The Catholic Church should not be allowed to operate child welfare programs, schools, counseling center or any other type of community program.
If a nonprofit organization behaved the way the Roman Catholic church as they would have been shut down immediately.
No more business as usual!
47
Time to let priests marry and those who wish to have family or consensual relationships can still serve their god. Those who wish to retain celibacy can as well. The recognition and honesty of the human side to life may spare future priests.
13
I am curious about the survivors. Of the three that I know for sure were abused by a local priest in my suburb growing up, all of them became addicts to alcohol and cocaine. They have spent their whole lives trying to recover. Will we ever see the correlation between addiction and the abuse they suffered? Will we finally begin to give addicts a break and help them heal? Will the addicts who are now able to prove they were abused also be able to sue the Catholic church to receive monies owed to them so they can get proper therapy and rehab and put their lives back together? Will we find a way to offer these victims the compassion and medical care they deserve?
32
I am persuaded by the finding of extensive child abuse in the Catholic church in Pennsylvania, by a grand jury in Pennsylvania, and the realization that we probably can multiply those results by fifty states without even examining other denominations with respect to child abuse, that we live in a post Christian society. "What you do to the least of them, you do to me."
17
To take a gold cross, the holy symbol of the crucifixion of Jesus, and to put it on children who were abused as a sign to other pedophile priests that these were children desensitized for future abuse is perhaps the ultimate evidence of the depravity of these priests. To trick these innocent children into believing that this was a gift because they had special faith when they were actually being branded for a pedophile ring is to violate every sacred tenet of the church, of their holy orders that they took and the people of the church.
How can the church recover? The visit by Pope Francis to Ireland next week will indicate if it can.
45
It is no wonder that the fastest growing religious belief is no religion. It seems to me that organised religion has been corrupted to control the masses rather than promote ethical behaviour such as the teaching of Christ who taught people to love their fellow man.
This explains why over 85% of evangelicals support a completely unethical President, Donald Trump. They are like the pharisees of the bible, phoney hypocrites.
61
It bothers me so much when people use these types of stories as evidence of our moral decay, like vulnerable children haven't been used by sexual predators since time immemorial. It's actually a sign of history bending toward justice -ever so slowly- that these powerful old institutions can longer force down the voices of their victims and the fourth estate into looking the other way. Accountability is what every powerful institution fears and it's coming for all these old hypocritical religions and that's why the evangelicals ran to tump for protection. Their ability to shame and constrain human behavior hurts society more than it benefits and many are in need of a serious reformation to justify their continued TAX FREE existence and deep down, they know it. In the end, Churches should be an asset to a community not a parasite on the body politic.
40
@Rebecca b That is one of the best comments I've read in a long time. Thank you.
5
The Acts of the Apostles is relevant here as it describes the founding of the Faith, and human beings struggling to put Divinity into practice here on Earth. They worked and prayed and worked and prayed to build a Church based on Christ's teaching, and along with that they built an organizational chart to go with the Church. Sure, someone had to pay the rent and hire the help and put policies down on parchment. And acquire the silk and the concubines and the private armies. Peter, and Paul, and James, and perhaps most of all the protomartyr, Stephen, look on horrified knowing what their successors hath wrought. And mark my words, we won't hear a word about this on Sunday......
11
Protecting these criminals is what can not be accepted, and removing that protection is something the church could do.
9
Be kind. Express gratitude. Show humility. Believe in God if you choose.
No religion required.
32
So what is new. The Catholic Church has abused, murdered, tortured people for centuries. It is a church using the gift that never stops giving; GUILT. So no member will fight the crimes and abuses. The abuses and crimes never came from members of the church. That is how strong the church's hold is on it's members.
I believe the current pope's reelection to come out strongly and condemn these horrific acts is because he is one of the abusers. Just never caught.
9
I saw a parish priest, one who heard one of my first confessions as a child, along with my high school principal and a vice principal on one of the previous grand jury report lists. One of those priests was my religious studies teacher. It is obvious to me why all of these areas in Pennsylvania became hunting grounds. Along with being representatives of Christ and the church, priests were thought to be educated and worldly, something not common in the smaller cities and towns of my area, and also something one could aspire to. As such, they were unassailable in the respect they commanded. The priests I know from this list were also notable for their affability. I feel pain especially for the particular kind of children some went after in a number of rural areas on this list where their targets could be more vulnerable to their machinations and their crimes more easily hidden. Lastly, none of this could have proceeded like it did without major complicity by the authorities, something that is making me feel worse. Say what you will about the problems with Facebook, Twitter and all social media, I wish in this case that they had been around earlier. They can bring these crimes into the public eye sooner.
