MY DIRE PREDICTION HAS COME TRUE

For months, I have been predicting that the Federal Government would institute RICO proceedings against the Catholic Church in the wake of the almost universal complaints of homosexual predatory abuse of young males.

The Federal investigation into Catholic Clergy abuse now includes every diocese in the nation. 

On Saturday, U.S. Attorney William McSwain put every Archdiocese, Diocese and Catholic institution on notice to preserve and not destroy evidence of priest abuse or a cover-up.

An attorney for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has stated that it is complying with such a request it received from the U.S. Department of Justice.

In a letter sent earlier this month,  Mr. McSwain directed USCCB President, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, to notify all Catholic institutions to preserve documents in their current form and condition, "and not be destroyed, discarded, disposed of, deleted, or altered in any way." 

Part of the letter was published by a Philadelphia blogger on Friday. It shows the letter from McSwain's office was sent Octopber 9th, which is the same week Pennsylvania Dioceses received Federal subpoenas. It directs Cardinal DiNardo to "immediately transmit copies of this preservation request" to all members and affiliates. 

“We have transmitted the US Attorney’s letter at his request and in the spirit of cooperation with law enforcement,” Anthony R. Picarello, Jr., Associate General Secretary and General Counsel for the Bishops’ Conference, stated. 

Last week, the Associated Press reported that Federal investigators had opened an investigation into child sexual abuse by Roman Catholic Clergy in Pennsylvania, using subpoenas to demand secret files and testimony from Church leaders.

The Federal investigation came about two months after a historic Grand Jury Report found that 301 "predator priests" in Pennsylvania dioceses had molested more than 1,000 children since the 1940s. The Grand Jury Report showed that the church leadership, including bishops, covered up the abuse.

News of the Federal investigation of Pennsylvania Dioceses broke the day after Pennsylvania Senators failed to vote on a measure that could have allowed survivors of child sexual abuse, including those abused by Catholic Clergy, the ability to sue their abusers. The State's statute of limitations prevents survivors of child sexual abuse from suing their abuser if they haven't taken action by the time they turn 30.

Now that my prediction is sadly being fulfilled, I will venture yet another.

Given the structure of the USCCB itself and its canonical and administrative associations with and among all the Dioceses in the United States, the Federal Government will target the Conference itself and issue indictments against the USCCB for conducting a criminal enterprise.

Prosecution will involve both criminal and civil claims against Church leaders and institutions.

If anyone thinks the Catholic Church has been financially decimated by the civil claims made against individual dioceses and Clergy, let no one doubt the impact which a Federal investigation and suit will have upon the coffers of the American Church as a whole.

We have entered a period of Church history unlike any ever before.  

What direction this will take and what its outcome will be should be a matter of utmost urgency to the USCCB and the Holy See.  

The American Catholic Church could indeed be crippled financially for decades yet to come.  It’s moral relevance totally decimated in its wake.

Bishops who have been reluctant to be accountable for these scandals will now find themselves forced to accept responsibility for the terrible sufferings of thousands of victims whose cries for justice and healing were so long ignored and hidden.

Let us pray for our beloved Church, soon to suffer in a way we cannot even begin to imagine.

Come, Holy Spirit, come!