Catholic League Doubles Down On Defense of Priest’s Pedophilia Allegations

On the wake of child abuse allegations in the recent Pennsylvania grand jury report, The Catholic League has come out publicly denying there is any crisis within the Catholic Church.

On Thursday, the Catholic League tweeted that there was no clout to the allegations made in the 250,000 plus pages of internal documents where over 300 “predator priests” have been accused of the sexual abuse of more than 1,000 child victims over the course of 70 years.

“There is no on-going crisis—it’s a total myth. In fact, there is no institution, private or public, that has less of a problem with the sexual abuse of minors today than the Catholic Church.”

There is no on-going crisis—it's a total myth. In fact, there is no institution, private or public, that has less of a problem with the sexual abuse of minors today than the Catholic Church. https://t.co/XUoIjVGU7h pic.twitter.com/bX0FTJ00YF

— Catholic League (@CatholicLeague) August 17, 2018

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Doug Stafford, Chief Strategist for Rand Paul commented under the tweet, “Did the Catholic League just call Fake News on thousands of molestations?”

Did the Catholic League just call Fake News on thousands of molestations?

— Doug Stafford (@dougstafford) August 17, 2018

In a follow up tweet on Friday from the Catholic League they refer to those who believe the allegations in the grand jury report to be just venting “like little boys”:

“It is interesting to note that the most irrational, indeed hysterical, reaction to PA grand jury report is coming from conservative Catholics. They are singularly incapable of making a cogent argument, so all they do is vent like little boys. They are a pitiful lot.”

It is interesting to note that the most irrational, indeed hysterical, reaction to PA grand jury report is coming from conservative Catholics. They are singularly incapable of making a cogent argument, so all they do is vent like little boys. They are a pitiful lot.

— Catholic League (@CatholicLeague) August 17, 2018

The link provided in the tweet on Thursday opens to an 11 page document titled “Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report Debunked,” and dated August 16th, 2018. The document begins by describing the contents in the Pennsylvania grand jury report as “myths and indeed lies,” and the purpose of the document being to debunk the report.

The document, written by president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, Bill Donahue, Ph.D., starts to pick apart the words used by a CBS article where they used the term “300 ‘predator priests’ abused more than 1,000 children over a period of 70 years.” Donahue claims that maybe half that number are actually guilty of what they’ve been accused of, “How many of the 300 were probably guilty? Maybe half. My reasoning? The 2004 report by the John Jay College for Criminal Justice found that 4 percent of priests nationwide had a credible accusation made against them between 1950-2002. That is the figure everyone quotes. But the report also notes that roughly half that number were substantiated. If that is a reliable measure, the 300 figure drops to around 150.”

In this feeble attempt at completely sweeping this under the rug, Donahue even describes the on-going crisis in the Catholic Church as a total myth, saying, ” In fact, there is no institution, private or public, that has less of a problem with the sexual abuse of minors today than the Catholic Church.”

The document stressed that the majority of the claims made in the grand jury report were too old to be prosecuted saying that Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh “Salacious” Shapiro had admitted on August 14th that, “Almost every instance of child abuse (the grand jury) found was too old to be prosecuted.” To which I would ask, does that mean that it didn’t happen, or that the problem doesn’t exist? If anything it’s to the contrary and proves that this is not a new problem within the Catholic Church.

Donahue shifts the focus from the Catholic Church to the public school system, saying that “Public institutions are governed under the corrupt doctrine of sovereign immunity, and few politicians have the courage to challenge it.”

What’s possibly the most disturbing thing about the document is when Donahue defends these molesters and rapists by saying that most of the alleged victims were not raped at all, but rather “groped or otherwise abused, but not penetrated, which is what the word “rape” means.”

This is such a disgusting piece with Donahue defending these offenders, making light of what is clearly larger than most people know. He argues that the offenders are not pedophiles, yet all of the victims were under the legal age of consent.

Donahue makes the argument that the impression was given that most of the children in the report were being spoken about as if they were 5-year-olds when according to Donahue, they were more like 15-year-olds. Again, under the legal age of consent.

The 11-page document is nothing but defending, deflecting, and projecting. It’s a pathetic attempt to whitewash and downplay what a colossal problem this is in the Catholic Church.