16
I attended a catholic high school in the late 60's that had holy cross brothers teach the boys and mercy nuns teach the girls. Boys and girls were segregated by floors n classrooms. Most of the faculty, to this day, have good reputations as teachers and religious people. However, there were a few faculty who were known for their physical abuse and later identified as sexual predators. A few stood out for their sadistic use of public physical punishment. A few examples of this behavior which was usually performed in front of others: pulling hair out of the heads of students if it was below the middle forehead or touched the shirt collar, many times drawing blood from a student's scalp. Students considered trouble makers would be told to hold the top of their desk and then slapped until they were knocked out of their desks. Some students where whipped with the knotted end of the robes that holy cross brothers wore as part of their religious garb. One brother would walk the halls with a camera flash attachment that he would randomly flash in the eyes of an unsuspecting student causing temporary loss of vision. The head disciplinarian (a confirmed sexual predator) would conduct random dress code checks where everyone in the classroom would stand and while pressing up behind each student he would place his hands in their pockets to determine if they were "too tight."
Many of our parents struggled to believe us when told of these horrors of catholic education.
16
I celebrate freedom of thought and speech. The "thought" category embraces the church.
But I wish there were some legal foundation for revoking the license of the Roman Catholic Church to do business in specific localities where it has been proven systematically to aid and abet criminal behavior.
Forgive me, Uncle Sam, for they have sinned.
6
The only good news I can think of coming out of this crushing Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report is that perhaps it will cause Attorney Generals and District Attorneys all over the U.S. to consider convening a grand jury to discover if crimes against children have been rampant in their state or county. Thank God Pennsylvania had the guts to do it.
22
The language of fear is taking over a lot of institutions, and fear is the worst motivator for a political end. It's also the easiest.
The Catholic Church is afraid of financial losses, personnel losses, probably losses in the pews...
Their focus should be affirming the Catholic mission. They might say they are. A great many do every single day. But the leadership is shockingly bad at addressing the abuse scandal because of its infantile refusal to own up to it. There is no "lone actor" explanation. Even Wells Fargo did a better job addressing its own misconduct.
Preventing bad is not the same as championing good. I know there are Catholics crying out about the church's conduct, and for some reason we don't see much of that in these pages. But the damage control spin by the church is appalling.
So and so didn't know. So and so followed procedure. It wasn't so and so's job. There weren't as many priests as the media says.
Some priests even had the gall to question if the damage of abuse was so enormous. This is not the language of righteousness. It's the language of cowardice. It's the language of leadership refusing to lead.
Matthew 18:5 is Jesus himself offering a pretty horrible punishment to those who keep the children from him. Catholicism is NOT a faith of the ends justifying the means - Jesus left the flock to chase one black sheep. These priests are a disgrace, and it's shameful that so many of their colleagues care more about the office than its supposed goal.
4
How is it any other organization that harbors pedophiles or sexual criminals quickly becomes blacklisted and dismantled but the Catholic church remains untouched? The only way the Catholic church is going to survive is through its own parishioners holding the Church, its doctrine, and their own leaders accountable. Catholics needs to stop defending those who will implode their own faith and institution.
10
If you dare study the history of the Catholic Church, you will quickly discover that the corruption in the Church has been endemic for many hundreds of years. I do not believe it will change much.
Too many vested interests.
13
I am a recovering Catholic and even as a kid I couldn't get any straight answers to any questions I asked. of course the nun in Sunday school did not encourage questions.
For instance I didn't understand what "adultery" was and couldn't get any explanation. That was among the many questions not answered.
Tax exemptions for all religious organizations should be negated.
25
Sadly, Catholics hardly have a monopoly on pedophilia and other abuses against the weakest among us. Jehovah’s Witnesses had over 1000 abusers in Australia alone. In New York State, over 900 cases were recently turned over to the attorney general by a watchdog organization who laboriously collected data that church leaders refused to release. Court cases with publicized awards are just the tip of the iceberg as the majority of cases are settled out of court with non-disclosures in place.
