By Ralph Hood
Unless you live under a rock, you are aware that the Catholic church has a problem. It’s not a new problem, but one that has dogged them seemingly forever — priests abusing children.
But this column is neither about the church, nor about the church solving the problem.
This column is about alleged crimes — horrible crimes — against children. The problem needs to be addressed in court, as are other crimes.
To my amazement, many say the church should straighten this out. Hey, would we say that if the criminals were Baptists, Methodist, Jewish, or Lutheran? No, we would try the alleged criminals in court. If found guilty, they should serve time.
Why? A better question would be — why not?
After all, we do have laws against crimes like this. Why in the world would we not use them to the fullest extent?
Our country does not turn alleged criminals over to their churches for trial and/or punishment — and rightly so.
Yes, the church will be embarrassed. But they are already. As the Pope himself said, he is ashamed.
Truth is, the church will probably be better off if the courts act than if the church acts — particularly if the church doesn’t act at all.
The Catholic church must be considered one of the most successful organizations in history. It has survived for lo these many centuries, and it will survive this also, even if without the current alleged criminals. Perhaps especially without them.
Perhaps I should mention that I am not Catholic, but Presbyterian. I would feel the same way if the alleged criminals were Presbyterian.
(Ralph Hood is a columnist for the Erwin Record.)