As I have been repeatedly told in the not too recent past, the Catholic Church is the one, true church of Christ and all the rest are defective. Well, the one, true church of Jesus Christ is paying out six hundred and sixty million dollars because it's one, true priests raped children in an out of court settlement designed to protect the church from the public testimony of their victims, not to mention the way that the Catholic Church covered up child raping priests for decades and has done everything in their power to stymie bringing the attackers to criminal court. All of that is disgusting enough, and one would think demonstrates the absurdity of Christian institutions saying they have some sort of moral superiority, or that their people are somehow elect or blessed or that some benevolent god works through them -- their church is a haven for pedophiles and, institutionally, the Catholic Church has covered up their crimes. (If some Protestants out there are gonna point the finger at Catholics, don't. Protestant churches are just as bad, it's just that the Catholics are the biggest target and most clearly represent this sort of thing because of the sheer size of the Catholic Church.) Like I said, that's all disgusting enough, but my purpose here isn't simply to bash Christians for their manifest hypocrisy, or goad them into talking on this blog so we can see the double-talk they use to justify why so obviously a corrupt institution as the Catholic Church can, nevertheless, be the special receptacle for Jehovah's divine and benevolent grace.
No, no, I want to bring something else up. The article about the settlement has a couple of interesting lines. The first:
The archdiocese, the nation’s largest, will pay $250 million, insurance carriers will pay a combined $227 million.
It's a short quote,but I wanted it to stand out a little bit. Here's the other one that I found fascinating:
The deal settles all 508 cases that remained against the archdiocese, which also paid $60 million in December to settle 45 cases that weren’t covered by sexual abuse insurance.
The key words there, for me, are insurance and, then, sexual abuse insurance. The Catholic Church in LA has . . . sexual abuse insurance. Sexual abuse insurance.
This is wrong on so many different levels I really don't know where to start . . . but after grappling with it, I came down to two things that really bake my noodle. The first is that you can buy sexual abuse insurance. The second is that someone actually bought sexual abuse insurance.
This is just killing me. That there are companies -- no, no, companies do nothing, there are people who said, "Oh, yeah, we're willing to give you liability coverage in case someone in your institution rapes children. We're comfortable making a profit off of helping your institution protect itself from punishments you'd get from systematic child abuse on a monstrous scale and your morally indefensible cover-ups of these crimes." I mean, even beyond the legality of something like this, the simple morality of it. Some people, and probably a group of people, decided that, yes, it is okay to make money protecting institutions from their systematic child molestation. This boggles my mind.
The second part of my near death experience is that the Catholic Church sought out this kind of insurance. You only get insurance against events you think might actually happen, and we know with the same certainty that the sun sets in the west that priests are, in the course of time, going to rape little children -- and one of their techniques of handling this abuse is to . . . get insurance to cover it. It is so cynical and does nothing to address the problem of why the Catholic Church is such a haven for this kind of abuse. Much less doing something to stop it.
And, lastly, when I was talking about this with a guy, when I pointed out the horror of child rape insurance, I was stunned to find that at least some people -- regular people off the streets -- would defend the existence of child rape insurance. It is, I was told, merely a form of liability insurance. The person I spoke with likened it to liability insurance if someone fell on some steps in front of the church, which is where my brain broke, again. That the widespread rape and systematic cover-up of these rapes was being seriously likened to a priest failing to sweep all the snow off the steps in front of a church. Over and above the existence of liability insurance -- which I am no fan of, I think that all insurance companies should be shut down and insurance should be honestly public -- I was totally mind-fried by the idea that a real person would seriously liken widespread child rape and its cover-up to falling down some stairs.
Anyway, that's my rant. My mind is temporarily broken. My next bit will be a rather interesting bit about science and the evolution of intelligence that might actually be semi-original, but I need to check some facts, first.
8 comments:
Chris:
Great rant. I take a slightly different view. I'm an attorney who represents victims of childhood sexual abuse.
I agree the concept of sexual abuse insurance is horrible. The fact is that sexual abuse claims became so common (and expensive) insurers decided to make MORE MONEY by selling specific policies to cover sexual abuse claim payouts.
In many cases the abuser is retired (or deceased) and the organization has (or claims to have) no assets.
In such cases insurance proceeds provide the only chance that victims can actually receive compensation for the harm that they have suffered.
So while some may view insurance as protecting institutions who allow sexual abuse to happen, I view insurance as protecting victims.
It should be mandatory for any organization where adults are in a position of authority over children.
John McKiggan
http://abuseclaims.wordpress.com/
Hey, John,
I disagree strongly about the insurance angle, but suspect that it is largely some fairly root level disagreements.
For me, it is ideological in nature. All insurance is, fundamentally, private citizens profiting off of other people's misery, which I find profoundly immoral. Rape insurance, for me, just adds another level of intense creepiness and explicitness to the profiting off of someone's misery. I think it's right up there with being a mercenary in terms of morally disgusting professions, and I think in a truly sane society that profiting off of misery would not be tolerated.
Hi Chris:
Perhaps were can agree to disagree about the morality of insurance per se?
I am primarily concerned about ensuring that my clients, innocent victims, receive fair compensation. In most cases that won't happen unless the institution that employed the abuser has insurance.
Sad? Yes. Unfortunate? Yes. Disgusting? Perhaps.