JWs do not have celibate clergy, but they insist that their attorneys be contacted by church elders BEFORE authorities are contacted. Similar to Catholics, they want to determine an avenue of damage control.
As a result, they are paying out enormous undisclosed settlements, forcing the sell off of thousands of properties from under their parishioners to cover the costs. Other high control religions are also experiencing a backlash as victims are coming forward in record numbers.
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
In the USA, removal of tax exemption status would almost certainly weed out the worst offending religions, forcing them out of “business”.
Aggressive criminal prosecution of church leaders could help shine a bright light on the ones who seek to shield perpetrators.
Governmental mandates that remove the ability of religions to hide their data would also go a long way toward helping parishioners make informed choices about their membership.
27
It’s time to abolish the RCC and time to tax the churches.
30
I am a faithful Catholic, but I have no words. Pope Francis, please help us to understand this. Speak today and assure us that you will end this. Those who prey on innocence in persona Christi cannot expect to hide the monstrousness of their sin by appealing to the seal of confession. They must be denied forgiveness until they have admitted their crimes and turned themselves over to the authorities for punishment. It is not merciful to give forgiveness to a sinner who has not confronted his own sins, and it is certainly not just to make excuses and hide crimes simply to avoid embarrassment and scandal. I ask you earnestly, Holy Father, to let the light of God shine today on all the darkness in His Church and to purify it.
12
So many cite celibacy as one of the reasons that sexual predators have found such a safe haven in the Catholic Church, but how many nuns have committed such horrific acts of sexual abuse, much less have committed them all over the world and for uncountable decades? And yet, nuns are expected to live just as celibately.
It seems to me that celibacy itself is not at fault, but that there is something fundamentally perverse about any institution or culture that is predominantly male. Any male-dominated culture, from the Catholic Church to the armed services to the Boy Scouts to the entertainment industry, seems to attract, or to be a rich breeding ground, for sexual abusers, whether or not they are celibate societies. Why? Is the way men are raised? Is it the wider culture itself? Institutional patriarchy? Or is there just something terribly, essentially wrong with men?
18
The Christian message may be wondrous and good, but it’s high time for Priests to marry. They are supposed to be celibate, but too many are not and the priesthood provides a cover for unacceptable behavior. So what’s wrong with marriage anyway? It’s sad that after 2,000 years, there’s no seat at the Roman Catholic table for women; not in marriage nor in its priesthood. Time for a serious rethinking of rules, doctrine, or whatever...no?
8
The Media has to demand investigations of all Active Cardinals, especially Cardinal Dolan. No way did these guys not know what what going on, but more importantly, what did they know and when....how many perps were protected by them. We really have to have a National Judicial Inquiry into the current Cardinals.
16
As shocking as this is we should not be surprised. The prevalence of this and other types of abusive behavior is present among all groups gathered around dogma and power and absolute authority. We should do everything we can to stamp it out and punish those responsible. I’m not at all confident that we will ever succeed. Pinker describes the progress that has accrued through mans continued ascent and his statistics can give us skeptics some reason to pause. Pause is all it is. I am afraid we have missed the moment, our window of redemption. Too many of our institutions continue to be exposed, subject to greed, avarice, exploitation and cruelty. Pillars of faith secular and religious are failing to keep our demons contained. Yet still we pretend that modernity will flourish, economies will grow, goods will sell, the seasons will change. It is long past time to hold ourselves accountable for allowing ourselves to unconsciously trip through our days unobserving, pretending it’s all gonna be alright. It ain’t.
2
Could everyone please stop:
1. Assuming all the victims were boys. One-third of victims were girls. This does not get enough attention because of misogynist victim blaming and because of the homophobic equation of gay men with predators.
2. Assuming that abolishing celibacy would solve the problem. Nobody rapes because they’re denied sex. That is a rape culture myth. Note that being married did not stop Jerry Sandusky, or any number of child abusers in other religions or in secular institutions.
28
@nomidalamerda
Yes to both but deifying celibacy doesn't help. Humans have a sex drive. It would be nice if the Catholic church would stop shaming people for it.
