Papal fallibility

What an insightful commentary! It is clear that the thoughts expressed come from the head as well as the heart--i.e., from a very intelligent man who clearly loves the church and wants the church to be more effective in ministry.

We obviously need loyalty, but we need to make sure those in leadership are being as loyal to the folks in the pews and even those who do not grace the church with their presence as they are to those in the hierarchy.

Thanks to Tom Reese!

Fr. Reese - Thank you for your quite balanced approach. Balanced people will appreciate it.

Those who live in denial of the hierarchy's dysfunctional attempt to "protect the church from scandal" by keeping it beyond the pale of civil and criminal investigation and liability will, clearly, not have ears to hear what you are saying.

Those on the other side of the political spectrum who would condemn earnest and holy if not always well informed pontiffs such as John Paul II to public ignominy and an eternity in hell are likewise deaf to nuanced and well-reasoned arguments.
The church (as always) is in need of reform, exactly like all institutions on the planet, whether spiritual or secular, and reform appears to be under way.
Meanwhile we desperately need compassionate and transparently honest bishops and priests, and a discerning and attentive laity.
Acedia or lethargy has been the unnamed cardinal sin behind much of the abuse and the coverups.
It takes real spiritual energy to get to the heart of the matter, look sin in the face and name it, repent, reform and move to higher ground.
John Patrick Grace
Huntington, West Virginia
(former Vatican correspondent for The AP)

Fr. Reese - Well Done!

Thank God we still have the Jesuits.

For a more detailed report about
sexual abuse cases in the RCC in the USA, see

http://www.answers.com/topic/john-jay-report

For a more detailed report on the global situation, see:

http://www.answers.com/topic/roman-catholic-sex-abuse-cases?method=26&initiator=CANS

For details on sexual abuse in the Southern Baptist convention, see:

www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1855948_1861760_1862212,00.html#ixzz0jg0lEyZj

For details on sexual abuse in the Boy Scouts, see:

www.ocregister.com/news/ordered-245722-abuse-oregon.html

For details about sexual abuse in Judaism, see:

huffingtonpost.com/rabbi.../when-priests-and-rabbis-c_b_516386.html

and

eutimes.net/category/criticism/pedophilia

For details on sexual abuse in the Jehovah Witnesses, see:

eutimes.net/category/criticism/pedophilia

For a studies on pedophilia in the general population, see

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedophilia

and

minddisorders.com/Ob-Ps/Pedophilia.html#ixzz0iQulgGTp

According to Terry McKiernan, between 1950 and January 2010, six thousand (6,000) pedophile priests had been identified.

It is May.

Posted by cityofangelslady at 10:13 am
March 23, 2010
commentsCOMMENT NOW!
Crimes of 2 Pedophile Priests in New Santa Barbara Lawsuit Are Like Thousands Reviewed by Pope When He Was Cardinal

A new lawsuit in Santa Barbara shows the crimes of two pedophile priests, like tens of thousands of crimes reported to Cardinal Ratzinger, today Pope Benedict, when he ran the office in charge of investigating criminal priests before becoming Pope. The lawsuit quoted in depth below was filed Dec. 2009 against the Franciscans of Santa Barbara, who by themselves produced 27 Pedophile Priests in their decades of proselytizing in this one Southern California town.

Crime victims like the plaintiff in lawsuit below continue to come forward with claims from St. Anthony’s Seminary in Santa Barbara, even though the 2003 one-year window to file decades old claims in California is long closed. Attorneys for plaintiffs and for the Church’s various archdiocese corporations sole are today awaiting a decision by the state Supreme Court as to whether more cases can be filed, a decision that could change the statute of limitations on civil suits regarding institutions that allow child sex crimes in this state, so look for a story here in the near future about the Quarry decision.

Today, City of Angels has a document from Case #1338630 filed December 1, 2009, in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Santa Barbara, Anacapa Division. For the sake of public record, we are copying parts of the “First Amended Complaint for Damages and injunctive Relief” here for everyone to read.

continues below

continued

Keep in mind that the Pope had judicial review of all these crimes at the Vatican, when he ran the CDF before becoming Pope. As Cardinal Ratzinger, he likely read reports of thousands of crimes by pedophile priests like the ones described below. That’s why it’s so astounding to see him look into the news media’s face and claim surprise and dismay and the other milk toast words he uses when confronted with these charges in Europe in 2010. The Vatican and the Pope were very much involved in the coverup of Catholic priest sex crimes and keeping down the scandal since the 1960s.

