301 ‘Predator Priests’ Named In Pa. Grand Jury Sex Abuse Report: ‘They Were Raping Little Boys & Gir

[verga]

As  a revert Catholic (left and came back) I am thoroughly disgusted by this. When I was in the seminary 20+ years ago I met men and women of various faith denominations and the vast majority of them were genuinely good people that wanted nothing more than to serve their flocks.
That being said I agree that the men that committed these atrocities and those that facilitated their abuse should all be criminally charged.
Sadly there is no death penalty for this crime, unless you count "prison justice"
I have seen studies showing that this occurs in other denominations, but sadly the media does not report on it with the same zeal.

[kidd]

The Catholic church has initiated training for religious education teachers. I am not aware of any complaints of pedophilia in this group of Catholics - and they have much greater access to children than priests.

I am not aware of any such training or screening of seminarians.

[thackney]

The Catholic church has initiated training for religious education teachers. I am not aware of any complaints of pedophilia in this group of Catholics - and they have much greater access to children than priests.

I am not aware of any such training or screening of seminarians.

Just a little searching pulls up too many examples:

https://www.eveningsun.com/story/news/2018/05/24/former-delone-catholic-teacher-charged-sexual-abuse-student/640562002/

https://www.12news.com/article/news/nation-now/catholic-boys-school-settles-5-sex-abuse-suits-former-teacher-admits-he-had-sex-with-50-boys/465-f8b450f7-679d-4b71-af83-298560141eb1

https://nypost.com/2018/04/06/female-teacher-accused-of-sexually-abusing-student-at-all-girls-catholic-school/

https://www.freep.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/06/01/catholic-high-school-sex-boys-lawsuits/664644002/

[bigheadfred]

The cover up was sophisticated. The church protected the institution at all costs

In another word. Condoned. Endemic. Not confined to the Catholics. The moslems. But I think the problem exists on a much wider scale than religious institutions. Schools. The medical profession. Politicians.

Look at the ruckus over Roy Moore.

I wonder what bothers people the most? That actual act of child abuse. Or the abuse of power?

[mountaineer]

Washington cardinal entangled in two sex-abuse scandals
By DAVID CRARY
Associated Press

Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Washington, is facing a storm of criticism and calls for his resignation after becoming entangled in two major sexual abuse scandals roiling the church he has served with distinction since 1966.

A scathing grand jury report in Pennsylvania this week accused Wuerl of helping to protect some child-molesting priests while he was bishop of Pittsburgh from 1988 to 2006.

Wuerl is also facing widespread skepticism over his recent insistence that he knew nothing about years of alleged sexual misconduct by former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, his predecessor as spiritual leader in the nation’s capital.

The archdiocese, home to more than 630,000 Catholics, is considered an important power center for the church in the U.S., and Wuerl has been ranked by commentators as one of the most influential of the 10 active American cardinals.  ...

Numerous conservative Catholic activists and commentators, though, consider him too tolerant of the LGBT community and too liberal on some other issues. They resent his pivotal role a decade ago in resisting a push by some of his fellow bishops to deny Communion to Catholic politicians who support the right to abortion.

However, dismay over the latest scandals was not limited to conservative circles.

“The US Catholic Church is very close to becoming a decapitated Church,” tweeted Massimo Faggioli, a relatively liberal theologian at Villanova University in suburban Philadelphia. “What Napoleon and Stalin couldn’t do, the hierarchy of the Church itself did.”  ...

Full story at AP

[Applewood]

Full story at AP

resignation hell.  He should be in prison with the pedophiles.  Same with any pastor, monsignor, bishop, cardinal or even pope who knew anything about any of these crimes and did nothing or covered them up.

[Absalom]

Celibacy seems odd to me.
I've never understood it, but I confess (no pun intended) that I am not Catholic.
I would wonder if it is viewed as a mere inconvenience or formality by today's priest, by those who have violated it.
Obviously, it was ignored.
Is there a possibility, with human urges, in modern times with sex everywhere, that it was just too difficult a standard to abide by?

It may play a role, but I am not sure of this being the totality of the problem.

If it were only that, why the pedophilia?
Why not just sex between adults?

Something is still amiss here.

-------------------------------------------------------
An observation.
Many Priests in the early Catholic Church, including the Apostles, were married.
Later, Celibacy was institutionalize by the Vatican following the Great Schism
of 1054, between the Western (Latin) and Eastern (Greek) Rites of the Church.
But in my judgement, celibacy is hardly the catalyst for predatory priests.
Rather the Catholic Church has been slowly loosing sight of its eternal
spiritual mission as material values have received ever greater prominence.
One value that stands out is tolerance which has become synonymous w/goodness.
As a direct result, this has opened the door to homosexuality, the driver of this plague.