4
This is the mere tip of the iceberg. The Catholic Church knows that if the full scope of their history of fomenting abuse, in some cases as part of their very doctrine, ever got out, they would be financially bankrupted and wiped out. Sexual abuse, while horrible, is but a small part of the overall history of abuse, endorsement of abuse, and cover up in the history of Catholic Church institutions. The mere fact that nuns are so subjugate to priests, that children were (and in some places, still are) beaten in Catholic institutions, that women in abusive situations were (and in some places, still are) told to remain with their abuser and be more submissive, is all indicative of a structure that is a disease rotting from the inside. The Catholic Church has failed for much of its history, including now, to protect those in its flock and in many cases has affirmatively attacked them. It no longer deserves to exist as an institution and should be broken up and rebuilt on the basis of the faith, not it's doctrinal power structure.
21
Why is anyone surprised by this? The Catholic Church is rotten to the core and exists purely to enrich itself and subjugate its followers by whatever means suits its leaders.
28
@Garry Taylor ..and furthermore it has a 2000 year track record to prove it.
11
This report has brought me immeasurable release from over 60years of feeling that no one believed that at the age of seven I was groped by a priest while attending a Catholic school. The nun that found me crying in the church after the incident told me I was mistaken about what had happened and calmly walked me back to class -- despite my missing panties. That this woman and my own mother refused to believe me was far more damaging than the original criminal act. The decades of cover up must end.
45
1000 in Pennsylvania = 50,000 nationwide. When does the rest of the reckoning come due?
14
For those who think this is just a few bad apples, please do some research. In every Catholic country in the northern hemisphere, this has been the pattern - abuse, deception, and cover-up locally, nationally and through the halls of Rome. It has been going on for centuries and these sick individuals preyed on those to whom they were supposed to minister. And if you think none of this is happening in South America or Africa, then you are delusional. This is the tip of the iceberg and just like our polar caps, once they melt the magnitude of their malfeasnce will be revealed. It is systemic and nothing but removing the statue of limitations , jailing every last person involved, including those involved in the cover up, removing the tax exemption of the church, allowing priests to marry, allowing women to be priests and getting the church out of the legislatures, will we ever see an end to these atrocities.
If as a society, we have to burn the current church to the ground metaphorically so that something honorable and decent can rise from the ashes , then so be it. When you choose to put the church before your flock, you lose all moral authority to dictate the outcome.
If there is a god, it is time for him/ her to revisit earth and set us straight. There is no excuse for this behavior.
24
The Genesis story - False.
The Virgin Birth - False.
Resurrection - False.
Life after death - False.
The Apostolic Succession - False.
Transubstantiation - False.
Papal Infallibility - False.
It's not surprising that the male "celibates" who have been dishing out these untruths for millennia turn out to be lying hypocrites.
Their dogmas stand in the way of families having the number of children that they choose.
Their dogmas stand in the way of reducing the threat of overpopulation.
And they put Galileo under house arrest and made him recant the Copernican solar system under threat of torture.
25
@Steve M
Odd Galileo specific grudge to hold onto
There is also no scientifically valid evidence to prove that the Jesus of the Bible, the namesake of Christianity, ever existed as an actual, real-world person. The virgin birth is a myth which may be an allusion to the fact that no such person was ever born.
6
@Rebecca b
Galileo is one of the true genius heroes of humanity. He was one of the giants upon whose shoulders Newton stood. He was one of the originators of modernity and he helped lead us out of the darkness into the light of scientific understanding.
The church hierarchy tried to suppress the truth that he had discovered. That suppression, motivated by dogma, can be seen for what it was from our 21st century point of view: powerful conformist religious fiction trying to crush independent thinking and the search for factual knowledge. It was the beginning of the battle that's still being waged against science and reality by various religious ideologues. So yes, it stirs my ire.
You may enjoy "Galileo's Daughter" by Dava Sobel. It's a good synopsis of his work and the church's obstruction.
3
Where are the comments from our elected officials concerned about children, crime, tax status?
12
Thoughts and prayers.