The plaintiff complaint quoted below is the kind of case that came across the desk of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger for decades, when he was in charge of the CDF (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, formerly the Inquisition). He had “judicial review” of criminal activity by priests all over the world for 23 years before becoming Pope. Hundreds of cases of child sex crime activity crossed the desk of Cardinal Ratzinger, most of it then translated into Latin and placed in very secret files somewhere in the Vatican, as it has been explained to me, but no one really knows what the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy do behind the Swiss guards and the Vatican walls, do they? . . . .

http://blogs.alternet.org/cityofangelsonalternet/2010/03/23/crimes-of-2-pedophile-priests-in-santa-barbara-in-new-lawsuit-like-thousands-reviewed-by-pope-when-he-was-cardinal/

New child-abuse charge against priest
April 21, 2010 12:11 PM | No Comments
FLORES120.jpgKane County prosecutors filed additional charges against a Catholic priest previously accused of child abuse, saying he attempted to sexually abuse the older brother of his first alleged victim.

A grand jury indicted the Rev. Alejandro Flores on nine new counts, State's Atty. John Barsanti announced today. The indictment includes additional counts involving the first alleged victim.

The charges include predatory criminal sexual assault, criminal sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual abuse, indecent solicitation of a child and attempted aggravated criminal sexual abuse.
Flores, 37, already stands accused of seven felony counts that allege he molested a St. Charles boy from 2005--when the boy was 8--to this year. The abuse took place while Flores, who is a Bolivian citizen, was a seminarian assigned to a West Chicago church, and had become friendly with the boy's family, who were parishioners, authorities say.

The new counts allege that Flores made sexual advances at the boy's older brother, prosecutors said.

Following his ordination in 2009, Flores was assigned to a south suburban church. In January, just before his arrest, he attempted to kill himself by jumping from the balcony of a shuttered church in Joliet.

He was hospitalized for several days and was taken into custody following his release from the hospital. He is currently being held at the Kane County Jail in lieu of $1 million bail. Last month, a judge rejected a motion to reduce Flores' bail.

Flores' attorney, Glenn Sowa, said at the March hearing that the Joliet archdiocese was willing to pay to have Flores attend a Maryland treatment center for religious workers with psychological issues. It was in arguing against the reduced bond that prosecutors first brought up the allegations involving the victim's older brother.

--Clifford Ward
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/04/new-child-abuse-charge-against-priest.html

How L.A. Archdiocese Mishandled A Pedophile Priest

by Barbara Bradley Hagerty

April 23, 2010

The Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles is still reeling from a major sex abuse scandal that broke eight years ago. A federal grand jury is investigating the church for how it handled sex abuse allegations, and the church is still fielding lawsuits even though it has already paid out $660 million to more than 500 victims.

An NPR investigation reveals that Cardinal Roger Mahony, his top officials or even his review board failed to act when presented with pedophile priests — and in particular, the case of one of the most notorious abusers, the Rev. Michael Baker....

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126217733

Roger Mahony, a recent, OnFaith guest panelist, currently under investigation, protected numerous pedophile priests, including O'Grady, famous for having raped an infant, among other little ones.

Brazil arrests 'pedophile' priest
Fri, 23 Apr 2010 14:33:32 GMT

A Roman Catholic priest has been arrested in Brazil after a video captured on a hidden camera depicted him as sexually abusing a choir boy.

Two other clerics also face similar charges as three former choir boys say they have been abused by them.

"I want to tell you, your honor, only one word: I'm not a pedophile," 84-year-old cleric Luiz Marques Barbosa told a court hearing, according to Reuters.

The footage, which was broadcast on a Brazilian TV network and is now available for sale in streets, shows Barbosa engaged in sexual misconduct in front of a church altar.

The Brazilian parliament has launched an inquiry into the scandal.

