dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

SSPX Abuse Scandal Hits Mainstream Media

MAY 18, 2020|10:59 PM

ROD DREHER

"About a month ago, I posted about a blockbuster Church Militant story on sexual abuse scandal within the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X, in particular in the town of St. Marys, Kansas, where the SSPX has a school and a big community. Church Militant kept writing about it (read all its coverage here), and SSPX answered some of their charges, but I lost track of the back and forth. Now I see that the Kansas City Star has a big report on the allegations and investigation. Excerpts:

For four decades, the Society of St. Pius X has made its home in this northeast Kansas town, its followers coming from across the country to raise their children according to traditional Catholic values.

Now, with attendance at Latin Mass topping 4,000, plans are underway for the breakaway Catholic society to build a $30 million church high on its campus overlooking St. Marys. The Immaculata, the SSPX says, will become the biggest traditional Catholic church in the world.

But something else is underway that threatens to overshadow the jubilation over a new house of worship with enough room to accommodate the ever-expanding flock: A criminal investigation by the state’s top law enforcement agency into allegations of priest sexual abuse.

Read it all. It’s a long story, and it mostly covers horrific ground already reported by Church Militant. Some of you readers didn’t want to believe Church Militant, on the grounds that its editors have an axe to grind with the SSPX. I don’t know anything about hostility between CM and SSPX, but if you were thinking that reporting by CM’s Christine Niles was just tabloid trash, as a couple of you said, you should be aware that the same allegations have now appeared in the state’s biggest newspaper. [UPDATE: Several of you have pointed out that the Star is based in Kansas City, Missouri, which is across the river from the state of Kansas — but that yes, it’s the most influential newspaper in Kansas. — RD]

his excerpt from the KC Star report is infuriating, but typical:

“There’s no benefit of the doubt anymore. This is corruption,” said Jassy Jacas, a St. Marys woman who recently posted details on her Facebook page of what she said was inappropriate behavior by an SSPX priest she had gone to for counseling.

Jacas said she reported her concerns all the way up the SSPX leadership chain starting in 2018 and was assured that action had been taken. But she said she later learned that no investigation was ever conducted and that the priest was serving as principal of an SSPX school in Florida.

… Some SSPX faithful strongly disagreed with Jacas’ actions.

“The SSPX has my support,” wrote one woman on the SSPX Facebook page. “Of course Satan is attacking the true Mass. We need to pray for our clergy.”

Another posted on Jacas’ Facebook page: “I know quite a few priests and never have I suspected them of inappropriate things. If by chance something did happen then why the hell don’t everyone stop posting things and start praying for our priests.”"