1963 Letter Suggests Pope Knew of Abuse

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Here are three articles, with the last one being printed within the last month. It took me less than 5 minutes to find these links, and they are all from credible news sources. The reason I posted these, is because we as Catholics should be mad as hell about this, but it seems that many Catholics still like to call this whole abuse/cover up scheme by the church a witch hunt. I’m starting this thread, because of a couple of reasons. One is that I started another thread about this same situation & voiced my disgust about it, and the hate filled insults started flying in immediately. I was told by some people here, things like how dare you and that God was gonna punish me for my sins of speaking out against the abuse scandal. There were a few people who also compared me to Martin Luther and called me a heretic. The thread I’m mentioning was then deleted from CAF permanently within hours of me posting it.

The other reason I wanted to start this is due to another thread I responded to today, where someone was talking about how bad they felt for the Pope about this whole mess. How can I feel sorry for a Pope that knew all of this was going on long before he was pope, and said & did nothing about it? From these three articles I’ve posted, it appears that our current pope, as well as Pope John Paul II knew about this as well, and stood by and did nothing. Why? It sickens me to know that a bishop who was responsible for hiding many pedophile priests and relocating others, who then went out and became repeat offenders, is celebrating special Masses in Rome with the Popes approval, and was actually transfered there by Pope John Paul II. I linked another article here that shows that our current pope knew about a priest who was molesting deaf children, again, before he was ever pope and again, said or did nothing, and higher ups in the church are still attempting to cover all of this up.

I know that there are many good and holy men who had nothing whatsoever to do with this, that are now looked upon with disgust by many and that angers & frustrates me, but I have to call a spade a spade when I see one. I can’t just keep calling this whole thing a witch hunt by the media, or blaming all of this on Satan. I can’t just keep burying my head in the sand and calling the media a bunch of liars, especially when a new story seems to be breaking about this every other day. Thoughts?
 
Its easier to blame the media for being liberal than blame the Church for its failings. Never mind the fact that liberalism does not make the media automatically wrong, nor does being Catholic automatically make you a paragon of virtue.
 
Not all Catholics on this board blame the media for the scandal or cover-ups. Many of us thank the media for bringing the scandals to light so the victims can find healing and the Church make changes to prevent this happening to another soul.

I have found myself very angry, but I am trying hard to funnel this emotion into sadness and prayer for our Church.

I’m sorry if you felt attacked by folks who were so hurt by the reminder that there are imperfect and sometimes positively evil people within our church that they lashed out at your own pain and anger. I am grateful that this board is carefully and prayerfully monitored to bring a stop to such threads as soon as they are reported.
 
The leaders of the Church messed up a lot and hurt many people in the process. There is no excuse what so ever for allowing a priest to continue to be a priest after knowing he hurt children in any way. No excuses should be made but only changes. I don’t want the pope to say anything more on this issue. I want him to make changes so this doesn’t happen anymore. Period. The Church has made changes in America and now is very serious about protecting children. Now it’s much safer. I expect the same from the churches in Europe.
 
Please be aware that the New York Times is notoriously anti-Catholic.

“Father Murphy may have molested as many as 200 boys while he worked at the school from 1950 to 1974, according to the accounts of victims and a social worker hired by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee to interview him.”

“This week, they learned that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, received letters about Father Murphy in 1996 from Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland of Milwaukee, who said that the deaf community needed “a healing response from the Church.” The Vatican sat on the case, then equivocated, and when Father Murphy died in 1998, he died a priest.”

Fr. Groeschel on EWTN said it was the duty of Murphy’s bishop to remove him from duty, not Cardinal Ratzinger in Rome.

bishop-accountability.org/

I have read some of the sworn affidavits on bishop-accountability and it is clear that some of these priests were pederasts.

It’s so unfortuneate for the faithful celibate priests today.
 
It is true, it is a great deal safer today.

Why so much tension though? I believe the evil one wants more souls to leave the church. This story, replayed ad nauseum, strikes a chord and causes great stress for many people out there. A few will give up on the faith each time it is re-played.

Love your priests and keep your children close by. When gatherings are scheduled without parents, there should be two or more adults present and no one alone with an adult except for confession, and even then, with others close by. Simple enough!

I would offer for discussion, we need to protect our priests from woefully ignorant parents too.
 
To the OP: If you are a victim, I most certainly sympathize with you, and I understand your emotion. If you are not a victim, is it possible that you have come to a position which I have often observed in life: Those who are not directly involved or affected by a situation are actually more incensed about it than those who are? Years ago, I spoke with a Japanese-American woman who was, decades later, angry over her parents’ internment during WWII. It occurred before she was born and none of it directly affected her, but she was bitter simply because it happened. Her parents long ago had worked through it and moved on, but she could not.

