Pennsylvania Priest Caught in Sex Scandal

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SaintAugustine said:
This is a case of a man who sought out sex through a Craigslist ad, and ended up with a 15-year-old. It is a terrible crime, but it is not the same as pedophilia or a situation where a priest betrayed the trust of a parishioner’s kid.
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Same difference whichever scenario is true.
 
Sarabande said:
We should say, “if”. We don’t know for certain, yet, what is the truth. “If” it is true that he sought sex through the ad and really believed he was with a person old enough to give consent legally, then it does have to be evaluated differently.
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True. I can only go off of what is reported, of course.
 
seekerz said:
If you read carefully, you don’t have to go far to find people saying the same of this victim, i.e. he was asking for it.
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Come on. IF the 15-year-old placed an ad seeking sex, then, by definition, he was asking for it. Without being certain of the facts of the case, we can’t say that for sure. I haven’t seen anyone else make a “he was asking for it” post outside of stating the reported use of the Craigslist ad.
 
seekerz said:
Yeah, well my doctor would lose his license if he treated me based on the findings from a single study. So would any other professional I know of.
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What would happen to your doctor’s license if he treated you based on best guesses and assumptions instead of looking at the findings of any study? 🤷
 
SaintAugustine said:
What would happen to your doctor’s license if he treated you based on best guesses and assumptions instead of looking at the findings of any study? 🤷
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Probably the same thing. If there isn’t enough information on my condition, he simply needs to tell me that.
 
SaintAugustine said:
Come on. IF the 15-year-old placed an ad seeking sex, then, by definition, he was asking for it. Without being certain of the facts of the case, we can’t say that for sure. I haven’t seen anyone else make a “he was asking for it” post outside of stating the reported use of the Craigslist ad.
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There is no ‘asking for it’ with any crime victim. 😦

Time to let go of the old ways: women CAN get pregnant even from non-consensual sex (better known as rape), child victims of molestation are NOT ‘asking for it’ and adult perpetrators were NOT ensnared by their child-victims - actually, the opposite is generally true in all these cases.

This kind of thinking is exceedingly harmful to victims. That’s what damages the Church’s reputation, NOT accepting the truth: namely that some of our priests sadly, ARE child molesters.
 
seekerz said:
Probably the same thing. If there isn’t enough information on my condition, he simply needs to tell me that.
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So, based on your analogy, your advice to the Church about the sexual abuse issues is that there really isn’t enough information to draw any conclusions?
 
seekerz said:
There is no ‘asking for it’ with any crime victim. 😦
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If you seriously think that a person who places an ad in Craigslist looking for sex isn’t asking for sex, then I don’t know how to have a reasoned conversation with you.

I clipped the rest of the post, because it has absolutely nothing to do with anything I’ve posted.
 
Sarabande said:
We should say, “if”. We don’t know for certain, yet, what is the truth. “If” it is true that he sought sex through the ad and really believed he was with a person old enough to give consent legally, then it does have to be evaluated differently.
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Per a couple of other articles, it was the priest who placed the ad looking for “companionship” (per his own admission), and the boy who answered the ad.

timesleader.com/news/local/848582/
Under questioning at the Dunmore police station, Paulish allegedly admitted having placed an ad in the “casual encounters” section of Craigslist in search of companionship. He said he received an email from an unknown male and agreed to meet at the college, according to police.
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SaintAugustine said:
Per a couple of other articles, it was the priest who placed the ad looking for “companionship” (per his own admission), and the boy who answered the ad.

timesleader.com/news/local/848582/
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Look at his work history. Is it normal for US priests to be moved around so often?
And for a priest to become a pastor only to then be “demoted” to an assistant pastor?
Lots of leave of absences.

And is it normal when, say, a teacher is arrested for molesting a teen, that the newspaper print every school he’s worked at so that possible victims can come forward?
 
SaintAugustine said:
So, based on your analogy, your advice to the Church about the sexual abuse issues is that there really isn’t enough information to draw any conclusions?
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There isn’t enough information to draw theoretical conclusions about which type of obscure-sounding -philia predominates among offenders or which type of sexual inclinations. All we know is that the incidents happen and we need to take preventive or corrective measures to protect children - ALL children, from this type of harm.

