The Briefing Room
General Category => National/Breaking News => Topic started by: mystery-ak on August 14, 2018, 11:13:39 pm
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301 ‘Predator Priests’ Named In Pa. Grand Jury Sex Abuse Report: ‘They Were Raping Little Boys & Girls’
By Andy Sheehan
August 14, 2018 at 5:15 pm
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — The long-awaited state grand jury report into sexual abuse in six Pennsylvania dioceses, including Pittsburgh and Greensburg, has finally been released.
The 884-page document, two years in the making, shines a light into the dark corners of these dioceses going back seven decades, exposing the predators and the efforts of their bishops to protect them.
“Today, the most comprehensive report on child sexual abuse within the church ever produced in our country was released,†Attorney General Josh Shapiro said. “Pennsylvanians can finally learn the extent of sexual abuse in these dioceses. For the first time, we can all begin to understand the systematic cover up by church leaders that followed. The abuse scarred every diocese. The cover up was sophisticated. The church protected the institution at all costs.â€
more
https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2018/08/14/pennsylvania-diocese-sex-abuse-grand-jury-report-released/
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In regard to this whole fiasco, one can't help asking: How did this get so far out of hand? It's not like this is isolated to Pennsylvania: the American Catholic Church has had similar stories popping up almost everywhere!
It does make you wonder whether or not other denominations have similar issues. I do know that a local Methodist church had its pastor caught up in a similar scandal, but that was caught within days of it happening and he was out of the church. Perhaps the Roman Catholic Church had so much clout that it could repress it... but still, how could such a massive scandal be so pervasive?
The only theory I can come up with is this: the church's demand for a vow of celibacy is scaring away those who have normal desires for love and marriage, and instead drawing perverts who don't desire a wife but instead want far more sinister sexual desires fulfilled. An unintended consequence, if you will.
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I don't know the proper terminology per what happened to these dioceses and archdioceses per the court, but I thought the Northern New Mexico, Los Angeles, Boston, Minneapolis-St. Paul, so many dioceses have gone under per these scandals. Bankruptcy or close to it.
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@jmyrlefuller
This has been going on for decades. I remember some years ago, a number of priests were accused. Some were arrested and prosecuted. At the time, the bishops and the rest of the church hierarchy promised things would change. Well, they changed all right -- for the worst. In the old days, the practice was to send the offending priest to retreats or in-house counseling and many of these predators were simply transferred from one parish to another. Swell! A new parish, a new crop of children to molest or worse.
Anyway, presumably, the church promised -- no more moving the predator from parish to parish, no more "counseling" or "retreats." The offender would be removed and turned over to the authorities for prosecution.
Apparently, it wasn't done. In fact, in my local diocese, the former bishop, now a cardinal, actively and knowingly covered up. He ought to be in jail along with the predators.
The Catholic Church has been dwindling in my neck of the woods for a number of years. This report will drive more Catholics away.
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Hi all....
The posts on this thread are good, and I'd like to see more analysis like this.
A cautionary note: If this thread becomes a place for Catholic or Christian bashing, posts will be removed without comment.
Thank you in advance.
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What a horrible story. Incalculable damage, not only to the victims, but to those just trying to do the right thing and live the right way within the church.
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What a horrible story. Incalculable damage, not only to the victims, but to those just trying to do the right thing and live the right way within the church.
These things smear everybody in the Church...Top to bottom and everybody in between. I really hate the gloaters in the press, too, but they didn't make this up either.
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In regard to this whole fiasco, one can't help asking: How did this get so far out of hand? It's not like this is isolated to Pennsylvania: the American Catholic Church has had similar stories popping up almost everywhere!
It does make you wonder whether or not other denominations have similar issues. I do know that a local Methodist church had its pastor caught up in a similar scandal, but that was caught within days of it happening and he was out of the church. Perhaps the Roman Catholic Church had so much clout that it could repress it... but still, how could such a massive scandal be so pervasive?