Necessary? Absolutely!
to:John
u make me sick ur profiting off the misery of children and teens and covering up things that need to be known so these things are not repeated and not only does the vatican cover all this up but they send the preacher or minister some where else so he can rape someone else.In testimonies from bishops when ask the question if as member of the church molests or rapes someone is that cause to have them thrown out of the church they replied no.John u should give speaks on how to sell bullshit but rember this dont try to bs someone that has as many facts as u do and u can live with urself and chris great rant poeple should know about so it can never happen again
Of course many of these claims came about before the insurance companies even knew that there would be abuse claims. It was only many years ater the incident took place that the claim came to light and then the current trustees, who may never have had any knowledge of it suddenly found themselves with a huge claim on their hands.
Catholic Church have allways cover it's attrocities whith the image of Christ and a face of innocence...
It isn't new: Crusades, Inquisition, and so on.
Catholic Church was born with a sword in it's hand, allways making more damage than good!!!
They are full of lies, beginning with them stupid stories... thanks God now it's a time of reason.
Cristian
So it "can never happen again" is a viable statement, Look, we have just gone through the most STUFF! the quakes, surnames, wars you name it I served in China were people told me, 'we don't have earthquakes' and many other natural disasters in recent years concerning our earth. We have been knocked around by big talk and actions that did not look for a meaning, only the sell of or the profiting by for conservative values like the sex registry and the 9 out of 10 new crimes committed by people not on the registry showed real planning ,,, huh? when all the negative things done to people to harm them is just worthless since only 3 to 4 out of one hundred ever recommit a crime and the droves of cases say sex is not to be legislated by any one, this is a viable concern when people place their poo butts into others lives in my humble opinion documenting and showing the mass bludgeoning of by/for/in/concerning humanity for the entertainment of people not willing to open their eyes to what really happens/happened/transpired and the idiocy of the mindless hoards of numb drummer beating the bush to see what springs forth, expending energy disrupting what is natural in all species of life for some conservative idea like the sex offender registry is as much help to us all as iron bull mud flaps on a bowling ball. I have to say that is the response I would look for in a president when the conservatives are still wire tapping every phone and pushing the same polices use to get Nixon thrown out of office and police are pushing kids off bicycles. [see it on YouTube] pressure is not the answer and knowing is so it "can never happen again" Yes we have their tails slammed in the door and there is no way out of the fact that or existence requires sexual activities and some small children do black male for sexual gratification for what ever reason and are willing to point the finger after their initiation and threats in order to divert blame and there will always be an ambulance chaser willing to chase skirt instead for the money, but since when do we all make it the national pass time when all it takes is some old guy to pretend too be a kid on line and some sap will take the jail bait every time perpetuating a gulag that would quite likely end if their desires were not a felony to act out on screen instead of having an interstate affair concocted to divert attention from a death penalty case when that case is just another mob action to cover the fact that the ones guilty are the ones pointing the fingers not the other way around and the touch of one human to another is what we need more of? It just does not equate and is a ridiculous commitment of time over manipulation of law. End Sex Laws Now! signed the twice chipped guy
Formal complant Oct 3, 2010
it's your addiction not mine
No one has to agree too nor except/condone/support your addiction too unjust/illegal/federally unsound/unsustainable laws that has no basses in truth or reality. Delusional thinking does not make other people sex addicts & the people that are sexually disturbed, about people with problems with sex like sterility/multi gender/predigests leading to false arrests/charges. We can not support your addiction to inhuman punishments & torture through state sponsored terrorism. The use of Bin Laden tapes to sway political votes is no different than this story. More too come, yes this entire thing will come around and take a bite of everyone that supports these laws. I was on the street and waiting for a bus when two squad cars pulled up and sergeant CARR drove up too me from the Atascadero Police Department and told me in a sinister voice "register" I said what are you talking about? With no request for ID he says you got to register looking for a violent response. I kept my cool and told him I will be back, and shove this whole thing right up your ass sir. Rick's Cafe, in the mythical saloon from the 1942 film "Casablanca" had people trying to leave the country too get away from bad laws but not cameras on every street corner and police accosting citizens without warrant or provocation's, so wait till these laws built on lies arrest you for missing an oil change. How much must someone endure when an officer that has never been met before can pull up and start a fight? How much money is this guy getting from people to act like this on the street? The other officer was quite and reserved watching the whole thing. He should have been the sergeant and not this immature strange man out for a fight on the street he did not get in Atascadero California Tuesday September 28, 2010 at a bus stop waiting for a bus. How long will it be before your forced laws will just cause the officers to kill someone without more than a possible description of someone and with our record of record keeping our lies personified by poor data entry will start the biggest run of blood on our streets over touching someone, sorry but your sick and disgusting un~thought~out proposal lacks worth and is an abomination in any country in the world. Sex has become something police can harass someone on the street about even if that sex was over twenty five years ago and the person served time the police can send Carr's out to engage in force action at a bus stop. This constitutes harassment and force as a formal complaint against the Atascadero Police Department for illegal use of force and nobody cares so what's next, like Chicago in the 30's when they gun people down on street corners waiting for buses? Isn't that what got prohibition shut down?
Here a duly appointed officer of the law has done nothing less than a terror attact on the streets of California and I will never get this immage of events out of my mind. So take any view you wnat but sex laws should end so equility can emerge.
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