So Much: Suicide, McCarren, Brooklyn, Tea
It would solve a lot of problems. Primarily to me, it would solve the problem of a suicide's body left for some poor unwilling participant to find, to haul out of the river, to cut down out of the noose, to see the body with the head shot off. The family members called to some obscure location because their loved one's car was discovered in the river - we subject the Finders and the Survivors to life-long trauma because we have no place to go do what we need. We need a way to do this without harming others.
Second, we see the pope has defrocked a cardinal charged with raping children and seducing young subordinates over whom he held great power. I love the word defrocked as if it meant rending the uniform off the offender in public, leaving them in their underwear in the public square. Unfortunately, it's more of a metaphor than a routine.
Although Vatican watchers say that defrocking is a big deal, I have to call BS on that. For rape and abuse, they've fired the guy. This is is equivalent of taking Penn State Abuser Jerry Sandusky's gym pass away. They could have ordered him to live in a monastery basement in solitary confinement, never to see the light of day again, for the remainder of his natural life. That's within their power. That's equivalent to what criminal justice systems do.
Instead, they just fired him and sent him on his way. He'll likely find some back corner of the world to present himself as a coach, a teacher, maybe in an orphanage for children whose parents are killed in warfare, and continue to meet his needs. Shame on the church and the pope for not keeping and dealing with the problem they caused, and instead releasing him into the general population and washing their hands of him.
The Brooklyn Diocese has released a list of 105 priests it finds credibly abused of child sexual abuse since the diocese was founded. This is 5% of the total population of priests over the timeframe. The list is ok-to-good but insufficient. It's only ok-to-good because other documents presented by the Diocese list other priests as offenders, but they are not included in the 105 so either the list is incomplete or something's amiss. It's insufficient because the Diocese itself chooses what's a credible complaint and what's not. It's insufficient because in listing the offenders, it doesn't indicate whether there's a single complaint or a dozen by that individual
In my own parish of St Therese of Liseaux, aka The Little Flower, there are five offending priests listed:
- Cross, John (Monsignor; he was there during my time. When the Monsignor is corrupt, the whole rectory is corrupt)
- Smyth, James P. (he was there during my time.)
- Gillen, Francis (ordained 1964) (my sister remembers him, I don't)
- Gowdy, James (ordained 1959) (don't remember him)
- McConnin, Robert (ordained 1973) (after my time)
The list omits the priest who raped me 19 times: Father Arnaud and I'm hoping that's because my case is being investigated and not closed yet. I'm sure whenever they decide to publish, there's cases that are almost but not quite closed.
But even with only five priests named in my parish, I have to say: fuck these people, fuck this criminal organization. One priest is an aberration. All of them is a conspiracy, a life-sucking leech house sucking the youthful innocence out of the community, out of the families that trusted them with their children, out of the children who had no recourse. Fuck them all.
I have been very low. I am fortunate to have an empty house to occupy, loaned to me by snowbird friends currently in Florida so I have a place to myself and without any drama. And I've been made welcome by a handful of neighbors, very kind people, who invite me to their happy hours and game nights and the town's cultural events.
I had picked up some tea for one of my friends in Millvale and delivered it and I was surprised that conversation turned to mental health and I shared part of my own experience. It lifted my spirits much more that I thought it could have. Maybe confession is good for the soul.