This is What the PA Grand Jury Learned About Sex Abuse in the Catholic Church
By Hemant Mehta
https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2018/08/27/this-is-what-the-pa-grand-jury-learned-about-sex-abuse-in-the-catholic-church/

The video below, part of The Atheist Voice series, discusses the recent revelations in Pennsylvania about the Catholic Church child sex abuse scandal.

As you may have heard, a Pennsylvania grand jury recently released a report about the child sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. They only looked at 6 of the 8 dioceses in the state and still produced a report that was more than 1300 pages long and implicated more then 300 priests and bishops and other Catholic leaders.

Many of them are dead. Some of the stories were heavily redacted because the priests are alive and haven’t been charged with a crime. In some cases, the statute of limitations has long expired. But this was always about documenting the abuses more than anything.

When you read this report and realize it’s just one group of priests in one state, you have to wonder what the stories would look like if a similar document was produced across the country, if not the world.

And I want to tell you some of what they found. Not because it’s disturbing — and it’s really disturbing — but because this stuff had been going on for decades. The Church knew about it. They covered it up. They transferred priests to different parishes. They told families they would take care of the problem and never did.

If you are giving money to the Catholic Church, or you attend Mass, or you even call yourself a Catholic at this point, you should know what it is you’re supporting.

Here’s just a sampling. And if this is too much to take, click away now. This is your warning.

One priest fondled at least 12 different boys by saying he was just showing them “how to check for cancer.”

One priest raped an underage girl, got her pregnant, then paid for her abortion. His Bishop later wrote in a letter, “This is a very difficult time in your life, and I realize how upset you are. I too share your grief.” That letter was addressed to the priest, not his victim.

One priest admitted to molesting approximately 35 boys because sex with girls was “sinful” but raping boys didn’t violate them.

One priest tried having sex with a 17-year-old at a high school he worked at by saying God wanted them to express love for each other that way. When she said God would punish them, he told her, “there is no Hell.”

One priest forced a nine-year-old boy to give him a blowjob, then washed his mouth out with holy water “to purify him.”

There was a priest who dragged a child across a room by his underwear and beat him with a metal cross. He eventually quit the priesthood… but not before receiving a letter of recommendation from the Church for his new job… at Disney World.

One priest molested a 12-year-old boy. That victim is 83 now, and he said he’s fought in wars, but because of what that priest did to him, he could never hug or kiss his own children, who were boys. He can’t shake hands with men to this day. He can’t even see male doctors or dentists.

One priest was known to take pictures in a boys’ locker room and maintained a book of “crotch shots.”

One priest fondled a boy and stuck his finger up the kid’s ass. Then he said to the boy that if their secret ever got out, the child and his mother would both burn in hell. Then he gave the boy a nickel.

You can read more about the horrific details here.

A rough transcript of the video can be found on the YouTube page in the “About” section.

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