Three Traditional Bishops Protect The Faithful, Reject Pro-Pedophile Canon Law

With Comment From Five Catholic Bishops, by James Grein & Matthew David

In 2018, Ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was removed from ministry for committing acts of child abuse. The Cardinal was subsequently laicized in 2019.

Countless Catholic journalists took to their pens and authored articles about homosexuality in the priesthood and seminaries, and they attempted to attribute international cover-ups to various theories of intent by bishops.

The real cause of the international coverup was the new laws of the 20th and 21st century of the Catholic Church that required bishops, such as Archbishop Vigano, to cover up the crimes of Cardinal McCarrick. (Which he arguably did until blowing the lid off papal involvement in international pedophilia and human trafficking by the ex-cardinal.) Although the journalists had the facts, the editors would not allow them to write about these new laws.

The lack of coverage of the laws causing Catholic bishops throughout the world to cover-up the sex crimes of clerics and fellow bishops, left the laity defenseless and unable to process what happened to their children and their Catholic Church.

Today, Catholic Confidential is breaking this silence and arming the lay faithful with the true cause of the abuse crisis from thoroughly Catholic sources. Five bishops provided comment including new order Bishops Joseph Strickland of Texas and Emmanuel Bushu of Cameroon, and three traditionalists: Bp. D. E. Meikle, Abp. Carlo Maria Vigano, and Bp. Donald Sanborn.

His Excellency, Bishop D. E. Meikle

Bp. D. E. Meikle is a bishop of the Old Roman Catholic Church, See of Caer-Glow (SCG), and has jurisdiction over SCG parishes in Florida. He says that his organization removes perpetrators and does not accept them within their ranks. He further explains that clerical sex offenders who are found guilty should be laicized (permanently removed from the clerical state so they can never be in ministry again), in addition to receiving criminal penalties from the state.

Bp. Meikle says that after these actions happen the offender should, “spend the remainder of his life in prayer and strict penance, making reparation for the grave harm he has caused and the trust he has shattered. Such a firm response is necessary to restore justice, protect the faithful, and begin the hard work of rebuilding.” The legal framework that he bases his decisions on is the 1917 Code of Canon Law.

The policy of the See of Caer-Glow used to be the norm within the Catholic Church until the problematic new Canon Laws came into effect in 1922, which required all bishops of the world to violate mandatory reporting laws by concealing child abuse and homosexuality by clerics from law enforcement. This document, Crimens Sollicitationis, was in force until 2001.

His Excellency, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano

Like Bp. Meikle, Abp. Carlo Maria Vigano and his organization, Exsurge Domine, reject the 1983 Code of Canon Law. The leader of the US branch of Exsurge Domine, Fr. Ambrose Walman, explained that the organization refuses to accept perpetrators and removes them from the order. Exsurge Domine’s currently has one known location, the Jesus, Mary, and Joseph Hermitage in Wisconsin.

Abp. Vigano used to be the apostolic nuncio to the United States, and as such, he was required first by Crimens Sollicitationis (then by Sacramentum Sanctitatis Tutela of 2001 and Graviora Delicta of 2010) to conceal his knowledge of sex crimes by clergy from media and law enforcement.

The “Spotlight” investigation of 2002 revealed that many clerics found guilty of child sexual abuse were repeatedly returned to Catholic ministry where they repeated their crimes on new children. Following this investigation, the United States was the only country that received an exemption from the requirement to retain secrecy from law enforcement. It is unclear if Abp. Vigano received benefit from this exception as well because he was employed by the Vatican.

His Excellency, Bishop Donald Sanborn

Bp. Donald Sanborn is a former SSPX cleric ordained by Archbishop Lefvebre and later consecrated a bishop by Archbishop Thuc. His organization, "The Roman Catholic Institute", has a seminary in Reading, Pennsylvania.

The journalist responsible for this report, reached out to Bp. Sanborn for comment a few years ago through one of his parishioners, and Bp. Sanborn indicated that his public interview on the topic was adequate.

