Why Was the U.S. Catholic Church Never Charged in a RICO Suit?
Like most people, I woke up this morning to find out the Pope would abdicate the See of Peter. As someone who grew up Catholic, I’ve been wondering this for more than a decade: why was the Catholic church in the U.S. never charged with a RICO suit?
Just going from the name of the legislation, it would appear that an organization that trafficked in pedophiles would be a prime candidate for such a lawsuit. Don’t get me wrong; I have no animosity towards the church, but this would appear to be a lead pipe cinch. I understand that any time you have an organization with a lot of people, there will be a criminal subelement. That’s why I didn’t hold it against the entire military for Abu Ghraib. But this was something more. Why didn’t it happen?
Technically there is no such entity as “the U.S. Catholic Church.” Each individual diocese, or archdiocese, is it’s own distinct entity under the authority of their respective Bishop, Archbishop, or Cardinal.
It’s also worth noting that several Catholic Diocese have been, or currently are being, sued for their role in covering up reports of abuse.
@Doug Mataconis: yeah, I get that they’re being sued. Even so, if I were inclined to be religious again I couldn’t do it as a Catholic because the organization seems messed up. It’s one thing for people to commit crimes, another thing entirely to cover it up.
A conspiracy case was brought against the Catholic Diocese in Philadelphia. As I recall not a single juror believed the conspiracy case, i.e. nobody believed that the Catholic church was engaged in a conspiracy to molest children.
@Doug Mataconis: True, but if there were some evidence of coordination or collusion between various nominally-independent Bishops, etc, would that rise to the level of RICO? I mean, it’s not like “The Chicago Mafia” or “La Cosa Nostra” were incorporated entities…
If you want to go there with organized religion, then you stand to open the floodgates of logic.
Never go full logic with ” FAITH “.
.
For instance, consider the term “Racketeering”
So… An organization creates an afterlife.
You can’t see it, taste it touch it, but the threat is looming.
Then… The organization that purports that there is an afterlife, without proof, says it can PROTECT you from the negative effects of that afterlife… if you tithe on a regular basis and follow their rules, and bow to their leadership.
How is this NOT racketeering?
How is this NOT a punishable crime.
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act applies to the basic premise of organized religion.
@Doug Mataconis: even better, in many countries and dioceses the church is busy squirrelling away their assets so that they can declare bankruptcy while keeping all the shiny toys. “Us? No, the catholic church here has zero assets. Its just a couple of guys who live in a bus shelter”
@Robert Prather: @Liberal Capitalist: “How is this NOT racketeering?”
“How is this NOT a punishable crime.”
It’s called choice.
@Liberal Capitalist:
Hence, the 1st Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;
Ergo, no prosecution.
RICO? Heck they don’t even have to pay taxes. Religion is above the law (or in many cases “is” the law) in the United States – all the rights, none of the responsibilities.
@Sandman:
Let me get this straight: You are saying the little boys who were raped by priests had a choice? Especially those who were raped on multiple occasions? That they must have wanted it because they came back for more?
@OzarkHillbilly: No, it’s because they had a pretty mouth, like you hillblly. Bad joke, but obviously the choice I refer to is whether or not to be in any certain religion, or not.
@Sandman:
Ahhh, got it. The parents chose to send their children to the child rapists. It all becomes clear to me now.
@OzarkHillbilly: Actually, it’s not an unreasonable point, but it’s one that still seems to support the concept of criminal charges (IMHO, IANAL, etc). As the argument goes, the parents made a choice to a) raise their children in a certain religion and b) send their children to the care of representatives of that religion. One could argue that parents make that choice under the impression that it is a reasonably safe thing to do. If it could be demonstrated that the churches _knew_ that environment was unsafe but continued informing people otherwise, there might be a fair amount of culpability there…
Because, contrary to what you may think, the Catholic Church’s purpose is not to facilitate sexual abuse. By your logic, The U.S. Department of Education should also be charged under the RICO statute since children are more likely to be abused by a public school teacher than a priest.
@legion:
Apparently, this IS the case, and has been prosecuted in some diocese as such.
Surprisingly,
So… resignation… maybe NOT a shocker.
If this is the case, then prosecute.
… a litany of potential indictments:
from http://www.salon.com/2013/02/11/pope_benedict_xvi_forks_over_the_keys_to_heaven/
links for the implications at the Salon.com link
A comment was put into moderation (likely for too many links)… until the full comment is approved, you may wish to consider some of the potential indictments and documented issues at …
http://www.salon.com/2013/02/11/pope_benedict_xvi_forks_over_the_keys_to_heaven/
Here are a few key links to the Philadelphia Priest Abuse Blog:
The first is the judge’s instruction to the jurty that a monsignor’s assignment of a priest accused of molesting a child had to have specifically been intended to endanger children. Link
The second link following acquittal of conspiracy is self-explanatory: Jury Didn’t Buy Prosecution’s Grand Conspiracy Theory
There is a LA Cop that refused to protect a colleague that engaged in criminal behavior. They fired him, and he went rogue, entering a killing spree. It´s easy to self indulge yourself in blog comments, but dealing with coleagues that engage in criminal behavior is pretty tough, I know by personal experience.
