While the mainstream media’s been giving us wall-to-wall all-Pope, all-the-time coverage, many here in the Boston area are well into their sixteenth minute of fame, and bashing the Pope for avoiding our city on his America tour. While he has publicly acknowledged the scandal, and now met with some of the victims, enough is not enough for these professional victims.

"I acknowledge the pain of the Church in America is experiencing as a result of sexual abuse of minors," Benedict said, urging parishioners to reach out to victims with love and compassion.

I’ll admit I’m being insensitive here.

Now while I can’t even imagine what the victims of the pedophile priests have gone through, this scandal has no longer been swept under the rug. The victims have non-profit advocates, and Hollywood celebrities have added ammunition when using the Catholic Church as a punching bag.

I guess what I’m asking is will there ever be any closure here? It’s not like because the Pope left Boston off his itinerary, the victims have been efficiently blown off. Many have been seriously paid off for their years of abuse and subsequent mental torment.

According to Yahoo,

“Of the monies paid out by the church, 526 million dollars went to settling cases…

 “Around 23 million dollars was paid out for therapy for victims or support for accused offenders, and 60 million dollars for legal fees, said the report, which was commissioned by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).”

Granted, money doesn’t heal all wounds, but it doesn’t hurt.

Victims have been paid hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of dollars each for their pain. Many churches in and around Metropolitan Boston were forced to close due to the budgetary constraints those settlements produced. Now while I’m not a lawyer but I watch them on television, I always thought people accepting settlements usually sign confidentiality agreements. If that’s the case, and everyone knows about the scandal, why are these victims still whining like victims?

They got paid, and in some cases, very well. What more do they want? Pope Benedict wasn’t the Pope when all this happened. Do these people want an eye for an eye? When do THEY forgive?  Continued...