[bigheadfred]

-------------------------------------------------------
An observation.
Many Priests in the early Catholic Church, including the Apostles, were married.
Later, Celibacy was institutionalize by the Vatican following the Great Schism
of 1054, between the Western (Latin) and Eastern (Greek) Rites of the Church.
But in my judgement, celibacy is hardly the catalyst for predatory priests.
Rather the Catholic Church has been slowly loosing sight of its eternal
spiritual mission as material values have received ever greater prominence.
One value that stands out is tolerance which has become synonymous w/goodness.
As a direct result, this has opened the door to homosexuality, the driver of this plague.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/priest-evil-gay-bishops-persecute-blackmail-faithful-priests-who-might-expo

[mountaineer]

Editorial: Why Hasn't Pope Francis Removed Cardinal Donald Wuerl?
If Wuerl keeps his job, then the Catholic Church's "zero tolerance" policy is a sham.
   The Editors
August 18, 2018 at 5:43 AM

On Tuesday afternoon, the Pennsylvania attorney general released a shocking and sickening grand jury report documenting hundreds of cases of sexual crimes against minors committed by Catholic clergy in six Catholic dioceses over the course of 70 years, mostly before the sex-abuse crisis rocked the Boston archdiocese in 2002. We've read enough of the report that we cannot fathom why Cardinal Wuerl, who served as bishop of Pittsburgh from 1988 to 2006, has not resigned or been removed by Pope Francis yet.

The Washington Post reports:

"(I)n 1998, when doctors said that William P. O’Malley III hadn’t had sexual contact with a minor since 1982 and recommended that he be returned to ministry, Wuerl gave him a church job, the grand jury said. O’Malley kept appearing in clerical attire and celebrating Mass in public, although he had been banned from doing both. Yet instead of punishing him, Wuerl approved the diocese lending him more than $37,000 to cover debts he had incurred. Victims later came forward alleging O’Malley had abused them in 1998 and 1999—after Wuerl had returned him to ministry." [emphasis added]

  ... If "zero tolerance" means anything, Wuerl should not get to remain a cardinal or a bishop because he responded appropriately to most cases of sexual abuse. If "zero tolerance" means anything, a single case in which Wuerl—or any other bishop—allowed the return of a known child molester to ministry should be enough to require his removal.  ...  More at the Weekly Standard

[XenaLee]

-------------------------------------------------------
An observation.
Many Priests in the early Catholic Church, including the Apostles, were married.
Later, Celibacy was institutionalize by the Vatican following the Great Schism
of 1054, between the Western (Latin) and Eastern (Greek) Rites of the Church.
But in my judgement, celibacy is hardly the catalyst for predatory priests.
Rather the Catholic Church has been slowly loosing sight of its eternal
spiritual mission as material values have received ever greater prominence.
One value that stands out is tolerance which has become synonymous w/goodness.
As a direct result, this has opened the door to homosexuality, the driver of this plague.

And it doesn't help.... that the Pope makes proclamations like "there is no Hell" (if he really said it).  If there is no Hell, there is no reason for goodness... no punishment for the wicked... no eternal consequences for living in sin....

and it makes Jesus out to be a prevaricator (which is the opposite of the truth... that being ...Satan is the Prince of Lies).

[TomSea]

FWIW, a few rebuttals or responses to this report have been issued. Here is one.

http://www.themediareport.com/2018/08/18/rebuttal-grand-jury-report-pennsylvania/

[LegalAmerican]

Pope Che, has been doing his best to make it happen as well.

Pope Che,,love it.  Right on, and wonder why he has a apartment outside of the Vatican to visit" people" at night?  (sarcasm) That is the story they tell. I say, ,,,,, Private place and finding, who he wants.   .

All groups, everywhere, have this problem. Don't get me started, on home abuse!  One out of 3 women, abused one out of 4 men abused. Dr. Bradshaw.   He says, it is probably higher for the males, but they are less likely to come forth.  Then who can marry a girl child as young as one year old?   No outrage there .

[LegalAmerican]

The cover up was sophisticated. The church protected the institution at all costs

In another word. Condoned. Endemic. Not confined to the Catholics. The moslems. But I think the problem exists on a much wider scale than religious institutions. Schools. The medical profession. Politicians.

Look at the ruckus over Roy Moore.

I wonder what bothers people the most? That actual act of child abuse. Or the abuse of power?

