Catholic Order Calls Predator Priest a "Church Treasure"

Outside of perhaps the Christofascist element in the GOP party base and the professional Christian set, there are few people more out of touch with reality and inhabiting an alternate universe than the Catholic Church hierarchy and the leaders of Catholic religious orders.   They have no compassion or empathy with others, especially women and minors, and they are such self-absorbed and self-congratulatory narcissists that  they fail to even recognize what among anyone else would amount to common decency.  How else to explain calling a convicted serial child rapist a Church "treasure"?  That's exactly what a Patrician Brothers newsletter called Patrician Brother Thomas Grealy who had been convicted of molestation and buggery charges in 1997.  Oh, and then there's the fact that Grealy was never expelled from the ranks of the clergy.  These people are truly unbelievable in their obtuseness, insensitivity and moral bankruptcy.  Here are highlights from ABC News on this travesty:

The head of the Patrician Brothers in Australia has apologised after a brother jailed for child sexual abuse was referred to as a "treasure" in a church publication.   Patrician Brother Thomas Grealy was convicted of molestation and buggery charges in 1997.

He spent four years in jail for the rape and indecent assault of two boys when he was principal at the Patrician Brothers' Primary School at Granville in Western Sydney.

During his trial the court heard Brother Augustine, as Grealy was then known, would cover the statue of the Virgin Mary in his office with a coat to hide his shame before abusing the nine and 10-year-old boys in his care.

Not only does he remain a Patrician brother, but in a September newsletter Grealy is pictured standing alongside leaders of the Patricians in Australia and is referred to in the caption as one of three "Patrician treasures".

Lawyer Jason Parkinson represents five men who allege they were abused by Grealy in the 1970s.  "It's had such a detrimental effect on their life that there's been a number of suicide attempts and a number of serious issues in relation to self-harm," he said. 

"[I] just couldn't believe that the order would refer to a child molester as a treasure.  "It just goes beyond belief that they would even be inviting him to remain within their group. He should've been shunned, should've been sent away. Shouldn't be allowed in the order."

Nearly 40 years later, Mr Parkinson said the Patrician Brothers had not taken responsibility for Grealy's behaviour and was squabbling with The Archdiocese of Sydney over responsibility. "It was just terrible that Catholic orders and the Archdiocese and the Catholic Church itself can arrange their affairs in such a way that they can attempt to escape liability and responsibility," Mr Parkinson said.  "There's no other organizations in Australia that can do that."

Remind me again, how does anyone moral remain a member of the Roman Catholic Church?  There are few institutions on the face of the earth that are less suited to lecture anyone else on what's moral and/or seek to inflict their warped and toxic dogma on everyone else.