8
I was fortunate when attending catholic school and so were my sisters and brother. Our family moved from Providence to the suburbs. We were all sad to leave our church. Lucky us. My dad would drive us on Sunday afternoons to the shore and get chowder and clamcakes and orange sodas. We would watch the waves, the seagulls while we feasted on our lunch. Driving back we would gaze at the grand properties the Catholic Church owned along the ocean. We were the poorest in a large Polish family. Every week we gave our budget envelopes in, every raffle we sold and bought tickets, we ran errands for the nuns and priests. When we moved, because we lived so far from our new church my mother volunteered and held catechism for 40 children in our house every week. Years later my family asked if they could rent the hall at the church for a baby shower for me, they were not welcoming but eventually said yes. The hall was in such disarray . My mother and sisters cleaned it, and would not leave after our event until everything was spotless. As a child I loved the church. As I grew older the hypocrisy became too much. The wealth, the superior attitudes showed me the real God is inside me. Not in men , nor women. I will believe in Him. But can no longer adhere to the people who preyed on children , nor any other money making schemers.
20
The fact that Catholic priests committed these atrocities on innocent children is too difficult to comprehend. However, the "good" priests and bishops are equally to blame because they knew what was going on and did nothing about it over all these years. Shame on all of them!!
In addition, this report only covers a few dioceses in Pennsylvania. What about the rest of the country and the world?
The Catholic Church has lost its credibility as a moral compass at a time when this world is in desperate need of one.
12
Do not for one moment think this nightmare is limited to Pennsylvania or Boston. The Catholic Church has done more damage to children and young women and men than any legal institution in America, and certainly more lasting harm than any other organized religion operating here.
At the very least, Catholics should not be permitted to teach or manage schools for children until they can prove they've stopped their common practice of sexual assault, and stopped enabling and covering up felonious behavior. The Vatican's response disgusts me.
19
This article was published by the Global Post in September 2015:
“South America Has Become Safe Haven for Catholic Church’s Alleges Child Molesters”:
https://www.pri.org/stories/2015-09-17/south-america-has-become-safe-hav...
It seems that Catholic priests who have committed sexual abuses are now being transferred –by the church– to low-income neighborhoods in developing countries (at least at the time of publication of the article). I assume this is because there they can go on committing their crimes with impunity. After all, who cares about poor children living in poor countries? (They say that Jesus Christ did, but that was a long, long time ago and the church has moved on since then, apparently).
A more recent article on this subject, from this year:
“Catholic Church in Medellin protecting 17 pedophile priests: report”: https://colombiareports.com/catholic-church-in-medellin-protecting-17-pe...
@NYTimes: Can you please do some research and publish an article on this?
The church’s excuse is that the abuses in developed countries happened decades ago and that they have been cleaning house for some years now. Is cleaning house sending the abusers to the church’s backyard (i.e. developing countries where most of the church’s followers live nowadays)?
11
I am done.
23
Replace Catholic Church with McDonald's or with Walmart and you think they'd still be in business?? How somebody can walk around wearing a priest collar is beside me.
22
Financially bankrupt the morally bankrupt.
17
@M. Hogan Start with them paying their taxes.
5
Another shining moment for the Church. What else is new?
7
SHUT THEM DOWN! RCC is a foreign country with its HQ in the Vatican--Vatican City is recognised by the USGovt. and we appoint an ambassador there.
Abusive priests have attacked American citizens---just like terrorists---and Homeland Security should deport these agents (whether priests or Cardinals) of a foreign power
30
Celibacy is abnormal, considering our biological condition as humans. So, we should not be surprised that so many Catholic priests were unable to fight against their natural, hormonal desires, and, ultimately, satisfy themselves by molesting thousands of trusting, naive children, cloaking themselves in the guise of religion and as representatives of God. She is not pleased, and has a special place in Hades for these men and those complicit in covering up their crimes.
5
Why the Catholic Church or any religious organization is tax exempt is beyond me? Why as an atheist I should be forced to subsidize this criminal enterprise is beyond me?
It’s high time we as Americans remove religious institutions from the pedestal we have put them. Be they Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical of Jewish, all religious institutions care about is amassing wealth and power and forcing their intolerance and bigotry on society. They are worthy of neither praise or respect and certainly not a tax exemption. They are, in fact, a cancer on this country.
16
@Sterling - Atheist organizations are also tax exempt and allow to enjoy the public square as Atheists. I, as a Catholic am forced to subsidizes Atheist - at least by your logic. That is the societal pact our Constitutional structure requires of us. I am perfectly happy with it; then again I have been fortunate not to be imbued with the hate you so clearly express.
