the Church's principal growth market if you will, stories are emerging that demonstrate that the same patterns of abuse and cover up were the norm on that continent as well. Finally, even though the Church has tried to blame the abuse of children and youths on the permissive culture of the late 1960's stories are coming out in the western USA that show the problem was rampant decades before the 1960's. Again I ask, why does anyone listen to members of the Church hierarchy much less give them deference?
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First, on the Irish situation the Irish Times has coverage on the coming release of the Cloyne report which is going to again show the pattern already established in the Murphy report. Here are brief highlights of the background of the soon to be released report:
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What we do know about the Cloyne report is that it contains 26 chapters and is about 400 pages long, and that it includes findings on all 19 of the priests who faced abuse allegations there over the 13-year period investigated. That period stretched from January 1st, 1996, when the Catholic Church in Ireland first introduced child-protection guidelines, to February 1st, 2009.
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The report was the result of an investigation by the Catholic Church’s child-protection watchdog, the National Board for Safeguarding Children, in 2008. The board’s findings were shocking, not least because they illustrated a reckless attitude to child protection on the part of the then bishop of Cloyne, John Magee, who has since resigned.
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The investigation found that Magee, who had been bishop of Cloyne since 1987, allowed the Catholic Church’s guidelines on child protection to be ignored in his diocese despite being party to their introduction in 1996 and to their updating in 2000 and 2005. It also found that the diocesan policy when allegations arose was to provide minimal information to the gardaí and the health authorities. In instances where it did provide information to the civil authorities the diocese named the victim but not the priest alleged to have carried out the abuse.
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[F]ollowing allegations against a priest, meetings of Cloyne’s child-protection management committee were “apparently focused on the needs of the accused priest”. There was “no documentary evidence that the risk to vulnerable children was discussed or considered at any time”, it said.
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Sadly, it's the same everywhere as the growing scandal in Africa reveals. Der Spiegel has a story on what is coming to light in numerous African countries and it's not pretty. Here are a few examples:
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Following a series of abuse cases in Europe and North America, revelations have emerged of sexual abuse by priests in a number of African countries. The case of Father Renato Kizito, who is accused of raping young men in Kenya, shows how local power structures work in favor of the clerics.
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Kizito is well known in Nairobi. He is head of the Koinonia Community, a Christian relief project that tries to help street children. The project provides young people -- mainly boys -- with shelter and education. It pays teachers and gives the youth the opportunity to take part in basic vocational training and sometimes even awards them college scholarships.
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It is not the first time that allegations have been made against him. In the summer of 2009, three young men, who were 16 and 24 years old at the time, swore under oath that they had been sexually abused by him over a long period. One of the men, Benson S., said that the priest had first touched him when he was 15.
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In Kenya, as in most parts of Africa, people of the church have an almost unshakeable authority, especially those who have white skin. Older men, in particular, enjoy a great deal of respect. Besides, it is taboo to confess to homosexual activity. More than anything else, though, it was the material dependence that led many boys and men to remain silent. Many of the victims have testified that the priest gave them small, and in some cases large, sums of money.
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The sexual favors were returned in the form of jobs, cash or loans. Those who didn't play along were fired, threatened or had their money taken away from them. In a country with millions of unemployed people, those are serious means with which to apply pressure.
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The head of the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference publicly admitted that there had been around 40 cases of abuse of minors within the Church since 1996 alone. In 2010, the archbishop of Benin resigned amid accusations of sexual abuse. The priest denied the allegations, saying that the sexual contact had been consensual and that the woman had been 21 years old and therefore above the age of consent.
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As for what happened years before the 1960's, the New York Times has a lengthy article. In particular, Native American and Hispanic youths were the victims. The Church hierarchy turned a blind eye.