Barbosa, who is in charge of the parish in the northeastern town of Arapiraca, was arrested this week and is currently under house detention, with his passport confiscated, pending the outcome of the investigation, AFP said on Thursday.

The pedophile priest scandal is damaging the Catholic Church's reputation worldwide and in South America in particular, as the continent is home to over half of the world's Catholics.

Priests there are now struggling to defend the Church's image.

I'm very sorry for the lack of charity in the part of F. Reese.
However, being a native salvadorean, I've witnessed plenty of that from the jesuit priests there since the 1980's. I'm not surprised of F. Reese's comments and lack of respect, especially, for the Pope. A warning to all readers... we must beware of what we read, the source and the author.

Another religion needing top-down reversal:

www.eutimes.net/category/criticism/pedophilia/

"Yet another prominent Orthodox rabbi has been charged with sexual abuse. This time it is Rabbi Mordechai Elon, one of the foremost rabbinic leaders of the Israeli Orthodox movement and former rosh yeshiva at the flagship Yeshivat HaRav, where last year a Palestinian mounted an assault which left several students dead. The result was that students of the yeshiva and other far right Jews went on a rampage and tried to burn down the home of the family of the perpetrator of the attack. Elon’s brother is Benny, a former MK for a far-right pro-settler party.

At one time the rabbi was so renowned he’d hoped to be named chief rabbi. Alas, that hope is all but dashed as he was charged several years ago with abusing boys at his yeshiva:
Takana, a rabbinic forum established in 2003 to clamp down on sexual misconduct by Orthodox educators, went public February 15 with allegations that Mordechai “Moti” Elon had taken advantage of his influence over male students and performed “acts at odds with sacred and moral values.”

The panel later said that two people, whose complaints alleged acts from about 25 years ago, had been under 18 at the time. More recent alleged acts involved students of Elon who were 18 or older. Since its initial disclosure, the panel reports having received one more complaint of an alleged underage encounter…

What is unusual about this case is that a splinter group of the Orthodox community is taking the position that the entire prosecution is an attempt to destroy rabbinic authority and the Orthodox movement. It calls for refusal to cooperate with state authorities (or to deal with the charge through a beyt din)."

To hide the truth to protect the image, there will be no washing of the hands from the top to the bottom of the administration of the RCC.It is time for a new clean handed pope and then VATICAN III to turn the RCC around.

Oh yes! Dr Thomas Reese SJ slanging the Church urged on and applauded by the Amen chorus, reverently chanting, well, "Amen", "Death to the Pope", "Kill the Catholics", "Expel their priests" and their other nasty (but so cool) stuff. Encouraged by WaPo.

Some paper.

(Some priest).

Meanwhile in Ratzinger's Germany (AP)

The 41-year-old claims a chaplain, the Rev. Peter Hullermann, forced him to practice oral sex when he was an 11-year-old boy in the western city of Essen.
In 1980, then-Munich Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger, who is now the pope, approved the priest's transfer to Munich, where he underwent therapy.

Yet another daily news story of more abuse and cover ups involving Ratzinger while Donohue Catholics like WPGUEST1 remain in denial and call the writing on the wall "gratuitous Catholic bashing"
However, the man was quickly allowed to return to pastoral duties - a decision that the church says was made by a lower-ranking official without consulting the archbishop.
Hullermann later worked again with children and youth. In 1986, he was handed a suspended sentence for molesting a boy.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/04/AR2010050403097.html?hpid=sec-religion

Two small points:

1) The Church should drop all its metaphors that echo contemporary military imagery because they are exactly and clearly the opposite of the Gospel (e g. "Legionaries") and are remnants of the ancient Manichaen perversions.

2) Rome can act very quickly when it wants to. For example JPII excommunicated a bishop just two days after the bishop ordained four bishops without permission in 2006. How many decades was Maciel known to Rome as a human travesty?