In the interview, Bp. Sanborn explains that if a cleric is found guilty of committing a sexual crime, they are permanently removed from his organization, cannot associate with the organization again, and the organization does not want to hear from them ever again.

Bp. Sanborn explains that this is the way it must be, as having strong punishment for crime provides a just ecclesiastical society and causes his clerics to commit fewer crimes, as they know they can never recover from such an act.

You can find the interview here:

His Excellency, Bishop Emmanuel Bushu

Bp. Emmanuel Bushu, a retired Bishop of Cameroon with more than thirty years of ministry, explained that Canon Law required him to secretly transfer sexual abusers to new assignments until 2019. In 2019, the Canon Law was reformed to the extent that bishops around the world could now honor mandatory reporting laws by reporting child abuser clerics to the state.

His Excellency, Bishop Joseph Strickland

Bp. Joseph Strickland, just like Bp. Emmanuel Bushu, was required to follow the same new Canon Laws that resulted in perpetrators remaining in the priesthood. Troublingly, Canon 1341 of The 1983 Code of Canon Law, requires bishops to ask priests to stop committing crimes, instead of punishing them for their actions, when possible. In addition, Canon 1324 has been used since 1983 to decrease punishment for pedophiles; the normal Canon Law jurisprudence recommends that canon lawyers and bishops consider pedophiles as having less freedom than non-pedophiles. (You read that correctly. As it stand now, Canon Law has concluded that pedophiles are less culpable for their crimes because of their pedophilia!) As a result of circular theory, bishops and lawyers have concluded pedophiles should receive less punishment.

The author of this report discussed this detail of Canon Law with Bp. Joseph Strickland.—who also happens to be a Canon Lawyer, for several years. In the span of that discussion, His Excellency maintained the same position. His view is that the law must be followed because it extends from the authority of the Pope. In addition, Bp. Strickland's position is that the law or its jurisprudence (the taught universal interpretation) must be changed so that child abusers no longer receive decreased punishment simply because they are pedophiles.

“We are seeing a tendency to ignore even the canon law on the books. The law needs to be followed and reformed to align it more with justice. There does come a point when we can’t be obedient to unjust laws. “ —Bp. Joseph Strickland

The result of the new Canon Laws laid bare in this article is the decreed and continued ministry of guilty child rapist clerics who are ordered back to ministry by the Vatican. While this journalist is grateful that Bp. Strickland agrees that the law should be reformed, plainly following the law results in pedophiles being restored to full ministry.

Real Life Example of Restored Child Rapist Cleric From 2023

And, make no mistake about it, by Vatican decree, Catholic bishops are still returning child rapist clerics to Church ministry because they are following this new Canon Law.

Consider this portion of a letter from the successor of Bp. Bushu in Buena, Cameroon. Here, Bishop Michael Bibi orders his diocese to accept the restored and full ministry of a cleric who impregnated a 13-year-old in 2019 against her will. Fr. Hilary Ngome Enang, the rapist, was restored to full ministry July 1, 2023. His sentence, imposed by the Vatican (after canon law had been followed and applied) for multiple sex crimes against a minor, was 14 months of prayer and penance. Fr. Ngome lived out his time of prayer comfortably.

For many, the demoralizing effect of bishops following laws that protect pedophiles has led to a loss of faith and spiritual and physical health. Some clerics even state that evangelism in such an environment is impossible.

Those with power in media who refuse to cover the impact that canon law has had as the root cause of guilty sex offenders being returned to full ministry are misrepresenting the issue and demoralizing the faithful.

By returning to traditional Canon Law and Catholic practice, Bp. D. E. Meikle, Abp. Carlo Maria Vigano, and Bp. Donald Sanborn have provided the faithful with encouragement and refuge from the sexual abuse crisis. And, no matter how disturbing, we too must keep the Catholic faith, defend it from within and without, and never, never stop receiving the Sacraments.