Enough!

But then there are the children, and what am I to do about them? That's a question I can't answer. For the hundredth time I repeat, there are numbers of questions, but I've only taken the children, because in their case what I mean is so unanswerably clear. Listen! If all must suffer to pay for the eternal harmony, what have children to do with it, tell me, please? It's beyond all comprehension why they should suffer, and why they should pay for the harmony. Why should they, too, furnish material to enrich the soil for the harmony of the future? I understand solidarity in sin among men. I understand solidarity in retribution, too; but there can be no such solidarity with children.

If just one of the seemingly endless parade of Catholic pedophile-rapist apologists would shut up for five fucking seconds about the so-called damage recent events are causing to the "Universal Church," and say something, anything, about the untold thousands of children abused and raped for fuck knows how many years under the knowing "auspices" of the Church, I might not be clacking away angrily at my keyboard right now.

Well, I've had enough, and frankly I don't give a shit about the Catholic Church, and I don't give a shit if anyone reading this is offended.

Connecticut bishops fight sex abuse bill:

A bill in Connecticut's legislature that would remove the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse cases has sparked a fervent response from the state's Roman Catholic bishops, who released a letter to parishioners Saturday imploring them to oppose the measure.

Under current Connecticut law, sexual abuse victims have 30 years past their 18th birthday to file a lawsuit. The proposed change to the law would rescind that statute of limitations.

The proposed change to the law would put "all Church institutions, including your parish, at risk," says the letter, which was signed by Connecticut's three Roman Catholic bishops.

Here, and in many other examples, the message is clear: the institution of the Church is more important than the rights of those who have been abused, and more important in fact than actually bringing criminals to justice. (It's almost a variation of "too big to fail." How long before we see a Catholic Church IPO?)

The Church would have us believe, somewhat fantastically, that it is the victim in all of this reporting and talking about pedophile rapist priests and its own attempts to shut everybody up about it. According to Ross Douthat (wingnut and Catholic apologist of The New York Times; that link and the following one via Christopher Hitchens), in 2002 (then) Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger said the following:

I am personally convinced that the constant presence in the press of the sins of Catholic priests, especially in the United States, is a planned campaign ... to discredit the church.

Much more recently, Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa ("the Pope's personal preacher"), in a sermon attended by the Pope, compared accusations against the Church to the "collective violence" suffered by Jews throughout history.

Again and again and fucking again--no mention of the only people in all of this who can honestly claim to have done some actual suffering: the thousands of children who were raped by Catholic priests. For Christ's sake, this is stupidity bordering on evil.

It seems to me that if the price for preserving the integrity of the "Universal Church" is the silencing of its victims (and they surely are its victims), then maybe its not worth preserving. Tear it the fuck down.