The only theory I can come up with is this: the church's demand for a vow of celibacy is scaring away those who have normal desires for love and marriage, and instead drawing perverts who don't desire a wife but instead want far more sinister sexual desires fulfilled. An unintended consequence, if you will.
The Catholic Church, and all Churches, are made of people and sinners, not saints. While the child abuse is all to common in most all large groups of people, the Catholic Church compounded that problem by hiding and moving those abusers, rather than cooperate with local authorities like most groups do. The problem is world-wide, not an American Only issue.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_sex_abuse_cases_by_country (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_sex_abuse_cases_by_country)
The hiding and relocating, lead to more and continuing abuse, increasing the problem.
40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury
REPORT 1
Interim --Redacted
http://media-downloads.pacourts.us/InterimRedactedReportandResponses.pdf?cb=42148 (http://media-downloads.pacourts.us/InterimRedactedReportandResponses.pdf?cb=42148)
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The Catholic Church, and all Churches, are made of people and sinners, not saints. While the child abuse is all to common in most all large groups of people, the Catholic Church compounded that problem by hiding and moving those abusers, rather than cooperate with local authorities like most groups do. The problem is world-wide, not an American Only issue.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_sex_abuse_cases_by_country (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_sex_abuse_cases_by_country)
The hiding and relocating, lead to more and continuing abuse, increasing the problem.
40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury
REPORT 1
Interim --Redacted
http://media-downloads.pacourts.us/InterimRedactedReportandResponses.pdf?cb=42148 (http://media-downloads.pacourts.us/InterimRedactedReportandResponses.pdf?cb=42148)
100% in agreement.
The should all have been handled through law enforcement, not internally, back decades ago, when this has happened before.
It is horrible that this new batch of kids had to go through this again, because the church didn't learn it's lesson the 1st time.
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I am Catholic. Stopped going a last year when our Priest went hardcore SJW. Almost walked out but did not want to embarrass my wife.
This just another reason not to go.
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I don't know the proper terminology per what happened to these dioceses and archdioceses per the court, but I thought the Northern New Mexico, Los Angeles, Boston, Minneapolis-St. Paul, so many dioceses have gone under per these scandals. Bankruptcy or close to it.
After all those cities, and previous incidents you sight, why the Church refused to amend its playbook and treat these as the crimes that they really are, is beyond me.
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After all those cities, and previous incidents you sight, why the Church refused to amend its playbook and treat these as the crimes that they really are, is beyond me.
@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.
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@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?
<P>
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.
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.
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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.
@GrouchoTex
You put your finger on the pressure point when you wrote "celibacy seems odd to me.". It seems odd to ALL heterosexuals,and those are the ones that want to practice the ONLY church-approved form of sex,so it should be no surprise that damn few heterosexual males under 60 have any interest in being a priest.
On the other hand,it DOES attract those on the deviant side of the ledger because they (rightly) see the role of Priest as being the safest spot on Earth for a pedophile to hide in plain sight and never be arrested. Even parents that might catch him in the act or who have been told by their children he molested them would have a tendency to remain silent because they have been taught since the time they were children that Priests sit at the right hand side of God,and neither they nor "the church" must ever be criticized.
There could be no other possible result than a Priesthood filled with sexual deviants of one type or another.
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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.
Celibacy is not a requirement of the Ten Commandments nor did Jesus adocate it. Iit's a man-made church law that supposedly resuled from the writings of St. Paul. Paul never married and he had opined that it was better to stay single so one could dedicate oneself more to God, whereas a married person would be distracted by the cares of spouse and family. He did not say a person had to be celibate and in fact, said if one could not be celibate, then it was "better to marry than to burn" in hell.
