Catholic Bishop Says He Was Abused by Priest

[Ortho]

If someone is a successor to the apostles, how do they retire from that? Did the apostles retire?

 

[frommi]

Joe Kelley:

And if the pope is willing for them to do so.

They are required to submit a letter of resignation, which may or may not be accepted. He stated that refused to submit the letter because he feared that the Pope would accept it.

Check your facts…he did indeed send his letter of resignation.

What does it really matter?

He has had no day to day diocesean responsibilities since the early 1990s.

 

[G_S]

As a chaplain in a state prison system for almost 17 years and and in the county jail for four years prior, I can say that I have met and ministered to many child molestors and other sex offenders. I have never met a priest in prison but have had up to five Protestant ministers at a time in the prison I serve in who have been convicted of child abuse. One claimed openly to be incarcerated for spreading the gospel whereas, in fact, he had been so brutally raping his young daughter that she will never be able to have children and has numerous other permanent, internal medical problems as well. We have had several local ministers arrested for sex abuse but no priests. I can say with absolute assurance that the number of priests abusers are vastly out-numbered by ministers if other faiths. Of course, NONE OF THIS justifies abuse by anyone.

 

[pm1853]

Ortho:

I’m not sure victims have a higher responsibility than the rest of us. I agree those who have power do.

So, do powerful victims have more responsibility than the simply powerful? Why?

Not necessarily, no. Like I said, I’m not disagreeing with you in any way. I’m just having a hard time comprehending Bishop Gumbleton’s actions. Of course I don’t know the whole story and I likely never will. I just don’t get why he was silent.

 

[Ortho]

pm1853:

Not necessarily, no. Like I said, I’m not disagreeing with you in any way. I’m just having a hard time comprehending Bishop Gumbleton’s actions. Of course I don’t know the whole story and I likely never will. I just don’t get why he was silent.

Actually, I share your confusion. The question I woud like to ask every bishop, priest, and church official is, “What did you know, when did you know it, and what did you do about it?”

 

[msproule]

Here is a follow-up news story from Spirit Daily.

As we have already discussed in other threads, Bishop Gumbleton’s retirement submission likely remains unaccepted because as a Bishop he is (theoretically) more accountable for his actions and whereabouts. Without a doubt, a retired Bishop Gumbleton will find the spotlight more frequently than the one we know and pray for today.

 

[shs-aod]

What career? He is supposed to have retired, but no one has bothered enforce the regulation.

He’s really an auxiliary bishop in name only these days. He “resigned” his adminstrative diocesan responsibilities some 15-20 years ago, and became the pastor of an inner-city parish. About the only episcopal duties he still performs are ceremonial ones and conferring Confirmation as his turn comes up in “rotation”.

There’s really no point to the Vatican accepting his resignation, since they’ll probably feel obligated to appoint another auxiliary in his place. I’m sure they would much rather utilize their declining number of available bishop-candidates for vacant sees and growing dioceses with greater needs than Detroit. I’m pretty sure this is much the same reason that they have delayed accepting the resignations of Cardinal Maida and Bishop Mengeling in Lansing.

The “rust-belt” dioceses are not exactly a high priority for the Vatican. The historical precedent of the Detroit ordinary being named a Cardinal is likely to end with Maida, and that traditional “red hat” is likely to be given to the Ordinary of either Houston-Galveston or San Antonio.

 

[Toni]

G&S:

As a chaplain in a state prison system for almost 17 years and and in the county jail for four years prior, I can say that I have met and ministered to many child molestors and other sex offenders. I have never met a priest in prison but have had up to five Protestant ministers at a time in the prison I serve in who have been convicted of child abuse. One claimed openly to be incarcerated for spreading the gospel whereas, in fact, he had been so brutally raping his young daughter that she will never be able to have children and has numerous other permanent, internal medical problems as well. We have had several local ministers arrested for sex abuse but no priests. I can say with absolute assurance that the number of priests abusers are vastly out-numbered by ministers if other faiths. Of course, NONE OF THIS justifies abuse by anyone.

How true but great point for those who think that it is the Catholic Church alone in this.

 

[BillyT92679]

Liberal as he might be, no one deserves to go through this, and we should all pray for him.

Heck, here’s an idea too… instead of anoymously detracting people, how about we pray for them? It seems like in our righteous indignation we often tend to forget the old passage about loving thy neighbor and “loving thy enemy.”

 

[Toni]

BillyT92679:

Liberal as he might be, no one deserves to go through this, and we should all pray for him.

Heck, here’s an idea too… instead of anoymously detracting people, how about we pray for them? It seems like in our righteous indignation we often tend to forget the old passage about loving thy neighbor and “loving thy enemy.”

There is a thread to pray the rosary for priests so please join us. If everyone prays for them we will get much farther.

 

[Ortho]

G&S:

As a chaplain in a state prison system for almost 17 years and and in the county jail for four years prior, I can say that I have met and ministered to many child molestors and other sex offenders. I have never met a priest in prison but have had up to five Protestant ministers at a time in the prison I serve in who have been convicted of child abuse. One claimed openly to be incarcerated for spreading the gospel whereas, in fact, he had been so brutally raping his young daughter that she will never be able to have children and has numerous other permanent, internal medical problems as well. We have had several local ministers arrested for sex abuse but no priests. I can say with absolute assurance that the number of priests abusers are vastly out-numbered by ministers if other faiths. Of course, NONE OF THIS justifies abuse by anyone.

One person’s experience does not give absolute assurance the number of priest abusers are vastly outnumbered by miisters of other faith. The Catholic bishops’ John Jay commission says the data to make that kind of conclusion does not exist.

 

[G_S]

I can say in the prison system I work in – in a large state with a very large Catholic population – there are many non-Catholic ministers incarcerated for sex offenses and very, very few priests. I believe there are two priests and probably at least 100 ministers as a conservative estimate.

 

[Nohome]

G&S:

I can say in the prison system I work in – in a large state with a very large Catholic population – there are many non-Catholic ministers incarcerated for sex offenses and very, very few priests. I believe there are two priests and probably at least 100 ministers as a conservative estimate.

And what do you conclude from your observation? Are there many more protestant minister sex offenders than Catholic? Do the protestant faiths do a better job of bringing offenders to justice? Or perhaps what you’ve seen simply confirms the media’s contention that the leadership of the RCC covers up sexual abuse?

I once saw a blue cat (really), but not all cats are blue. I don’t question your observations, but any conclusion made based upon them is hardly evidence of any trend.

Nohome

 

[Nohome]

G&S:

I can say with absolute assurance that the number of priests abusers are vastly out-numbered by ministers if other faiths. Of course, NONE OF THIS justifies abuse by anyone.

You can say that the number of priest abusers are vastly out-numbered IN PRISON, but this could even suggest that the Bishops have indeed covered up a lot of abuse.

Nohome

 

[Ortho]

G&S:

I can say in the prison system I work in – in a large state with a very large Catholic population – there are many non-Catholic ministers incarcerated for sex offenses and very, very few priests. I believe there are two priests and probably at least 100 ministers as a conservative estimate.

That is a much more precise statement.

 

[frommi]

I don’t think the issue here is how many…it’s how it was dealt with.

Bishop Gumbleton has made a statement about how he believes it should be dealt with.

It should be noted that the Archdiocese of Detroit has publically disputed what Bishop Gumbleton is now saying. They are purporting that he invoked the statute when he had more diocesean responsibilities.