We cannot expound on the theoretical details of who likes which type of child or why - not among priests. Not with the info we have. And in any case, it is immaterial to the solution in the real world. If a priest is attracted to little girls, will parents seriously be fine with him having contact with their little boys? :eek: Would we wait until he re-offends to find out if he is a predator of the bisexual type?
 
seekerz said:
There isn’t enough information to draw theoretical conclusions about which type of obscure-sounding -philia predominates among offenders or which type of sexual inclinations. All we know is that the incidents happen and we need to take preventive or corrective measures to protect children - ALL children, from this type of harm

We cannot expound on the theoretical details of who likes which type of child or why - not among priests. Not with the info we have. And in any case,** it is immaterial to the solution in the real world**. If a priest is attracted to little girls, will parents seriously prefer him in contact with their little boys? :eek:
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If we can cut down the incidents of abuse by filtering out a particular group from entering the priesthood (e.g. men with deep-seated same sex attraction), then the information is very material. It is not the only response, but it is a worthwhile response. To ignore such a relationship between the disordered sexual desires and the resultant acts would be irresponsible.

Your last question is non-sensical and has nothing to do with my posts…again.
 
SaintAugustine said:
If you seriously think that a person who places an ad in Craigslist looking for sex isn’t asking for sex, then I don’t know how to have a reasoned conversation with you.

I clipped the rest of the post, because it has absolutely nothing to do with anything I’ve posted.
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Oh it has everything to do with what we’ve posted. I just recently watched a film on the Magdalene laundries and one of the girls was told: men are subject to temptation, so to prevent them from falling we have to remove the temptation. Her only ‘crime’ meriting incarceration in the laundry, was being pretty and liking the attention it brought her. Sadly, it seems that such thinking is still very much alive.

All of this is very relevant, because even in the Church that Christ founded, grave evil can enter and find a home if we delude ourselves regarding responsibility for sin. After all was not Judas one of a handful of people in closest proximity to Jesus?
 
GraceSofia said:
Look at his work history. Is it normal for US priests to be moved around so often?
And for a priest to become a pastor only to then be “demoted” to an assistant pastor?
Lots of leave of absences.
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Priests do get moved around a lot. I don’t know why this particular priest was moved around. As far as “demotion,” are you referring to being a “pastor” in one parish and then “assistant pastor” in another? It depends on what type of “pastor” and the size of the parishes.
GraceSofia said:
And is it normal when, say, a teacher is arrested for molesting a teen, that the newspaper print every school he’s worked at so that possible victims can come forward?
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I don’t know, but it is a valid question anytime someone is accused of sexual abuse in their workplace. You want to find out if they have done it at previous posts. As noted, victims often don’t report abuse.
 
SaintAugustine said:
If we can cut down the incidents of abuse by filtering out a particular group from entering the priesthood (e.g. men with deep-seated same sex attraction), then the information is very material. It is not the only response, but it is a worthwhile response. To ignore such a relationship between the disordered sexual desires and the resultant acts would be irresponsible.

Your last question is non-sensical and has nothing to do with my posts…again.
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I’m sorry you find parental concern for their children’s safety, nonsensical. We cannot cut down a thing if the study is biased, or if the results are skewed by confounding factors. For all we know the majority of offenders are bisexual and the girls simply failed to come forward. I don’t know, neither do you or John Jay. Not from a single study. Impossible in any modern scientific sense; maybe in some medieval realm, perhaps.
 
seekerz said:
Oh it has everything to do with what we’ve posted. I just recently watched a film on the Magdalene laundries and one of the girls was told: men are subject to temptation, so to prevent them from falling we have to remove the temptation. Her only ‘crime’ meriting incarceration in the laundry, was being pretty and liking the attention it brought her.

All of this is very relevant, because even in the Church that Christ founded, grave evil can enter and find a home if we delude ourselves regarding responsibility for sin. After all was not Judas one of a handful of people in closest proximity to Jesus?
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Can you show where I have posted anything that minimizes abuse of girls or turns a blind eye to the fact that some priests are sexual abusers? That is what I meant by your comments not having anything to do with what I posted.

This case is about a priest and a 15-year-old male. There were no girls involved.
 
SaintAugustine said:
Can you show where I have posted anything that minimizes abuse of girls or turns a blind eye to the fact that some priests are sexual abusers? That is what I meant by your comments not having anything to do with what I posted.

This case is about a priest and a 15-year-old male. There were no girls involved.
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The case is about a priest and a child, specifically a boy. My comments are relevant very obviously from this thread, because they speak to our reactions/mindset as Catholics to reports such as these. All examples come from the thinking which prevailed in ‘golden ages’ past, when child abuse and sexual abuse was to be hidden at all costs to preserve the ‘golden’ image - which usually meant hiding/punishing/blaming/casting aspersions on THE CHILD/VICTIM.
 
seekerz said:
The case is about a priest and a child, specifically a boy. My comments are relevant very obviously from this thread, because they speak to our reactions/mindset as Catholics to reports such as these.
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Indeed. I’ve pointed out where you have incorrectly made comments about my mindset on the issue and misrepresented my concern for children several times. Your preference to ignore data and paint those who don’t ignore data as not caring about girls, teenagers, children, etc. is absolutely incredible to me.
 
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