But even when celibacy was required of Catholic clergy, many did not follow it. And for the few priests the church has today, it is indeed a difficult vow to maintain. I know of a couple of priests who left the priesthood because they could not remain celibate
Why pedophilia? Just my dumb opinion, but I'd say it's more convenient. Priests come into contact with children all the time. For many in the parishes, ministering to children is one of the priests' duties. So there is far more contact with young children and teens than with older adults like parents.
And the children are much easier to seduce. As kids, we were taught to place our entire trust in our priest and we were required to obey him, no matter what. If Father told us to do something, even things that made us uncomfortable, we would do it because Father said so. Father was God's representative on earth and if we disobeyed or told anyone, we were defying and disobeying God. If we objected, Father could try to inflict guilt on us. He could even threaten us with God's punishment if we didn't follow orders. As kids, guilt and the threat of God's punishment was a great way to get us kids to do what adults wanted -- good or bad.
I don't know that lifting the ban against marriage for clergy would make the pedophilia problem go away. Pedophilia is a sickness. Like rape, it's not really about sex or the attractiveness of one's partner. It's about power and dominance. I think pedophiles have very deep problems with personal relationships with adults -- and it doesn't have to be romantic relationships. These people need to dominate someone and for many, that someone is a young, weak, helpless child.
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Celibacy seems odd to me.
I've never understood it, but I confess (no pun intended) that I am not Catholic.
@GrouchoTex
Remember that it's not just Catholicism, but all Bible-believing Chistianity, that has Scripture indicating that's what God wants of us (I Corinthians 7:1). But also, He knows we're not perfect, and most of us can't follow His way, so He gives a fall-back position (I Corinthians 7:2).
There's something to be said for trying to follow God's path, and remember that some -- such as Paul -- can do it. But if one can't, then he should admit that RCC priesthood isn't for him.
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Meanwhile, the Vatican has nothing to say:
Pressure mounts on Pope Francis to address sexual abuse detailed in Pennsylvania grand jury report
The Vatican has declined to respond to an explosive grand jury report detailing decades of sexual abuse and cover-ups by priests and bishops in Pennsylvania, refusing even to say whether church officials in Rome have read the damaging documents.
“We have no comment at this time,†Paloma Ovejero, deputy director of the Vatican’s press office, said Wednesday.
But in the United States and elsewhere, pressure is mounting on Pope Francis to address a rapidly escalating crisis that has spread across several continents, from Australia to Latin America.
...
Read more at:
https://fox43.com/2018/08/15/pressure-mounts-on-pope-francis-to-address-sexual-abuse-detailed-in-pennsylvania-grand-jury-report/
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Pittsburgh's former bishop - now Cardinal Donald Wuerl - is being soundly criticized for the cover-ups in these cases. The question is whether the pope will do anything about him. I'm not Roman Catholic, but read with interest some tweets by actress Patricia Heaton (https://twitter.com/PatriciaHeaton), who is Catholic:
Patricia Heaton Verified account @PatriciaHeaton
24h24 hours ago
The PA report is disgusting and stomach-churning. And mentioned more than 200 times is @Cardinal_Wuerl , who currently resides in his luxury DC penthouse. He is @Pontifex 's man in Washington, and only @Pontifex can get rid of him. Get to work, Francis.
Patricia Heaton added,
And let's not forget - this is just ONE state. Tip of the iceberg. Which means there are thousands of more victims, and hundreds of more priests, bishops and cardinals complicit in rape and sexual assault. #CatholicChurch
In a CBS report, @Cardinal_Wuerl refers to the sexual abuse of children as priests’ “failures.“ Failures?! Are you kidding me?! They are sex crimes! Zero repentance from this horrific man. #WuerlMustGo @Pontifex
LOTS of supportive comments ensued.
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@jmyrlefuller
The Catholic Church has been dwindling in my neck of the woods for a number of years. This report will drive more Catholics away.
Pope Che, has been doing his best to make it happen as well.
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In regard to this whole fiasco, one can't help asking: How did this get so far out of hand? It's not like this is isolated to Pennsylvania: the American Catholic Church has had similar stories popping up almost everywhere!
