Church Pedophiles Created Mark Foley?

Rep. Mark Foley, the Congressman who resigned after acknowleding that he sent sexually explicit messages to underage boys, has pulled the PC sympathy trump card: he has claimed he was molested by a clergyman.* Some believe this, coupled with his sudden alcohol problem, is more illusory than real.

Giving him the benefit of the doubt yields nightmarish thoughts. What if his genuinely is a case of the victim becoming the victimizer? What if an ordained minister is the ultimate cause of this scandal? The pathological cycle of abuse has been verified time and again; that a priest could set off such a cycle, in the name of God, would be one of the foremost abominations.

This is relevant due to the "alleged" molestation at Christ of the Hills Monastery in Blanco, Texas. This blog reported the details at the time. I'm thankful for the efforts of Pokrov.org to document the guilty.

For the Church, the next layer of guilt comprises those who protected, enabled, praised, or continued to associate with such molestors. ROCOR cast COTH out. Antioch retired a bishop for a far lesser transgression. But in Rome, bishops and cardinals who transferred molestors from one parish to another still wield the scepter.

Among "Western Rite Orthodox" (real or Pseudodox), many know of Derek "Fr. Aidan" Keller, the self-proclaimed "genuine liturgical expert" of "Old Sarum Rite Missal" fame. Keller — by word and example — invited Orthodox Christians to come to Blanco long after these allegations had come to light, calling it part of "the Texan Thebaid." (The Thebaid housed holy monasteries founded by Sts. Pachomius and Antony the Great and inhabited by many saints.) He encouraged pilgrims even while the predators were still living at the Blanco vagante "monastery." He announced an event and took a man with him to visit Blanco more than a year after two predators' respective conviction and confession. And he praised one of their publications on his bookstore's website until he had to leave his monastery in Austin in late 2004.

As I wrote at the time, "That he, as a 'hieromonk,' was willing to laud and promote these pedophiles should put him forever beyond the pale." It should hold true for anyone in an analagous situation, as well — in the Church far more than in Congress.

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* - Actually, the PC trump card would be if he blamed his actions on the "intense pain of being a closeted gay man in a heterosexist society."