Pedophile Priest Killed In Prison

[Donna]

C-Mom, Winchester...

AMEN!

[Lil Red]

Because of things that have happened in my life, I can totally understand where Winchester is coming from. But while I have sympathy in my heart, it doesn't mean that I still can't be angry, hurt, and resentful. I am not judging what is in a person's heart, but until you have been in the position of someone who has been molested and/or raped, you have no idea what it is like. And I'm sorry, maybe you have some idea if a family member has been through something similar, but you don't know the whole picture. I do the best I can, and when my anger and hurtfulness and resentment gets too much, I pray. I pray a lot. I pray for myself, victims, and for perpetrators (sp?). But mostly I pray for the victims. It takes a lot to be able to just get out of bed every beaver dam day if you're a victim.

And now I'm leaving this subject for good because it is too painful.

[PedroX]

I don't see it being about sympathy. I have lots of sympathy for victims, their families, the parishioners who sat under this priest, etc. I have said prayers, lit candles and cried for them all. Nor was I saying that pediphiles should be released from prison. This is an incurable disease the psychological community recognizes that now (if only they would have recognized that 20 years ago!). I was simply pointing out that to call for someones death, or to rejoice in someones death was repugnant, and quite possibly sinful. Death is always a tragedy, it severly limits the possibility of redemption.

peace...

[TempleofVesarius]

or maybe he just paid for his sins in this life so he didnt have to as badly in the next....maybe God did him a favor

[ironmonk]

Adam the chance of a pedophile or the kind that molests teenagers stopping voluntarily are slim to none. Treatment rarly is effective. Thats how we got in this mess in the first place. All those shrinks who said these priests can change were criminally wrong and should spend so time in  jail themselves. Or if they are so positive these men are cured, let them hire these guys as babysitters for their own children.

Pedophiles  need locked up for the rest of their lives.

I would let a murderer out of jail before a pedophile. Most murders are situational, pedophilia is deliberate. Murderers  are treatable, pedos are rarely cureable. For alcohol or drugs , remission is the goal. For a pedophile you would have to have an ironclad cure. It simply doesn't happen except by the grace of God Almighty.

Comparing a porn addict or a masturbator to a child molester is comparing apples and oranges. THe first two are inner directed sins, the last is not.

I agree, pedophiles should be locked up for life...

My point was the type of prison the priest was in and his cell mate.

It hasn't been pshrinks that said these priests could change.... and for you to say that they can't change is wrong.

Peds should be locked up for life, and they can change... Anything is possible with God.

The Bishops that moved these priests around are older men, when they were in the school, pedophila was not something that happened often... Psychology was just emerging... it's easy to see how they were unfamilar with how to handle the issue and made some poor decisions in moving the priests.

As for pedophiles, I've seen them get out of prison in as little as 6 years... Peds need to be locked up for life. They should not be in prison, but they should be locked up in mental hospitals. They would not be able to hurt anyone, and they would not be unjustly hurt. Somebody killing a ped in prison is not justice. Especially a priest.

God Bless,

ironmonk

[Chastisement]

I saw this one the news. I think it's terrible that priest got killed, no one deserves to be killed. And as mentioned above, it's common knowledge that child molesters are attacked/killed in general populace. My sympathy for the priest is due to the fact he may have not truely repented when he died, so he could have had that stain on his soul, however pedophilia is an illness and I beleive God in his mercy would realise this, so this Priest has hopefully been shown God's mercy.

As for the victims, my heart and prayers go out to them.

Anyway, it's intresting to note, that the American Pshycology Group or whoever they are, are going to take peadophilia off the mental illness list, therefore it won't be considered something worth treating. You can thank pressuring from NAMBLA, PP and Homosexual groups for that.

[ironmonk]

I saw this one the news. I think it's terrible that priest got killed, no one deserves to be killed. And as mentioned above, it's common knowledge that child molesters are attacked/killed in general populace. My sympathy for the priest is due to the fact he may have not truely repented when he died, so he could have had that stain on his soul, however pedophilia is an illness and I beleive God in his mercy would realise this, so this Priest has hopefully been shown God's mercy.

As for the victims, my heart and prayers go out to them.

Anyway, it's intresting to note, that the American Pshycology Group or whoever they are, are going to take peadophilia off the mental illness list, therefore it won't be considered something worth treating. You can thank pressuring from NAMBLA, PP and Homosexual groups for that.

Pedophillia is not an "illness" as in something genetic, it is a "mental illness" as in something is wrong with the way they think... it's a behavior problem, as with all sexual devient sins... they are learned behaviors. Something early in life or at a impressionable time in life causes people to develop such unspeakable lusts.