It does make you wonder whether or not other denominations have similar issues. I do know that a local Methodist church had its pastor caught up in a similar scandal, but that was caught within days of it happening and he was out of the church. Perhaps the Roman Catholic Church had so much clout that it could repress it... but still, how could such a massive scandal be so pervasive?
The only theory I can come up with is this: the church's demand for a vow of celibacy is scaring away those who have normal desires for love and marriage, and instead drawing perverts who don't desire a wife but instead want far more sinister sexual desires fulfilled. An unintended consequence, if you will.
Agreed. How did this get so out of hand? 7 decades and nothing was done? I would venture to say that this infects other denominations and groups where children place their trust the most; their clergy, boy scouts, girls scouts, teachers, etc., etc. As parents we assume that these 'loving' role models for our children are outstanding citizens, and we place our precious innocent and most often helpless children in their care. How does a preschool child or elementary child or perhaps younger know what's going on or how to tell mommy or daddy what happened.
What a vile and disgusting society that we are living in! God help us.
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Throw the predator priests in prison and let the prison population give them a little taste of what these kids have been through!
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Agreed. How did this get so out of hand? 7 decades and nothing was done? I would venture to say that this infects other denominations and groups where children place their trust the most; their clergy, boy scouts, girls scouts, teachers, etc., etc. As parents we assume that these 'loving' role models for our children are outstanding citizens, and we place our precious innocent and most often helpless children in their care. How does a preschool child or elementary child or perhaps younger know what's going on or how to tell mommy or daddy what happened.
What a vile and disgusting society that we are living in! God help us.
@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.
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Agreed. How did this get so out of hand? 7 decades and nothing was done? I would venture to say that this infects other denominations and groups where children place their trust the most; their clergy, boy scouts, girls scouts, teachers, etc., etc. As parents we assume that these 'loving' role models for our children are outstanding citizens, and we place our precious innocent and most often helpless children in their care. How does a preschool child or elementary child or perhaps younger know what's going on or how to tell mommy or daddy what happened.
What a vile and disgusting society that we are living in! God help us.
I think you are on to something here.
Pedophiles would be inclined to take jobs where their victims would be easy to access and manipulate, and, of course, victimize.
Local radio talk show host Michael Berry remembered an article that he'd read a decade or 2 ago about a NAMBLA convention.
How they were able to hold a convention without being thrown in jail is beyond me.
The article said they actually had a job seminar, where they discussed jobs that would put them in the best places to practice their perversion.
The job the article mentioned was school librarian.
Sad to see that the church didn't understand this and take action early on.
This isn't a new problem.
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American Bishops Have a Chance to Show the World What Repentance Looks Like
The Church's sex scandals could serve as a witness to the power of humility.
By Joshua Charles
Published on August 16, 2018
I recently became Catholic after a lifetime as a Protestant.
One of the things that brought me into the Church was the many amazing stories of its saints. In particular, the public repentance of some of its greatest sons and daughters struck me. ...
In light of the horrifying scandals, first with Cardinal McCarrick, and now with the disgusting news out of Pennsylvania, it is my humble suggestion that the American Church follow Saint Ambrose’s example — but in reverse. The Bishops who have been implicated should do public penance before the world. They should repent before the victims they have so callously scorned, and before the flocks whose trust they have so viciously violated.
Pope Francis should come to America, and with the various American Bishops who have been played a part in recent scandals, publicly defrock them, administer public admonishment and penance, and have each of them on their knees and faces begging for the forgiveness of their flocks, in a public arena, before the eyes of the entire world. ... More at The Stream (https://stream.org/american-bishops-have-a-chance-to-show-the-world-what-repentance-looks-like/)
A little church history in this article, for those interested.