Father Reese is the perennial antagonist . . . . . my how he loves to bash the hierarchy . . . . the Vatican . . . . I expect that soon he will take Mother Teresa down a notch or two . . . . . don't expect much in the way spiritual uplifting words from Father Reese.

rmk/akron

" insensitive to women?" Even having gone to Gtown I can't believe you are so liberal as to dismiss theology ofthe body, one of the most profound and beautiful accounts of the relationship between and equal dignity of men and women. It ushered in the "new feminism" which from a point of view of any concept of true Christian freedom is far more authentic, freedom-fostering and just than the abortion-crazed feminist movements of this time. His views on women in the priesthood do not merit a blanket label of "insensitive". I also resent the implication that JP was motivated by desire for self-aggrandizement. If the pejorative use of the term loyalty means orthodoxy that says it all.

While I agree with your assessment of the Legionaires, I cringe at your labeling of JPII as "insensitive" to women's issues, etc. Even after attending Georgetown myself I find it hard to believe you are so liberal as to dismiss Theology of the Body, one of the most developed and might I add beautiful expositions on the relationship between, equal dignity of women and men in light of authentic Christian love. (though Lord knows I didn't encounter that book at Gtown.) His views on women in the priesthood, etc do not merit the blanket label of insensitive. I further take issue with with the implication that JP was motivated by some desire for self-aggrandizement. If your pejorative use of the word "loyal" means orthodoxy (which I assume it does) then that explains everything.

Well, let's see where this Pope takes things from here.

Another good sign that he/they might be finally getting it, at least with respect to abusing children and abetting the crimes, would be the rapid dismissal of Cardinal Law. Can't think of anyone less deserving of the title.

I am sure that Charles Silver, a devout catholic and a management specialist, would agree with your assessment of the Vatican's feeble administration. Members of that gerontocracy have not been chosen on the basis of merit. The policies related to the recruitment, selection and retention of the clergy, not to mention the recent financial and sexual scandals, are here to prove it.

This pope, as well as his predecessor, received his basic education in a totalitarian state, in which loyalty, not reasoning, was the passport to vertical mobility, the number one requisite for promotion. Silver, just like you, referred to bright people, such as Kung and Boff, who were implacably sidelined by the Vatican, apparently because they could not conform to the orientation of the church's doctrinal unit (known in certain liberal circles as the organization's thought police department).

Silver believes that changing management in the Vatican would necessarily entail the adoption of a new mentality, a new mindset, and consequently a new CEO and board of directors. He would welcome someone who behaves like the BP top banana, who recently stated that, although BP is not directly responsible for the Louisiana oil spill disaster, the company will take full responsibility.

Accountability is what Silver can't see in the Vatican these days. The leaders who were so determined and so fast to marginalize honest dissenters now move only a very few inches, even while acknowledging that inertia is no more a viable option.

Posted by: wpguest1:
Instead of another gratuitous round of Catholic bashing from the [Attack] On Faith column, how about a discussion of Faisal Shahzad's attempt to kill and maim innocent people in Times Square - and how he may have been motivated by the "Religion of Peace"?
---------------
At least the radical Muslims are honest about their jihad. The catholic church tries to cover up their jihad against children. If you count victims starting at the time of Christ, the catholic church’s victims outnumber Islam's victims about 10 to 1. Let’s not forget the crusades and the inquisition when you are trying to smear Islam.

Besides, no one is bashing catholics, they are bashing the morally bankrupt and corrupt leadership of the cath-o-lick church and that is NEVER gratuitous. They are the gift that keeps on giving!

I have no doubt that John Paul is in heaven, but the effort to canonize him should be put on hold along with that of Pius XII.
--------------------------------------
You have GOT to be kidding. He is rotting in Hell with all the other perpetrators and/or practitioners of pedophilia. If he wasn’t molesting children himself (which he probably was), he certainly let continue an atmosphere where they could work without fear of reprisal. Like all of the popes before him, he put the church before the church's victims and protected the predators instead of the flock. The vatican had better hope there is no God, because if there is Hell is full of the vatican child molesters and their ilk.

The crime of the Jesuits (being sufficiently loyal to the pope) was NOT alleged - it was a fact. And Pope Piux XII's canonization SHOULD continue - I wonder what Reese's problem is with THAT.

Instead of another gratuitous round of Catholic bashing from the [Attack] On Faith column, how about a discussion of Faisal Shahzad's attempt to kill and maim innocent people in Times Square - and how he may have been motivated by the "Religion of Peace"?

