Can The Roman Catholic Hierarchy Fight A Two Front War-- One Against America And One In The Hague?

With a national election on the horizon, the Roman Catholic hierarchy has decided to pressure Obama against his Administrations recently accelerated pace in backing equality for the LGBT community. They had their top general bishop in the U.S., Tim Dolan, who runs their NY operations and heads the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, send an offensive and threatening letter to President Obama.

I write with a growing sense of urgency about recent actions taken by your Administration that both escalate the threat to marriage and imperil the religious freedom of those who promote and defend marriage. This past spring the Justice Department announced that it would no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in court, a decision strongly opposed by the Catholic Bishops of the United States and many others. Now the Justice Department has shifted from not defending DOMA-- which is problem enough, given the duty of the executive branch to enforce even laws it disfavors-- to actively attacking DOMA's constitutionality. My predecessor, Cardinal Francis George, OMI, and I have expressed to you in the past our strong disappointment about the direction your Administration has been moving regarding DOMA. Unfortunately the only response to date has been the intensification of efforts to undermine DOMA and the institution of marriage.

The Justice Department's move, in addition to other troubling federal decisions occurring recently, prompts me yet again to register my grave concerns. The content of this letter reflects the strong sentiment expressed at a recent meeting by more than thirty of my brother Bishops who serve on the Administrative Committee of our episcopal conference. I know they are joined by hundreds of additional Catholic bishops throughout our nation. My observations are offered in the spirit of respectful, but frank dialogue.

The Catholic Bishops stand ready to affirm every positive measure taken by you and your Administration to strengthen marriage and the family. We cannot be silent, however, when federal steps harmful to marriage, the laws defending it, and religious freedom continue apace. Attached you will find an analysis prepared by my staff detailing the various executive activities of late that warrant our increasing apprehension.

...We as Bishops of the Catholic Church recognize the immeasurable personal dignity and equal worth of all individuals, including those with same-sex attraction, and we reject all hatred and unjust treatment against any person. Our profound regard for marriage as the complementary and fruitful union of a man and a woman does not negate our concern for the well-being of all people but reinforces it. While all persons merit our full respect, no other relationships provide for the common good what marriage between husband and wife provides. The law should reflect this reality.

Mr. President, I respectfully urge you to push the reset button on your Administration's approach to DOMA. Our federal government should not be presuming ill intent or moral blindness on the part of the overwhelming majority of its citizens, millions of whom have gone to the polls to directly support DOMAs in their states and have thereby endorsed marriage as the union of man and woman. Nor should a policy disagreement over the meaning of marriage be treated by federal officials as a federal offense-- but this will happen if the Justice Department's latest constitutional theory prevails in court. The Administration's failure to change course on this matter will, as the attached analysis indicates, precipitate a national conflict between Church and State of enormous proportions and to the detriment of both institutions.

Thus, on behalf of my brother Bishops, I urge yet again that your Administration end its campaign against DOMA, the institution of marriage it protects, and religious freedom. Please know that I am always ready to discuss with you the concerns raised here and to address any questions that you may have. I am convinced that the door to a dialogue that is strong enough to endure even serious and fundamental disagreements can and must remain open, and I believe that you desire the same. Also please know that you, your family, and your Administration continue to be in my prayers.

I hope-- though sincerely doubt-- that President Obama sent it directly to the IRS to start proceedings to solve the current U.S. economic problem by taxing the Catholic Church since they are clearly-- and have been for decades-- taking political positions, both directly and by secretly funding hard right, overtly political organizations like NOM (as does the Mormon church and several evangelical operations). This isn't a theocracy; the Pope-- particularly not the current fascist thug who grabbed the throne-- and his hierarchy don't rule in America. The Constitution and democracy do.

The Catholic Church thinks it should control exclusive sexual access to the children of its parishoners for its employees. Child rape cases-- which always involve a pattern of cover-up and obstruction of justice-- involving the Catholic Church never end and the Catholic Church hierarchy should have been rounded up and tried for their egregious systematic criminal activities against children decades ago.

And speaking of which... last week SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, and the Center for Constitutional Rights announced a new push for Justice against the Roman Catholic hierarchy's pattern of sexual abuse of children by urging the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor to investigate the Vatican for crimes against humanity. LONG OVERDUE! Their long and detailed complaint charges that "Vatican officials tolerate and enable the systematic and widespread concealing of rape and child sex crimes throughout the world. Together with the complaint, they submitted more than 20,000 pages of supporting materials consisting of reports, policy papers, and evidence of the crimes by Catholic clergy committed against children and vulnerable adults."

SNAP members from Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and the U.S. traveled to The Hague to insist that the ICC take action and prosecute the Pope and three other high-ranking Vatican officials for their direct and superior responsibility for the crimes against humanity of rape and other sexual violence committed around the world.

“Crimes against tens of thousands of victims, most of them children, are being covered up by officials at the highest level of the Vatican. In this case, all roads really do lead to Rome, ” said CCR Senior Staff Attorney Pam Spees. “These men operate with impunity and without accountability. The Vatican officials charged in this case are responsible for rape and other sexual violence and for the physical and psychological torture of victims around the world both through command responsibility and through direct cover up of crimes. They should be brought to trial like any other officials guilty of crimes against humanity.”

Said SNAP President Barbara Blaine, “SNAP wants to prevent even one more child from being raped or sexually assaulted by a priest and we hope that victims around the world will know today that they are not alone and that it is safe to speak up and report their abuse. We as victims are mobilizing across the globe, and every survivor is invited to join us.”

Said 21-year-old SNAP member Megan Peterson, who spoke publicly of her abuse for the first time last week, “It’s important that the Court understand that this is still happening and that they need to take this case seriously and do the right thing. I don’t want any more kids to go through what I went through.”

Clergy sex crimes have been perpetrated and concealed in nearly every country. In the United States alone, church authorities admit that nearly 6,000 priests have been publicly accused of molesting children over the past few decades. SNAP estimates that there are as many as 100,000 American victims of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, and that in other nations, where child-protection laws may not be as robust as in the United States, the number of victims is equally staggering. As many as 20,000 sexually abusive or violent predator priests are still working even after having been accused of a crime; often, these priests are simply shifted to areas where the Church has extreme power or influence, or to remote areas isolated from mechanisms of support, prevention, and accountability.

The jurisdiction of the ICC names rape, sexual violence assault, and torture as crimes against humanity. It also provides for individual criminal liability for those with command or superior responsibility over those who directly commit such crimes. These are the mechanisms through which the complaint urges investigation and prosecution of Vatican officials for their roles in the rape, sexual assault, and torture of thousands of individuals around the world. This could be the first time that an international court asserts jurisdiction over the Vatican for crimes committed by its agents worldwide.

The Vatican is a beautiful museum but historically it's a center of predatory sexual abuse and crimes against... well, you name it. The Vatican will have this classic Penn and Teller video pulled down within a week. They've been doing so for years. So watch it while you can!