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Pittsburgh's former bishop - now Cardinal Donald Wuerl - is being soundly criticized for the cover-ups in these cases. The question is whether the pope will do anything about him. I'm not Roman Catholic, but read with interest some tweets by actress Patricia Heaton (https://twitter.com/PatriciaHeaton), who is Catholic:LOTS of supportive comments ensued.
Wuerl is the bishop I was talking about previously. He's more politician than Cardinal -- smarmy, always smiling while he stabs you in the back type. Never liked or trusted him. He let this [expletive] go on probably to protect his image and his "turf." When Pope John Paul II passed, some people thought Wuerl had a shot at being named his successor. Wishful thinking, but it's rumored Wuerl did lobby for it in some way.
I do not expect the current pope to do anything meaningful about this scandal. He's too busy being an SJW and criticizing Americans for not being generous enough to the poor and not wanting to open our borders to illegals and supposed refugees. Don't like him at all and I wish Pope Benedict could have stayed on.
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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.
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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.
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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.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://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://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/ (https://www.freep.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/06/01/catholic-high-school-sex-boys-lawsuits/664644002/)
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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?
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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 (https://apnews.com/8a22e1a2a39c4fe385b265f7f7214d97)
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Full story at AP (https://apnews.com/8a22e1a2a39c4fe385b265f7f7214d97)
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.
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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.
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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.
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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 (https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/priest-evil-gay-bishops-persecute-blackmail-faithful-priests-who-might-expo)
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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 (https://www.weeklystandard.com/the-editors/editorial-why-hasnt-pope-francis-removed-cardinal-donald-wuerl)
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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).
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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/ (http://www.themediareport.com/2018/08/18/rebuttal-grand-jury-report-pennsylvania/)
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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. wink777.
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 .
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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! :hands: :hands: :hands:
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@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.
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@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?
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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.
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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. :laugh:
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Uhhh..... I don't think that's entirely accurate....
in this poster's case. :laugh:
No, it would seem not. But they'll at least keep us peasants from picking on her.
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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.
:beer:
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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.
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@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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Buy or sell what ever you wish as we own our opinions.
The driver behind this explosion of sexual perversion is
tolerance of homosexuality which encouraged permissiveness
leading to attitudinal and ultimately behavioral change
in our culture/society over many generations.
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People have cited abuse in other organizations, and I always figured the Catholic church was just the biggest Christian target for the newsmedia. But I have to wonder. We identified 301 priests across 75% of Pennsylvania. We know this problem is anything but localized. If you extrapolate to the rest of the country, that would come to several thousand priests, and there are only 37,000 active priests. It just boggles the mind how the church hierarchy allowed this to metastasize into a scandal. There needs to be a massive purge if the church ever hopes to move forward.
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People have cited abuse in other organizations, and I always figured the Catholic church was just the biggest Christian target for the newsmedia. But I have to wonder. We identified 301 priests across 75% of Pennsylvania. We know this problem is anything but localized. If you extrapolate to the rest of the country, that would come to several thousand priests, and there are only 37,000 active priests. It just boggles the mind how the church hierarchy allowed this to metastasize into a scandal. There needs to be a massive purge if the church ever hopes to move forward.
Yes and it is worse, in Hollyweird. They are into abuse, torture, k!lling baby's, toddlers for their blood, to stay young. PIZZAGATE IS REAL.
Can we expose the actors THERE?
Same thing going on in the monarchy, and around the world. No talk of muslims doing this?
People don't want to know. I think the celibacy part need's to be dropped. Less chance of gay's wanting to be priests, with access to young children. I went to Catholic school and raised Catholic.
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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.
@jmyrlefuller
And there you have it.
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It just boggles the mind how the church hierarchy allowed this to metastasize into a scandal. There needs to be a massive purge if the church ever hopes to move forward.
@cato potatoe
You are right. There SHOULD be a massive purge that includes testifying against the child rapists,but there won't be because the Catholic Church is already lacking the number of priests they need to just maintain what they already have,and their "business" is to expand or die. The competition for donor dollars to keep the "machine" afloat is stiff,and if they have to suddenly start firing priests it will be a double hit on them because they will end up having to close churches AND pay out damages from the law suits.