A witch hunt? Well, yes, in the following regard: Where are the demands for a systematic investigation of protestant fellowships? School employees? Youth councelsors? Scouting leaders? Each of those groups, percentage-wise, has equal offenses against children. If danger to children is the concern, why go only after the Catholic Church? Consider: The world does hate the Church, because it hated Christ first. Jesus said this would happen (John 15:18).

Anyway, where is a Catholic that says this scandal should not be investigated to its natural conclusion? The scandal has been investigated, is being investigated, and will be investigated as accusations arise. I think that you are angry about something over which you have zero control. This is a recipe for unhappiness. My advice is to give it over to God, since He is in charge of everything.

May Christ’s peace be with you.
 
Once again, I think there are many, many who confuse not giving the Catholic Church, or any church, some special treatment with being anti-whatever.

The Catholic Church has been, from a secular PR point of view, awful in dealing with this. It would have been great had the Church said…this is ugly and self investigation is not our forté, lets get an outside secular source (preferably filled with atheist and agnostics…people who really don’t care if they hurt you or not) to go through every scrap of paper, hear every accusation, to turn over any and all evidence to secular authorities — even if it meant priest being arrested and put in cuffs in the middle of mass and lets purge the ranks and and do so in a way that is as transparent as possible. In my opinion, there is no way this issue will truly be put to rest without an independent investigation of some sort because the Church has shown no real ability, and at times hasn’t even shown much desire to handle the mess it has on its hands. I just wish the Church would realize there is no shame is saying…this is not what we do, we need help to deal with this.
 
If I were a priest today, I’d required a female or male supervisor / secretary to be in my company when around children.

I’d want to know the exact circumstances in which these pederast and pedophile priests achieved their ends and then set up barriers and preventions.

Children would need inappropriate sexual touch education.

Perhaps parents here, with children in Catholic Church, can speak to what their schools are doing.

I highly doubt that many parents today would have much restraint on religious accused of child sexual abuse today.

I was reading on bishopaccountablity of a young priest who was expelled very quickly after his parish computer was found to have record of having been in child pornography websites.

He was a young priest, new ordained two years. It’s unfortuneate and concerning that his unchastity and pedophilia wasn’t uncovered in seminary.
 
rskempf said:
It is true, it is a great deal safer today.

Why so much tension though? I believe the evil one wants more souls to leave the church. This story, replayed ad nauseum, strikes a chord and causes great stress for many people out there. A few will give up on the faith each time it is re-played.

Love your priests and keep your children close by. When gatherings are scheduled without parents, there should be two or more adults present and no one alone with an adult except for confession, and even then, with others close by. Simple enough!

I would offer for discussion, we need to protect our priests from woefully ignorant parents too.
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I like your thoughts. I don’t like discussing this any more than anyone else who has a great love for the Catholic Church does, but I can’t just keep assuming that everyone else is wrong on this matter either. I know the New York Times has already been mentioned, and sources like the Washington Post and others seem to pride themselves on beating up the church at times. But many of these stories that have been breaking lately, seem to be from some very credible news sources. I guess that I’m just tired of hearing about it all and I want it to stop. Do I think by me pissing and moaning about it all, its gonna somehow instantly get better? No, and I’d be a fool to think so, but I think we as Catholics have to let our frustrations over this whole matter be known somehow. I don’t think protesting the pope and yelling things at him are gonna get it done either, and I do feel bad in a way that the pope is facing this kind of thing. But in the same instance, aren’t the higher ups in the church responsible for bringing this whole mess down upon their own heads, for attempting to cover it up this long? I don’t want to be as worked up as I am over this, but for so long, I was calling this a witch hunt by the media, and just assuming that the secular media was unfairly using the Catholic Church as a punching bag. I can’t just keep thinking that though. I do feel truly sorry for all of the good priests who had nothing to do with this whatsoever, so maybe in a weird way, I’m lashing out on their behalf.
 
You know… Hind site is always 20/20.

I have no idea what was going through the minds of the Pope and his councel. But I IMAGINE they were trying to cause the least amount of damage. Not for just the church but for her people. As well as those physically hurt. I can’t imagine that many want to read about their trauma in the papers. But that’s all speculation on my part.

I have known priests that are guilty of hurting others. IT’s an over the top feeling to know that you’ve been exposed to those people. Especially, if it was known that they weren’t dealt with properly in the first place. I’ve also, fortunately known many more GOOD preists, who now carry the additional cross of guilty until proven innocent.

I personally get attacked for belonging to a Church that would allow such horror. The fact is, the church has no higher a number of sex scandle than any other group. I also know people who have been sexually assaulted outside the church. And the GOV’T let their abusers off the hook too! These attacks come from people that have absolutely NO association to the church. Why are they so concerned? And not concerned about their corners of the world with the same rate of abuse? Why is my world someone worse FOR THEM???

