Report: Tens of thousands of children abused in Dutch Catholic institutions

There was an article yesterday in the UK’s Guardian that reports eight hundred Catholic clergy and church employees were guilty of abusing children over 40 years. What is utterly tragic is that this news hardly makes a ripple any more and is almost brushed over as a given – we are by now all suffering from Catholic Abuse burnout. We know the truth, and as has been confirmed over and over and over, some truly horrendous crimes have been committed by the Catholic cult (I use the “cult” word with care, it is an accurate description), and so we simply note yet another example

Don’t do that, instead pause and consider the almost countless number of young children’s lives that have been destroyed by the maliciously wicked individuals who have hidden behind the claim that they are God’s chosen priests, and have also been protected by their superiors. Has this become so common that it no longer makes you angry?

The article reads …

The Roman Catholic church in the Netherlands was shamed on Friday when a comprehensive investigation of sexual abuse of children by clergy over 40 years found one in five vulnerable children had been molested.

An 1,100-page report from a commission led by a former education minister and Christian Democrat leader said it could identify 800 Catholic clergy and other church employees guilty of sexually abusing children in the 40 years from 1945 and that more than 100 perpetrators were still alive.

Children in institutional care, regardless of religious affiliation, in the Netherlands were at substantial risk of being abused during the period, the molestation rate – 20% – being twice that of elsewhere. The investigation led by Wim Deetman concluded that several tens of thousands of children had suffered sexual molestation.

So what do they have to say for themselves when confronted with the evidence? As you might expect, a Dutch cardinal, Ads Simonis, claimed, “We did not know anything,” In reply to that the chair of the commission, Wim Deetman,  ridiculed such denials. “The policy was no washing of dirty linen in public,” he told journalists last Friday. “To prevent scandals, nothing was done, abuse not acknowledged, there was no help, compensation or support for the victims,“.

So what happens next? What is clear in my mind is that it is time to take the Vatican to the international criminal court in The Hague for allegedly aiding and abetting systematic serial abuse by its clergy. Enough is enough, and no longer should belief be a “get-out-of-jail-free” card. Some do indeed want to see this happen, but I seriously doubt they will gain enough traction to make it happen.

Hopefully this latest revelation will spur many to join an exodus from the intellectual slavery inflicted upon them by their Catholic membership. For them this road to freedom is not paved with supernatural events, nor the parting of the red sea, but rather consists of the deployment of truth, the pulling aside of the curtain that has hidden the dirty little secrets the clerics conspired to keep buried.

There is no need to seek permission to leave, nor pause to wonder if it is the right move, but instead simply walk away and embrace the fullness of this one life we have. If you are still in, then now is the time to do it. Outside is not darkness and evil, you can make it a good life, and do not need to be a member of a morally bankrupt religious group to do so …

“Live a good life.

If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by.

If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them.

If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.”
― Marcus Aurelius