More Than 300 Predator Priests In Pennsylvania Protected By Catholic Church

[dUSt]

"To punish out of Love: this is the secret that raises to a supernatural plane the punishment of those who deserve it. For the love of God, who has been offended, let punishment serve as reparation. For the love of our neighbor and for the sake of God, let it be imposed, never as revenge, but as health-giving medicine." - St Jose Maria Escriva

 

 

[little2add]

 Matthew - Chapter 18

1 At this time the disciples came to Jesus and said, 'Who is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven?'

2 So he called a little child to him whom he set among them.

3 Then he said, 'In truth I tell you, unless you change and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven.

4 And so, the one who makes himself as little as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven.

5 'Anyone who welcomes one little child like this in my name welcomes me.

6 But anyone who is the downfall of one of these little ones who have faith in me would be better drowned in the depths of the sea with a great millstone round his neck.

7 Alas for the world that there should be such causes of falling! Causes of falling indeed there must be, but alas for anyone who provides them!

8 'If your hand or your foot should be your downfall, cut it off and throw it away: it is better for you to enter into life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire.

9 And if your eye should be your downfall, tear it out and throw it away: it is better for you to enter into life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be thrown into the hell of fire.

10 'See that you never despise any of these little ones, for I tell you that their angels in heaven are continually in the presence of my Father in heaven.

Edited August 17, 2018 by little2add

[Guest]

4 hours ago, Anomaly said:

I don’t think that married priests is the answer.  

Its a matter of the Church authorities allowing morally corrupt behavior.   It could be heterosexual child molestation or other sexual harassment.    

The problem was and is, Church authorities allowing the evil to continue by not punishing the perpetrators.  

And why do you think the Church authorities are allowing the homosexual/pedophile morally corrupt behavior without punishment? And then covering it up? Becuase guys like McCarrick  (gay/ sexual abuser/pedophile) are in the postion to dish out the punishment and take action. And are they? No. Suprise. Suprise. They are all protecting each other because a bunch of them are gay. Not all of them are gay but a lot are. And a bunch who would make good priests/bishops are refused the opportunity becuase they want a wife and fam. If there were married clergy as well as celibate would there still be issues? Of course but it would be drastically reduced. Mandatory celibacy produces secrecy and the fruit we are seeing. It produces guys like McCarrick becoming Cardinal and being in charge of protecting children and young teens AFTER 2002. And peolple high up in the Church knowing and not saying S***!

Edited August 17, 2018 by Guest

[Seven77]

20 minutes ago, Josh said:

And why do you think the Church authorities are allowing the homosexual/pedophile morally corrupt behavior without punishment? And then covering it up? Becuase guys like McCarrick  (gay/ sexual abuser/pedophile) are in the postion to dish out the punishment and take action. And are they? No. Suprise. Suprise. They are all protecting each other because a bunch of them are gay. Not all of them are gay but a lot are. And a bunch who would make good priests/bishops are refused the opportunity becuase they want a wife and fam. If there were married clergy as well as celibate would there still be issues? Of course but it would be drastically reduced. Mandatory celibacy produces secrecy and the fruit we are seeing. It produces guys like McCarrick becoming Cardinal and being in charge of protecting children and young teens AFTER 2002. And peolple high up in the Church knowing and not saying S***!

Celibacy is a charism that builds discipline and self mastery, but it seems that there were some fakers, shills of satan that infiltrated with no intention of celibacy and chastity. 

Mandatory celibacy is  a  discipline in the West but not in the East.................................................

[Anomaly]

56 minutes ago, Josh said:

And why do you think the Church authorities are allowing the homosexual/pedophile morally corrupt behavior without punishment? And then covering it up? Becuase guys like McCarrick  (gay/ sexual abuser/pedophile) are in the postion to dish out the punishment and take action. And are they? No. Suprise. Suprise. They are all protecting each other because a bunch of them are gay. Not all of them are gay but a lot are. And a bunch who would make good priests/bishops are refused the opportunity becuase they want a wife and fam. If there were married clergy as well as celibate would there still be issues? Of course but it would be drastically reduced. Mandatory celibacy produces secrecy and the fruit we are seeing. It produces guys like McCarrick becoming Cardinal and being in charge of protecting children and young teens AFTER 2002. And peolple high up in the Church knowing and not saying S***!

It could just as easily have been a men’s club of Clergy that preyed on impressionable girls or lonely women, etc.   

Mandatory fidelity could be just as bad an issue.  There has been a rash of Christian pastors and counselors locally that have been caught with girls and women they aren’t married to.  That is just as bad if the bishop and cardinals covered that up as well.  