Maureen Paul Turlish,

You are quite amazing both in your work and in your forthright speech.

It sounds to me like John Paul and Marciel would have made great jesuits..

Meanwhile, US Catholics debate whether or not to "defrock" pervert priests:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/03/AR2010050302568_2.html?hpid=sec-religion

Some argue against it under the pretext Bishops would "lose control" of their "straying sheep" if he were defrocked.

As if Bishops maintained control of these perverts while they passed them from parish to parish in the past or otherwise "supervised" them while criminally hiding them from US justice.

This Church needs to cough up over a thousand of their "hebephiles" for civil prosecution NOW and stop pretending they care about anything other than their image and Ratzinger's now dubious reputation.

All of these gestures are new and after decades of willfully covering up priest pedophilia. These perps, including the ruling hierarchy, need full legal and global consequences.

Seperate subject: neither the late Pope nor Reagan deserve credit for the fall of Soviet-style communism. Their own actions, including military overkill spending and protecting the top at all costs (sound familiar), prompted their collapse.

I take exception with yet another Catholic apologist pretending he just doesn't know this church has been as evil as it has the last sixteen hundred and seventy five years.

To suggest this church, let alone Tom Reese, even knows a thing about 'heaven', John Paul II's actions in the enormous Cover Up headed by then Cardinal Ratzinger from May 1981 until 2005 are unequivocally evil and show his penchant for lies, rather than any truth we've rarely seen since Constantine created this abomination.

I prefer Catholic prophecies which state this church is on the way out.

For this former Catholic religious who refuses to be known as an 'ex', it can't come soon enough.

I'm not sure that I would go as far as Tom Reese. "Martial Law?" That's not the way I'm reading this.

I believe that I read somewhere that none of the upper level people are going to be removed from their positions and these are people trained and put into place by Marcial. If this is the case it is a big mistake.

Perhaps Tom Reese could speak to this?

"I have no doubt that John Paul is in heaven, but the effort to canonize him should be put on hold along with that of Pius XII."

I'm sorry to be so blunt but really, who cares whether or not John Paul is in heaven?

Personally I find that statement inappropriate and insensitive. Think about the former Legionaires who tried so long to get a response from John Paul.

If I thought about it at all, I would have my doubts. Sorry Tom.

National Catholic Reporter article, "Church leaders are spinning their wheels," at:

http://ncronline.org/blogs/examining-crisis/church-leaders-are-spinning-their-wheels

NPR Radio Times show from WHYY on April 12, 2010 in Philadelphia where Marci Hamilton (a constitutional lawyer whose area of interest is church state issues) and I discussed "Holding clergy and church leaders legally accountable for child abuse," at:

http://whyy.org/cms/radiotimes/2010/04/12/holding-clergy-and-church-leaders-legally-accountable-for-child-abuse/

or an earlier reflection published in NCR on March 29, 2010 on my connecting flight from Washington to Philadelphia, "What a difference a week makes," at:

http://ncronline.org/news/accountability/what-difference-week-makes

Sister Maureen Paul Turlish
Victims' Advocate
New Castle, Delaware, USA
maureenpaulturlish@yahoo.com

Another religion needing top-down reversal:

www.eutimes.net/category/criticism/pedophilia/

"Yet another prominent Orthodox rabbi has been charged with sexual abuse. This time it is Rabbi Mordechai Elon, one of the foremost rabbinic leaders of the Israeli Orthodox movement and former rosh yeshiva at the flagship Yeshivat HaRav, where last year a Palestinian mounted an assault which left several students dead. The result was that students of the yeshiva and other far right Jews went on a rampage and tried to burn down the home of the family of the perpetrator of the attack. Elon’s brother is Benny, a former MK for a far-right pro-settler party.

At one time the rabbi was so renowned he’d hoped to be named chief rabbi. Alas, that hope is all but dashed as he was charged several years ago with abusing boys at his yeshiva:
Takana, a rabbinic forum established in 2003 to clamp down on sexual misconduct by Orthodox educators, went public February 15 with allegations that Mordechai “Moti” Elon had taken advantage of his influence over male students and performed “acts at odds with sacred and moral values.”