4
Enlightenment, reason and common sense tell us: There is no god. No Buddha, no Allah, no Zeus, no Apollo, no other shamelessly invented goddess.
So don't go spending time with people who tell you, that there is a god. Stay safe.
11
I wish it were JUST the Catholic church. ANY organization run exclusively by men....DANGER DANGER WILL ROBINSON!!!
13
Why is there a statute of limitations on any crime? Is murder the only exception? Rape is still rape, years or decades later. As are violent assault, robbery, embezzlement, any manner of white-collar crimes.
All the names need to be published. All must lose their pensions. I'd throw the lot of them in a nasty prison where they can meander among the general population. And if all the dioceses go bankrupt, fine.
Philadelphia must have more priests than all the other dioceses combined.
If this was my daughter or son that was "inappropriately touched" that priest would be meeting his maker much sooner than anyone imagined. Sometimes you need a little vigilante justice to push back against those that think they'll never be called to account for their heinous actions.
14
It's not the only reason, but when you deny your clergy legitimate marriage - you attract the perverse and tempt others into perversion. This must lay at the feet of the institution.
6
@SDC -hmm. Jerry Sandusky was a happily married man, his wife testified so. You don't understand the problem of child sex offenders. There are a 1,000 of them on the New York State sex offenders registry right now. Don't think any of them were celibate.
8
When is your church adoption safe guidelines for children? (like the boyscouts have, for example).
If your church doesn't have that, you can be sure there is abuse going on right now.
3
If the priests cannot marry, the church is bucking the odds that there is going to be more homosexuality among higher ups. The is an obvious result.
1
Pope Francis needs to reconsider the marriage prohibition. The sexual abuses occurred everywhere, any time.
It's nonsense that the problem lies with the celibacy requirement. Hundreds of thousands of holy people of both genders throughout the world maintain lifetime vows of celibacy without becoming pedophiles. On another note, though, does anyone else find it interesting that most of these pedophile scandals involve AMERICAN men? What is it with men? And what is it with Americans? And yes, the Catholic church is despicable for their boy's club cover-ups and failure to atone for these ongoing sins. These kids' lives are forever ruined for ongoing generations. The damage is exponential. It is, simply, unforgivable. Oh wait, I forgot -- Catholics get to be absolved of their sins through confession. So, no problem. Just say a couple Hail Marys and carry on with the abuse and lies. This is so upsetting.
5
@Heidi
I doubt this is limited to American priests. It was probably going on in the Middle Ages.
3
This is just one state. We know about Boston. In California, the Los Angeles Archdiocese alone paid out $660 million in child molesting claims. Many dioceses throughout the U.S. filed bankruptcy because of this.
Looking at Pennsylvania and assuming we would find similar results in most of the other states, has the United States in its history ever experienced a greater calamity of crimes against children? I'm not a historian, but I'm going to guess no.
As an American citizen, I'm ashamed that we give tax-exempt status to this sex cult.
10
So awful.
How can this not be considered a RICO case? You have an organization whose members repeatedly committed crimes, and their superiors obstructed justice by covering it all up. That's the way a corrupt or racketeering-influenced outfit operates.
Abolish celibacy; institute accountability.
13
Most people don't realize what a "vow of celibacy" is. It is NOT a vow of sexual purity. The priests do NOT promise to be sexually pure - they do not promise to abstain from sexual activity - they do not promise to keep their hands off of little boys. A vow of celibacy is ONLY a promise not to marry - that's it.
That's why the church can say, "these men haven't broken their vow" - and hence move them from church to church - boy to boy.
If the church was really concerned with protecting it's members, the priests would be men of character - and not simply be those who would promise not to marry. Their system has this loop-hole built in on purpose.
7
When it comes to sexual predators, the Catholic Church does not have a monopoly. There are more than enough predators to go around among the Evangelicals, Baptists and Mormons to name a few. The difference is that the latter denominations are better at hiding it or spinning it.
11
@Jacob K - I think you are somewhat correct, however the other organizations you mentioned have each on their turn had all the same scandals. Along with the public and private schools, Scouting, day camps, YMCA, Children's Social services organizations, and the local playgrounds and day care centers - on and on. No one or organization has been exempt from the plague of predators that are among us. Not to say religious organization do not deserve a special condemnation; but society as a whole did not handle these situations correctly in the past much the same way abuse of women was just laughed at until very recently in our society.
