Sex abuse scandal dominates meeting of U.S. Catholic bishops

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Brad said:
A board set up by U.S. Catholic bishops to examine the church’s sexual abuse crisis recommended a sweeping study yesterday to provide a better understanding of why priests abused minors.

Millions of dollars to come up with a smokescreen when most everyone knows what happened. Are you kidding me?
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Spend less time working on rules for handling allegations, and more time in preventing allegations.

This is a spiritual and worldly problem, and there are prudent worldly measures that can nearly eliminate the opportunity for a priest to be accused of being alone with a child, such as keeping an accurate schedule of most priest’s busy activities, both to reduce physical opportunity (and therefore reduce temptation) and to provide alibi at any given moment. After all, it’s pretty hard to say a priest molested a child at a certain time of day, when there is documentation he was at an altar club meeting then.

Once there are allegations, immediately get the best minds involved and see what can be done to quickly assess whether there is any basis to the charge, and if not what legal strategy should the priest take to reduce risk exposure to the diocese – for example, if there is reason to believe the charges even might be true, maybe we need to temporarily remove him from his assignment. We owe this to the good people who put money into the collection plate everyday and don’t want it to go to payola.

I don’t have any problems with them analyzing why the priests do this in the first place. I’m an engineer, and I tend to troubleshoot things by trying to understand them all the way down to their design details, and then redesigning them. That’s maybe a good long term strategy, but a good troubleshooting technician doesn’t need the schematic to take a few prudent measures and engineer wouldn’t even consider, such as, is the power on and getting to where it needs to go?

“What do we do when we get caught” is important, but Keep It Simple Silly and make it legally and morally impeccable; logistics issues with priests as substitutes are not a good enough reason to take legal or moral risk.

Then get on with worldly measure that can be implemented Right Now. In most churches, there should be no reason for priests to be in a compromising position, ever. Why not install web cams in the sacristy and other places where priests may have reason to be alone with children?

The Virtus program probably gives some protection such as the background checks, but really is more about awareness and catching problems than eliminating them.

Third, have this sort of thing the bishops are spending all their time on, running in the background. If they could figure out “why” this all happened, and change whatever traditions and practices are supposedly going to help it, and get any results, then it would at least be years before it gets done. Ultimately, the Church needs to do this work, but it has to take its place near the edge of the spotlight instead of at the center.

Alan
 
I’m convinced this is a result of the Cold War. In the 1960s Catholic institutions were flooded with Liberation Theology types. The church had always been target one for the Soviets.
 
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David_Paul:
I’m convinced this is a result of the Cold War. In the 1960s Catholic institutions were flooded with Liberation Theology types. The church had always been target one for the Soviets.
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Does that explain why my Catholic grade school in the late 60’s taught me virtually nothing about Catholic beliefs except rules to behave at Mass, and fasting and stuff? Nothing at all out of the Bible except a Children’s Bible?

My entire catechism was political mumbo-jumbo such as articles about a dad’s concerns over his kid sniffing glue, and lots of anti-racism language. Nothing, really about God but more about current social issues.

Never even heard of a catechism of any kind. Not even Baltimore.

I think satan ran a test case and decided that schools make good weapons for social change; some schools are thwarting his plans now and teaching actual Catholicism.

Alan
 
Might be, Alan. A little later I was studying to become a Unitarian minister. Went to a Jesuit college.

Bright guys. The best intellects I have had the pleasure to meet.

But…

I am still in recovery.
 
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David_Paul:
Might be, Alan. A little later I was studying to become a Unitarian minister. Went to a Jesuit college.

Bright guys. The best intellects I have had the pleasure to meet.

But…

I am still in recovery.
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Some Jesuits are good like Father Pacwa but some:eek: :eek: :eek: I haven’t recovered to some of their recent press releases:nope: I do know why they have a cry room when a Pope is elected:crying:
 
Brad said:
A board set up by U.S. Catholic bishops to examine the church’s sexual abuse crisis recommended a sweeping study yesterday to provide a better understanding of why priests abused minors.

