Catholic League On Predatory Priests: It’s Not Rape If The Child Isn’t Penetrated

Catholic League president Bill Donohue defends predatory priests by claiming it’s not rape if the child isn’t penetrated.

In a bizarre, insensitive, and outrageous post, Bill Donohue, president of the very conservative Catholic League, attacked the recent grand jury report documenting the rape and sexual abuse of over a 1,000 children by hundreds of Catholic priests in  Pennsylvania.

Donohue called the report released by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court an “obscene lie” while defending the Catholic Church and their deplorable record of covering up and enabling the rape and sexual abuse of children by predatory priests.

In his post titled “Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report Debunked,” Donohue desperately tries to minimize the findings of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and in so doing Donohue reveals the profound poverty of both his intellect and his character.

At one point in the deplorable post Donohue has the audacity to claim that the statement “the priests raped their victims” is actually a “myth,” writing:

Myth: The priests “raped” their victims.

Attempting to justify his assertion that the claim that “the priests raped their victims” is a “myth,” Donohue writes:

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.

In a fleeting moment of self-awareness the rabid defender of all things Catholic continues:

This is not a defense — it is meant to set the record straight and debunk the worst case scenarios attributed to the offenders.

Donohue is being dishonest. He is defending predatory priests. When he claims it’s not rape if the child isn’t penetrated, he is attempting to minimize the horrific crimes of predatory priests, and in so doing he is defending those predatory priests. Full stop.

Donohue also denies that the Catholic Church uses a “playbook” for concealing the truthabout predatory priests:

Furthermore, Church officials were not following a “playbook” for using terms such as “inappropriate contact”—they were following the lexicon established by the John Jay professors.

Again, Donohue is being dishonest. The fact that the Catholic Church received legal advice about how to set up the playbook only confirms the fact that the playbook does indeed exist.

Commenting on Donohue’s post, Joe. My. God. notes:

Donohue goes on to denounce the media for using the term “pedophilia” to describe the incidents when, Donohue claims, most of the victims were “postpubescent.”

And, as he always does, Donohue rants that the media is providing cover for the LGBT movement by not describing the assailants as “gay priests” and by sensationalizing the “minority” of cases involving preteen girls.

Donohue frequently tries to minimize and excuse the behavior of predatory priests by pointing out that some victims are “post-pubescent,” as if raping or sexually assaulting a 13-year-old is more acceptable than raping or sexually assaulting a 9-year-old.

Donohue also has the habit of blaming “the gays” for the moral corruption of the Catholic Church. It is all part of his pattern of trying to excuse and minimize the deplorable and criminal behavior of predatory priests, and the the deplorable and criminal behavior of Catholic leadership that covers-up for and enables the predatory priests.

Bottom line: Catholic League president Bill Donohue defends predatory priests by claiming it’s not rape if the child isn’t penetrated.