3
At the highest level, the Catholic Church needs to revisit the policy of mandating priests be unmarried.
This policy made sense in the past as a way to reinforce the separation of the powerful church from the local ruling families.
Instead, what has happened is that the Catholic Church has become a magnet for de facto NAMBLA members. This should come as no surprise.
If the Church permitted married priests, the priesthood would become a more attractive "job opportunity" for men of faith. This would have three positive impacts:
1. It would increase the priest population who steady decline has been a long-term problem for the Church.
2. The population of molesting priests would go down. Many molesting priests joined the Church because they could feel safe being among their kind. Having to interact with these married priests who would not share their predilection, these molesters would feel there is much less safety in the priesthood and thus are less enticed to join.
3. It's a simple public relations move: The laity sees that the Church is being active in taking a stance against molestation and modernizing. This can attract new congregants.
Seriously, the Church needs to do something serious for its very survival. "Thoughts and prayers" for the victims in a Church that does nothing substantial to change as much efficacy as "thoughts and prayers" due for future victims of gun violence in an uncaring gun industry. The "NRA" within the Church governance needs to change.
9
It never made sense, and since it was instituted around 800 AD it only served one purpose: prevent dilution of the material possessions of the church through inheritance.
5
I'll try again to get the information posted, that the article leaves out.
In families where there's incest, it's more common that mommy knows (more than 50% of moms know) that daddy is raping their daughter, than it is that mommy is truly in the dark.
Carry this over to the church, and one could imagine that more than 50% of every person associated with the Catholic Church knew the abuse was happening, and did nothing, said nothing, and felt no responsibility to the children to stop the abuse.
THOSE STATISTICS are the hallmark of a family and organization where one person/set of people have installed themselves as "the all-powerful master(s)" and all others understand that they have no power and no support, so they go along with whatever the people in power tell them to accept.
The children were raped, and the families were robbed of their power to stop it.
Kind of makes one question the validity of the church.
To follow the Bible means many things to many people, but at no place in the Bible will you find a passage that gives anyone the right to rape a child, so it's a bit difficult to see how the Catholic Church continues to exist.
8
Is it safe to assume another 1,000 in New York? And in New Jersey? How about NM, TX, Florida, and so on, ad nauseam?
4
@Luis Londono Not only safe, but probably a considerable underestimate of the actual scope.
4
@Luis Londono
50,000, just assuming 1000/State
and then consider, a group the Catholic's specifically targeted, Native American children.
Over 60,000 Native American children were in boarding schools in 1925,
and over 60,000 Native American children were in boarding schools in 1970,
and I don't know how many boarding schools were run by Catholics, but if one assumes half of them were, then possibly as many as:
(45 years * 60,000 children)/2 =
1, 350,000 Native American children
abused and neglected by the Catholic Church!
If only 1/4 of the boarding schools were run by Catholics, then the estimate is:
675,000 Native American children
abused and neglected by the Catholic Church,
over 45 years, which is still:
15,000 Native American children
abused and neglected by the Catholic Church/year.
Those are staggering numbers!
2
What a horrible shame. My heart breaks for the victims and the lives so drastically affected by this. i hope attention like this report and the #MeToo movement, by shining a light into these very dark corners, helps victims heal, and eventually helps bring an end to child sexual abuse and the institutions that enable its perpetrators.
3
Until this church gets it act together stop worrying about abortion. What right do you have to prevent women from dealing with their own bodies when your priests (etc) commit this level of abuse. Whether god said this (hic) is upsurd given these
terrible crimes. An institution of men should worry about themselves, which they have failed to do!
10
The solution to the problem of sexual predation by Catholic priests is absolutely obvious: the Church must end its policy of celibacy of the clergy. If an investigation of 6 diocese in Philadelphia revealed 300 predator priests and 1000 victims, there can be no doubt that a similar percentage of predator priests and molested victims can be found in every Catholic diocese in the US, and in every country. The molestation of Catholics by Catholic priests has undoubtedly been practiced for two thousand years. Only now has it been revealed factually to the general public. Yet, the church continues to hold on to this irrational policy that defies Man’s sexual nature. There is no reason to imagine that sexual molestation by priests will stop in the future. Thus, the church becomes a criminal organization conspiring to continue sexual predation by priests.