Excellent post and true!   

[LegalAmerican]

@GrouchoTex

This shouldn't surprise anyone. To Catholics,the "Holy Mother Church" ranks right up there with God,and MUST be protected from attacks at all costs.

Things really went sideways when The Church quit allowing Priests to marry in order to make sure property was left to the Church in Rome,not the local priests or their wives and children. Before that,Popes even had mistresses and bastard children living with them in the Vatican,and suddenly no new priests are allowed to be ordained if they are married. Right away this eliminates heterosexual males,and limits your replacement base to asexuals (who tend to hate EVERYBODY that has sex),child molesters, and/or homosexuals. In other words,people with no real emotional human connection to their parishioners. Gee,what could POSSIBLY go wrong there?

If they want to keep their doors open,it is only a matter of time before they MUST start allowing nuns to become Priestess.  Which is going to make a LOT of Catholics mad. I honestly don't understand why,but I do know it will. There HAS to be more to it than just tradition.

Just adding to your thoughts. I dated an Episcopal  priest, a few years ago.  He said if he wanted to, he could join the Catholic Church, and be married. That Lutheran pastors could also be a priest there.  That was because the Catholic Church was having problems getting new priests.  They might as well go total Lutheran.  That is he reason Martin Luther left the Catholic Church, so he and a nun he was in love with could marry.  They did. It is not natural to be celibate.  I don't want to go into why, they did that. I was born, raised Catholic. Not anymore.

[LegalAmerican]

@libertybele

Of course they do,but with other churches it's USUALLY some assistant whatever,not the head guy because the head guy is almost always married and his wife is a leader in that church and in contact with all the women. The Catholic Church is the only western religion that REQUIRES the head guy be unmarried and celibate.

IIRC,some Asian religions require all their monks/whatevers to be celibate also,but they rarely have trouble with them because they all live in "monk nunneries" where no women are allowed to even visit. They might spend 24 hours a day humping each other for all we know,but they damn sure aren't raping children.

We can't be sure of anything. One woman, Taiwanese ?  Was arrested in America for having sex with her son. She said, that is how they show love, and saw nothing wrong with it. Same with some guy from Africa, having sex with his 8, 9 year old nieces, said he did not know that was wrong to do. Haiti? They rape young girls as young as two years old. Those monks may bring in boys. I forget the name. Bache boys?

[RoosGirl]

Just adding to your thoughts. I dated an Episcopal  priest, a few years ago.  He said if he wanted to, he could join the Catholic Church, and be married. That Lutheran pastors could also be a priest there.  That was because the Catholic Church was having problems getting new priests.  They might as well go total Lutheran.  That is he reason Martin Luther left the Catholic Church, so he and a nun he was in love with could marry. They did. It is not natural to be celibate.  I don't want to go into why, they did that. I was born, raised Catholic. Not anymore.

Historically accurate facts are your friend.  Martin Luther was excommunicated from the Catholic church 2 years before he met Katharina.  So you can see from that timeline that he could not have left the church to marry a woman he had never met.

[XenaLee]

Historically accurate facts are your friend.  Martin Luther was excommunicated from the Catholic church 2 years before he met Katharina.  So you can see from that timeline that he could not have left the church to marry a woman he had never met.

Uhhh.....  I don't think that's entirely accurate....

in this poster's case.   

[RoosGirl]

Uhhh.....  I don't think that's entirely accurate....

in this poster's case.   

No, it would seem not.  But they'll at least keep us peasants from picking on her.

[XenaLee]

No, it would seem not.  But they'll at least keep us peasants from picking on her.

But revealing/exposing the truth and facts is never a bad thing....

hence, it can't be deemed as "picking on" someone. 

 

[sneakypete]

Historically accurate facts are your friend.  Martin Luther was excommunicated from the Catholic church 2 years before he met Katharina.  So you can see from that timeline that he could not have left the church to marry a woman he had never met.

@RoosGirl

It has been a few decades since I read up on Martin Luther,IMHO one of the greatest men to have ever lived,but IIRC what drove him to do what he did was the "in your face" corruption of Rome,where the Cardinals ruled and lived like Kings. They not only sold "Heavenly Pardons" so the most evil rich people on Earth could "go to Heaven",but the Cardinals and Pope's themselves were openly living lives that they would condemn anyone else to Hell for living.

It was the corruption and abuse of power that pulled his trigger. Considering how strong his convictions were,and we can only imagine how strong they HAD to be for a simple Priest to take on the Vatican at that time,I suspect he saw it as the abuse of God himself.

