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

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Lorarose:
When children are in danger they should be protected, plain and simple.
What do you mean we are not acting within the higher moral law?
When priests abuse children - THEY are not acting within the higher moral law!

As far as priests being willing to confess their crimes?
Ha!!! That is too funny, and that is one of the daggers in the hearts of victims.
We are painted as the liars - the whiners - the ones who are out to hurt the church.
What a crock.

Both.
The diocese has my number. The local priest knows my situation.
Silence…absolute and complete silence.
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I agree!! That is why it is a good thing a priest is taken out of the situation if impropriety is reported.

What do we do if an angry parent reports (lies) an abuse because she is angry with a Priest for another reason? I have seen kids make up stories also.

We should be acting in a way that is higher than the civil law.

Your last comment. Who should apologize to you? The offender, the current Bishop, or me as a member of the Church? I would say the apology needs to come from the offender. He is responsible and no one else.
 
What do we do if an angry parent reports (lies) an abuse because she is angry with a Priest for another reason? I have seen kids make up stories also.
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Well…we could play the hypothetical game all day.
Certainly this type of thing could happen.
Teachers deal with this situation all the time.

This was not the case with alot of these priests.
When a long line of reports are getting called into the diocese - and they all tell a similar story, that is a sure sign that action needs to be taken.
Instead - what happened to alot of us is we were led to believe we were the ONLY one to call. And then we found about each other later - realizing we’d been lied to.

We don’t have to dream up complicated hypotheticals. All we have to do is exercise common sense and not bury our heads in the sand.
We should be acting in a way that is higher than the civil law.
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You keep saying this as if the victims are doing something wrong, and it is discouraging to see you are not applying this to the evildoers.
Your last comment. Who should apologize to you? The offender, the current Bishop, or me as a member of the Church? I would say the apology needs to come from the offender. He is responsible and no one else.
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Did I say anything about an apology? No. I know this is something I’ll never receive. I won’t ever get it from that evil man, and I’ll never get it from those who’ve branded me a liar.

In my situation - I reported what happened. I know many others did about this same priest also.
The diocese knew exactly where he lived and that he was running an orphanage. They knew he had complete and absolute control over helpless defenseless orphans.
This is what weighed most heavily on my mind.
I have never been informed if this man was punished for his crimes.
I don’t even know if he was reported to his bishop.
I don’t know if maybe he continued to abuse children in his native country - possibly for years.
I don’t know if he’s dead or alive but I would guess he is dead.

I know there are certain people in the diocese who understand I would like some answers to these questions…and what I’ve gotten is…silence.
 
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buffalo:
What is the purpose of the statute of limitations?

Why all of a sudden are thses cases appearing? Why didn’t they report it to the authorities at the time it happened?
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The purpose is so people cant make up lies years later in cases that are hard to prove as theres no evidence i guess. Why are they appearing? Because once one person came out the others realized they werent alone and decided to come forward also. Many of these kids were too embarrassed and felt like they had done something wrong and were the only ones. A lot of kids parents probably didnt believe that a priest could do something like that and got angry with the kids for accusing them of such a thing, and therefore the kids kept it quiet. Once people realized that it actually was happening, they gained confidence and came forward.
 
While I do not think it’s a scam, I do think that some join in the lawsuits with false accusations. Some innocent people have been caught up in this by some people who are out to make a quick dollar. I am not saying this about the true victims of abuse, just the ones who do falsely accuse.😦
 
I think that they’re have really been cases of sex-abuse by priests, but I also think the church has been to lenient in handing out cash awards. I don’t think all the cases have been properly investigated. Here in the Toledo diocese, we have a case of a priest supposedly murdered a nun some years ago. Now some woman has jumped on the bandwagon and accused the same priest of molesting her during a satan-worshipping ceremony in the church basement. This supposedly happened almost 40 years ago. She conveniently remembered this, just days before the statute ran out. In my mind, I have serious doubts about this. I think in many, many cases, the priests are innocent.
 
While it is no excuse to abuse children and no excuse to wrongfully protect the guilty, it has grown out of proportion.

Cardinal Ratzinger once said that it involves only less than 1% of the clergy but the rest are tarnished.

agreeley.com/articles/priest03.html

I have not doubts that the church has been exlpoited and the sex-abuse has turned into a money-spinning scam.

Just like the scams that came out of 911. False claims of having been there or false claims of missing relatives.

Punishment is God’s, not the lawyers.

My prayers for the genuinely abused.
 
Lorarose,

I do not know what diocese you lived in when this priest tried to assault you. I sincerely hope I don’t ever live there myself. I myself narrowly escaped an attempt by a neigbor to sexually abuse me when I was eight years old.

Bishop Donald Wuerl of the Pittsburgh Diocese has been far more strict in weeding out abusive priests than the rest of the bishops in the United States. He fought the Vatican when he refused to accept a priest who had been an abuser - and he won the fight. Under Wuerl’s direction, if anyone has been the victim of abuse, that person is asked to immediately contact the Diocese and law enforcement. The Diocese does not interfere with the investigation made by the authorities. This is nothing new - it has been the policy here for almost 20 years.

