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A new report finds that up to 7 percent of Boston priests serving in the past 53 years have been accused of sexual abuse. 7 percent. That means that if you were a kid going to CCD or involved in the church in a capacity where you were alone with a priest, you had about a 1 in 14 shot at getting diddled by a figure that not only represented trustworthy authority, but was the representative of your religion. The human emissary of God. That's severely f**ked up.

The fact that an organization with this institutional problem and even families in the parish could let this cancer fester for so long is even more screwed up. Growing up Catholic, the sexual tendencies and frustrations of a lot of these folks seemed pretty obvious to me. In fact, I found that a lot of the people that were most heavily involved with the church were just plain creepy. The deeper in you went, the greater the mental illness.

I'll never forget one priest I ran across at my ex-girlfriend's sister's wedding, when I was about 18. I started chatting with the guy at the reception, and he tells me to sit down next to him, making small talk about whether or not I'm next to get married. As the conversation turned a bit weird and he put his hand on my shoulder, I excused myself and tried to get up. He literally yanked me back down and insisted on continuing our conversation, pulling in physically closer this time. At which point I removed his hand from my shoulder, excused myself once again, got up and beat a hasty retreat. I had to ask myself: did what I think just happened actually happen? The answer was yes, I was hit on by a drunk priest in the middle of a reception after a wedding.

Now I was 18, so I wasn't a minor, but I highly doubt that a guy that reckless, stupid, aggressive and liberal with the "blood of Christ" would make distinctions between an 18 year-old and a 16 year-old, much less a minor with whom he might have more private access. Especially a kid enamored or awed by the power and mysticism of the church.

"Thank God" I was an atheist by my second year of CCD.

Posted by Bill at February 27, 2004 10:49 AM | TrackBack (3)

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