On the Front Lines of Clergy Sexual Abuse

[estesbob]

Twelve years have passed, but Father Roger Landry, a Fall River, Mass., priest, vividly remembers then-Bishop Seán O’Malley weeping during a meeting with his priests as he recalled the stories of victims of clergy abuse.

At the time, Bishop O’Malley was preparing for the 2002 Dallas meeting that would approve a landmark “zero tolerance” policy for priests credibly accused of child sexual abuse. Bishop O’Malley had come to Fall River in 1992, in the wake of a scandal involving a serial clerical predator, James Porter.

Read more: ncregister.com/daily-news/on-the-front-lines-of-clergy-sexual-abuse/#ixzz33mpu60F3

 

[Joe_5859]

God bless Cardinal O’Malley.

He had a hard job (in three different dioceses!). Not many could have handled it as he has.

 

[DaveBj]

God bless Cardinal O’Malley.

 

[NekoNecro]

The victims don’t need a Cardinals tears, they need justice and reform! A visit from the Pope is a great honor don’t get me wrong, but not if this is yet another “investigation” that leads to nothing which it most likely is going by the track record. ¬_¬

 

[Joe_5859]

The victims don’t need a Cardinals tears, they need justice and reform! A visit from the Pope is a great honor don’t get me wrong, but not if this is yet another “investigation” that leads to nothing which it most likely is going by the track record. ¬_¬

Reform is happening.

 

[NekoNecro]

Reform is happening.

…A few handshakes and a “woe is me” speech is reform?

No, no, no no…Owning up to ones mistakes and setting them straight is the start of reform. Refusal to act and/or denial (which is still happening) is not.

For all the proof, there hasn’t been that many successful prosecutions going on because…yep, the CC wiggles out of responsibility.

 

[Joe_5859]

…A few handshakes and a “woe is me” speech is reform?

No, no, no no…Owning up to ones mistakes and setting them straight is the start of reform. Refusal to act and/or denial (which is still happening) is not.

For all the proof, there hasn’t been that many successful prosecutions going on because…yep, the CC wiggles out of responsibility.

No, a few handshakes is not reform. But there’s a lot more than that that the Church has done over the past 10+ years.

There’s a whole lot of lawsuit settlement money that disputes the notion that the church “wiggles out of responsibility.”

 

[edwest2]

The victims don’t need a Cardinals tears, they need justice and reform! A visit from the Pope is a great honor don’t get me wrong, but not if this is yet another “investigation” that leads to nothing which it most likely is going by the track record. ¬_¬

Can you explain what you mean by “investigation” that leads to nothing’?

worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/17/22340073-pope-benedict-defrocked-400-priests-in-2-years-report?lite

Peace,
Ed

 

[NekoNecro]

Can you explain what you mean by “investigation” that leads to nothing’?

worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/17/22340073-pope-benedict-defrocked-400-priests-in-2-years-report?lite

Peace,
Ed

I don’t consider a defrocking to be much quite honestly, not considering many of these clerics continue to enjoy legal immunity from prosecution and (depending on the territory) financially compensating the victims and/or their families while they lounge around in luxurious Baroque apostolic palaces and elite penthouses in retirement. .

Of course they should have lost their jobs, that should have happened the moment the bishop found out and he knew long in advance, this one had a very detailed file full of proof on every single case!

 

[edwest2]

I don’t consider a defrocking to be much quite honestly, not considering many of these clerics continue to enjoy legal immunity from prosecution and (depending on the territory) financially compensating the victims and/or their families while they lounge around in luxurious Baroque apostolic palaces and elite penthouses in retirement. .

Of course they should have lost their jobs, that should have happened the moment the bishop found out and he knew long in advance, this one had a very detailed file full of proof on every single case!

Where is your proof that they “lounge around in luxurious Baroque apostolic palaces”?

amazon.com/Catholic-Priests-Falsely-Accused-Stories/dp/1466425334

books.google.com/books?id=qhk6OMpnnvAC&pg=PT14&lpg=PT14&dq=attorney+steier+clergy+abuse+fraud&source=bl&ots=i1K_bx4jBE&sig=4483PZjYPSh2Gp65loikPtQjoZE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=aOKQU4fACIqSyAS50oDoCA&ved=0CEEQ6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=attorney%20steier%20clergy%20abuse%20fraud&f=false

Peace,
Ed

 

[tabycat]

I don’t consider a defrocking to be much quite honestly, not considering many of these clerics continue to enjoy legal immunity from prosecution and (depending on the territory) financially compensating the victims and/or their families while they lounge around in luxurious Baroque apostolic palaces and elite penthouses in retirement. .

Of course they should have lost their jobs, that should have happened the moment the bishop found out and he knew long in advance, this one had a very detailed file full of proof on every single case!

Most of the abuse cases that I have heard of happen before 1980. That means that many of the perps are either dead or in their 60’s or older (like 80’s and above). Also, the LAW, not the Church, sets the legal immunity from prosesecution, so take that up with your Congeresman. Also, 30, or more, years ago it was common to sent abusers to treatment, not to jail. It was something everyone did.

 

[JimG]

**Most of the abuse cases that I have heard of happen before 1980. ** That means that many of the perps are either dead or in their 60’s or older (like 80’s and above). Also, the LAW, not the Church, sets the legal immunity from prosesecution, so take that up with your Congeresman. Also, 30, or more, years ago it was common to sent abusers to treatment, not to jail. It was something everyone did.

Exactly so. In the original John Jay Report there is a graph of abuse cases by year. There is a spike which occurred around that period followed by a sharp dropoff. We are now agitated mostly over cases which occurred 20 or more years ago. Not only that but many jurisdictions removed their statutes of limitations allowing them to go after even older cases. The downside of that is that witnesses are old or deceased, evidence is unobtainable, and the innocent are often gathered up into group lawsuits with the guilty.