2
1
1
71. Those who sexually abuse boys may not commune even when death approaches.
Laws are not written to protect children from things that don't occur and if the church enforced these laws today, the number of clerics receiving communion the world over would drop significantly.
The Eleventh Century: St. Peter Damian's Letter 31, the Book of Gomorrah (Liber Gomorrhianus), Randy Engel says it is "the most extensive treatment and condemnation by any Church Father of clerical pederasty and homosexual practices. [2] His manly discourse on the vice of sodomy in general and clerical homosexuality and pederasty in particular, is written in a plain and forthright style that makes it quite readable and easy to understand." 2
Pierre J. Prayer
translated Peter Damian's work and in his introduction, he makes this comment:
"One of his consistent themes was an attack on the sexual immorality of the
clergy and the laxness of the superiors who refused to take a strong hand
against it." 3
We can take away two things from this book. 1. The problem of sexual immorality had to be so widespread that Damian deemed it necessary to write this treatise in a time when writing was a tedious job done with quill and ink on very expensive paper. 2. If the Church Fathers had disagreed with Peter Damian, his treatise the on sexual immorality of the clergy would have never survived and he would never have attained sainthood.
The Seventeenth Century
From Karen Liebreich's book Fallen Order: "One of Fr. Calasanz's recruits in particular, Father Stephano Cherubini, was to prove a disaster. Cherubini was dogged throughout his career by allegations of inappropriate behaviour with pupils, but his powerful family ties and connections with the Inquisition made Calasanz wary of expelling him. Instead, he invented that staple of the Catholic church in subsequent centuries when faced with paedophile priests - he promoted him, writing to the priest he charged with clearing this up: "I want you to know that your reverence's sole aim is to cover up this great shame in order that it does not come to the notice of our superiors"4
The Twenty-First Century:
From the Boston Globe referring to Cardinal Law: "He knew about allegations that John J. Geoghan, the now-convicted child molester, had been attacking little boys and returned him to parish work nevertheless.
Law knew that the Rev. Peter J. Frost was an admitted sex addict and child abuser and still held open the prospect of future ministry for him." 5
Author's note: There are numerous books such as Sons of Perdition by Jay Nelson or Sex, Priests, and Secret Codes: The Catholic Church's 2,000 Year Paper Trail of Sexual Abuse by Doyle, Sipe, and Wal dedicated to chronicling clerical sexual abuse both over its long and sordid history as well as during specific periods.
We can therefore deduce the following about the culture of the church regarding clerical sexual abuse:
1. Any member of the hierarchy who even attempts to claim ignorance of clerical sexual abuse or its history in the church is either a liar or an ignoramus.
2. Celibacy and complete Chastity are unattainable myths. If the combined force, intelligence and fear of God commanded by the church over a millennium cannot teach priests to adhere to their vows, the vow is impossible to keep.
3. It is said that is repeatedly doing the same thing over and over again for centuries and expecting a different outcome is insanity. Celibacy and chastity belong under this definition.
4. Clerical child abuse has been going on uninterrupted in the RCC for a millennium and a half. These are not new crimes; just old ones getting new publicity.