All of this said, I just signed up my kiddos for their Sunday School. And in the material they sent home, they also sent home a notice that said to watch for a mailing to sign them up for a class that will be age appropriate and talk about sexual safety. (with regard to adults)… I see the church being the most progressive with this sort of thing. I don’t see this in the public school system (where abuse also happens.) … meaning… Looks like our Gov’t is now behind…

And well, to the victims. I’m so sorry! For anyone that has suffered at the hand of evil, it breaks my heart. That your childhood was stolen. That your faith in many cases shattered.

For those that want to go nutz on the Church… realize, even Christ had Judas among him. Anyone could have pointed Jesus out. It was important for us to see, that sometimes, even those we trust fail us emmensly. And THAT has nothing to do with Christ’s love…
 
po18guy said:
To the OP: If you are a victim, I most certainly sympathize with you, and I understand your emotion. If you are not a victim, is it possible that you have come to a position which I have often observed in life: Those who are not directly involved or affected by a situation are actually more incensed about it than those who are? Years ago, I spoke with a Japanese-American woman who was, decades later, angry over her parents’ internment during WWII. It occurred before she was born and none of it directly affected her, but she was bitter simply because it happened. Her parents long ago had worked through it and moved on, but she could not.

A witch hunt? Well, yes, in the following regard: Where are the demands for a systematic investigation of protestant fellowships? School employees? Youth councelsors? Scouting leaders? Each of those groups, percentage-wise, has equal offenses against children. If danger to children is the concern, why go only after the Catholic Church? Consider: The world does hate the Church, because it hated Christ first. Jesus said this would happen (John 15:18).

Anyway, where is a Catholic that says this scandal should not be investigated to its natural conclusion? The scandal has been investigated, is being investigated, and will be investigated as accusations arise. I think that you are angry about something over which you have zero control. This is a recipe for unhappiness. My advice is to give it over to God, since He is in charge of everything.

May Christ’s peace be with you.
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because when principals find out they have a teacher that molest they don’t put him in the attendance office and say "it’s all right. He doesn’t directly deal with kids anymore. But he’s still a teacher and then not turn over records of it to a foreign state that can prevent them from being used as evidence.
 
The CBS and NYT stories, it should be noted, have been widely discussed and largely debunked. The NYT story in particular was a travesty of frantically biased anti-Papal reportage. It’s not ostrich-head-in-sand behaviour to believe this; it’s just the fact of the matter. Read further, and every time you read a story, google its headline to see the later reaction to that particular story. The “facts” evolved very quickly back in March and April of this year. You will find the experience enlightening, on the whole.

The fact that Cardinal Law continues to hold a post at Sta. Maria Maggiore, however, is an outrage. I went there for Mass one day, and was flabbergasted to see the infamous Cardinal Law process down the aisle, flanked by a platoon of clergy and alter servers. He should not have been allowed to continue in active service. In the long run, I think Pope JPII’s cause for canonization is going to suffer greatly because this and other parts of his horrendous treatment of the abuse scandal.

I still hope that Pope Benedict will rectify the error and remove Cardinal Law from active ministry. We shall see. Without a doubt, though, Pope Benedict has been largely blameless in the whole crisis – NYT libel not withstanding.
 
Wowbagger said:
The CBS and NYT stories, it should be noted, have been widely discussed and largely debunked. The NYT story in particular was a travesty of frantically biased anti-Papal reportage. It’s not ostrich-head-in-sand behaviour to believe this; it’s just the fact of the matter. Read further, and every time you read a story, google its headline to see the later reaction to that particular story. The “facts” evolved very quickly back in March and April of this year. You will find the experience enlightening, on the whole.

The fact that Cardinal Law continues to hold a post at Sta. Maria Maggiore, however, is an outrage. I went there for Mass one day, and was flabbergasted to see the infamous Cardinal Law process down the aisle, flanked by a platoon of clergy and alter servers. He should not have been allowed to continue in active service. In the long run, I think Pope JPII’s cause for canonization is going to suffer greatly because this and other parts of his horrendous treatment of the abuse scandal.

I still hope that Pope Benedict will rectify the error and remove Cardinal Law from active ministry. We shall see. Without a doubt, though, Pope Benedict has been largely blameless in the whole crisis – NYT libel not withstanding.
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I was going to say something along these lines as well. The stories from the 2nd two articles which made calumnious implications about Pope Benedict XVI have been refuted. There was mishandling of those cases but not on the part of Cardinal Ratzinger.

The Cardinal Law situation is a tough one. On the one hand, you could say that Cardinal Law was put out to pasture (I don’t think that Archpriest of SMM is a particularly influential position). On the other hand, there appears to be good ground for saying that being put out to pasture is too lenient of treatment for a fellow who, it is alleged, gravely mishandled the abuse situation.

