The Snake Catcher

"An Indian former Roman Catholic priest has been sentenced to six years in prison for sexually abusing a teenage girl in the US. The sentencing came after the Catholic priest pleaded guilty to one count of having sexual contact with a child under the age of 16, a crime that carries a maximum 15-year punishment." read a NEWS report today. (Source: https://www.news18.com/news/india/indian-priest-sentenced-to-6-years-in-prison-for-sexually-abusing-13-year-old-girl-in-us-2082989.html)

Hallelujah! to all the Catholic priests. Incidentally I was also looking for a 'long-reach catcher' a.k.a 'snake catcher' - a long length device that helps you nab those pesky, slithering reptiles if you spot one (like the one in the picture). Gives you a chance to catch it and later torture it as you please slowly without giving it the chance of an instant death otherwise.

Think this sort of tool must be supplied to all judges who have started to boldly deliver the deterrents (to a certain level) to Catholic priests lately whose pass time seems to be abusing people - one way or the other. Wish I could send a long-reach catcher to the Pope in the Vatican; the problem was I could not find one for now that was long enough to reach Kerala from there; 'God's own country', where some of these devils slither - as we get to see recently - engaged in this form of abuse and worse. 

Check these NEWS Headlines for instance: Bishop Arrested For Allegedly Raping Kerala Nun Stood Smiling In Court (Source: https://www.ndtv.com/kerala-news/bishop-franco-mulakkal-arrested-for-allegedly-raping-kerala-nun-stood-in-pala-court-smiling-1920528), Second Priest Arrested In Kerala Rape Case, 2 Others Still On The Run (Source: https://www.ndtv.com/kerala-news/second-priest-arrested-in-kerala-rape-case-2-others-still-on-the-run-1882925), Kerala Priest, 65, Allegedly Sexually Assaulted 10-Year-Old Inside Church (Source: https://www.ndtv.com/kerala-news/kerala-priest-65-arrested-for-alleged-sexual-assault-on-minor-girl-1760842), Kerala Catholic Priest, Accused Of Raping 17-Year-Old, Arrested (Source: https://www.ndtv.com/kerala-news/kerala-catholic-priest-accused-of-raping-17-year-old-arrested-1664249), Christian Priest Arrested For Alleged Sexual Assault Of 2 Minor Boys (Source: https://www.ndtv.com/kerala-news/christian-priest-arrested-for-alleged-sexual-assault-of-2-minor-boys-1726241), Priest arrested, charged with rape in Kerala after teen delivers child (Source: https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/priest-arrested-charged-rape-kerala-after-teen-delivers-child), Kerala Priest Arrested For Alleged Sexual Abuse, Murder (Source: https://www.ndtv.com/tamil-nadu-news/kerala-priest-arrested-for-alleged-sexual-abuse-murder-1449992) 

These sort of stories are long and can go on and on as incidents like these that get reported and many more like these, just like their victims, that go unreported, silenced and crushed; that would be exhausting and not something perhaps that will find space enough to fit into this blog or more. So let me stop here for now.

How to spot these elements becomes the big question. Simple. Just stay away from anyone wearing a skin that comes off which they change more often - much like a cassock. Just as cassocks come in different colours - some white, some off-white and some in the dirtiest brown - the snakeskin too come in different colours. The dirtier the colour, the deadlier the poison of the breed I suppose as it finds yet another coincidence - this like that and the other. Easy peasy to spot.

Had I known this earlier, would have shooed off a few from entering my door-step instead of letting them in earlier and having to do the cleaning now.

These snakes are quite cleverly deadly and sync well in communion too. They come from different places, gather in one place to breed and later spread around and wait for others to enter the traps they set - sometimes in Churches, at times hospitals and as I recently realized, even within educational institutions - their favourite grounds to flourish. These are the places where often people enter - vulnerable, unsuspecting and dazed and the snakes seem to know this too well that they just lie there pretending to be engaged in their ritualistic duties quite religiously and pray until their prey enters their line of attack and when the time seems right, they get down to do what they have been waiting to do with remorseless, guiltless and pointless ease when their skin comes off and they reveal their true self. Such perverted beings these. Sex is just one form of perversion that these kinds engage in right from the beginning if you understand that attempting celibacy is one of the strangest form of sexual perversion - a mental disorder that falls outside the normalcy curve.
These strange kinds, have not left the other four forms of abuse untouched as well as they engage quite freely and unquestioned in emotional, mental and physical abuses while also neglecting the principles, values and the basic duties of their vocation as they mark, tear and scar human souls as they injure individuals, families and communities at a whole new level on a very large scale - consciously and deliberately - slowly, yet strategically and systematically.
Is it because the Vatican is too far away that they feel shielded by the distance or the closeness of their promoting leaders nearby? Is it the undue power they possess and the irrelevant respect we give these undeserving creatures? Is it because we sometimes get carried away by the irrelevant stories of a great past they carry as messiahs of grace and selflessness often used as their defence as a validation to justify their avaricious presence in the present? Or is it simply because we keep feeding these deadly snakes knowingly and at times unknowingly?

Perhaps the mistake is ours - mine and yours. It is time, high time, perhaps even late, to stop feeding these snakes and for all of us to go and buy this long-reach and keep these slithering reptiles away at bay. Prevention is better than cure. Stay safe.