I just don't see Catholic politicians allowing this to happen. If necessary they will insist special legislation be passed to protect the "Holy Mother Church".
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Catholics consider withholding donations amid sex abuse scandals
https://nypost.com/2018/08/19/catholics-consider-withholding-donations-amid-sex-abuse-scandals/
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Anyone that thinks that this is in any way limited to the Catholic is sadly mistaken. A simple google search of "list any church sex scandal" will reveal similar cases in scope and number.
The difference is that The media loves to beat up the Catholic Church for several reasons:
1) The Catholic Church has always publicly opposed the deviant behavior of Hollywierd.
2) The Conservative position on traditional marriage and birth control.
3) Opposition to divorce.
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I spoke with a (heterosexual) priest this weekend.
He claims that only 2 of the 301 priests engaged in sexual abuse after 2002.
He says that this report is accurate, but it is being portrayed that these are all new cases.
I haven't been able to find any article that puts a time stamp on the abuses either way.
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Anyone that thinks that this is in any way limited to the Catholic is sadly mistaken. A simple google search of "list any church sex scandal" will reveal similar cases in scope and number.
The difference is that The media loves to beat up the Catholic Church for several reasons:
1) The Catholic Church has always publicly opposed the deviant behavior of Hollywierd.
2) The Conservative position on traditional marriage and birth control.
3) Opposition to divorce.
Primarily the unique aspect of the Catholic Church in this topic was a repeated and widespread problem of hiding it from the authorities and church laity, then moving the priest and pretending there was no problem.
All church groups have had problem people of authority. But I haven't see such a repeated problem of hiding it as was done in the Catholic Church.
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I spoke with a (heterosexual) priest this weekend.
He claims that only 2 of the 301 priests engaged in sexual abuse after 2002.
He says that this report is accurate, but it is being portrayed that these are all new cases.
I haven't been able to find any article that puts a time stamp on the abuses either way.
This is the actual report being discussed.
40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury
REPORT 1
Interim --Redacted
http://media-downloads.pacourts.us/InterimRedactedReportandResponses.pdf?cb=42148 (http://media-downloads.pacourts.us/InterimRedactedReportandResponses.pdf?cb=42148)
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Primarily the unique aspect of the Catholic Church in this topic was a repeated and widespread problem of hiding it from the authorities and church laity, then moving the priest and pretending there was no problem.
All church groups have had problem people of authority. But I haven't see such a repeated problem of hiding it as was done in the Catholic Church.
How many times have you heard about The SDA, Episcopal, JW's etc.... on the news.
Please tell me that you are not naive enough to believe they don't play "Pass the trash" as quietly as possible.
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How many times have you heard about The SDA, Episcopal, JW's etc.... on the news.
Please tell me that you are not naive enough to believe they don't play "Pass the trash" as quietly as possible.
I am confident it happens at times. But most of them have a better history of working with police to get them jailed.
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How many times have you heard about The SDA, Episcopal, JW's etc.... on the news.
Please tell me that you are not naive enough to believe they don't play "Pass the trash" as quietly as possible.
As a very long-term Episcopalian, no, it rarely happens. I'm not sure why, but it doesn't.
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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.
When I was attending a Catholic grade school in the fifties/sixties we had a nasty priest who I didn't like as assistant pastor. Later he was transferred out to a different school bordering our parish, and I was very happy to see him go.
About ten years later there was a story in the local news about some boys from the other school accusing this priest of sexual abuse. It turned out the priest was a homosexual predator.
Sure enough, he showed up on a tv news clip in court having charges read out to him. He was found guilty and sentenced to a prison term. (Which was not real long, because about ten years later I saw him at a basketball game.)
I reported the news to my mother along the lines of "hey ma, did you hear the news about Father Blankety Blank sexually abusing some boys at blank parish?"
