Today’s New York Times

There is another article on the cover of today’s’ New York Times about priests who get away with sexual abuse for years with the assistance of the Catholic Church.

“German Priest in Abuse Case is suspended”

“Munich- The priest at the center of a German sex-abuse scandal that has embroiled Pope Benedict XV! Continued working with children for more than 30 years, even though a German court convicted him of molesting boys.

The priest, Peter Hullerman, who had previously been identified only by the first letter of his last name, was suspended from his duties only on Monday. That was three days after the church acknowledged that the Pope, then Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger, had responded to early accusations of molestation by allowing the priest to move to Munich for therapy in 1980.”

New York Times, Tuesday, March 16, 2010

The article goes on to tell the story of this priest who evidently abused hundreds of children and was never punished. Let me repeat that. Hundreds! The church was made aware of his crimes many times and they simply moved him to another parish where he did the same thing all over again. The future Pope Benedict, who was in charge of crimes of abuse in 1980, moved the priest to another parish in Munich. One of Hullerman’s crimes was to have forced an 11 year old boy to perform oral sex on him. That’s right, eleven years old.

Evidently parishioners still praise this priest, calling him warm and friendly even though the accusations against him have been all proven to be fact. People still find ways to protect priests even after sick, cruel and perverted behavior has been proved.

Why?

Why is Peter Hullerman not behind bars as he would be if he were not protected by the church? Why are priests who do these terrible things allowed to stay hidden behind church walls?

I think these men should be treated as common criminals and after being tried and found guilty, sent to prison for the rest of their lives. I don’t understand why this is not done. In this case the Pope was actually a part of the group protecting him. Hullerman is allowed to live a free life while the hundreds of his victims remain tormented because of what one perverted, cruel and sadistic man did to them.

When is the world going to stop being afraid of the Catholic Church and start to seek out and punish  criminals no matter who is protecting them?