A Case To Follow

To date, the lawsuits filed against pedophile priests have been confined to the local areas in which the assaults took place.

Attorney Jeffrey Anderson has brought suit against the Vatican, and the ongoing case is one to watch.

The man's made a career out of suing the Catholic Church on behalf of sexual abuse victims, and by all accounts he's profited from the venture. That would mean that he's winning his cases. Which means he's able to present credible evidence in a court of law.

Read The Leaven of the Pharisees and you'll gain an understanding of the shell game that the Irish bishops played in their attempts to avoid scandal (and as current events have shown, failed spectacularly). Then you'll realize that Mr. Anderson's latest lawsuit has legs.

He's suing on behalf of an anonymous victim who believes that the Vatican is ultimately at fault for sexual abuse commited by Father Andrew Ronan. The victim was attacked in 1966. The Vatican says they're not at fault because they had no idea that Father Ronan was a pervert prior to 1966.

Except that they did. And Mr. Anderson has a letter to back up his claim.

Father Ronan, it seems, had abused seminary students in 1959, and he was promptly shuffled out of Ireland and over to America before he drove any more potential clergymen out of the seminary. So wrote the Provincial of the Servite Fathers in Chicago back in 1963.

Written down for all to see, the letter explains that the Servite Fathers knew Father Ronan was a pedophile, pulled him out of an Irish seminary to protect the seminary, and dumped him at St. Phillip's in Chicago. Better that he molest a boy there than one in the seminary, went the Provincial's reasoning.

Best, of course, that Father Ronan be given the boot, but that's up to the Holy Father, wrote the Provincial.

So there it is. Before 1966, Father Ronan was known for pedophilia, and his case was kicked all the way up to Rome because it's ultimately up to the Pope to de-frock his shepherds.

This will be a case well worth following, to see how the Vatican wiggles out of the tight spot it's placed itself in, all in an effort to hide what could never remain hidden.