By Markham Hislop, Editor

It’s time to investigate the Catholic churches of Alberta to determine if they have harboured pedophile priests in the past and if they are still doing so in the present.  Why, you ask?  Because a recent report by the Irish government demonstrated an organized and long-standing cover up of sexual abuse by the Church hierarchy in Ireland.  This is only the latest horrific finding that Catholic priests have been molesting children.  It seems that every time a government somewhere in the world scratches the veneer of the Catholic Church it finds a cesspool of pedophilia and elaborate efforts by bishops and other officials to hide the truth.

Do we really think it hasn’t happened in Alberta?

In fact, we know it has occured here.  We are still sorting out the residential school mess.  Hundreds, maybe thousands, of aboriginal Canadians were systematically abused within Catholic schools.  In fairness, other religious residential schools were also guity of harbouring perverts and pederasts.

But the Catholic Church is unique in the extent to which pedophilia is a problem within the clergy.  And you don’t have to probe very far to figure out why.

The priestly vow of chastity.  That’s the real culprit here.  Chastity may make sense within the theology of the Church, but it makes no sense whatsoever from a sexual and social point of view. 

I find it incredible that anyone would expect physically healthy men to permanently repress their natural sexual urges.  Maybe it’s not a problem for some priests.  Maybe there are some men out there who are sufficiently spiritual and other worldly that they can tame their sexual urges through prayer and self-control.

But I am betting there is a very large percentage of Catholic priests, and always has been, who are sexual pressure cookers, their libido pressed down and constrained until, finally, one day something pops.  Maybe they have an affair with a member of the congregation.  Maybe they visit a prostitute.  Or maybe they molest a young boy or girl in their care. 

I was a history major in university and you can’t read accounts of European history without running across randy bishops and their mistresses, local priests deflowering pubsecent virgins on church alters, and virile popes with concubines quietly hidden away for their private pleasures.  Priests and their superiors have been breaking the chastity vow for 2,000 years.  Are we naive enough to think they’ve stopped in the last decade?

What I’ve read has led me to the conclusion that the Catholic Church actively tolerates and supports a pedophile culture.  Colm O’Gorman is an Irish victim of priestly pedophilia whose 2006 documentary Sex Crimes and the Vatican charged that for decades the Church has stifled allegations of sexual misconduct by priests via a secret document called Crimen sollicitationis that was distributed to bishops around the world.  According to O’Gorman, Catholic clergy were required to sweep complaints about sex abuse under the rug.

If that all sounds very conspiratorial, Ireland’s report of an inquiry by judge Yvonne Murphy into sexual abuse by priests found that four Dublin bishops did exactly what O’Gorman alleged the Church has been doing all along.  One of the priests named in the report abused over 100 children.  Many of the 40-plus priests in the report are still living and a goodly number are still being supported financially by the Church, according to Irish media reports.  The Irish Church was quick to apologize to the abuse victims.  So was the Irish government. 

No one is claiming the report is anything but a thorough, accurate and damning indictment of the highest levels of the Church in Ireland.

Can’t happen in Canada, you say?  Think again.  We’ve had a few scandals, the residential schools and the Mount Cashel Orphanage in Newfoundland among them. 

And only a few months ago Canadian Catholic Bishop Raymond Lahey was caught at the Ottawa airport with kiddie porn on his laptop.  This is the same Bishop Lahey who helped negotiate a very important $13 million settlement between the Diocese of Antigonish and victims of sexual abuse by some of its priests.  Lahey was roundly praised for his sensitive handling of the process on behalf of the Church.

While Lahey has been charged but has not yet had his day in court, it looks bad for the respected cleric.  Assuming for a moment the allegations are true, the irony of Lahey’s situation would be astounding.  By day stickhandling negotiations with victims of his clerical colleagues, by night satisfying his perverted lusts with images of young boys, who themselves are sex abuse victims.

It’s hard not to conclude that pedophilia is systemic in the structure of the Catholic Church.  And if it is systemic, the chances are excellent it is systemic in Alberta parishes, too.  What are the odds it isn’t?  I wouldn’t take that bet.

Abertans have two interests in this issue.

First and foremost is the protection of society’s most vulnerable members, children.  This truth is so self-evident it almost doesn’t require mentioning.  But if we are serious about guarding the innocence of our kids, then we should be proactive.  Alberta shouldn’t require a slew of victims to come forward before it investigates.  An institution exists in our midst that has proven over and over again in other jurisdictions that its employees sexually abuse children and that it uses its special powers and privileges to protect those employees.

Several Irish investigations in the past year have proven that sexual abuse by priests is widespread and was tolerated by Church superiors.  How many irish priests are serving in Alberta parishes?  Do any of them have allegations of sexual misconduct against them back in Ireland?  Or in another another jurisdiction where authorities turn a blind eye to the Church?  These are just some of the questions Alberta authorities should be asking. 

The second reason Albertans should take an interest in the Church is its tax-exempt status.  Catholic parishes pay no taxes.  In effect, every tax payer in Alberta is subsidizing the Church.  As a tax payer, I am very concerned that public money supports a religious institution with a long and proven history of pedophilia amongst its clergy.

It’s time for Alberta authorities to step up.  Perhaps Alberta doesn’t need a formal inquiry, such as Ireland convened, but perhaps at least an investigation by the provincial children and youth services department. 

The first place to look, as I mentioned above, would be the issue of Irish priests in Alberta.  But that could be broadened to include foreign priests from anywhere outside Canada.  The Church has a documented history of hiding its sexual abuse problems by transferring clergy to other countries.  Have any pedophile priests been moved to Canada to get them out of hot water somewhere else?

What about recent and historic victims of sexual abuse by priests?  It beggars the imagination that the residential schools were the only venue where children were molested by clergy.  There are likely more, perhaps many more, who have not come forward because they fear the shame and a chilly reception by the public.

I don’t expect the Church to welcome an investigation of any kind, let alone one this politically sensitive.  But there is an upside for Alberta Catholics.

If the Alberta Church comes out of the investigation with a clean slate, it will have regained tremendous moral authority at a time when the Church is under attack from many quarters.  If improprieties are found, then the Church can root out the dirty priests, make amends with the victims and truly rebuild itself as a holy and moral institution.

Regardless of how the Alberta Church would fare in the investigation, the protection of children has to be our foremost priority.  I, for one, would be much happier knowing the Catholic Church had been properly reviewed by competent investigators. 

The Church’s history in other countries and other parts of Canada suggests we should not be complacent on this issue.

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