Not Every Priest Accused of Sex Abuse Was Guilty

The Lying, Scheming Altar Boy

One thing, though, that seemed to be sadly consistent was the willingness of bishops to either cover up for the real predators or throw good priests with no evidence under the bus based on unsubstantiated accusations. It was easier to settle out of court and hush everything up than stand up for the truth. And that is part of the reason we're in the mess we're in.

Remember when you hear about the sex abuse scandals the other scandal in the story -- persecution and destruction of the reputations of innocent priests.

Pray for all innocent priests who suffered grave injustice because of their refusal to perjure themselves in plea bargains.

Read Fr. MacRae's article and share it with others.

Falsely Accused: The Trial of Gordon MacRae

Money is a big motivator and I have no doubt that there were innocent priests caught up in the horrendous sex abuse scandals because somebody saw a cash cow and hired an unscrupulous lawyer to milk it. Just make an accusation and get the payoff. Unfortunately, an accusation of sex abuse was often all it took to ruin a priest's reputation and bishops were quick to throw the accused under the bus to divert attention from their own cover ups.

The idea that an accusation equals guilt flies in the face of our legal system of presumed innocence, but in many dioceses an accusation was all it took to get a priest booted and a diocese to make a payout jeopardizing the investigation and determination of guilt. How many innocent men were caught up amidst the guilty? How many never got a fair hearing in court?

Fr. MacRae certainly seems to be one of them. Reading his story is shocking and sad. Dorothy Rabinowitz who wrote about Father in 2005 just published an updated article in the Wall Street Journal. Check it out here and the original story here. And you can also read Fr. MacRae's writings at These Stone Walls.

Hitler's Paper: The New York Times

We've all heard the lie repeated over and over that Pope Pius XII did nothing during World War II to save the Jews, that his silence helped send million of Jews to death in the camps. The slander went viral with Rolf Hochhuth's play, The Deputy, in 1963. With the complicity of a mainstream media that hates the Church, the lie has been repeated over and over in books and articles that get wide press. The real story of the pope's heroism has been ignored and buried including the fact that the chief rabbi of Rome during the war years, Israel Zolli, converted to Catholicism because of the pope's efforts to save his people. Who knows about that except serious students seeking the truth?

But now it's becoming clearer who really helped enable the Nazis by their silence, Hitler's paper, the New York Times that covered up its own silence by embracing KGB propaganda. Fr. Gordon MacRae   has an extensive article at These Stone Walls. He writes:

It is no longer a mystery to me why The New York Times and other news media spread far and wide the myth of “Hitler’s Pope.” They eagerly embraced without question a Kremlin propaganda campaign to frame Pius XII as a scapegoat for silence in the face of the Holocaust. The Times had an opportunity during Hitler’s reign that the Pope never had – an opportunity to expose a horrible truth to the world. According to Susan E. Tifft and Alex S. Jones, other agendas – self-serving political agendas – controlled the news and buried that truth. If the Kremlin had its “Operation Seat 12″ to defame the Pope, “Operation Page 12″ seemed to be a parallel plan at The New York Times. It’s a moral legacy that cannot ever be erased as long as the Times and other news media scapegoat someone else for that silence.

If any pope deserves to be up for canonization it is Pope Pius XII. Let us pray that more and more Catholics and people of good will learn the story of this courageous man. You see a little of his heroism in the film The Scarlet and the Black about Msgr. Hugh O'Flaherty's role in running an underground program in Rome with the support of the pope. Great movie! It would make a good Christmas present for teenagers who need real heroes in their lives.