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Brendan
Guest
Who are the “THEY” you are referring to and how, exactly the THEY" allow the bishop to do anything?
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Digitonomy
Guest
I don’t claim to be an expert, but this is contrary to what I have heard.
Is the Diocese of Fairbanks set up differently from most others in the US? My understanding is that in general a diocese in the US is set up as a corporation, with the parishes all being part of that corporation.
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abcd
Guest
Well, isn’t it nice when I showed a book written by a catholic that researched your seminaries and wrote a book about his findings that it was deleted from the forum. this is typical of catholics to hide the truth even when the author was trying to help the RCC.
Hide just like they tried to hide the perverts from disclosure. This is one reason you can not debate or argue with catholics.
O yes, I expect to have this one deleted also.
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st_lucy
Guest
I find you sweeping accusations on catholics rather offensive. And I have heard of the book and I do not want to waste my time on such obvious anti-catholic bigotry.
The sick men who hurt people in the church does not equal all priest as anyone one with any knowledge would realize. I have worked with abuse children and I can tell you from experience that more people are abused by school teachers. With your train of thought, I would think that we should call all school teachers sick perverted pedophiles. But anyone with half a brain would realize that those teachers do not make up for the whole.
Please stop making your accusations based on only anti catholic sources and maybe you can try to visit a near by seminary and see for yourself.
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Aramis
Guest
Most parishes in Alaska hold their own titles, with the diocese as guarantor on the loans, and dissolution clauses default the property to the diocese in the advent of closure of the parish or loss of “catholicity”.
I suspect this has something to do with Alaska laws, but am not certain. Each parish has individual assets. Also, Canon Law notes that a parish is a “juridical person” as a body, can hold property, acquire and dispose of assets (Canon 513). (So are dioceses, institutes, etc.) Each parish maintains its own accounts in its own name, as well. Each parish is also a member of the diocesan corporation.
Essentially, the dioceses in Alaska don’t directly hold much… they have been divesting themselves of assets to pay off legal bills (some of which have been employment related lawsuits).
Then again, the same has been happening to the Episcopalian and Russian Orthodox Dioceses as well.
The Anchorage Daily News mentioned that the bankruptcy will have little effect on the parishes.
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abcd
Guest
Lucy,
You have missed the whole point. The man who wrote the book is not an anti-catholic nor is the book anti-catholic. He is a catholic writer in an attempt to clean things up in your school and is very pro-catholic. The book tells it like it is and that is the only way to solve a problem.
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Nohome
Guest
Your post referencing Good Bye Good Men wasn’t deleted (post #32). It is just back far enough in the thread that you have to look harder to find it.
Just because a book was written by a catholic doesn’t mean it is factual or endorsed by the Church. I’ve read it and didn’t find it compelling. Frankly, it is filled with holes.
That said, there is some truth to the book. It would be a sweeping generalization to call all seminaries corrupt just like it would be unfair to call all priests perverts. There are problems that must be addressed, but the situation isn’t hopeless.
Now, back on topic, I think it is great that this Diocese is being held accountable for the errors of its past.
Nohome
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abcd
Guest
I did not say “All”
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Nohome
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Holland
Guest
The Diocese will pay, this pleases me.
Nohome
Being from this Diocese, I can’t for the life of me figure out where the money will come from. We are a Diocese that covers over 400,000 square miles and we have about 20 priests. Of the 46 parishes here only 8 are self supporting. We are the only truly missionary diocese is the United States and I can tell you we have no money or assets to speak of. We have no breathtaking Cathedral with works of expensive art and marble. In fact, our Cathedral has many tiles missing from its commercial linoleum floor. Its cold in the winter, many times you have to keep your coat on, and hot in the summer. We raise money for things like ATVs, snowmachines, furnaces, water wells and the like to keep our small missionary churches going. I haven’t met a single person who doesn’t feel like the victims need some sort of compensation. Trying to figure out who is a victim and who isn’t is a difficult thing. Are the Bishops who were in charge when the abuse was going on to blame? YES, but it doesn’t change anything regarding what to do now. Please pray for us in this Diocese that we will somehow find a way to compensate the victims and move on.