[Guest]

38 minutes ago, Anomaly said:

Mandatory fidelity could be just as bad an issue.  There has been a rash of Christian pastors and counselors locally that have been caught with girls and women they aren’t married to.  That is just as bad if the bishop and cardinals covered that up as well.  

Consenting adults who hook up with women they aren't married to is a sin but nowhere close to as bad as abusing underage people. 8 out of 10 are male on male abuse in the Catholic Church in America. And there are Catholic articles reporting that seminaries are filled with homosexuals fornicating with each other. It makes perfect sense then someone like McCarrick could elevate to the Postion he did even after all this came out in 2002 without anyone calling him out.

I really don't care what two consenting adults do with each other. Gay or straight. That's on them. I'm definitely not a saint in this area. I struggle with sexual immortality immensely. But it's always consensual and with adults. Female btw.

Edited August 17, 2018 by Guest

[littlebell]

24 minutes ago, Anomaly said:

t could just as easily have been a men’s club of Clergy that preyed on impressionable girls or lonely women, etc.   

Mandatory fidelity could be just as bad an issue.  There has been a rash of Christian pastors and counselors locally that have been caught with girls and women they aren’t married to.  That is just as bad if the bishop and cardinals covered that up as well.  

You are absolutely correct. There are many, many, incidents of sexual abuse and inappropriate sexual behavior by clergy  occurring in other Christian denominations, but they don't get the same amount of attention that the Catholic church has had. 

Also, clergy abuse isn't exclusively a Christian problem. I don't know if it's appropriate to name other faiths which have had the same problem as the Catholic Church, but it happens elsewhere, and the clergy is not required to be celibate. 

[little2add]

The title of this tread is a lie 

 The horrible sinners identified in the investigation are not now being protected by the Catholic Church, Nor have they been since the year 2002

It is no less a crime  what these pedophiles did but  The tread title implies that the Catholic Church is currently ignoring and or protecting The child molesters and extremely  exaggerates the extent of the  perversion 

[Guest]

https://www.virtueonline.org/only-half-catholic-priests-are-celibate-mike-mcmanus

[Guest]

I try to be careful about choosing sources and especially about these abuse scandals.  Virtueonline in the previous post is a "Voice for Global Orthodox Anglicanism".  I do not know anything about the site personally and a rather quick Googling did not give me any info as to reliability of the site, other than on the site itself; therefore I would not be trustful of the reliability.

If I am wrong, thank you for the info........and quite genuinely.  

 

[little2add]

1 hour ago, Josh said:

https://www.virtueonline.org/only-half-catholic-priests-are-celibate-mike-mcmanus

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.  

[Guest]

Statement of Catholic Theologians, Educators, Lay Leaders, & Parishioners on Clergy Sexual Abuse in the United States

Wednesday, August 15, 2018
Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary


God has shown the strength of God’s arm,
and has scattered the proud in their conceit.
God has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.
(Lk 1:51-52)

On Tuesday, August 14, 2018, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro released a comprehensive grand jury report documenting the sexual abuse of over 1,000 children by 301 priests across six Pennsylvania dioceses. The document chronicles, with nauseating clarity, seven decades of clergy sexual abuse and systematic cover-ups by bishops and others in positions of power. The report comes in the wake of last months’ revelations of decades of sexual predation by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and in the long shadow of the sexual abuse crisis in Boston and beyond.

The crimes detailed in the grand jury report evince a horror beyond expression. The report summarizes the situation thus: “Priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing; they hid it all. For decades.” We are brought to our knees in revulsion and shame by the abominations that these priests committed against innocent children. We are sickened in equal measure by the conspiracy of silence among bishops who exploited victims’ wounds as collateral in self-protection and the preservation of power. It is clear that it was the complicity of the powerful that allowed this radical evil to flourish with impunity.

Today, we call on the Catholic Bishops of the United States to prayerfully and genuinely consider submitting to Pope Francis their collective resignation as a public act of repentance and lamentation before God and God’s People.

We urge them to follow the example of Chile’s thirty-four bishops, who resigned collectively in May of this year after revelations of widespread sexual abuse and corruption were brought to light. Through prudent discernment, Pope Francis ultimately accepted three of these thirty-four resignations. It should be noted that the active bishop-to-Catholic ratio is almost the same in Chile and the United States, and that the geographical scope of the crisis in this country appears to surpass that of Chile. After years of suppressed truth, the unreserved decisiveness of the Chilean bishops’ resignations communicated to the faithful a message that Catholics in the United States have yet to hear, with an urgency we have yet to witness: We have caused this devastation. We have allowed it to persist. We submit ourselves to judgment in recompense for what we have done and failed to do.

