With justice undone again, it’s vital we take a stand
HOW could you send your child to a Catholic school?
Yes, I accept many will see this as a provocative question. But surely it is pertinent and valid in light of the latest horror episode of Australian Catholic priesthood involvement in paedophilia that is a current a media hot topic.
The highest-ranked Catholic leader in the world to be convicted of a crime associated with concealing sex abuse, Philip Edward Wilson, has suffered no formal Church punishment and remains Archbishop of Adelaide.
It appears he is to be given the most lenient imaginable punishment of six months confined to his home (Catholic’s free pass, GCB. 4/7/18). A tragic mockery of justice, if it happens.
One victim of a paedophile priest that the Archbishop protected says the church risks becoming a laughing stock if the Vatican does not act punitively. But this is no laughing matter.
It is an accepted reality that thousands of defenceless children around the world (or tens or hundreds of that number) lost their innocence in the most dehumanising and disgusting way at the hands of men and women who allegedly were devoted to serving an all-loving, all-merciful and all-just god.
How do parents reconcile this by still placing their youngsters in the Catholic education system after the never-ending torrent of sacrilege uncovered around the globe? Sure, the fees are frequently less than otherwise and a strict disciplinary regime is usually associated. But conscripting children to this discredited organisation is merely perpetuating a tragic cycle that ravished innocents for generations. Let’s not even visit the Inquisition.
I was the product of a Christian Brothers’ education but was fortunate to suffer only physical abuse, not sexual (though it was a close-run thing on occasion). One of my sisters was not so fortunate and was seduced by a nun at St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne.
Having entered the University of Melbourne at age 16 doing honours in psychology and philosophy she took to nursing and was dead at 24 through an overdose after her rapacious treatment by a senior church figure.
When my parents subsequently took their concerns to the Archbishop of Melbourne he told them he would do nothing because it would create a scandal. The nun was transferred to the same position at St Vincent’s in Sydney a year later. So much for love, mercy and justice.
While I have held my tongue on far too many occasions (and most not to do with this issue) over many decades and feel commensurate guilt, it remains a fact that those who fail to act against injustice and evil condone it as deeply by their silence as the perpetrators.
If the Catholic Church won’t change of its own volition, good and decent people must attempt to induce change by appropriate protest actions. Avoiding the Catholic education system is a reasonable response.