Nohome
Being from this Diocese, I can’t for the life of me figure out where the money will come from. We are a Diocese that covers over 400,000 square miles and we have about 20 priests. Of the 46 parishes here only 8 are self supporting. We are the only truly missionary diocese is the United States and I can tell you we have no money or assets to speak of. We have no breathtaking Cathedral with works of expensive art and marble. In fact, our Cathedral has many tiles missing from its commercial linoleum floor. Its cold in the winter, many times you have to keep your coat on, and hot in the summer. We raise money for things like ATVs, snowmachines, furnaces, water wells and the like to keep our small missionary churches going. I haven’t met a single person who doesn’t feel like the victims need some sort of compensation. Trying to figure out who is a victim and who isn’t is a difficult thing. Are the Bishops who were in charge when the abuse was going on to blame? YES, but it doesn’t change anything regarding what to do now. Please pray for us in this Diocese that we will somehow find a way to compensate the victims and move on.
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GemmaRose
Guest
What continues to amaze me about this entire topic is that no much seems to be changing, despite “zero tolerance” and 800 numbers.
We had a “new” priest in our parish about whom tongues started to wag almost immediately (“He’s always hanging out with the kids” etc. etc.}
Willing to defend a priest to my last breath, I would remind these naysayers that our youngest priest had been transferred, we did not have a priest younger than 60+, and the Diocese graciously gave us a newly ordained to work with the kids.
Then came a World Youth Day when the priest in question took 2 dozen teenagers… all boys.
This did not go over well with the parish.
He finally was “transferred” after he offered a young man money for a sexual act, during the Sacrament of Confession. The young man is the son of one of my closest friends. Upon meeting with the pastor and the offender, my friend told me that the offender’s only comment, repeated many times, was: “Thank God he’s not a minor…”
My friend and her son, being faithful Catholics, did not want to start any lawsuit, but just simply stated that they never wanted to see the offender again. (I can no longer refer to him as “Father”.)
After a swift transfer and “sabatical”, the offender now has an office job, with title, in the Diocese, Of course, he lives in a rectory, where I assume he can still interact with young males if he so chooses,
He is a lawsuit waiting to happen.
*“I wish that my heart could beat, that I could live and breathe only for Jesus, I wish that my tongue could utter no other name than that of Jesus; that my eye could see only Jesus; that my pen could write only about Jesus, and that my thoughts could soar to nothing but Jesus. I have often wondered where on earth there might be something on which I could center my love. But neither on earth nor in heaven do I find any such thing but only my beloved Jesus… I am the fruit of your passion, Jesus, born of your wounds. O Jesus, seek me in love; I no longer possess anything; you have stolen my heart…” *- St. Gemma Galgani
We had a “new” priest in our parish about whom tongues started to wag almost immediately (“He’s always hanging out with the kids” etc. etc.}
Willing to defend a priest to my last breath, I would remind these naysayers that our youngest priest had been transferred, we did not have a priest younger than 60+, and the Diocese graciously gave us a newly ordained to work with the kids.
Then came a World Youth Day when the priest in question took 2 dozen teenagers… all boys.
This did not go over well with the parish.
He finally was “transferred” after he offered a young man money for a sexual act, during the Sacrament of Confession. The young man is the son of one of my closest friends. Upon meeting with the pastor and the offender, my friend told me that the offender’s only comment, repeated many times, was: “Thank God he’s not a minor…”
My friend and her son, being faithful Catholics, did not want to start any lawsuit, but just simply stated that they never wanted to see the offender again. (I can no longer refer to him as “Father”.)
After a swift transfer and “sabatical”, the offender now has an office job, with title, in the Diocese, Of course, he lives in a rectory, where I assume he can still interact with young males if he so chooses,
He is a lawsuit waiting to happen.
*“I wish that my heart could beat, that I could live and breathe only for Jesus, I wish that my tongue could utter no other name than that of Jesus; that my eye could see only Jesus; that my pen could write only about Jesus, and that my thoughts could soar to nothing but Jesus. I have often wondered where on earth there might be something on which I could center my love. But neither on earth nor in heaven do I find any such thing but only my beloved Jesus… I am the fruit of your passion, Jesus, born of your wounds. O Jesus, seek me in love; I no longer possess anything; you have stolen my heart…” *- St. Gemma Galgani
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Harmony1988
Guest
Then not only would u lose one of the biggest donaters to AIDS research but pretty much all forms of charity.
Then how about the Popes like JPII who actually averted Communism from Eastern Europe? Who pray is going to stand up for rights without taking arms so that we don’t have WWIII on our hands? It surely isn’t Japan or the United States or China or Russia, I don’t usually like institutional power, but luckily for us, the Church does have a large power, power enough to keep many of these countries in check, thanks to our large catholic population.
You will only come to realize the problems WITHOUT the Church once it’s actually gone. The whole of Western Civilization was built around the Catholic church from the development of the sciences to philosophy to constitutional decrees (the early ones anyways.)
