Today, the Dallas Morning News informs us that the cardinal-archbishop of Mexico City sent a priest accused of multiple cases of sex abuse to Los Angeles, where the priest allegedly, in only nine months, created one of the largest sex abuse cases in LA’s history. Of course, once his alleged depredations were done there, he was moved on to another country.
Father Nicolas Aguilar has been charged with sex abuse in both California and Mexico, but he was kept in ministry while the case was pending and even after his conviction. Aguilar denies any wrongdoing. Witnesses said the priest constantly had late-night visits from young men and teens and he was almost killed by unknown assailants. In Los Angeles, he was moved from parish to parish, with family members of victims being rebuffed again and again when they reported what had happened. That’s a familiar story.
I’m also dismayed at the attitudes of the Mexican people who criticized the boys and their families for pursuing the case. The natural deference toward priests is apparently still strong in Latin America. Unfortunately, because of the actions of molesters and bishops and priests who protected them, that will likely erode there too.
Attorney Sylvia Demarest, who helped win the Rudy Kos case here in Dallas, and who is deeply involved in this issue, told me two years ago that in terms of awareness and attitudes, Hispanics are where Anglos were 30 years ago. That is, they don’t believe priests are capable of these things, and they trust the Church to handle them properly.
She predicted that a generation from now, we’re going to see an explosion of lawsuits from Hispanic plaintiffs.
The deference may be strong in Latin America but it is not always so in Mexico. Mexico has along history of Anti-Clericalism which they have used to pass laws the until the 1970’s prohibited priests from wearing their collars in public. Remember the first time the Pope visited Mexico in 1978, there where limitations put on his visit by Mexican law that grew out of the major clash that occured in the 1920’s called the Cristero War. Read the following link to see the effects the Cristero War had on Mexico that last even today. Thus, it is not as simple as some would think in Mexico.
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/25/story_2585_1.html
To say that these mexican families who are Catholic do not give deference to priests is to deny common experience and common sense. Just because the offical government of Mexico has a history of being anti Catholic does not mean the individual Catholics do not show deference to the clergy.
Evidently not ALL Mexicans treat priests ‘with deference.’ There are a couple of folks there who attempted to deliver a message to the priest with broken bottles. Maybe the Wild West’s rules should go back into effect.
“Maybe the Wild West’s rules should go back into effect.”
That could be reasonable. My point was to Jonathan who seems to think these homo abusers are the result of anti Catholic bigotry, rather than sinful priests and bishops.