Australian Priest: State Must Act Against Catholic Church

It is refreshing to see someone within the Catholic Church clergy admitting that the Church hierarchy has engaged in criminal activity in the cover ups of sexual abuse of children and youths.  I suspect that Jesuit priest Frank Brennan may face repercussions for his honesty and underscoring of the fact that the Church cannot be left to police itself or properly deal with sexual predators because the hierarchy is part of the criminal conspiracy.  Hopefully, Australia will act against the Church contrary to what has occurred in the USA where no high clerics have been prosecuted.  Here are highlights from The Age:

THE Catholic Church will need state intervention to resolve the crisis surrounding sexual abuse of children by priests, according to noted jurist and Jesuit priest Frank Brennan.

''Where there is a social organisation within the democracy with a proven and self-admitted case of ongoing criminal activity, and it's related to very vulnerable children, the state should intervene,'' he said.

Delivering the annual Law and Justice Oration in Sydney's Parliament House on Wednesday night, Professor Brennan said: ''Clearly, the church itself cannot be left alone to get its house in order. That would be a wrongful invocation of freedom of religion in a pluralist, democratic society.''

His comments echo those made by RMIT professor and former priest Des Cahill to the state inquiry into the church handling of clergy sex abuse.

 

Professor Brennan said that as politicians decided how to proceed, they needed the help of ''lawyers committed to justice, not lawyers acting primarily to protect the church or to condemn it''.

Professor Brennan said in his oration that any problems in the Catholic Church needed to be identified for the good of all citizens, not just Catholics.

''At the moment, there is little more that any Catholic priest can credibly say on this issue in the public square. I make this plea to all lawyers having a commitment to justice. While putting aside any religious prejudice, please contribute fearlessly to the debate.''

 Would that we would see a single bishop or cardinal in America call out the Church for the criminal organization it is in fact.  No, instead they focus their efforts on depriving LGBT citizens of civil rights while coddling and protecting child rapists.