My mother replied to me " yes, everybody knew Father Blankety Blank was a homosexual."
I was stunned. I asked mother if everybody knew he was a homo (and a predator), why didn't they try to get him removed?
My mother just shrugged her shoulders and walked away.
In those days, priests were treated like God's personal representatives on earth by many Catholics. My father certainly thought that. For my father, priests could do no wrong.
So they could have done something about it many years ago, but average Catholics didn't do much of anything. Why not is beyond me. If I found out some priest had sexually abused one of my kids, he had better relocate to some remote region of the earth.
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@cato potatoe
You are right. There SHOULD be a massive purge that includes testifying against the child rapists,but there won't be because the Catholic Church is already lacking the number of priests they need to just maintain what they already have,and their "business" is to expand or die. The competition for donor dollars to keep the "machine" afloat is stiff,and if they have to suddenly start firing priests it will be a double hit on them because they will end up having to close churches AND pay out damages from the law suits.
I just don't see Catholic politicians allowing this to happen. If necessary they will insist special legislation be passed to protect the "Holy Mother Church".
Nancy Pelosi is Catholic. :thumbsup:
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Anyone that thinks that this is in any way limited to the Catholic is sadly mistaken. A simple google search of "list any church sex scandal" will reveal similar cases in scope and number.
The difference is that The media loves to beat up the Catholic Church for several reasons:
1) The Catholic Church has always publicly opposed the deviant behavior of Hollywierd.
2) The Conservative position on traditional marriage and birth control.
3) Opposition to divorce.
Yes, it is a wold wide problem, and easier to blame a big church, then others.
POLITICIANS, ACTORS, RAPPERS, SINGERS. ELMO. HOLLYWEIRD.
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Primarily the unique aspect of the Catholic Church in this topic was a repeated and widespread problem of hiding it from the authorities and church laity, then moving the priest and pretending there was no problem.
All church groups have had problem people of authority. But I haven't see such a repeated problem of hiding it as was done in the Catholic Church.
AGAIN, because that is ALL media allows you to see. It is all over! This has gone on since the birth of mankind. Everybody wants to cover up. Can we have an expose' on islamists in America? You will never see that. They can marry infants! Why would a grown man, want to do that? Easier to attack just one group. Over and over again. Hollyweird? They are the same, but they have the money to keep things quiet. Catholic church is NOT UNIQUE in this problem. That is what people need to understand.
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It is simple, the Catholic church hierarchy is corrupt. And many of them I believe were once predators in their youth.
Now to a solution. I believe we need to pass laws regarding this organized crime cabal. If physical property can be seized in a drug bust, i.e cars, houses, boats, etc, I think the time has come that church property be seized when a sexual deviant. i.e. priest is operating on church grounds sodomizing children, and that stinking corrupt hierarchy protects the perp.
Guess how long it would take for these corrupt aberrant b*st*rds to get their house in order? Nanoseconds!
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-------------------------------------------------
Buy or sell what ever you wish as we own our opinions.
The driver behind this explosion of sexual perversion is
tolerance of homosexuality which encouraged permissiveness
leading to attitudinal and ultimately behavioral change
in our culture/society over many generations.
I agree.
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It is simple, the Catholic church hierarchy is corrupt. And many of them I believe were once predators in their youth.
Now to a solution. I believe we need to pass laws regarding this organized crime cabal. If physical property can be seized in a drug bust, i.e cars, houses, boats, etc, I think the time has come that church property be seized when a sexual deviant. i.e. priest is operating on church grounds sodomizing children, and that stinking corrupt hierarchy protects the perp.
Guess how long it would take for these corrupt aberrant b*st*rds to get their house in order? Nanoseconds!
Cromwell redux?
This is 301 of 410,000 priests. I have little doubt there are more, just in an organization that size. Now take 410,000 of any other group in public contact, especially around lots of children, and see how many pedophiles you can find. I'd bet it is more.
