Católicos Cochinos: The Ongoing Saga Of Catholic Child Abuse

I was raised Catholic, although I’m not going to say I’m hard core about it, there’s a lot that I like about being culturally affiliated with this Church. There’s the sense of community you get, there’s the Virgen de Guadalupe plastered everywhere, there’s good food lots of times and lots more. My favorite part is the community, which is why the child abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church is so disgusting to me — how can you take the faith of people not only in religion but in their community and turn it into something so abhorrent?

Perhaps what’s actually worse than the crimes is the way it’s been covered up. Or, the way it continues to be covered up, even in the face of salacious evidence that shows how complicit Church leaders have been in the whole scandal from the get-go. Take Los Angeles’ Cardinal Roger Mahony, who has tried to blot out his complicity in covering for child molesters by his pro-immigrant stance.

The Los Angeles Times’ Steve Lopez wrote of Mahony covering for child molesters — and even inviting one to sit on his Sexual Abuse Advisory Board. You can’t make this stuff up!

…Rev. Martin O’Loghlen, who was abruptly dismissed Feb. 10 from his post at a parish in San Dimas. The next day, another clergyman lost his job. Mahony accepted the resignation of Msgr. Michael Meyers, who was vicar of clergy for the archdiocese and directly responsible for vetting priests who are assigned to parishes…

While assigned to Bishop Amat High School in La Puente back in the 1960s, O’Loghlen had a series of sexual encounters with a teenage student in his debate class. Three decades later, O’Loghlen began leaving phone messages for his former victim, Julie Malcolm, who had moved to Phoenix. She filed a complaint with the diocese there.

It gets worse, Cardinal Mahony later had O’Loghlen serve on his Sexual Abuse Advisory Board after the he had undergone therapy; read the rest of the story here. The worst part is, I knew kids at Bishop Amat High School growing up, so to think that kids I knew were trying to graduate from high school in a place that willfully housed child molesters makes me sick. And mad. What I sincerely hope, as a “bad” Catholic, is that the Church can find a way back to what it preaches, to protect the meek and all that, oh, and at least follow the laws when it comes to having sex with children.

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD