"The only necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." Edmund Burke

I wrote a scathing post and just "saved" it.  Perhaps it is my trauma reacting to the Catholic church, the years, those who knew and did nothing, the sheer numbers of pedophiles, the small sampling, and the thousands of children who have suffered, but it is hard to write in a calm manner.  Before I know it my hands are flying my mind is seething, my emotions are high, the outrage, the helplessness, the faithful remaining faithful, the children speaking, no one listening, the powerful documenting and transferring or just allowing...all of it has my mind screaming and my heart full of sorrow, and there seems to be so much to do and yet nothing.

I am not even sure I can articulate the sideways feeling it leaves me in.

Religion and sexual abuse are not harmonious and yet they continue to be partners, ensconced in a dance where the children, and who they were born to be, are destroyed.

Sexual abuse laced with faith?

Or is it faith laced with sexual abuse?

The juxtaposition between faith and sexual abuse are images that can't be held in the same breath, and yet they are.

They are conjoined oddities that leave the 'good' people frozen.

I understand this quandary.

I lived it.

How can the mind hold the image of a father and a pedophile, a priest and a pedophile, it is a twisted mind f__k.

I get it.

It truly doesn't make sense.

What is this distorted religious image asking of you?

As this mad dance is being played out, can you untangle the core value of its religion from the depravity of child rape and sexual abuse by adult men?

Can a pedophile wearing a religious robe NOT reflect poorly upon the religion?

Just as can the pedophile in the pulpit at any church NOT reflect poorly upon its religion.

Can a poor leader be separated from the value of the company?

Are we not as good as our weakest link?

Can you have a group of people who are faithful and good mixed in with sexual predators and not have the sum total be less, due to the crimes that are committed?

Is there any other organization that has such faithful support no matter what?

Religious families and families seem to be places where pedophiles are protected. A place where they know, they will not be exposed or turned out.

Even that is a mind f__k.

Surely, those two places are where a child should feel the safest.

And yet, in my experience, they are the places where I child has NO protection.

Zero.

None.

Who is protecting the children in the Catholic and First Apostolic Lutheran Religions?

No one wants to 'wreck' or boycott a family or religion.

No one.

And, those that do become ostracized.

Shunned.

Called mental.

 

We often look upon the predators and ask, "What are they thinking", and rarely do we ask the same of ourselves.

What are the faithful catholics thinking when they continue to be part of a religious circle of child abusers?

What is a mother thinking, when she forgives the 'sins' Crimes of her husband?

What are those who know, but do nothing, thinking.

For 300 priests in one small state to have decades of freedom to sexually abuse children, it takes a village.

There are many who can change the playing field.

It will take a village to turn this huge mess around.

Incarcerating the pedophiles is only half of the problem.

How do you change the minds of the good people who have done nothing?

How do you make them have boundaries, boycott, strike, march and scream in outrage.

I am not a news junkie, but so far I have not seen the outrage and folks running for the exits.

The Pope has not dropped is robe, saying I will not be a leader of this.

Many people will say to me, that I can't know of the changes that are being wrought inside of the church.

Just as many people told me, that I can't know how the individuals within my family changed. And, I couldn't know how the First Apostolic Lutheran Church made changes within.

Yet, can't we all.

Can't we all know when nothing changes.

When Masses continue and people attend.

What about the other 49 states and other countries etc. Remember, 300 is from one small state. Are these other states offering their notes and contacting Attorney Generals? Are there hotlines in each state and country?

Oh, and they said about 1,000 children, when there are statistics that suggest a pedophile will abuse 260 children in his life.  Let's just error on the low side and say 200 for these priests. That is 60,000 kids, not 1,000. And, from one small state.  And, we all also know, that for each child (adult child) who speaks out, there are many more who are silent.  Who are compliant and who are faithful and who don't want to smear the church or hurt their parents.

What I also know, is that unlike natural disasters that we all speak about, this we hope will go away. Less said, less real.

When I think about the magnitude of pain and suffering the little children have suffered in the hands of religion, I want to scream and awaken the minds of those who remain blindly faithful.

You are the good people doing nothing.

And, as long as you continue on as if nothing happened, another child will be abused, and another and another.

You good people are the ones who will stop this, not the pedophiles and not the children.

It is on the backs of you to say enough is enough.

Do you not think the church would be affected if you all pulled out?

If you all said, I am not attending, until the structure changes. Show me proof that you have cleaned house, when there are lines of priests being handed off to the law of the land.

Just as in the First Apostolic Lutheran Churches, are there news stories of the faithful turning in the sins of their fellow church members? Is there an inside cleaning up of the pedophiles? Where are the faithful members of the church when it comes to crimes within the church?

If we don't get the good people to act, then there will never be any change.

I am not shocked by the number of priests, nor really even by how many knew and did nothing. I am shocked and, I guess not really, by how many will remain faithful.

It is insanely frustrating as a victim of sexual abuse, when the non-abusing folks continue on in their lives as if nothing has changed.  

Perhaps this is why so few tell.

They know it will be for naught.

Who will walk away from their religion or shun a priest or father?

Second to the actual abuse, THIS is most hurtful.

Your actions are showing us where you stand and by whom.

We got it.

My heart bleeds for all the victims when the rest of the church continues on.

Shouldn't there be a mass exodus to the doors?

Shouldn't the outrage be so intense we all fear riots?

Instead what do you believe these children see?

Do they see what I saw?

A family continuing on.  A church that claims, their business isn't sexual assault, but faith.

Who will clearly show a child within the family and church, that they will not be part of a criminal circle against children?

Many times more maddening to me, is the non-action of so many.

If the number of 300 priests in one state isn't enough, what number is?

How many children will it take?

This shows me the wall I was up against within the First Apostolic Lutheran Church.

What is the number of pedophiles within your religion that will make you leave?

What is stopping you?

What is keeping you there?

I truly want to know.

This has baffled me from the beginning.  How people stay and for those who go back.

What is the magnetic pull?

What part of you is unable to leave and to seek a higher standard?

I would love a real dialogue with answers.

And, are there answers that can satisfy staying?

"The only necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." Edmund Burke

If you hear nothing else bring that in.