Closing your eyes and hoping just because of a few bad men a whole Church goes away is not only a far cry but rather illogical and biased, not to mention delusional
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Harmony1988
Guest
That could be said of any incident; political, scientific, literary, military, social, or economic, not just religious. Blah, I don’t even need to mention a specific incident, there are just too many.
Choose your words more carefully.
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Harmony1988
Guest
Whilst your family may have undergone troubles from this sorry state of affairs and I am truly sorry to hear it, I’m not going to hand you my head on a platter. Like you said, you got over it, don’t act as if the whole Church all had a hand in this and conspired, many wrong things happen everyday, church or not, since you are over it, you should be able to clearly see what I mean.
Expecting the Church to die or the bishops to rot in hell or whatever serves no purpose, how pray does this help anyone? Looking for ‘revenge’ does nothing, Jesus said it, Gandhi said it and pretty much EVERYONE who found inner peace has said it or is saying it, the only people who AREN’T saying it are the people who lack that. And there is a whole line of them.
It’s not easy, what’s hard for you, may not be hard for me, what’s hard for me, may not be hard for you, but I reckon the first thing is TRYING to forgive, just in your heart, you gain nothing by seeking revenge or hoping for it, you will just keep hating for life, as simple as that, whilst that may feel good that some revenge has been taken, you still know deep inside you feel cold and empty over it, nothing ‘happy’
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Nohome
Guest
Thank you for your compassionate response. I’m pleased to hear from someone in this Diocese that understands the obligations the Church has to the victims.
This will make your diocese misreable for a while, but anything that doesn’t kill you will only make your stronger. Let’s also pray for bishops who won’t let this happen again.
Nohome
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Aramis
Guest
Gemma:
Your friend and her son, if it really happened, are aiding and abbeting a criminal by not reporting it.
If they can’t be bothered to report it correctly to the appropriate authorities (even tho’ FPD is unlikely to act), then do not repeat it, for it is thus both gossip (itself a sin), and libel and/or slander.
Your friend and her son, if it really happened, are aiding and abbeting a criminal by not reporting it.
If they can’t be bothered to report it correctly to the appropriate authorities (even tho’ FPD is unlikely to act), then do not repeat it, for it is thus both gossip (itself a sin), and libel and/or slander.
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Harmony1988
Guest
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Nohome
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st_lucy
Guest
This was my thought as well. A crime was committed and you look the other way.
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GemmaRose
Guest
I did call the 800 abuse number of the Diocese and was told they needed to talk to either my friend or her son. When I called, my friend was in the process of moving to another state, and none of us at home had her number until she was a little bit settled and she emailed her new numbers. She feels it is more “Christian” not to make a big deal out of it. Her son, who had been living with her on-and-off decided to stay in this state, and I had no idea how to contact him.
Just a few days ago, someone popped into my head who would know how to contact him, so I’m going to call the 800 number again and give them what info I can.
I might not have been as expeditious as I could have been regarding the whole thing, but in my defense, I’ve been very sick the last year and a half.
I think the Diocese is still keeping an eye on him, however, because the parish he now resides in has one of our Auxilliary Bishops as the Pastor.
*“I wish that my heart could beat, that I could live and breathe only for Jesus, I wish that my tongue could utter no other name than that of Jesus; that my eye could see only Jesus; that my pen could write only about Jesus, and that my thoughts could soar to nothing but Jesus. I have often wondered where on earth there might be something on which I could center my love. But neither on earth nor in heaven do I find any such thing but only my beloved Jesus… I am the fruit of your passion, Jesus, born of your wounds. O Jesus, seek me in love; I no longer possess anything; you have stolen my heart…” *- St. Gemma Galgani
Just a few days ago, someone popped into my head who would know how to contact him, so I’m going to call the 800 number again and give them what info I can.
I might not have been as expeditious as I could have been regarding the whole thing, but in my defense, I’ve been very sick the last year and a half.
I think the Diocese is still keeping an eye on him, however, because the parish he now resides in has one of our Auxilliary Bishops as the Pastor.
*“I wish that my heart could beat, that I could live and breathe only for Jesus, I wish that my tongue could utter no other name than that of Jesus; that my eye could see only Jesus; that my pen could write only about Jesus, and that my thoughts could soar to nothing but Jesus. I have often wondered where on earth there might be something on which I could center my love. But neither on earth nor in heaven do I find any such thing but only my beloved Jesus… I am the fruit of your passion, Jesus, born of your wounds. O Jesus, seek me in love; I no longer possess anything; you have stolen my heart…” *- St. Gemma Galgani
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