SNAP has set up offices in Pennsylvania and has gone fishing for people with priest abuse claims. These attorneys have tried to have the statute of limitations thrown out (unsuccessfully).
One person is claiming abuse from a priest who has been dead for 35 years.
He has had ample opportunity to speak up. counseling has long been offered but he has not said a word until the SNAP lawyers have shown up.

In California - and I ask for correction from anyone there if this is wrong - the statute of limitations for priest sex abuse claims was lifted, in part due to the stonewalling of a particluar bishop in a very large diocese.

The priest sex abuse problem is not over. I suspect there are bishops who have knowledge but have not taken the correct action. I am also sure that there are greedy attorneys who are fishing for lawsuits.
 
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Lorarose:
Anyone who works with children is obligated to report suspected abuse to the civil authorities.
Actually…it isn’t even up to the person doing the reporting to try and decipher if the allegations are substantiated - that is up to the civil authorities to determine that.
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Unfortunately, in Massachusetts, priests and the Church were exempted from reporting abuse…until the scandal broke in 2002.
 
Many of these kids were too embarrassed and felt like they had done something wrong and were the only ones. A lot of kids parents probably didnt believe that a priest could do something like that and got angry with the kids for accusing them of such a thing, and therefore the kids kept it quiet. Once people realized that it actually was happening, they gained confidence and came forward.
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This is exactly right. And I’ll add…in my case I was so young that I still did not understand what sex WAS. I did not fully understand what this man did to me until I had a few years to digest it.
Later- when I shared this story with a friend in the police department he said there were two major obstacles - he was in another country - and statute of limitations.
So…we reported it to the local pastor and to the diocese.
I think that they’re have really been cases of sex-abuse by priests, but I also think the church has been to lenient in handing out cash awards.
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Where do you see the Church “handing out” cash awards?
I don’t see that anywhere.
If you are referring to the large judgements being awarded to victims in court…well that is a problem in our country with all lawsuits isn’t it?
40 million for spilled McDonald’s coffee? C’mon!
So…in that sense I agree…why isn’t a few million sufficient? Why go for 40 or 100 million? Well that’s where the lawyers come in and “advise” their clients.
So if you’re going to be upset by the dollar amounts - then be consistent…we should be upset that this is a problem with all lawsuits (ask those in the field of medicine!) rather than single out one class of people and accuse them of scamming the Church.

JW…thank you for sharing that story about your bishop.
It does my heart good, and it is exactly that type of attitude that I think will lift the Church out of this muck.
 
Lorarose - you are welcome. I hope you can find a way to heal from what happened to you.

I think that, because of the reputation of lawyers, and of greedy, lazy people who are in the hunt for easy money, many have come to believe that those coming forward now are just looking for “payola”. Obviously, this will cause pain to those who have been abused.

Let’s face it - as a body, our bishops have let us down in this matter. I do not think it is possible to eradicate men from the seminaries and the priesthood who may commit abuse. I do believe it is possible to get better men to enter the priesthood.

Not long ago, retired Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating resigned from the overview board responsible for monitoring compliance with the new policies covering abuse. He was livid at the USCCB and had a special distate for a particular cardinal from a large diocese in California. I do not wonder why.
 
I was in Phoenix when our parish priest was hauled off in addition to others. It’s not a “so called” scandal, it’s a disgrace.
 
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Lorarose:
This is exactly right. And I’ll add…in my case I was so young that I still did not understand what sex WAS. I did not fully understand what this man did to me until I had a few years to digest it.
Later- when I shared this story with a friend in the police department he said there were two major obstacles - he was in another country - and statute of limitations.
So…we reported it to the local pastor and to the diocese.

Where do you see the Church “handing out” cash awards?
I don’t see that anywhere.
If you are referring to the large judgements being awarded to victims in court…well that is a problem in our country with all lawsuits isn’t it?
40 million for spilled McDonald’s coffee? C’mon!
So…in that sense I agree…why isn’t a few million sufficient? Why go for 40 or 100 million? Well that’s where the lawyers come in and “advise” their clients.
So if you’re going to be upset by the dollar amounts - then be consistent…we should be upset that this is a problem with all lawsuits (ask those in the field of medicine!) rather than single out one class of people and accuse them of scamming the Church.

JW…thank you for sharing that story about your bishop.
It does my heart good, and it is exactly that type of attitude that I think will lift the Church out of this muck.
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Yes, I’m aware that there many people trying to scam a lot of other classes of people (doctors, restaurants, nurses, businesses) the list goes on and on. But since this thread was about the sex abuse scandal, I stuck mainly to this subject. My heart goes out to the people that have actually been abused. It must be a terrible thing to remember all their lives, especially when it was some trusted person that did the crime. And the bishops have been just as guilty for trying to hide or transfer the person somewhere else. My reasoning is that, like anything else, there are some people that are falsely accused by persons that are just after the money.
 
Davy…

I didn’t get the impression this was about “some” people.
I’ll go back to the original post on this thread…
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)?
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Notice how he uses “so called” sex abuse scandal.
“Dubious” clients.