Attraction is developed...

think of people who like blonds, red heads, or breunettes... white, tan, black... etc.... Attraction is a learned behavior, likewise, so is pedophillia.

<just trying to clearify, and I agree with you>

The American Psychology Assoc. is the biggest joke ever when it comes to psychology... people with issues enter it so they can "change" the norms... likewise, as they enter the media.

God Bless,

ironmonk

[Donna]

Knowing psychology, or not knowing it is a wretched apologia for the Bishops.

Common sense, brethren; would you let a known abuser go around others' children at unawares? And how would you sleep at night, if you only did this once. This requires no knowledge of physchology whatsoever. The ten Commandments are written in every heart, and child sexual abuse is mortal sin.

I can't imagine anyone not knowing it would be insane to put an abuser into the same situation again, but expect different results.

[PedroX]

I have heard nothing about the APA (American Psychologica Assoc.) removing pedophilia from the DSM-IV (the "mental illness list") If anything, this is becoming a more specialized form of treatment. I get brochures advertising trainings in working with this population every week. Don't let rumours get the best of you.

I also wanted to clearify that I have no problem locking pedophiles up. I just asked for charity at the news of his murder.

peace...

[Donna]

Yes, of course, PeDrox.

Wow. Capital Punishment goes on...

[cmotherofpirl]

Knowing psychology, or not knowing it is a wretched apologia for the Bishops.

Common sense, brethren; would you let a known abuser go around others' children at unawares? And how would you sleep at night, if you only did this once. This requires no knowledge of physchology whatsoever. The ten Commandments are written in every heart, and child sexual abuse is mortal sin.

I can't imagine anyone not knowing it would be insane to put an abuser into the same situation again, but expect different results.

Actually Donna, 20 and 30 years ago, all organizations treated pedophiles this way: churches, schools, hospitals, colleges, social service agencies, nursing homes, bus drivers etc.

Holding the Church of yesterday to todays standards is a bit unfair.

You must remember families wanted no parts of publicity, scandal, or public trials.

And I might point out this shuffling routine still happens today in school disticts all over the country. Unless there are enough substansiated cases, the teacher is quietly moved to another district or bumped up the ladder. If you blow the whistle the teachers union will sue the school district out of existance.

[Donna]

I can understand that, about scandal and etc. Enabling is the term, right?

My words have nothing to do with holding the Church to a "yesterday" standard "today".

Just common sense.

[PedroX]

Cmom, you are absolutely correct teachers and even some social workers quietly go off and find other jobs. I know of principals that have helped abusive teachers find other jobs. Hopefully, the pain of our "long Lent of 2002" will help teach people in all professions that it is better to blow the whistle than to ignore the problem.

peace...

[Carrie]

I have heard nothing about the APA (American Psychologica Assoc.) removing pedophilia from the DSM-IV (the "mental illness list")  If anything, this is becoming a more specialized form of treatment.  I get brochures advertising trainings in working with this population every week.  Don't let rumours get the best of you.

I also wanted to clearify that I have no problem locking pedophiles up.  I just asked for charity at the news of his murder. 

peace...

I've also heard nothing in regard to the DSM being changed.

Winchester, I agree with you 100%. People like this need to be in a maximum security prison. They are a danger and a risk to society. The damage he caused can never be repaired and by being in prison, could never be repeated. Priest or not, he deserved to be in prison.

I will pray for his soul.

[Lil Red]

This is an article from the Catholic Exchange:

We are told not to make important decisions in the heat of the moment; that we should let some time pass before coming to a conclusion about controversial topics. It is good advice. I can think of more than a few times in my life when my initial reaction to a situation was off base, when I was well served by not opening my mouth too soon.

I received a letter recently from a reader who has followed this recommendation. She has been reluctant to speak out against the current generation of priests and bishops over the priest sex scandals. She waited for the evidence and some explanations from the Church’s leadership about how this situation was permitted to fester for so long. She hoped that she would hear something reassuring. She hasn’t. She thinks it is time for faithful Catholics like herself to make clear their disappointment and displeasure over what has happened to the Church in the United States.

Some of her complaints are familiar, especially her anger over how our donations will be used to settle the lawsuits brought about by this scandal. No question, it will be galling to watch our money going, not to the missions or the Church’s schools, hospitals and orphanages, but to men victimized by sexually abusive priests. But this is a tough nut to crack. The Church’s money comes from the contributions of the faithful. There is no other source to tap. Successful plaintiffs against the Church are going to get paid, no matter what we put in the collection basket or hold back from Diocesan fund-raising appeals. If we reduce our donations, it will be the Church’s many worthwhile activities that will suffer. There is no way around it.

