Clergy abuse case filled with silent bystanders

[SecularMotion]

They stared at each other, the detective and the priest. Kelli McIlvain found interrogating him somewhat surreal. She had been raised Catholic and taught that a man in a black clerical shirt and white collar was nothing less than an emissary of God.

Father Donald Patrick Roemer was 5 feet 5, maybe 150 pounds. Hazel eyes. Blondish hair. A Ventura County Sheriff's Office report described him that night as "cooperative, seems stable," though McIlvain remembered how he repeatedly buried his head on the desk and wept.

To her surprise, his confession came easily. Yes, he said, he molested the 7-year-old boy.

McIlvain lit a cigarette. She hushed her voice, slowed her cadence to match his. Were there others, she asked. Yes, he said, according to court papers, and offered name after name.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-church-bystanders-20130626-dto,0,2590497.htmlstory

[trotsky]

1. Very good article.

Really does a great job showing why child abuse in the RCC was and is unique. As the detective said, she was "taught that a man in a black clerical shirt and white collar was nothing less than an emissary of God."

The church needs that image to prevail in the minds of its parishoners. Thus explaining in part why they were so willing to cover up for pedophile priests - the need to maintain that illusion (and the control and power associated with it) is crucial to their hierarchy and institution itself.

[dimbear]

2. As a stopgap measure, parents ought never leave their children alone with priests,

a cautionary step increasingly used, but at a deeper level responsible parents ought to wonder whether they want to continue in an institution which deserves so little trust.