Millions of dollars to come up with a smokescreen when most everyone knows what happened. Are you kidding me?
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don’t we have another post reporting that the bishops are dodging the whole gay issue? what am I missing? We want to know the causes of the abuse scandal but we refuse to entertain the notion that it has anything to do with gay priests and bishops. yeah, that’ll work. which also means they are not going to address the issue relevant to priest’s health care costs and pensions, why so many priests die of AIDS, a story researched and reported by the Kansas City Star shortly before the abuse crisis hit the Boston Globe.
 
Currently there is wide latitude about admitting homosexuals into seminaries. For the most part, gay men who have not been sexually active are admitted.

In citing the need for the abuse study, McHugh said some Catholics have blamed gay priests for the crisis. “But we don’t know that. We don’t know if being homosexual has anything to do with it,” he said. “We don’t know what caused it.”
Earth to McHugh, EIGHTY PERCENT of the cases were against male youth. It IS homosexuality. Good grief they don’t need to pay for a study when it’s the elephant in the living room that everyone is ignoring. And isnt’ “gay men who have not been sexually active” an oxymoron? If they havent been active they are not “gay”

Lisa N
 
I understand how everyone in this thread feels - but there are other questions which as bishops, the heads of dioceses face – and so it becomes a bit more complex than it seems:
  1. Bishops do not want a witch hunt against people who have done nothing wrong and are ordained.
  2. As pastors they have to exercise a kind of discipline which allows for repentance, forgiveness and restoration of individual souls.
  3. Canon laws regarding process and hearings for removing someone from active ministry.
  4. What to do with those already ordained?
  5. Every bishop does not agree with others – how then do we get a national protocol which all can and will follow in each diocese?
Having said all of the above, I believe by their laxness, their turning their faces away and disobeying canon law in the first place, they’ve created the nightmare. Hiring at great expense another survey team seems to me, the height of ridiculousness as if some magic formula to answer all of the above will suddenly appear out of the ether. A great deal of what happens in the future will be decided by the “leadership” within the body of bishops themselves. I don’t envy them – but I’m tired of it – and I’m even more tired of the one step forward, two backward approach.
 
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HagiaSophia:
I understand how everyone in this thread feels - but there are other questions which as bishops, the heads of dioceses face – and so it becomes a bit more complex than it seems:
  1. Bishops do not want a witch hunt against people who have done nothing wrong and are ordained.
  2. As pastors they have to exercise a kind of discipline which allows for repentance, forgiveness and restoration of individual souls.
  3. Canon laws regarding process and hearings for removing someone from active ministry.
  4. What to do with those already ordained?
  5. Every bishop does not agree with others – how then do we get a national protocol which all can and will follow in each diocese?
Having said all of the above, I believe by their laxness, their turning their faces away and disobeying canon law in the first place, they’ve created the nightmare. Hiring at great expense another survey team seems to me, the height of ridiculousness as if some magic formula to answer all of the above will suddenly appear out of the ether. A great deal of what happens in the future will be decided by the “leadership” within the body of bishops themselves. I don’t envy them – but I’m tired of it – and I’m even more tired of the one step forward, two backward approach.
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Your 5 questions can only be answered properly with accurate information, not with smokescreens. First, the cause must be determined. Then solutions to the problem can be drawn up. We do not need to spend millions of dollars to find the cause. We know what it is - mainly heterodoxy and sexual immorality. Specifically homosexual immorality and accepted heresy.
 
From:

cwnews.com/offtherecord/offtherecord.cfm

Hits the nail on the head.

Whose bias?

Paul McHugh, a member of the National Review Board, hopes that the US bishops’ conference will approve a $1 million investment in a new study of the causes of the sex-abuse scandal.

“If we don’t do this study,” he said, “some one else will, and they might bring different biases to it.”

Different biases? And what biases do you want to have included in the study?

In citing the need for the abuse study, McHugh said some Catholics have blamed gay priests for the crisis. “But we don’t know that. We don’t know if being homosexual has anything to do with it,” he said. “We don’t know what caused it.”

Oh. I withdraw my question.
 
I’m sorry but they are playing the laity like a bunch of fools. I’m seriously considering bringing my donations to the dioceses down to zero and just giving to good Catholic works. I’m beginning to believe money is the only language they will be able to understand.
 
