As the Catholic Church rapidly implodes, it continues to demonstrate time and again that it is more concerned with its reputation than its victims. An institution that supposedly preaches the “Word of God,” not only repeatedly failed to report rape in decade after decade, it knowingly sheltered and continues to shelter pedophiles and rapists, and those who protected the abusers from prosecution, such as former head of the Archdiocese of Boston, Cardinal Bernard Law.
The latest case emerged yesterday in Minnesota where the Reverend Joseph Jeyapaul, a native of India, is accused of raping a 15-year-old girl in 2005. Bishop Victor Balke of Crookston tried three times to alert superiors about the priest, but his warnings were ignored. Jeyapaul currently is working in his home diocese in India. Predictably, his current bishop does not believe Jeyapaul intends to cooperate with the extradition attempt.
Given the church’s myopic stance on sexual abuse within its ranks, it should come as no surprise that it continues to lose priests, seminarians, and nuns in ever increasing numbers. In 1965 there were 58,000 priests in the United States. By 2020, there will be about 31,000 priests, and only 15,000 will be under the age of 70, according to a study conducted by Dr. James R. Lothian of Fordham University. Only 3 percent of the parishes in the US–a total of 549–were without a priest in 1965. By 2020, a quarter of all parishes, 4,656, will have no priest. The seminarian population has decreased by 90 percent from 1965 to 2002. 180,000 sisters ran the Catholic education and health systems in 1965. By 2020, the number of sisters is expected to drop to 40,000, and of these, only 21,000 will be age 70 or under.
The same is true for religious orders of men. In 1965 there were 5,277 Jesuit priests and 3,559 seminarians; in 2000 there were 3,172 priests and 389 seminarians. There were 2,534 OFM Franciscan priests and 2,251 seminarians in 1965; in 2000 there were 1,492 priests and 60 seminarians. There were 2,434 Christian Brothers in 1965 and 912 seminarians; in 2000 there were 959 Brothers and 7 seminarians. If these trends continue, Jesuits, Franciscans, and Christian Brothers will go the way of the dinosaurs in the US by 2050.
But it’s just not catholic religious orders that are hemorrhaging numbers. Half as many students are enrolled in Catholic schools today than in 1965. Marriages annulled by Catholic diocesan tribunals in an average year have risen from 400 to 50,000. Only 1 in 4 Catholics now attend Mass each week.
If the Catholic Church is to be saved, and I truly doubt that it can be, then the pope and anyone else associated with covering up or ignoring cases of sexual abuse must resign. Otherwise, the church, both literally and figuratively, will be without a soul.