Last week the Vatican officially protested raids on the home of a cardinal who is accused of sexual abuse. They were looking for evidence, and also went into some church offices. And the Vatican protests this. Yet another reason to question what the Vatican thinks is the correct way to deal with the very real possibility of massive and ongoing illegal behavior in the ranks of the clergy. So far, my impression of what they do is write a letter or two, turn the page, maybe transfer the priest, you know? Nobody is kicking anybody out. That’s for sure. If the police want to get involved, I say go for it.

The Vatican officially expressed “shock” and “indignation” at the way the raids were carried out. To which I say… so what? They need to get over the idea that they are somehow above the law or that they can police themselves. Not happening. And they don’t care that it’s not happening, you know? And that’s the problem. If anyone could really believe that they are trying to do something about it, what would be the story? Ok. Let’s work with the police to investigate this guy. Let’s turn over computer files and anything else that the police want to see. You do not express “shock” and “indignation” if you are trying to do something about a problem with sexual abuse within your clergy. You would not be shocked if you knew about it because you were helping the authorities, or indignation, which can mean anything from annoyance to righteous anger. Either of those mean that you think there is not a problem and that the police should stay out of your business. But that’s just the point- the police need to be in your business because you are not even in your business. What do you think will happen if the police do raids and see what is on the cardinals’ computers and other places? Let them look, otherwise it’s what you are hiding that is the problem. After all that has happened over the last year or two with the sexual abuse scandals, you would think that the church would be all about cooperating and not hiding everything anymore. Not the case.

Oh, well.

The Catholic church continues to complain about the violation of privacy of the sexual abuse victims and the fact that some of the police investigators when into a cardinal’s tomb in the cathedral. These are distraction tactics, and miss the point entirely of what is going on here. If the church truly believes that those two things are more important than bringing justice to the Church, then they are way off base.

What needs to happen: All Catholic Churches everywhere need to open up their offices and computer files to the police. The police need to look at them, and then decide what to do about it, what to do with the info. Then we go from there.

No more “shock” or “indignation.” Just open.

Photo Credit: shelmac