Some will feel that the resignation of all bishops is unjustified and even detrimental to the work of healing. After all, many bishops are indeed humble servants and well-intentioned pastors. This is an urge we recognize, but it is not one that we can accept. The catastrophic scale and historical magnitude of the abuse makes clear that this is not a case of “a few bad apples” but rather a radical systemic injustice manifested at every level of the Church. Systemic sin cannot be ended through individual goodwill. Its wounds are not healed through statements, internal investigations, or public relations campaigns but rather through collective accountability, transparency, and truth-telling. We are responsible for the house we live in, even if we did not build it ourselves. This is why we call on the U.S. Bishops to offer their resignations collectively, in recognition of the systemic nature of this evil.

If we are to say “never again” to this catastrophic epidemic of sexual violence within the Church, then structural change on a scale previously unimaginable is required. Many have offered sound proposals for specific reforms that would begin to convert this ecclesial culture of violence into one of transparency, accountability, humility, safety, and earned trust. These are proposals we wholeheartedly support, beginning with external investigations of every ecclesiastical province in the United States akin to the one just completed in Pennsylvania. At the same time, we recognize that truth-telling and repentance are prerequisites to conversion. This is as true of institutional conversion as it is of individual conversion. As a collective body, the bishops have given the faithful little indication that they recognize and take accountability for the breathtaking magnitude of the violence and deceit that has continued unabated under their leadership. Thus, we call on them to follow Christ’s example in offering to the people a willing abdication of earthly status. This is a public act of penance and sorrow, absent of which no genuine process of healing and reform can begin.

We, the undersigned, teach in Catholic schools, colleges, universities, and graduate programs. We work in parishes, retreat centers, and diocesan offices. We are parishioners, lay ecclesial ministers, liturgical musicians, catechists, pastoral care workers, youth and young adult ministers, chaplains, parish workers, community advocates, students, teachers, professors, librarians, and researchers. We are mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles, sons and daughters, and vowed religious. We are the baptized.

We stand in solidarity with the thousands of victims, named and unnamed, whom predatory priests, protected by the willing silence of many bishops, have raped, abused, brainwashed, traumatized, and dehumanized. We stand with those driven to alcoholism and drug addiction, to mental illness and suicide. We grieve with their families and communities.

We grieve in a different but no less profound way for our students, children, families, parents, grandparents, friends, neighbors, and all of those we love who have left or will leave the Church because they have found its leaders unworthy of trust. We grieve for our parishes, communities, schools, and dioceses. We grieve for our Church.

The call we issue today is neither liberal nor conservative. It does not emerge from a particular faction or ideology but rather from the heart of a wounded Church. It is an expression of fidelity to the victims, to Jesus Christ, to the Church in whose service we have devoted our lives.

Thus, we call on you, Bishops of the United States, to consider this humble and public act of penance on behalf of us all. Let it be the first of many steps toward justice, transparency, and conversion. Only then might the wrenching work of healing begin.

[Spanish translation forthcoming.]

Add your signature to this statement by filling out the questions below. We hope to publish the letter and an initial list of signers by the evening of Friday, August 17.

Contact Susan Reynolds, Assistant Professor of Catholic Studies at Candler School of Theology at Emory University, at sbreyn3@emory.edu with questions or to suggest revisions to the text.

Full Name

Your answer

Institutional Affiliation (College/University, Organization, Parish, etc.) and Title/Role

Your answer

SUBMIT

Never submit passwords through Google Forms.

This content is neither created nor endorsed by Google. Report Abuse - Terms of Service - Additional Terms

 Forms

[dominicansoul]

“Lest we’re tempted to think that allowing priests to marry is a simple solution to the problem of clerical scandal, we do well perhaps to recall that the divorce rate among Protestant clergy is over 50% - leaving many bitter spouses, bewildered children, and broken families. Is this really a solution to the problem of unfaithful priests, or just another crisis waiting to happen?”—-Dr Scott Hahn

[Ash Wednesday]

If the screening process in the seminaries becomes more strict as it should, they could allow for married priests if the shortage becomes dire.  My stance is neutral on it, and I'm leaving that up to God and whatever his providence will determine in the future. But I personally feel that tackling this at the seminary level right now is the most urgent situation, as relaxing any celibacy rules would be a significant change from centuries of practice so that decision is not going to be made quickly because there is going to be a lot of debate about it. However, the process for cleaning up the seminaries can and must start now. That includes screening anyone with same-sex attraction.  This does not mean that gay men are necessarily pedophiles or ephebophiles. But given that such a high percentage of these cases are same-sex, it's dishonest to ignore that.  Even Pope Francis has reaffirmed that gay men should not be priests. We have to quit worrying about hurting feelings and do what's right. 

[chrysostom]

Since a grand jury is intended to be preliminary to a trial, why is the Pennsylvania AG investing so much in it when it has zero chance of leading to trial? In fact, there never seemed to be any intention of leading it to trial. Weird for a grand jury report.