Ovide Bastien

Why? Ovide Bastien

I was plunged into such a deep shock and sadness that I was forced to ask myself what had gone wrong. Why would my lifelong friend Tom, raised on the farm by a wonderful mom and dad exactly like I had been, end up doing such a horrible thing as abusing minors? Why in the world would such a thing ever happen in such an extraordinary, loving and close-knit family as that of Tom! Why? And why in the world would such a thing happen to Tom, who had served in several different parishes throughout his life, and about whom I had heard such good things from so many of his parishioners over the years? Tom, the hero and pride of his family and an outstanding and highly esteemed priest! My research led me to discover a tragic fact. Instead of acknowledging the deep root of a worldwide and truly historical institutional crisis, the Catholic Church limits itself, even under the leadership of Pope Francis, to small and inadequate reforms. Zero tolerance, better screening of those entering seminaries, stricter diocesan rules, ever greater transparency and accountability on the part of bishops and the Vatican: all these measures leave untouched the deep and fundamental causes of clergy abuse. They are mere Band-Aids. They do not go to the heart of the problem. Thousands of excellent, devout, and very committed priests throughout the world, who end up abusing minors as well as adults, are merely viewed as individual sinners and rotten apples. They, as well as their victims, are deemed collateral damage. They are shoved under the bus of the still Roman-Empire-Structured Catholic Church!