Scandal In The Church
Many years ago I, Deacon Michael's wife, was contacted by a mother who had been referred by a friend. She asked for my advice. Her son had been sexually abused by Fr. Rudy Kos. I told her to speak to the bishop. She told me she had gone to the chancery several times, and the abuse continued for her son and other little boys. Every time she and others sought help they were told they were evil and no one would believe if them they revealed the abuse, so they had better shut up. She may have even tried to get legal help but, as had become a pattern, she was rebuffed by everyone who should have helped. Eventually I told her to contact Wendel Turley, who was a very good lawyer who seemed to hate the Catholic Church, so I knew he would not dismiss or abandon her.
I do not know if this was the woman who brought charges against the Dallas Diocese and Fr. Kos so many years ago, but their attorney was Wendel Turley. I am the “someone they knew” that Deacon Michael refers to.
I believe this sermon from Deacon Michael came after our bishop released a list of priests who thyt said had been credibly identified as sexual predators. Almost all of the priests were long dead. There were a few surprises, but the list left out other priests who had been taken to court and convicted of sexual abuse. This was a matter of public record, but the names were not on the list. The list released by the bishop was another coverup.
On the other hand, it may have been given after the Bishop visited Mary Immaculate to pray and speak to the people about the sex abuse list and scandal that was in the news. During the time when people came to the microphone to tell their stories of abuse, a young man came up and extolled the holiness of his union with his “husband.” He complained about the stories, attacking people who were saying that it was a matter of homosexual abuse. He claimed that just because the priests had attacked boys, that did not mean that homosexuality was bad. He mentioned that he had once wanted to be a priest. The bishop invited him to apply to the seminary here in Dallas, assuring him of a positive response.
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As Frank was coming today he was telling us that they are going to have two more great grandchildren coming up. Isn't that great? Isn't it wonderful to have children. Children are just so special.
We see this in the gospel today where Jesus is saying, "Whoever receives one child such as this is my name, receives me. And whoever receives me receives not me, but the one who sent me."
We have been having, over the last few days, the group of bishops in the Vatican meeting with the Pope about child abuse. And I have to admit that at this point Pope Francis reminds me of Flip Wilson and "the devil made me do it." He keeps on saying that. The devil made me do it.
And it brings back memories. A number of years ago some people in their parish had a priest that was abusing the boys in the parish and so they went to the authorities in the Dallas diocese and said, "This priest has been doing these things." Apparently the investigation consisted of picking up the telephone, calling the priest, and saying, "Father Kos, have you been abusing young boys?" "Of course not. I'm not abusing young boys.” And so the authority within the Church brought the people back in, told them they were liars. The priest denied it. Told them that they were being subversive. They were sinners, and to get out of his office and he never wanted to see them again.
So understandably they were quite upset and they called someone they knew, and they said, "This is what happened. What should we do?" The response was, basically, as a lawyer would always say, "Sue the bastards!" "Yes, but who do we hire?" And they recommended Windle Turley. And the rest is history.
One thing that we are missing with our bishops is they're going on, "What should we do with our bishops who covered up this?"
I'm gonna offend some of you. It's not a difficult issue. Anybody who knows that a child has been abused and doesn't do something about it is morally deficient and should not be allowed to be a minister in the Church. Period.
To take the view that with a child, it's a "yes, but...!" “Well, your priest, bishop, has been abusing a child." "Yes, but… he's a really good priest.” “Yes, but… I really like him.” “I will send him somewhere else.” “I will hide the files. We will destroy the files.”
That bishop, by definition of what Jesus is talking about, is morally deficient. And in my view, there is not a question. "Oh, what do we do?" This man is incapable of being a minister of the Church of Christ, because he is morally deficient.
If you saw, right now, someone coming up… let's pick some bureaucrat, an obnoxious bureaucrat… and someone was beating her. Would you stop them? Would you say, "Stop that!"?
How much more so to a child, who we are called to receive, the least among us. That people would know about something like that and say, "Yes, but..."
We can protect them. "Yes, but..." We should protect them. "And, oh, yes, but… we should protect the bishop.” Because if we don't have procedures in place to remove a bishop who so manifestly is deficient in his morality, is deficient in his understanding of the teachings of the Church, of Christ, that we can't do it.
You know, you read about this within the Church, and they're coming more and more saying, "It's up to the laity! It's up to the lower levels of the Church! It's up to the laity!"
I have a very dear friend who is quite wealthy. And he is doing what we probably need to do. Snap! He shut his checkbook to the Catholic Church saying, "Something needs to be done. Do it.”
If you are incapable. If you are so morally deficient that you can't look at a bishop and say, "You, bishop, do not deserve to be a bishop because you are morally deficient. I am going to suspend you and put you in a solitary monastery and after you have prayed on what you have done, for a year, come out and talk to me, and let's figure what we need to do at that point. So that you can come with the morality, and the understanding of the teachings of Christ, so that we can determine whether you are morally fit to be a priest in this Holy Catholic Church."
We have a problem on our hands. We, Catholics, have a problem on our hands. And we Catholics have to do something about it.
And it's just, you know, pffft! I went to the trouble of becoming a convert. I went to the trouble of becoming a deacon. So that the leaders of my Church can say there is nothing wrong with not protecting children? And that the men who deliberately did not protect children are… I'm supposed to give them great veneration, not veneration, but respect? Because they are the moral leaders of their churches?
I have a lot of problems with that. And you should, too. There is something wrong. It needs to be fixed. We need these wonderful saints to come forward and say, "Stop it!" Because what can you imagine, think of it right now, imagine a grown man abusing 7-, 8-, 9-, 10-, 11-, 12- year old boys. What would you do? What would you do?
What would you do outside of the Church if you knew someone was abusing a child? Would you go, "Well, I really like that guy. I'm just going to ignore the fact that he is abusing a child."
You wouldn't do it. And we, as Catholics shouldn't do it either. And if you want to know, yes, I have recorded it. If you want to turn me into the bishop, I'll give them the recording.
February 26, 2019 2