The panel later said that two people, whose complaints alleged acts from about 25 years ago, had been under 18 at the time. More recent alleged acts involved students of Elon who were 18 or older. Since its initial disclosure, the panel reports having received one more complaint of an alleged underage encounter…
What is unusual about this case is that a splinter group of the Orthodox community is taking the position that the entire prosecution is an attempt to destroy rabbinic authority and the Orthodox movement. It calls for refusal to cooperate with state authorities (or to deal with the charge through a beyt din)."

More religions needing top-down reversals:

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah%27s_Witnesses_and_child_sex_abuse

“As with other religious organizations, Jehovah's Witnesses have been obliged in recent years to develop child protection policies to deal with cases of child abuse in their congregations. Details of the policy have been published in Jehovah's Witnesses' publications and press releases issued by their Office of Public Information.[1][2] Some details are found only in letters to elders which, while solely for internal use, have been made available on the Internet.”

From: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1855948_1861760_1862212,00.html#ixzz0jg0lEyZj

“Facing calls to curb child sex abuse within its churches, in June the Southern Baptist Convention — the largest U.S. religious body after the Catholic Church — urged local hiring committees to conduct federal background checks but rejected a proposal to create a central database of staff and clergy who have been either convicted of or indicted on charges of molesting minors. The SBC decided against such a database in part because its principle of local autonomy means it cannot compel individual churches to report any information. And while the headlines regarding churches and pedophilia remain largely focused on Catholic parishes, the lack of hierarchical structure and systematized record-keeping in most Protestant churches makes it harder not only for church leaders to impose standards, but for interested parties to track allegations of abuse.

Sex abuse is just the tip of the iceberg. The emotional, verbal and physical abuse of Catholic clergy against children in America is despicable and has been for decades. The church's negative culture has finally caught up with them. I have dozens of friends who call themselves Recovering Catholics since they have spent much of their adult lives trying to transcend the self-hate priests and nuns foisted upon them.

This is nothing but an attempt to show that the Vatican is finally responding to all the criticism about the child molestation problem. If there hadn't been the recent revelations about the Pope himself (as a former Archbishop) covering up for molesters, there would be no action being taken against the Legion of Christ. After all these years of doing nothing, what is there to do? It's all a sham.

At last a priest has nailed the root-cause of the problem with Maciel's top brass/protectors: Fr. Reese said, "He will certainly have to replace all the top leadership who were either complicit with or too stupid to see the evils of Maciel." I think that "the top Leadership," should include cardinals in the Curia, who took bribes to keep Maciel's reputation in tact, as well as the top dogs in Regnum Christi and the Legionaires. Will Pope Benedict XVI be courageous enough to do so? If past experience is any indication of future predictions, I rather doubt it! Protecting the reputation of the Vatican and the Curia is more important that routing out examples of sheer stupidity and pointing to "Stupidity." as being the cause for coverups.

If you have not already done so, please watch Julia Sweeney's monologue "Letting Go of God".

(Ex-Catholic, now atheist) Julia Sweeney's monologue "Letting Go Of God" will be the final nail in the coffin of religious belief/faith/infallibility and is and will continue to be more effective than any money-generating book or blog on the historical Jesus, the Jesuit way, atheism or secularism.

Buy the DVD or watch it on Showtime. Check your cable listings.

from www.amazon.com
"Letting Go of God ~ Julia Sweeney (DVD - 2008)

Five Star Rating

Are you Catholic Fr. Reese? How do you have no doubt JPII is in heaven? Did not Jesus put him in charge of His flock? And what has happened to his flock? They've left the church, they've stopped going to confession regularly, they've stop learning about God and the list goes on.

What planet do you live on?

Its foolish to expect that the Vatican should be some sort of criminal court. Their slap on the wrist courts run at the speed of a snail... but did you expect anything run by 70 year old men in positions for life to do any different.

They should stick to regulating spiritual matters and just turn over any murderers, rapists, and thieves to the secular authorities and be done with it. The RCC should not continue with its forgive and forget practices for clerical crime, since its the citizens of the rest of the world, not the Vatican, that pay for it.

Fr. Reese - you wrote about Pope John Paul II's "insensitivity to women's issues". What are you referring to?