Is the so-called "sex abuse scandal" a money-spinning scam?

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A true priest is a man of God who would no sooner think of abusing a child than he would of murdering a Pope.

Given this, is the so-called “sex abuse scandal” a hugely successful money-spinning scam which serves both to blacken the name of the Church and wreck its finances while enriching unscrupulous lawyers and judges (with a bit of the take left over for their dubious clients)?
 
I think we trivialise this issue at our peril. We must stay focused and protect our children.
 
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FightingFat:
I think we trivialise this issue at our peril. We must stay focused and protect our children.
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Hi Mark,

I agree with you…

cest moi,

Aimee
 
Romano, Although what actually happened is inexcusable your take on the situation is probably spot on.

The attorney’s took some legitimate info. expanded it beyond all proportion with the help of willing clients and found a rich cow to milk.
 
Decades of dissent from Church teaching on sexuality, including deliberately ordaining homosexual men, has returned to haunt many bishoprics. The gatekeepers weren’t doing their jobs. Wolves entered (and sometimes were invited into) the sheepfold. The Church in America is reaping what she has sown.

– Mark L. Chance.
 
I agree with you Mark. Did incidents happen? Yes! Have some tried to exploit the situation for personal gain or to discredit the Church? Yes! The Church as a whole (obviously, this includes all its members) should be held to the highest standard on these matters. I agree with Ambassador Alan Keyes when he says that the corruption of a soul is far worst than murder.
 
P.S. I didn’t vote, as you can see from my previous post, I can’t honestly fully agree with any of the possible responses.
 
In the beginning, I would say no. But the ones comming out now are most likely people looking for a payday. This is not to say that ALL are scams, but the majority of the new ones are.

The problem is that there are very little consequences for filing a false claim. In addition, it seems the statute of limitation laws are being ignored and expo-facto laws are being made just because it is the Catholic Church.

PF
 
While I think that the priest abuse issue is a travesty and that type of behavior is intolerable amongst the “shepherds of the flock”, I do believe the American media has used it to increase their marketing capacities. Its all about the money.
 
I was abused by a priest.
Many friends of mine were abused by priests.

I do not think this is a “scam”
Many of these priests got away with it with no punishment whatsoever.

Do not trivialize this or try to blame it on anything other than moral corruption.
If the Church is to recover fromt his - first the truth is going to have to be faced.
 
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WanderAimlessly:
In the beginning, I would say no. But the ones comming out now are most likely people looking for a payday. This is not to say that ALL are scams, but the majority of the new ones are.

The problem is that there are very little consequences for filing a false claim. In addition, it seems the statute of limitation laws are being ignored and expo-facto laws are being made just because it is the Catholic Church.

PF
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Absolutely. We have quite the lawsuit in this diocese and have found several completely FALSE claims. The person making the claim wasn’t even in the state when he said the abuse happened. Of course the priest accused was conveniently dead and that makes it even easier to file. Also know of a young man who’d been an altar boy at a local seminary. He has been solicited several times to “make sure” he didn’t “remember” some abuse. It’s gone to the point where lawyers are just trolling for dollars.

None of this excuses the incredible evil on the part of those pervert priests but the situation is being used by unscrupulous attorneys and con artists. It’s particularly disturbing as you said to see the statutes tolled because the older the case the more difficult to try and it seems now that any priest is guilty until proven innocent.

Lisa N
 
And for every false claim - how many are out there - like me - who never brought any legal action?
Why ?
For criminal action - statute of limitations had run out long before I was old enough to realize a crime had been comitted.

For civil action - I simply did not want to put myself, my family, and the current staff of our Church (who had nothing to do with it) through it all.

I did notify the diocese - but as far as I can tell - nothing was done about it.
 
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Lorarose:
And for every false claim - how many are out there - like me - who never brought any legal action?
Why ?
For criminal action - statute of limitations had run out long before I was old enough to realize a crime had been comitted.

