US Women Priests weigh in on church pedophile scandal

[eridani]

http://www.alternet.org/story/146239/dissident_catholic_bishop_calls_for_pope_to_resign_over_sex_abuse_scandal?page=entire

Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman spoke with Bridget Mary Meehan, spokesperson for Roman Catholic Womenpriests on the growing scandal.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, for more on this story, I’m joined now from Tampa, Florida by Bridget Mary Meehan. She’s a former Catholic nun who’s now a spokesperson for Roman Catholic Womenpriests. In 2006, Meehan was ordained as a priest by three female bishops. She’s now a bishop, though her ordination is not recognized by the Vatican. In a recent article, she calls for accountability within the Church and the creation of an independent truth commission.

Welcome to Democracy Now!, Bridget Mary Meehan. How massive is this crisis right now?

BRIDGET MARY MEEHAN: The main thing that has happened is a betrayal of Catholics. Catholics have faith—have had faith in their leaders, that they were people of integrity. And what has happened is they have discovered that there have been case after case of sexual abuse of children and vulnerable youth that has been covered up. And the cover-up, unfortunately, goes all the way to the top. It goes to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, of which Pope Benedict, when he was Cardinal Ratzinger, headed.

And the Lawrence Murphy case in Wisconsin showed that the Vatican actually ignored the bishops of Wisconsin, who asked for a defrocking of Father Murphy, who, allegations said, abused up to 200 children. And Father Murphy went to Cardinal Ratzinger, wrote a letter to him appealing this proposed trial that would defrock him, and obviously he was allowed to continue his ministry for the next, I believe, twenty-four years of being with vulnerable children and continuing the abuse.

So what is happening is that the institutional church, in case after case, has ignored often the cries of the victims for justice. They have sided with protecting the institution from scandal and have conducted these secretive trials, beginning in 2001, in the Vatican, these canonical trials, which the Vatican officials actually said they covered 2,000 or 3,000 cases, and 20 percent of those 3,000 cases they actually dealt with. And a very small percentage of those priests, ten percent, I believe, according to their statistics, were even defrocked. So it was a very small number of priests have been punished.

[eridani]

1. I never even knew there were women priests

Probably not recognized by the Vatican, but it seems an obvious way to avoid pedophiles.

[TorchTheWitch]

2. says right in the OP that they aren't recognized by the Vatican

The RCC has never allowed women in the clergy. They're only allowed to be lowly nuns.