Charges: Priest had sex with poor street children during missionary trips to Honduras

[Abynissa]

Charges: Priest had sex with poor street children during missionary trips to Honduras
By JOE MANDAK Associated Press

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Jury selection began Tuesday for a suspended Catholic priest charged with traveling to Honduras to have sex with poor street children during missionary trips.

The Rev. Joseph Maurizio Jr. has been jailed since last fall, when federal prosecutors in Johnstown accused him of molesting one boy and possessing child pornography. A new indictment in April added charges involving two other boys and said the Somerset County priest illegally sent $8,000 to a charity to help facilitate the trips, which ended in 2009.

The 70-year-old priest has denied the allegations and has continued to be supported by some members of Our Lady Queen of Angels, the church he pastored before being placed on leave because of the charges…MORE:​

 

[Petaro]

As a lawyer, I was always taught that a person was innocent until proven guilty. What do you hope to achieve by this post? Seems a tad early before any legitimate discussion could take place.

 

[QuestLove]

I hope it’s not true.

 

[Convert1]

Praying for this situation and all concerned.

I will say this though. I find it odd that other religions whose clergy are involved in abuse don’t seem to make the headlines as much.

 

[hadulzo]

Abuse is much higher in public schools. Teachers are frequently protected by unions and there are seldom headlines on it. It seems we need to address youth protection guidelines for missionaries.

 

[JurisPrudens]

Why only developed countries priests are ever suspected?

 

[shockerfan]

I see others in the news…tho not nearly as many.
It’s possible that the Catholic priests have a much higher rate re abuse, and that would be the logical reason why they’d be in the news more.
Or…there are many more Catholic priests than other religious clergy…so number-wise, there could be seemingly be more instances because of that.

.

Not true! The rate of abuse prior to the Church’s reforms in the US were on par with general population. Over the last several years, and to quote the Catholic League, the current average annual number of credible allegations made against over 40,000 priests is 7. That is a rate of 0.018%. The number of pedophiles in the general population is approximately 4.0%. (according to theweek.com)

The reason why Catholic priests get more press is because the media hates the Catholic Church (due to its stances on abortion, same sex marriage, contraception, etc).

The place with the one of the biggest issues with sexual abuse is the public school system. I would suggest reading a book called “Double Standard” by David Pierre.

 

[Peebo]

There are hundreds of thousands of priests through out the world…just as there would have been millions from the sixties until now which is the time period mostly in question…the number of abuse cases…while disgusting to say the least…have been taken out of context at the expense of the good done by the vast majority of priests in that same time period…it only takes one bad apple to spoil the bunch…Satan knows this only too well and will do anything to lead souls away from the church founded by Jesus Christ…thanks be to God he has already been defeated in his plans.

 

[QuestLove]

I see others in the news…tho not nearly as many.
It’s possible that the Catholic priests have a much higher rate re abuse, and that would be the logical reason why they’d be in the news more.
Or…there are many more Catholic priests than other religious clergy…so number-wise, there could be seemingly be more instances because of that.
.

Probably the latter. There have been abuse in the protestant churches but because they tend to be independent all the cases are not treated as one. If we were to add all the numbers I am sure it would startle many people.
I come at it from a different angle though. Not which denomination has the most clergy involved in sexual abuse, but why is it such a huge problem in churches? [Those who are thinking it is not a huge problem in protestant churches as well are sorely mistaken].

 

[Abynissa]

As pope visit nears, U.S. sex victims say Church remains obstacle to justice
Reuters BOSTON | By Scott Malone

Mark Rozzi says he was 13, a young altar boy, when a priest at his eastern Pennsylvania parish sexually assaulted him in a shower…

…As many as 100,000 U.S. children may have been the victims of clerical sex abuse, insurance experts said in a paper presented at a Vatican conference in 2012. Some 4,300 members of the Catholic clergy were accused of sexual assault, of which at least 300 have been convicted, according to Bishop Accountability, a private group that has tracked the scandal…MORE:

 

[Viki63]

I come at it from a different angle though. Not which denomination has the most clergy involved in sexual abuse, but why is it such a huge problem in churches? [Those who are thinking it is not a huge problem in protestant churches as well are sorely mistaken].

Perhaps because we have a higher standard of conduct for priests and ministers.
However, it’s actually a smaller percentage in churches than among teachers and also lower than the general public.

Here’s an article on this from Newsweek.

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[phil19034]

As pope visit nears, U.S. sex victims say Church remains obstacle to justice
Reuters BOSTON | By Scott Malone

Mark Rozzi says he was 13, a young altar boy, when a priest at his eastern Pennsylvania parish sexually assaulted him in a shower…

…As many as 100,000 U.S. children may have been the victims of clerical sex abuse, insurance experts said in a paper presented at a Vatican conference in 2012. Some 4,300 members of the Catholic clergy were accused of sexual assault, of which at least 300 have been convicted, according to Bishop Accountability, a private group that has tracked the scandal…MORE:

100,000 now? I’m sorry, but I doubt that. But if that was true, than we must have almost a million kids sexually assaulted by teachers.

I also find it VERY INTERESTING that Mark Rossi is a pro-death Democrat who has introduced an assisted suicide bill in PA

people.com/people/mobile/article/0,20870357,00.html

I question his sincerity. Also, why he describes his “sexual assault” sounds more like consensual homosexual actions. Why was he going with the priest to McDonald’s, why was he in a shower with a priest?

To me, this all seems a little suspect. I personally think this MIGHT be a case of a young man who was experimenting with a gay priest (if he’s not 100% lying) and who now sees the Catholic Church as a roadblock to his pro-death agenda.

 

[phil19034]

Charges: Priest had sex with poor street children during missionary trips to Honduras
By JOE MANDAK Associated Press

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Jury selection began Tuesday for a suspended Catholic priest charged with traveling to Honduras to have sex with poor street children during missionary trips.

The Rev. Joseph Maurizio Jr. has been jailed since last fall, when federal prosecutors in Johnstown accused him of molesting one boy and possessing child pornography. A new indictment in April added charges involving two other boys and said the Somerset County priest illegally sent $8,000 to a charity to help facilitate the trips, which ended in 2009.

The 70-year-old priest has denied the allegations and has continued to be supported by some members of Our Lady Queen of Angels, the church he pastored before being placed on leave because of the charges…MORE:​

You are a skeptic now? I think you might need to stop reading all this news. The new (even the local news) will make people cynical.

The media only reports the bad and looks for the the bad. Sex, violence & anti-Catholic sells.