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Brad:
I’m sorry but they are playing the laity like a bunch of fools. I’m seriously considering bringing my donations to the dioceses down to zero and just giving to good Catholic works. I’m beginning to believe money is the only language they will be able to understand.
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I agree!
 
This is just nuts. Why spend the money when the problem is obvious. What does he mean they 'don’t know the cause?" A group of lay people on this board have figured it out, why can’t they? I guess the biases are apparent.

Hagia Sophia I am in agreement that no witch hunt should be undertaken. A chaste and holy priest who suffers from SSA should not be tracked down by the thought police. OTOH as someone mentioned, it’s relatively easy to prevent the majority of incidents by priests being accountable for their movements. I volunteer with a group that deals with neglected and abused kids. We are NEVER to be alone with our child. Why not a similar situation for priests and youth? I realize there would be some occasion where a priest needed to be alone with a young person (confession) but cutting out the sleepovers or taking Joey down the hall for a “private lesson” will help.

Lisa N
 
I only can pray for the solution of this, I am not nor priest neither bishop. It´s a shame for all catholics and is one of the most heavy crosses.
 
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Brad:
I’m sorry but they are playing the laity like a bunch of fools. I’m seriously considering bringing my donations to the dioceses down to zero and just giving to good Catholic works. I’m beginning to believe money is the only language they will be able to understand.
Click to expand...
Money talks.
 
Money talks when money walks! I think more than anything else, we need to pray first. At least we will be guided to give our money to the good trees bearing the good fruit!

Works for me, I have been in exile from our should be Catholic Church for twelve years. Been driving my money a minimum of 60 miles round trip. Power derived from homosexual tolerance, seminarian corruption through perverted sex “studies”, and disobedience with rampant disrespect for the Magisterium of the Holy Roman Catholic Church has produced the rot. Gathering together of the rotten fruit and having united power and influence over the crop is the proof of the old saying “one rotten apple spoils the barrel”.

Dear Blessed Mother, please intercede for your priest-sons, guide and comfort them in their struggle to be good, loving priests in the service of your Son, Our Dear Lord, Jesus Christ. Dear Mother, please help me to know how to help them - help me! I need to have a good priest to say the Holy Mass and bring Jesus to me.
I need a good priest to bring the Catholic Faith back to Saint
Athanasius Church.

Dear St. Athanasius - please help your church.

Amen.:gopray2:
 
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grotto:
Money talks when money walks! I think more than anything else, we need to pray first. At least we will be guided to give our money to the good trees bearing the good fruit!

Works for me, I have been in exile from our should be Catholic Church for twelve years. Been driving my money a minimum of 60 miles round trip. Power derived from homosexual tolerance, seminarian corruption through perverted sex “studies”, and disobedience with rampant disrespect for the Magisterium of the Holy Roman Catholic Church has produced the rot. Gathering together of the rotten fruit and having united power and influence over the crop is the proof of the old saying “one rotten apple spoils the barrel”.

Dear Blessed Mother, please intercede for your priest-sons, guide and comfort them in their struggle to be good, loving priests in the service of your Son, Our Dear Lord, Jesus Christ. Dear Mother, please help me to know how to help them - help me! I need to have a good priest to say the Holy Mass and bring Jesus to me.
I need a good priest to bring the Catholic Faith back to Saint
Athanasius Church.

Dear St. Athanasius - please help your church.

Amen.:gopray2:
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Amen
 
What must be recognised is that the bishops are covering their Butts. They have so far blamed everyone but Mickey Mouse for the Scandal.
Everyone but themselves !!!
Many of them facilitated the abuse by transfering the pedophiles over and over again over decades.Not one bishop as far as anyone knows ever,ever called the cops. They were coverng their behinds at the cost of children and thats an abomination.
The restitution to the victims has hit $ 1,600,000,000.00 so far and goes up as we speak.
 
The bishops continue to protect their associates that made it possible for pedophie priests to molest as many children as they did.As long as thats the case no Catholic worthy of the name should give any bishop a dime ! Give to specific Catholic causes that you know and have confidence in. To your parish, to Catholic charities,be careful . No to anything that goes to the bishop or the diocese .
 
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