I generally prefer the “come down on him like a ton of bricks” school of ecclesial governance, so I can certainly understand outrage on this point.
 
Lutheranteach said:
because when principals find out they have a teacher that molest they don’t put him in the attendance office and say "it’s all right. He doesn’t directly deal with kids anymore. But he’s still a teacher and then not turn over records of it to a foreign state that can prevent them from being used as evidence.
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Sorry, I went to a public high school. I had 3 different male teachers and coaches that acted VERY inappropriate around girls. Staring, brushing up against bodies, coming by your desk to “help” all while staring down your shirt. Even a gay female gym coach that lingered in the showers and dressing rooms… They were teaching when I entered… They were teaching when I left. EVERYONE KNEW… the only difference… High school aged children tend to be more vocal. In fact, I’ll NEVER forget the time our married high school principal, who was caught with his secretary in the parking lot handed out all the cheerleaders phone numbers to some creep that claimed to be with a presidential campaign.

Watch out for the female coach… 'cause she’s watching you. (no showers)
You freely called the football coach a pig, and dared him to call your parents… etc…

So, I wouldn’t be so quick to assume the secular world has a handle on things… they don’t.

Oh, I should also mention that some of these teachers were known to be having sex with some of their female students FOR YEARS… I just managed to only have to deal with their pig like antics.
 
bkayw said:
Children would need inappropriate sexual touch education.
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In my diocese every parish has “Safe Environment” training for all kids in the school and Religious Ed. We HAVE to reach I believe 90% of the kids, as in they were actually there for the class, not just registered. EVERYONE, from the priests down to volunteers, that have any contact with children or vulnerable adults have to be fingerprinted and have background checks. We also are required to attend a yearly class dealing with some related topic. We are also told to never be alone with one child. I know our priests, and I’m sure pretty much any priest, is careful about such things. I would imagine the only time a priest is alone with a child at this point is in confession.
I highly doubt that many parents today would have much restraint on religious accused of child sexual abuse today.
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And this is great. I think one thing we should remember is that most of these articles are from 50 or so years ago and at that point thinking about sexual abuse was VERY different. It just wasn’t something that was talked about. I would imagine that a child would have a difficult time getting anyone, family, church, or even police, to believe that anything bad had REALLY happened. Yes, that is horrible, but it is also realistic. Fortunately we know better now and pretty much anyone who has any contact with children is a “mandated reporter.” We are required to call CPS if we at ALL suspect something has happened to a child. It is a lot easier for kids to get someone to believe them.
I was reading on bishopaccountablity of a young priest who was expelled very quickly after his parish computer was found to have record of having been in child pornography websites.
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And the opposite side of this story is there was a Brother who was accused of looking at porn on a computer outside his office. The police said there wasn’t evidence to convict him, someone later confessed to it, but he was still removed from his teaching position. While we absolutely want to protect people, we also have to be careful and not let this go too far in the other direction and allow innocent people to have their lives ruined.
 
OP:

“Blessed are those who mourn…”

We are all deeply saddened over this–no biggy there. And our Pope is doing all he can; we’ve heard his statements…he walks in the love and compassion of Christ. And we should have 100% confidence in our Shepherd. We should have 100% confidence in the Rock we stand on.

So here’s my point: We have hope. No matter what sadness comes over us, we have something to look to. Our Church, The Church, is indeed the Hope we have and strive towards. She has WON through Christ, and will continue to win through Him. Sin and death are **conquered! **

Mourn over the failure of human beings. But have HOPE because of the triumph of the Cross! And Christ’s Beautiful Bride, His Church.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they SHALL BE COMFORTED!”
 
I dot not condone or approve of any of the abuse or cover-up. I have no respect for the priests and bishops who have given Christ’s Bride a bad name. The thing that grinds my gears is how the mainstream treats ALL priests as pedophiles, which is BALONEY:mad:. I know 3 or 4 priests personally, and they are all good men. A few bad apples are ruining one giant barrel.
 
Lutheranteach said:
because when principals find out they have a teacher that molest they don’t put him in the attendance office and say "it’s all right. He doesn’t directly deal with kids anymore. But he’s still a teacher and then not turn over records of it to a foreign state that can prevent them from being used as evidence.
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I sorry, but I don’t see the part of my post that you are responding to???

As to teachers, have a look at this story: nwcn.com/news/northwest/Morton-teacher-returning-to-classroom-after-jail-sentence-101597053.html
 
Fr. Corapi (mentally and spiritually strong priest) said he can’t be seen alone around childen, women or men.

The crossfire approach of evil on the priesthood.

How sad for young priests to also experience that.
 
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