Los Angeles Files Recount Decades of Priests' Abuse

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By [JOHN M. BRODER](The New York Times - Search M. BRODER&fdq=19960101&td=sysdate&sort=newest&ac=JOHN M. BRODER&inline=nyt-per)
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 11 - The confidential personnel files of 126 clergymen in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles accused of sexual misconduct with children provide a numbing chronicle of 75 years of the church’s shame, revealing case after case in which the church was warned of abuse but failed to protect its parishioners.

In some cases, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony and his predecessors quietly shuffled the priests off to counseling and then to new assignments. In others, parents were offered counseling for their children and were urged to remain silent.

Throughout the files, cases of child molesting or rape are dealt with by indirection or euphemism, with references to questions of “moral fitness” or accusations of “boundary violations.” For years, anonymous complaints of abuse were ignored and priests were given the benefit of every doubt.

The personnel files - some of which date from the 1930’s - were produced as part of settlement talks with lawyers for 560 accusers in a civil suit here. The church provided them to The New York Times in advance of their public release in the next few days. The archdiocese is releasing them in part to make good on a promise to parishioners to come clean about the church’s actions in the scandal, church officials said. It also hopes that the release will spur settlement talks, which appear to have stalled in recent months.

[More]

nytimes.com/2005/10/12/national/12priests.html?ei=5094&en=28d6f26f3cb2ed49&hp=&ex=1129176000&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print&adxnnlx=1129107714-NUGxxg3/jDeDyVZTTOgpxA
 
and priests were given the benefit of every doubt
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:nope:

No more of this from me.
I have not lost respect for the Catholic priesthood but I will not be a dumb door-mat anymore. No more ‘yesa Father’ and ‘nosa Father’

I can’t believe there are still some priests that actually demand dumb obedience from the Faithful. I see it. I am revolted when I see parishioners kowtowing to priests. Priests are people not little Gods.
Kowtowing to priests helped lead to the rampant sex abuses reported in this article.

Love your parish priest. Pray for them. Help them in any way possible but don’t kowtow.
 
“What the church is trying to do is repair the damage that was done and make sure, as much as is humanly possible, that it doesn’t happen again,” said Tod Tamberg, a spokesman for the archdiocese. “This whole sad chapter in the church’s life is an opportunity for purification.”
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Let all hope they make good on this opportunity. The US seminary reviews are a good start…the results and actions after these reviews are what **really **matters…
 
I just posted this on another thread discussing the abuse by priests: catholicleague.org/05press_releases/quarter%204/051013_priestfilesLA.htm

Bill Donohue follows all of the secular media’s news on the church. We seem to believe what they write is true and it’s not, far from it. He has many articles that contradict what the public sees at catholicleague.org/newsreleases.htm I receive his updates and when there’s a media outlet that doesn’t quite get it right, I write them and let them know it’s not ok.

All this makes me sad. The good priests are being labeled too. Walking in the Walk for Life West Coast, our priest got spit on.

If you have a flat tire, you don’t junk your whole car. Get a couple of weeds in your lawn, you spray the weeds, not the whole lawn.

This is clergy appreciation month, why don’t we show them how much we appreciate them.
 
And pray.

What still is a bone of contention for me is the “decades” and the “children”.

While NO abuse is EVER EXCUSIBLE, there is a big difference between somebody doing something wrong intentionally, (and it would be wrong to simply transfer a priest, even decades ago when this abuse was thought treatable and curable) and somebody doing something which turned out, DECADES LATER, to be wrong because the medical authorities assured them the person was okay, and it turned out the person was NOT okay.

If Bishop X hears that Father Y did something wrong, Father Y admits it, does whatever penalty is demanded (and you know even 20 years ago there wouldn’t have been criminal penalties whether it was a priest, a banker, a teacher or even a parent who did wrong, because it was THEN considered more of a trauma for the victim to have to testify), and Bishop X is assured by Drs. A and B that Father Y is all right and SHOULD be allowed to go back (much as alcoholics then were encouraged to allow themselves to live “normal lives” and be exposed to alcohol so that they could FIGHT the temptation and WIN), if Father Y does another wrong, we really can’t say that it was Bishop X’s FAULT for “letting him back in the community”. Bishop X acted in a reasonable way, listening to the advice of professionals, who happened to be wrong. We can’t retroactively go back and say to everybody from 30 or 40 years ago, that because we NOW think differently, and we SHOULD have done it differently then, that the people were WRONG because they did not know then what we know now, anymore than we would go back 100 years and say that people suffering from certain diseases SHOULD HAVE BEEN given penicillin and they wouldn’t have died. While it is quite true that many people did die from illnesses and COULD HAVE BEEN SAVED with penicillin, the fact is that penicillin WAS NOT AVAILABLE then and not all the whining and finger pointing on earth could have MADE it available then.

So much for the “decades”. . .people DO seem to have such trouble putting themselves into a different “time”, they seem to think that 30 years ago people had Starbucks, laptops, and knew that pedophilia was untreatable. . .

The “children” is the other part. The vast majority of the cases dealt with teen boys. Yes, a 16 year old boy seems like a child to me, but 16 year old boys drive cars. 30 years ago 16 year old boys also legally smoked cigarettes. 20 years ago a 17 year old boy was perhaps weeks or days from being “18” and able to DRINK back them. This is not “pedophilia” which actually according to the DSM-IV is more often male on young female, or male OR female with a PARTICULAR age child, male OR female. In these cases, the wrong done was that of homosexuual abuse, and THIS is what should be addressed, not “revised” into a “pedophile” non-event in the name of placating certain vociferous minorities, IMO.
 
They did’nt know ? thats the defense. How is it they preach hell fire and Brimstone about,
Abortion,Birth control, Gay Marriage,incessantly.They want to refuse communion to politicians.All subjects, Jesus never mentioned ! Yet leading children to sin, something that is in the Gospel of Saint Matthew they never mentioned. They never ask an experts opinion about the three subjects Jesus never mentioned,but.The one suject he did mention,they run to secular experts for guidance ? Strange?
 
Just what “they” are you saying “didn’t know”. . .and what did any of those other topics have to do with this subject, may I ask?
 
RE : Tantun Ergo # 8
:they didn’t know " molesting children was serious.They have always thought the faithful were Dumb.But they think that in the 1960’s,& 70’s people didn’t know molesting children was serious !
How is it something Jesus preached about gets short shrift from the church.While stuff he never mentioned is preached about incessantly? Did they know what has been going on a lot longer than 50 years.Is that why they never mentioned it? Youwould think that something Jesus himself preached on would be taught strongly,not hidden,wouldn’t you ?
 
All the Bishops actively involved in any cover-up need to be removed from their posts immediately and thrown in prison. This is unacceptable and I hope our new Pope will do something about this crisis.
 
All the Bishops actively involved in any sort of cover-up need to be removed from their posts immediately and thrown in prison for obstruction of justice. This is unacceptable and I hope our new Pope will do something about this crisis.
 
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