For civil action - I simply did not want to put myself, my family, and the current staff of our Church (who had nothing to do with it) through it all.

I did notify the diocese - but as far as I can tell - nothing was done about it.
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Yes…there are many out there who have never spoken up…my heart goes out to these… I pray for ALL the victims, and I pray that our Church can begin to heal…😦
 
Yes…there are many out there who have never spoken up…my heart goes out to these… I pray for ALL the victims, and I pray that our Church can begin to heal…
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Thank you.
In my case I had a brief struggle with the man, and it was a one time incident.
I have been spared the depression, guilt, and shame you read about in many victims.
I do, however, get pretty darned MAD! thinking about it - and pretty darn MAD when I see fellow catholics willing to believe this is only a scam.

My friends were not so lucky and they still suffer very much.
 
I believe that many of the accusations are real and the guilty priests are about as scummy a human being as there is. That being said, I think there are some false accusations out there by people looking to cash in.
 
to the victims of abuse perpetrated by anyone (least of all a trusted cleric) i can only cry for your pain… i could never truly ever understand what you have suffered and I pray that God grant you peace one day if you have not found it yet… I know you could never forget, nor should you. I know that in the real (untouched) world you are supposed to forgive, but i can’t imagine that without some divine intervention…

as for the lawsuits… it would be nieve to assume money is not the sole motivitor in a healthy and large percentage of cases… A Large City police chief when asked about the large number of plaintiffs, his response was that he and his department knew most of those that piled on, are professional plaintiffs, and that they sit by and wait for class actions lawsuits to pop up, only to attempt to join in hoping to reap some of the benefit…

one plaintiff in the Arch-diocese of Lousiville, was awarded over 100k in compensation for the abuse he had received at the hands of a priest. He took the money, bought his mother an 80k house, purchased himself a brand new car, and then a few months later showed back up at the chancery stating that he had not found clousure, and still needed more help… the good news… the Arch-Bishop at the expense of the Arch Diocese is funding addtional mental health services for the gentleman…

my point…

Awarding large sums of money and bankrupting diocese’s accross the country is not the answer, and were it not for the potential living a percentage of attorney’s felt they could reap, you would have probably been able to help more with the $$$ that went to law firms… i am very aware however of the very real fact that a lot may have still been undetectable were it not for the bright light of the courts… It just gripes me to know that lots of $$$$ went to people whose only motivation were the $$$$…

I do believe the truly guilty culprits will receive their just rewards… maybe not now, but one day…
 
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Lorarose:
Thank you.
In my case I had a brief struggle with the man, and it was a one time incident.
I have been spared the depression, guilt, and shame you read about in many victims.
I do, however, get pretty darned MAD! thinking about it - and pretty darn MAD when I see fellow catholics willing to believe this is only a scam.

My friends were not so lucky and they still suffer very much.
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You know when I get angry???..when my own parish priests gets up on the altar and defends some of the worst offending priests!!!..:mad: I pray for him …but he just doesn’t get it! There are many, many real victimes out there who will NEVER come forward because of guilt, shame or they don’t want to cast a bad light on the Church any further…they just wish it would go away…😦
 
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Lorarose:
Thank you.
In my case I had a brief struggle with the man, and it was a one time incident.
I have been spared the depression, guilt, and shame you read about in many victims.
I do, however, get pretty darned MAD! thinking about it - and pretty darn MAD when I see fellow catholics willing to believe this is only a scam.

My friends were not so lucky and they still suffer very much.
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I don’t think it a scam. These things did happen. But there is definitely some piling on going on now. The Church is a rich target for many, and this looks like a golden opportunity.
 
I also know men who had their lawsuits tossed out without ever winning a penny.

People are focussing on lawsuits here - and the truth is that there are many predatory priests out there who never paid for their crimes.
There are bishops out there who helped move them along from victim to victim who will never be held accountable.

But what do some of you want to focus on?
You want to focus on the very few who lied - because that makes it easier to dodge the uneasy and painful truth about the reality of evil in our midst.
 
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