Women Raped by Catholic Priest Reach Settlement With Church

Father Vincent Bassie Inametti, a Catholic priest, was found guilty in 2008 of repeatedly raping and sodomizing at least two female inmates at a Texas prison. Now, Ms. Magazine reports that a lawsuit against the Catholic Church has been settled for an unknown sum, after allegations that Inametti had a history of sexual misconduct (even fathering an illegitimate child) that the Church knew about and yet did nothing to stop.

This is just another incident in what is becoming a long line of abuses by clergy in the Catholic Church and cover-ups by high-ranking members, which suggest that the Catholic Church need to do some serious cleaning house.

Meanwhile, the Cardinal of Quebec is busy condemning abortions for rape victims. Womanist Musings writes, "You would think that considering the various scandals that the Catholic Church is currently dealing with, that sitting in judgement of others would be low on their priority list, but it seems that shaming so-called sinners and controlling female bodies sends them into some kind of euphoric bliss." Rape they try to push under the rug, but if it results in pregnancy — don't let women have control over their own bodies. Anyway, they've already had that taken from them once, so they won't miss it.

The women, whose lives were threatened by the priest, have since been released from prison, but live in fear. Father Inametti was sentenced to four years prison time — a shockingly light sentence, in my opinion, for repeating raping and threatening women who, as one lawyer said, were "literally captive" to his abuse.

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