Daily Lessons from Life 23 April 2010 - US victim sues to open secret Vatican priest sex abuse files

"US victim sues to open secret Vatican priest sex abuse files - Fri, Apr 23, 2010 AFP

CHICAGO, US - The alleged victim of a US priest accused of being a serial pedophile sued the pope and the Vatican on Thursday in an attempt to open secret files containing internal investigations into sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Church.

'There is a painful and long history of the Vatican and the top officials... muffling and suppressing the truth and protecting themselves and their own reputation instead of protecting the children,' attorney Jeff Anderson said at a press conference.

He has handled many cases against the Church for such crime."The hot light of scrutiny has to be focused on their action and not their words condemning the priests who committed such crime and that the Church is regretful of what had happened!" he told reporters."

It just refuses to go away! The Pope and the Catholic Church has been on the defensive for last couple of months with renewed interests and intensity by the victims and their families that demand the Church be more open and aggressive in dealing with known recalcitrant priests instead of hiding behind a veil of secrecy. The cover up and the denial is no longer acceptable by the faithful!

Lessons for me are:

1. priest cannot violate ANY trust by the faithful by doing wrongly and unethical deeds. There is NO room for misadventure. If one erred and sinned, one has to be kicked out or leave voluntarily and start a new life after paying for the crime in the court of law. There is no IF or BUT about it! Period;

2. the authority in charge of these 'holy' priests must NOT be afraid to take swift and decision action against such culprits and 'bad sheep' of the Church by denying that such a thing exist. That it was just an error of judgment. That it was just once. That the Church good name must be protected at all cost to the extent of ignoring the crime and the rights and suffering of the victims! It is time for TOUGH LOVE. It is time to be OPEN and kick the culprits out and hand them over to the law enforcement agencies as they have committed a crime under the law of the land and, I am sure, against the law of God too!;

3. if such mistaken of self-denial or cover up were, indeed, happened. Owned up and move on. Owned up COMPLETELY in one go instead of dishing it out spoonful of it. It can only create more distrust and suspicion. Do it decisively like what the Chinese would advised: "Short Pain is Better than Long Pain!" Let this be a lesson in Public Relationship as well as the need to NEVER waiver on the bottom line of: ETHICS.

May the Pope survives this onslaught and may the Catholic Church move on from here boldly and decisively.

If you want to be the servant of God, the standard is exacting and no compromise allowed. Amen!