In case you thought that the systematic abuse of children at the hands of Catholic priests, followed by a thorough cover-up wasn’t enough, Bill Donohue is here to set the record straight and inform you that yes, things can actually get worse.

Bill Donohue is the president of the ‘Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.’ The Catholic League states that it “defends the right of Catholics – lay and clergy alike – to participate in American public life without defamation or discrimination.” Because we all know how much of a problem Catholics otherwise have with practicing their religion, right?

Thank god for people like Bill. Bill is the dark knight nobody asked for, and everyone is really confused about. Bill decided to “debunk” the two year, 900 page grand jury report detailing the organized sexual abuse of children in Pennsylvania in his downloadable PDF entitled “Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report Debunked.”

… Just because you say you’re “debunking” something doesn’t make it true.

His rebuttal, totaling 2791 words and just over 9 pages, goes in the format of identifying a “myth” of the report, followed by his rebuttal. And it starts with this:

Unlike most commentators and reporters, I have read most of the

Pennsylvania grand jury report. The purpose of this statement is to

debunk many of the myths, and indeed lies, that mar the report and/or

interpretations of it.



Myth: Over 300 priests were found guilty of preying on youngsters in

Pennsylvania.



Fact: No one was found guilty of anything. Yet that didn’t stop CBS from

saying “300 ‘predator priests’ abused more than 1,000 children over a

period of 70 years.” These are all accusations, most of which were never

verified by either the grand jury or the dioceses. The report, and CBS, are also wrong to say that all of the accused are

priests. In fact, some were brothers, some were deacons, and some were

seminarians. How many of the 300 were probably guilty? Maybe half. My reasoning?

The 2004 report by the John Jay College for Criminal Justice found that 4

percent of priests nationwide had a credible accusation made against

them between 1950-2002. That is the figure everyone quotes. But the

report also notes that roughly half that number were substantiated. If that is a reliable measure, the 300 figure drops to around 150. During the seven decades under investigation by the grand jury, there

were over 5,000 priests serving in Pennsylvania (this includes two

dioceses not covered in the report). Therefore, the percent of priests who

had an accusation made against them is quite small, offering a much

different picture than what the media afford. And remember, most of

these accusations were never substantiated.

Now, I’m not a mathematician, but according to my calculations, 150 is still greater than zero.



I would think that any number greater than zero priests who sexually assaulted a child would be a problem, but I guess that’s where Bill and I differ in ideology.

But that pales in comparison to this one:

Myth: The priests “raped” their victims. Shapiro said that “Church officials routinely and purposely described the

abuse as horseplay and wrestling and inappropriate contact. It was none

of those things.” He said it was “rape.” Similarly, the New York Times

quoted from the report saying that Church officials used such terms as

“horseplay” and “inappropriate contact” as part of their “playbook for

concealing the truth.”



Fact: This is an obscene lie. Most of the alleged victims were not raped:

they were groped or otherwise abused, but not penetrated, which is what

the word “rape” means. This is not a defense—it is meant to set the

record straight and debunk the worst case scenarios attributed to the

offenders.

Oh! I get it. We’re playing the semantics game here. “They weren’t raped, they were just sexually abused by a trusted.” Okay, Bill.

This is like saying “your house wasn’t robbed, it was burgled.” A crime was still committed, regardless what you want to call it.

“These kids trusted an adult who represents god’s presence on Earth to not sexually assault them, but even though a lot of them did, at least they didn’t penetrate most of the kids.” – Catholic League President Bill Donohue, basically.

And of course, as always, he blames homosexuals for Catholic priests molesting children. Because holy shit this is a real thing he said:

Myth: The abusive priests were pedophiles. Fact: This is the greatest lie of them all, repeated non-stop by the media,

and late-night talk TV hosts.



There have been two scandals related to the sexual abuse of minors in the

Catholic Church. Scandal I involves the enabling bishops who covered it

up. Scandal II involves the media cover-up of the role played by gay

molesters.



Let me repeat what I have often said. Most gay priests are not molesters,

but most of the molesters have been gay. Not to admit this—and this

includes many bishops who are still living in a state of denial about it—

means the problem will continue. Indeed, there are reports today about

seminaries in Boston and Honduras that are disturbing.

Fucking what?

The only state of denial here is the fact that the Catholic Church doesn’t want to be held accountable for decades (if not centuries) of encouraging and covering-up for priests who want to abuse children.

No other organization in the world would be allowed to continue existing if something so heinous was so systemic within their organization.

Alex Jones & Co. have made a living from propagating objectively false stories about how a pizza place outside DC ran a sex trafficking ring in its basement. People lost their goddamn minds when Target announced that trans people can use whatever bathroom they felt most comfortable in. But where is the outrage and pushback against the Catholic Church, who has repeatedly admitted to protecting predator priests, when they have legitimate scandal after scandal?

Are these the “Christian values” that we hear so much about all the time?



What will it take to get people to realize that it’s time to cancel the Catholic Church?

