In Case You Forgot About It...

[Content Note: This post discusses the ongoing sex abuse scandal within the Catholic Church.]

In bankruptcy court this February, attorneys for sexual abuse victims filed claims that alleged sexual abuse by 100 additional past and present employees of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

To recap:
This is one hundred rapists above and beyond those already acknowledged by the church.

This is just one archdiocese.

This is happening is bankruptcy court.

I really don't know what to add. These revelations should be a really big deal. Yet I haven't heard a lot from elected leaders or law enforcement officials regarding how the regional office of an organization has, consistent with organizational precedent, allegedly aided and abetted in over 8,000 more rapes than had been previously reported.

In case you didn't know, the leader of the Milwaukee Archdiocese who initially handled the scandal, Timothy Dolan, is currently president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Earlier this month, the man CBS once referred to as "America's Pope" was in Rome addressing the actual Pope, after the leader of the entire Catholic Church promoted him to Cardinal. (If you recall, the current Pope hasn't exactly been tough on rapists.)

One skeptical Pope-watcher is no longer ruling out Dolan as a possible successor to Pope Benedict XVI. In other words, governments should definitely not get involved in prosecuting Church officials, because the leaders of the Catholic Church definitely take allegations that they enable rapists very, very seriously. Wow.

[Commenting Guidelines from Liss: Please take the time to make sure any criticisms are clearly directed at the Catholic Church leadership and not at "Catholics," many of whom are themselves critical of the failures of Church leadership.]