Having said all this,I seriously doubt that Martin Luther was the first Priest to fight the Vatican,but he WAS the first one to fight and win,and his win was probably the biggest win of Western Civilization when you consider the impact.

This man epitomizes courage and character. IMHO it is a damn shame more people don't know about him. If there has ever been a case of "fight the power for justice",it was the fight led by Martin Luther.

[RoosGirl]

@RoosGirl

It has been a few decades since I read up on Martin Luther,IMHO one of the greatest men to have ever lived,but IIRC what drove him to do what he did was the "in your face" corruption of Rome,where the Cardinals ruled and lived like Kings. They not only sold "Heavenly Pardons" so the most evil rich people on Earth could "go to Heaven",but the Cardinals and Pope's themselves were openly living lives that they would condemn anyone else to Hell for living.

It was the corruption and abuse of power that pulled his trigger. Considering how strong his convictions were,and we can only imagine how strong they HAD to be for a simple Priest to take on the Vatican at that time,I suspect he saw it as the abuse of God himself.

Having said all this,I seriously doubt that Martin Luther was the first Priest to fight the Vatican,but he WAS the first one to fight and win,and his win was probably the biggest win of Western Civilization when you consider the impact.

This man epitomizes courage and character. IMHO it is a damn shame more people don't know about him. If there has ever been a case of "fight the power for justice",it was the fight led by Martin Luther.

You got it right @sneakypete .  It seems Martin Luther was the reason that those indulgences were no longer sold; he apparently shamed the church so much about it that it stopped the practice.  The Luther church, at least the LCMS, still has as one of its basic tenants, that the Pope (meaning whoever is currently occupying the "office") is an anti-Christ.

[Absalom]

Just adding to your thoughts. I dated an Episcopal  priest, a few years ago.  He said if he wanted to, he could join the Catholic Church, and be married. That Lutheran pastors could also be a priest there.  That was because the Catholic Church was having problems getting new priests.  They might as well go total Lutheran.  That is he reason Martin Luther left the Catholic Church, so he and a nun he was in love with could marry.  They did. It is not natural to be celibate.  I don't want to go into why, they did that. I was born, raised Catholic. Not anymore.

---------------------------------------------
Legal w/respect;
Martin Luther left the RC Church because of a doctrinal dispute w/the
Vatican involving Indulgences, not celibacy.
Also reject the notion that celibacy is the driver of this scandal;
rather it's the result of the explosion of homosexual behavior in society.
Consider the material value of tolerance which promotes acceptance.
Over time this leads to a change in attitude and ultimately in behavior.
Suggest that this lies at the core of the problem as the Church has lost
sight of its eternal spiritual mission.

[jmyrlefuller]

---------------------------------------------
Legal w/respect;
Martin Luther left the RC Church because of a doctrinal dispute w/the
Vatican involving Indulgences, not celibacy.
Also reject the notion that celibacy is the driver of this scandal;
rather it's the result of the explosion of homosexual behavior in society.
Consider the material value of tolerance which promotes acceptance.
Over time this leads to a change in attitude and ultimately in behavior.
Suggest that this lies at the core of the problem as the Church has lost
sight of its eternal spiritual mission.

Not buying it. This and many other similar cases like this go back all the way to the 1950s, when we were probably the most socially conservative as a society that we will ever be. Heck, in a lot of states, you couldn't even marry a person of another race yet! Even then, though, they were still groping kids.

If anything, the perverts hid themselves in a church body that was willing to cover for them to protect themselves.

[LegalAmerican]

I wrote;  I did not want to go into why Martin left the Catholic Church.  None of us were there, including me. You think, he could SAY, why he wanted to change the church?  That other stuff was more lofty sounding, then, " I dislike so many things, but most of all being celibate and my woman, feels the same way." They got married. Martin a priest, his wife an ex-nun. I don't believe everything I read. FAKE NEWS,,,THEN,,,FAKE NEWS TODAY.

Nice post align care. I read each line.

  I doubt, it was gay practices at that time, that was the issue,  as look at TODAYS STORY about the church.  Everybody, has to right to their opinions.

All based on what we have read, seen, experienced. None of us were alive in Martins time.

[goodwithagun]

Our bishop (Bishop Monforton, Steubenville Diocese) wrote an amazing letter to our parish condemning the acts and the coverup. He pointed out that those involved can neither call themselves priests/clergy nor Catholics. He also published in our local paper that our records are being combed for evidence of any of those named in the indictment. If there are records of them in our diocese, the bishop will publish their timelines, duties, assignments, etc.