"Father, can I talk to you about becoming a nun?"

"Certainly, my child, come into the rectory and take off your clothes."
===============

"Father, have you molested young teenage girls?"

"Such a harsh term, Bishop. They look up to me. Especially on their knees."

"Well, thank god you haven't molested boys like so many of your brothers!"

"Certainly not, Bishop! How distasteful. I'd like to return to my own country."

"Go with god, Father. And stay with your own Bishop."
================

“We cannot simply throw out the priest, so he is just staying in the bishop’s house, and he is helping me with the appointment of teachers.” Bishop Arulappan Amalraj, Ootacamund, India

Yes, I made up the italicised quotes, but the last one is real, from the New York Times and the A.P. It's part of the latest Catholic Church sex scandal and the Vatican's attempts to sidestep it.

"The priest" is Rev. Joseph Jeyapaul, a Catholic priest from India who's now under criminal charges for sexual abuse allegedly committed in 2004 while ministering to the faithful in Crookston, Minnesota.  

Here we go again. Priests molesting, communities protesting, law enforcement not arresting because the Vatican's divesting. I want to scream.

The Pedophile
The local Minnesota bishop says he felt responsible for potential future victims and asked the Vatican to step in. The Vatican threw it to the bishop in India to "monitor" Father Jeyapaul's contact with minors.

So India is keeping an eye on Father Jeyapaul but they won't extradite him and they might consider the Vatican's idea that he agree to "laicization," i.e. being removed from the priesthood.

Defrocked. Oh the horror. Oh the danger.

He'd still be Catholic, but not a priest. Not a criminal either. Just a man free to continue to seek fresh young female prey any time, any place. Without consequences.

A Vatican lawyer insists they're cooperating with law enforcement on extradition efforts. Hmm. They gave a Minnesota prosecutor the priest's address in India. Finis.

We could have found that ourselves online.

The story of yet another pedophile priest being defiantly protected by the Catholic Church is outrageous. The back story is literally mind boggling.

The Protectors
The "laicization" suggestion came from one of my favorite hypocrites, Former San Francisco Archbishop William Levada (above, right).

Cardinal Levada is now Prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. Ahem. That was Pope Benedict's job when he was Cardinal Ratzinger under Pope John Paul II.

A monumentally political post, the Pope's top Cardinal. Running the Vatican office responsible for enforcing church doctrine, punishing wayward sinners and ...wait for it... dealing with pedophile priests.

(I love that quaint distinction. Apparently the Vatican feels "pedophile priests" aren't quite "wayward sinners.") 

But wait, the connection gets better: as the late John Paul II's policy wonk, Cardinal Ratzinger, aka "God's Rottweiler"  was in charge of covering up handling the huge pedophile priest scandal in San Francisco. During ...wait for it... the tenure of none other than Archbishop William Levada.

Under Ratzinger, the Vatican's Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith "clarified and streamlined its procedures in 2001 to respond to accusations of sexual abuse by priests," as the NYT reports.

Oh really? How's that been working out? Is there a solid system in place to deal with pedophile priests? Well. No.

The Politics
Back then, Ratzinger was big on tossing politically incorrect, dissident theologians out on their ears for not toeing the party line.

Pious child molesters, not so much.  C'mon in guys, we'll cover your tracks and hide your disgraceful acts.

Now, as Pope Benedict XVI, he's passed that torch to Archbishop Levada, another harshly conservative doctrinarian.

Here's what they stand united against: abortion, euthanasia, feminism, gay marriage, homosexuality and lifting the celibacy requirement for priests.

Uh, Your Holiness? Cardinal Levada? About those last two. Horse is out of the barn. And roaming all over the world. With your blessings.

Levada was a principal player in his city's pedophile scandal cover up. A statement from The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, ''Regarding abuse in the San Francisco archdiocese, Levada has been slow to act, harsh to victims and committed to secrecy.''

And get this: Levada's on record as having said that priests should seek counsel from their bishops and consider refusing communion to Catholic politicians who support abortion.

Yikes! No wishy-washy stance on separation of Church and State for this tyrannical theologian. What a trinity of traits: unyielding, unforgiving, underhanded.

Just the person you want at the right hand of the Pope, inspiring the faithful, bringing Catholics back into the fold. What a pair of role models these two make.

What a tradition to pass on to the next generation.

The Point
Pedophilia might get a priest fired if he's caught, his story's really bad and the media pressure gets too hot. Never mind. He's still a Catholic, still on the stairway to Heaven.

Yet a pro-abortion politician isn't worthy of communion or redemption. Just a cast off sinner on the road to hell.

The Vatican has historically shown a level of arrogance and hubris in direct opposition to the teachings of its own faith. Yes, it's a political world. But sexual abuse of children by their supposed spiritual leaders is too eggregious, too horrific to be ignored.

To defend, protect, support the offenders is a crime against nature. Against humanity. Against God. Who are these men to do such crimes without fear of retribution?

In the end, this isn't about religion or politics. It's about Right and Wrong. There's only one group lower than pedophiles ... the powerful hypocrites who protect them.