What I find unconscionable here is the coverup.
I will assert that the perpetrators, who violated their vows and public trust should be defrocked and prosecuted. Any who covered these incidents up should be also defrocked and prosecuted. Clean house. I'm all for that.
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Cromwell redux?
This is 301 of 410,000 priests. I have little doubt there are more, just in an organization that size.
Hold on Joe... That ain't right.
This is 301 perpetrators in six dioceses. That is the jurisdictional box. That is the focus. Any per capita argument would be untoward if stepping outside of the focus. And I have a feeling that is a fairly big per capita number... Even if it is historic in the main.
What I find unconscionable here is the coverup.
I will assert that the perpetrators, who violated their vows and public trust should be defrocked and prosecuted. Any who covered these incidents up should be also defrocked and prosecuted. Clean house. I'm all for that.
That's all right on the money... I said elsewhere, it is not the perpetrators that stain the RCC - It is the coverup, and the soft landings... That is an unconscionable breach of trust.
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Hold on Joe... That ain't right.
This is 301 perpetrators in six dioceses. That is the jurisdictional box. That is the focus. Any per capita argument would be untoward if stepping outside of the focus. And I have a feeling that is a fairly big per capita number... Even if it is historic in the main.
That's all right on the money... I said elsewhere, it is not the perpetrators that stain the RCC - It is the coverup, and the soft landings... That is an unconscionable breach of trust.
I think it is just plain evil. A betrayal at the most fundamental level. A severe indictment of any church that would tolerate it which they clearly did.
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I think it is just plain evil. A betrayal at the most fundamental level. A severe indictment of any church that would tolerate it which they clearly did.
I think everyone is in agreement with that.
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On a related note:
Pennsylvania AG: Cardinal under scrutiny over report on priest abuse 'is not telling the truth'
Washington (CNN) Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro is accusing Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the archbishop of Washington, of "not telling the truth" as he attempts to defend himself amid criticism and calls for his resignation over the release of a Pennsylvania grand jury report detailing allegations of widespread predatory behavior by more than 300 priests against more than 1,000 children.
The report is critical of Wuerl, who served as the bishop of Pittsburgh for 18 years, from 1988 to 2006, and describes him as one of the bishops who helped cover up abusive behavior. The cardinal's defenders note that he acted to discipline some priests as bishop in Pittsburgh and even fought the Vatican against an order to reinstate a predator priest. After the release of the grand jury report on Tuesday, Wuerl said in a statement that it "confirms that I acted with diligence, with concern for the victims and to prevent future acts of abuse."
The Pennsylvania attorney general disagrees. In a statement to CNN, Shapiro said, "Cardinal Wuerl is not telling the truth. Many of his statements in response to the Grand Jury Report are directly contradicted by the Church's own documents and records from their Secret Archives. Offering misleading statements now only furthers the cover up." Shapiro added that the cardinal "should heed the words of Pope Francis who validated our work in Pennsylvania and support the recommendations of the Grand Jury."
https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/19/politics/pennsylvania-priest-abuse-report-cardinal-wuerl/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/19/politics/pennsylvania-priest-abuse-report-cardinal-wuerl/index.html)
Like I said before, Wuerl should be in jail. But it looks like some people have already judged him and are taking action against him.
Wuerl’s upcoming book has been canceled by the publisher, he abruptly pulled out of his role as keynote speaker at a major global meeting in Ireland, and officials are considering taking his name off a high school in his hometown of Pittsburgh, where Wuerl served as bishop for 18 years before becoming the archbishop of Washington in 2006. On Monday, a vandal got ahead of them — covering his name in red spray paint.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/2018/08/20/0a6ae810-a49f-11e8-97ce-cc9042272f07_story.html?utm_term=.d66883f470b3 (https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/2018/08/20/0a6ae810-a49f-11e8-97ce-cc9042272f07_story.html?utm_term=.d66883f470b3)