The Catholic Church is not the only organization with problems with pedophiles. I think that the problem of rape inside the Armed Forces is even worse. The number of women being raped in the Armed Force is much, much bigger and the cover-ups are much egregious.
Please release me, let me go…..
from moderation purgatory.
That’s some interesting “logic” you’re using there…who knew that employees of the U.S. Department of Education participated in cover-ups to protect teachers who raped children…
@Andre Kenji:
I realize that when we’re talking about the LA PD, it’s presumed guilty, but given that this “whistle blower” eventually decided to start a killing spree that targeted family members of people whom he felt wronged him, I’m a little hesitant to accept his version of events as Gospel.
@matt bernius: I´m not accepting his version. But his story resounded with me because that´s a story that I know and everyone knows that the LAPD is rotten regardless of his version of events.
@Liberal Capitalist: Interesting quote from Benedict there you cited:
Just what is incorrect about it?
Back in the 1960’s and 1970’s, there was this thing called “the sexual revolution.” And it was about a hell of a lot more than abortion and birth control. A whole lot of sexual practices that had been defined as abnormal, deviant, abhorrent, wrong, unacceptable, and just plain evil were pushed as no big deal. Homosexuality, promiscuity, group sex, fetishes, S/M, B/D, and yes, pedophilia all had their champions.
The arguments in favor of pedophilia — mainly pushed by NAMBLA — was that it was a matter of age discrimination to deny children the right to explore their own sexuality. And that sounded an awful lot like the arguments used in those other cases.
At the same time, there was a major push in the Catholic Church to move away from theological matters and get more worldly. “Liberation Theology” was all the rage, where individual sins were pretty much ignored in the quest for Social Justice. That one didn’t get officially stomped down until the 1980’s.
Another idea I haven’t investigated too much is that during the 1960’s a lot of troubled gay men sought to escape their torment by joining the priesthood, hoping that a structured life of celibacy would “cure” them of their unnatural, sinful, evil desires. And that worked out about as well as you’d expect, knowing what we know now about human nature.
Cherry-picking Benedict’s statement is good for rabble-rousing, but is fundamentally dishonest.
@OzarkHillbilly:
I see what you did there, the problem is you have not tithed to OTB this month. You also need to do 7 hail-Mary’s and to purchase this trinket.
@Andre Kenji: That cop’s “whistle-blowing” as dismissed as retaliation for a poor review from the officer he “blew the whistle” on — after an investigation found zero evidence backing up his claim, and a lot of witnesses who said it never happened.
What you won’t hear about that ex-cop is that he’s a big Obama fan, a proponent of gun control, and has a hefty fan base at the Huffington Post. Since that contradicts the notion that only right-wingers are dangerous, it’s being quietly ignored.
@Septimius: “By your logic, The U.S. Department of Education should also be charged under the RICO statute since children are more likely to be abused by a public school teacher than a priest. ”
By no logic whatsoever, you mean, unless evidence of an actual conspiracy to cover up and facilitate abuse is demonstrated.
@Jenos Idanian #13:
And stating a position of NAMBLA as a mainstream thought representing a specific time is… ?
I find your defending the church in that light to be… distasteful, at best.
@Jenos Idanian #13: “Back in the 1960′s and 1970′s, there was this thing called “the sexual revolution.” And it was about a hell of a lot more than abortion and birth control. A whole lot of sexual practices that had been defined as abnormal, deviant, abhorrent, wrong, unacceptable, and just plain evil were pushed as no big deal. Homosexuality, promiscuity, group sex, fetishes, S/M, B/D, and yes, pedophilia all had their champions. ”
So that’s why the problem started long, long before this – the Evul 60’s had such power that it went back in time!
New news today…
Looks like stealing from the dead is a way that the Roman Catholic Church pays for the Pedophilia lawsuits… for the tune of $115 million.
Surprisingly, because of laws managed for the benefit of religious organizations… not illegal.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/02/11/1186310/-Los-Angeles-archdiocese-quietly-appropriated-115-million-from-dead-people
@Doug Mataconis:
Just like the Giganti, Luccasi, Bonnano, Columbo families
Speaking as a law student, I imagine that the “intent” and “knowledge” aspect of RICO would be hard to prove. You can’t shake your finger at them and say what they did was bad according to present-day knowledge. It’s whether it was known as bad back then. This is the “fumbling naive idiot” defense. (Note that this doesn’t work very well in most criminal cases because it’s a “known or should have known” standard. You don’t get to stick a knife in someone and then claim as your defense:”gee, I didn’t know he was going to die!”)
i’m pretty sure there have been rico cases brought against the church.
see, e.g., http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2005_07_12/2005_09_05_Abbott_SettlementReached.htm