But our letter-writer raised other, less frequently discussed issues, as well. She asked several questions that struck me as poignant and troubling, questions that reveal a profound uneasiness about being a Catholic at this moment in the Church’s history. She asks how it is that these priests could have done what they did. As I write these words, there is a wire-service story in my local newspaper about Paul Shanley, the defrocked priest on trial for raping young boys in the Boston area. In a filed affidavit, a 46-year old man alleges that “Shanley brought him to a monastery, where Shanley would share the boy and his cousin with other men.” Another affidavit charges Shanley with bringing teenagers to gay bars and to parties “for games of spin-the-bottle with older men.”

I once would have dismissed charges such as these as anti-Catholic hysteria, in the same league as the Maria Monk stories about the sexual goings-on in convents back in the late 19th century. Now? I’m afraid I would not jump to cast doubts on the accusers. I can remember how I once defended in my columns the former director of Covenant House from charges that he was having sex with the residents of that facility. I made a point at the time of how we should not take the word of a street hustler over a priest who had given his life to the needs of young men and women who were being preyed upon by older men. The crow tasted horrible.

How, the letter-writer asks, could the authorities and other priests have been unaware of these things? And what about the priests involved? “Did they not know they were committing mortal sins? Did they go to Confession?” Many of the sexual assaults took place on Church property, within a stone’s throw of the sanctuary. “Do these priests believe in the Real Presence?” she asks. “How could they repeatedly commit these horrendous acts within sight of the Blessed Sacrament? Do they even believe in God? Obviously, they do not fear His judgment. Is it that they do not really believe in the hereafter and the rewards of Heaven and Hell?”

inDouche. I hope the Church’s leadership is aware of the implications of this woman’s questions. We could be on the verge of what might be called a “Wizard-of-Oz –moment” for the Church. I have in mind the scene at the end of the movie when Dorothy and her companions discover that the menacing voice from behind the statue is just a huckster with a microphone working the masses for self-advantage. The letter-writer is still a loyal Catholic, but haunted by the thought that the clergy may be like the Frank Morgan character in the film; that they have been preaching a rigorous and demanding Catholicism to the folks in the pews that they do not believe in themselves.

Far-fetched, you say? That no one would stay a priest or a religious if he no longer believed in the central tenets of the Faith? I don’t know about that. Not any more. We have to be candid: Where would a middle-aged homosexual priest go, if he decided that he no longer believed in the teachings of the Church? What would he do for a living that would make his life easier or more “fulfilling,” as that term is used nowadays? He is already well fed and well clothed and provided with the free time and living quarters in a setting that affords him opportunities for sexual encounters. Would his life be “better” as a text-book editor or school guidance counselor than if he goes on pretending to take Catholicism seriously when talking to the Holy Name men and Altar and Rosary Society ladies?

If I am reading our letter-writer correctly, she has concluded that the priests involved in the sex scandals are men who no longer really believed in the Church; that they were going through the motions as priests, repeating the tenets of the Faith for public consumption. Nothing wrong with coming to that conclusion — about them. Except that doing so plants other seeds of doubt. What about the priests and members of the hierarchy who covered up for them? They do not seem to fear the “wages of sin” either. They do not appear to have been plagued by the fear of a moment in their future when God, with Jesus sitting at His right Hand, will judge their souls. A few years ago, a former pastor of mine, a newly appointed bishop and a man I liked and respected a great deal, was removed from his duties when it was learned that he had engaged in a series of heterosexual affairs from the time he was a young priest. He did not seem troubled by any judgment in the hereafter.

If the ordinary Catholic comes to the conclusion that most priests and bishops do not fear the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell, but preach it to their congregations anyway, we are on the verge of a widespread disdain for the Church’s authority that would be comparable to Dorothy’s revelation in Oz. What other teachings that they preach from the pulpit do they not take seriously? Might they be as dismissive of the divinity of Jesus?

It would be a tragic turn of events if ordinary Catholics began to think this is the case. The Church would survive such a turn of events, of course. The Church is still the Church, regardless of how this generation of priests and bishops handles its responsibilities. But the Wizard was never the Wizard again in Dorothy’s eyes, once she was convinced he was faking it.

I am not charging that such a widespread disdain for the clergy would be appropriate. I retain my confidence — somewhat shakier than before — that the priests involved in these scandals were a small minority who managed to cover up their behavior. But I can’t help it: I do not find the letter-writer’s apprehensions irrational. I hope someone in the leadership of the Church has a strategy to stop it from spreading.

James Fitzpatrick's new novel, The Dead Sea Conspiracy: Teilhard de Chardin and the New American Church, is available from our online store. You can email Mr. Fitzpatrick at jkfitz42@aol.com.

(This article originally appeared in The Wanderer and is reprinted with permission. To subscribe call 651-224-5733.)