The original post suggests this was a “hugely successful” scam that apparantly was dreamed up by scheming lawyers and their “dubious” clients.
The intent of these scammers was to blacken the name of the Church and wreck the Church’s finances.

I say the abusive priests blackened the name of the Church and EXPOSED her to these lawsuits.
So the abusive priests are ALSO responsible for the trouble with finances also.
 
I feel sorrow & pity for the victims, but I do not believe that everyone that claimed to be abused were actual victims. I could easily say “this priest touched me 30 years ago, give me money”, who’s to say I’m telling the truth or not.

The “sex scandal” should not be blamed on the entire Church, but on the individuals that chose to take the actions that they did, namely priest & bishops. Unfortunately the media has exploited & blown things way out of porportion.
 
Dj Roy Albert:
I feel sorrow & pity for the victims, but I do not believe that everyone that claimed to be abused were actual victims. I could easily say “this priest touched me 30 years ago, give me money”, who’s to say I’m telling the truth or not.

The “sex scandal” should not be blamed on the entire Church, but on the individuals that chose to take the actions that they did, namely priest & bishops. Unfortunately the media has exploited & blown things way out of porportion.
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Thank God for the media. The church obviously did a horrendous job of policing itself, so I believe God let the media expose his beloved church so the abuse could stop.It doesn’t matter what the motives were behind the reporting. All that matters is that it was reported as each new case came to light. People were informed and able to protect their children and new policies were put in place. Hopefully the abuse will be eradicated. I am just grateful the media was there to expose the predators and hopefully the victims were helped.
 
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Lorarose:
Davy…

I didn’t get the impression this was about “some” people.
I’ll go back to the original post on this thread…

Notice how he uses “so called” sex abuse scandal.
“Dubious” clients.

The original post suggests this was a “hugely successful” scam that apparantly was dreamed up by scheming lawyers and their “dubious” clients.
The intent of these scammers was to blacken the name of the Church and wreck the Church’s finances.

I say the abusive priests blackened the name of the Church and EXPOSED her to these lawsuits.
So the abusive priests are ALSO responsible for the trouble with finances also.
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The point is when you win a huge award form the DIocese it is the money that I and others have contributed to the church. It is all freely given money by ordinary parishioners who are not guilty of this crime. The lawyers ride the wave all the way in to shore.
 
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snoopy:
Thank God for the media. The church obviously did a horrendous job of policing itself, so I believe God let the media expose his beloved church so the abuse could stop.It doesn’t matter what the motives were behind the reporting. All that matters is that it was reported as each new case came to light. People were informed and able to protect their children and new policies were put in place. Hopefully the abuse will be eradicated. I am just grateful the media was there to expose the predators and hopefully the victims were helped.
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Don’t hold the media in such high esteem. Their only motivation was to bring down the Church.
 
I could easily say “this priest touched me 30 years ago, give me money”, who’s to say I’m telling the truth or not.
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Sure you could…but how many others would be telling the exact same story you are telling about the same person?
The point is when you win a huge award form the DIocese it is the money that I and others have contributed to the church
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That holds true for any institution that gets sued…their money comes from ordinary people who have nothing to do with the lawsuit, and still the people who run the institution are held responsible when their representatives harm others.
It really isn’t a very difficult concept.
It is all freely given money by ordinary parishioners who are not guilty of this crime. The lawyers ride the wave all the way in to shore.
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True…but this is true in all lawsuits in America.
I can’t help but shake the feeling, Buffalo, that you feel these priests should get off scott-free.
If they aren’t going to be held accountable by anyone - than exactly how does the mess get cleaned up?
Or are you one of those in denial who does not think there is a problem?
Don’t hold the media in such high esteem. Their only motivation was to bring down the Church.
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Now you are claiming to know the motivations of others?
Maybe some reporters hate the church and that is their motivation.
I think some reporters got involved, however, when they were contacted by victims who were getting nowhere with Church officials - or with the law.
 
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Lorarose:
True…but this is true in all lawsuits in America.
I can’t help but shake the feeling, Buffalo, that you feel these priests should get off scott-free.
If they aren’t going to be held accountable by anyone - than exactly how does the mess get cleaned up?
Or are you one of those in denial who does not think there is a problem?

Now you are claiming to know the motivations of others?
Maybe some reporters hate the church and that is their motivation.
I think some reporters got involved, however, when they were contacted by victims who were getting nowhere with Church officials - or with the law.
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You cannot be further from the truth. It did happen, it is real, evil has been done. The question this thread asked is it a money spinning scam. I believe this has created a huge opportunistic situation for some that are poised to take advantage of it.

The reporters did the same piling on as the people trying to make money off it. Plus they didn’t want to report on the homosexual connection on this. This makes them disengenuous to me, for to tell only a partial truth does not serve the victims or the perpetrators or the Church as a whole.
 
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Lorarose:
That holds true for any institution that gets sued…their money comes from ordinary people who have nothing to do with the lawsuit, and still the people who run the institution are held responsible when their representatives harm others.
It really isn’t a very difficult concept.
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Since the Catholic Church isn’t just any other institution, doesn’t this bother you in the least?
 
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