Saturday, February 12, 2011

Statutory Rape by a Catholic Priest

Today’s New York Times (2/12/2011, page A12 top, “Los Angeles Archdiocese…) describes a Catholic priest who confessed to having sex in Los Angeles in 1967, with a 16 year-old girl.

The response of the Catholic Church was, predictably, to first appoint the priest, Martin P. O’Loughlin, to serve on a Catholic Church Sexual Abuse Advisory Board (well, I suppose O’Loughlin is indeed an expert on carrying out sexual abuse!), and then appoint him as pastor to another church. Now, thank “God”, the priest is finally being dismissed from the Los Angeles Diocese.

But what a shame that the statute of limitations for statutory rape in California is 10 years or less. I don’t care what this rapacious creep does for a living. He deserves to be tried, convicted, and sent up the river for a long time for the evil crime he committed, surely causing permanent and severe injury to the life of that young girl.

Today’s revelation of how the Catholic Church dealt with this issue, first by concealing it, then placing the priest on the Sexual Abuse Advisory Board, and then exposing additional children to this predator, deals yet another blow to the crumbling sanctity and authority so long professed and projected by church officials.