Pope Benedict's pedophile cover-up nothing new to Acadiana Catholics

Twenty-five years after the saga of serial molester Rev. Gilbert Gauthe rocked Acadiana, Pope Benedict finds himself the focus of growing criticism over his shuffling of a pedophile priest while serving as an Archbishop in Germany.

It appears that Pope Benedict, the former Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger, made many of the same mistakes in his leadership position that he is charged with preventing today.

In 1980, Ratzinger reviewed the case of Father Peter Hullermann, who stood accused of sexually abusing boys in the Diocese of Essen. 

After finding the accusations against Hullerman to be legitimate, the future pope then approved Hullerman's transfer to Munich and the priest resumed his pastoral duties soon afterward. 

Six years later, Father Hullermann was convicted of sexually abusing children in the Bavarian town of Grafing. Catholic leaders continued to move Hullerman throughout his career, empowering him to feed on more children. In fact, he served as a priest in a German diocese up until Monday.

Now, other than the fact that this case involved the Pope, there's very little that differentiates this from the countless stories of bishops and archbishops shuttling pedophile priests from parish to parish. 

Some, including the New York Times, have suggested that this is more noteworthy because the priest continued to serve after being convicted of molesting boys.

Well, that is not exactly precedent setting.

Eight years ago, as a writer for the Times of Acadiana, I broke national news with my report that the Rev. Norman Rogge, a priest at St. Charles Borromeo in Grand Coteau, was still serving mass -- despite two prior child sexual abuse convictions. At the time, and to this day, I believe Rogge is the only twice-convicted pedophile (that we know of) to still serve mass.

The one difference between Rogge and Hullerman is that Rogge was quietly nudged into retirement days before my expose on the church was published on April 24, 2002. Hullerman served mass a few days after his name was released to the media.

Now, while it's typical for many to criticize the Vatican and ignore the local problem, I implore you to assess your local diocese with a healthy skepticism -- even if we haven't heard much about new sexual abuse allegations in recent years.

Because, while Lafayette has been through several bishops since the horrendous acts of Gauthe, one constant that has remained is Monsignor Alex Larroque, who has served to protect pedophile priests and marginalize those who bring allegations against the diocese.

Until Larroque is gone, and only then, will I have any faith that this diocese truly cares about protecting the most vulnerable of its flock from those who abuse the power of the collar. 

For more on the Catholic Church, see my archives, also known as, Stuff I Once Wrote.

Lou Rom, an award-winning journalist, with over 2,000 articles published, hosts Lou Rom Live weekdays from 4-6 pm on KVOL1330. Contact him at kvolou@yahoo.com