Bishop accountability

Well, here's a post that's not going to be very pleasant, but then again ... not all things in life are pleasant, are they?

I was reading the Boston Globe online during lunch today and saw this front-page story about a non-profit group that is archiving the massive amount of documents and information related to the scandal surrounding the Catholic Church and the abuse by some of its priests.

I was raised Catholic and, from seventh grade through high school, attended Catholic school. Those of you who know me personally and those who don't and read my random list about me that I blogged about recently know that I'm not a religious person and don't believe in god. Coincidence? Hardly.

Anyway, so I'm reading this story and out of curiosity I decided to check out the organization's website, bishopaccountability.org.

One section of the website lets you search for accused priests by state, then by Diocese, in my case, Worcester, MA. When I started looking at the list, I nearly did a spit take with my water. I saw three priests on the list that I knew personally. Two of the priests on the list were teachers at the high school I attended, and one was the headmaster of the junior high school at which I was a student.

Fortunately, I was never a victim of one of these guys and I have to admit that in looking at their names and thinking about it for a few minutes, I'm not really surprised to see them on the list. In each case, I remember (even as a kid) thinking something just wasn't quite right about these guys, but I couldn't put my finger on it. According to the list, one priest was arrested but found not guilty, another was asked to resign and is being sued by an alleged victim and the third is named in a pending civil suit and settled yet another suit.

I should say that I have no personal knowledge of any of these guys abusing any of my fellow classmates. But, settling a lawsuit doesn't exactly bode well for your presumed innocence, does it? I digress ...

Aside from the whole disgusting and unnerving travesty that is the Catholic Church abuse scandal (I could go on and on about it, but what's the point?), what makes me sick to my stomach is that one of these guys was the person who helped me when I fell down the flight of stairs and split my chin wide open (see #120 in my random list post). Again, he did nothing inappropriate (if I remember correctly, he once said he was a nurse in the armed services and knew how to treat my wound before I went to the hospital) but he came in contact with me. It may have been 25 years ago, but it still makes me a bit nauseous.