3
So is this why Sessions created the "religious liberty task force" to combat churches that do this or to protect them?
5
And the Catholic Church continues to discriminate against Gay Marriage and a Woman's Right to Choose, even their right for Birth Control.
They have no Moral Superiority ... their mission is Control of the Flock and Money.
10
Perhaps it is high time for all men/women seeking to wear the cloth to be subject to some sort of psychological testing to see if they have a propensity for pedophilia before being able to work with children. It seems the only way to get to the bottom of these messes. Insofar as the way the Church has dealt with the problems in the past, well it is also high time that those who handled it so poorly by moving the guilty around like chess pieces be prosecuted as well as those who were guilty of the crime in the first place; they are just as complicit as they simply put the lion in another den to do damage to yet another set of unsuspecting children. The shame of it all, they knew exactly what they were doing. Most everyone, Catholic most of us, say, clean house now. They all deserve to be in jail. What does Pope Francis have to say about all this?
1
As a point of clarification, some of us in the Anglican tradition consider ourselves Catholic. Perhaps it would be best if this story line cited the Roman Catholics as the perpetrators.
3
Ordained Catholic bishops and priests learn the ways of the church in boot camp, the seminary. There is a smug self-congratulations they give themselves for supposed sacrifices. They confuse their role with God's and interpose themselves between God and the non-ordained. The church has falsely believed itself to be a perfect society. Therein begins the problem. The church can't be transparent, nor confess its sins, nor readily change, nor even be human while seeking the divine. Truth and reconciliation are not for the ordained. I have an image of dripping file cabinets in diocesan offices...dripping with secrets of sexual abuse for decades, if not centuries. The bishops and staffs don't even notice the stench of the fetid, shameful, vile realities just down the hall. That alone is a testimony to their disconnection from the central message of faith, hope and love. Jesus pointed out the presence of whitened sepulchers, surely constants in bureaucratic, insular diocesan offices.
1
At countless High Schools across the Country,a small percentage of male coaches, teachers, administrators, etc. have hit on teen girls and lost their jobs, and rightly so. This is quite common. It is much more rare for a teacher to actually molest a young child.
In the Catholic Church 80-90% or more of the cases involved homosexual priests going after teen boys who have reached puberty. Psychology Today did a piece on this some years ago. There are relatively few cases of priests going after small children.
So abolishing the celibacy requirement and having a married priesthood will not solve the problem. In NYC there were a number of incidents involving married Rabbi's.
2
As a visual artist, I work for few years now, on a project dealing with child sexual abuse, "badrooms", using dolls and stories. In 100 boxes, short sentences - testimonies, are handwritten, dolls are pinned, thus similar to butterflies. These dolls are giving back their voices to the victims of sexual abuse, changing symbolically their victim role to a survivor one. This project was censored in 2017 in an Unitarian church in Lexington (....but lives online as "What happened at the church" on my website)
I'm more than ever infuriated by the impunity of priests, the cover up of these stories, and saddened by all the destroyed lives.
Dear survivors, keep fighting, keep telling, keep sharing your stories. Keep hope that this will allow to have less kids suffering from such abuse, since informing, telling, empowering and putting things in the light, will increase the awareness of the horrific abuse and its scale.
2
My parents took me to church in the 70's & 80's. As I found out in 80's, really more out of obligation than firm belief in the church anymore. I don't hold it against them taking me to church each Sunday. It was a nice routine even if I hardly paid attention.
Today, I held up the newspaper to my 16 y.o. & 13 y.o. and said...."this is why we have never taken you to church." It's now sad old news, but at their age, they should know history so that they can protect themselves and their future families.
I pass by my old church and note the memorial "to all the unborn babies"....a specific reference to the abortion debate. I wonder if they will ever put up a memorial to "all the people the church & its members have harmed, for decades." I won't hold my breath that they do that....and they certainly shouldn't hold their breath expecting any of us will ever come back.
11
Thank God for the internet. Without the internet, the church would just be doing business as usual. Ship the abusive priests off to another parish in another state, to do the same things to the new children there. The priests loved it. New blood.
The internet has erased that protection for the priests, bishops and cardinals. The church is, basically, doomed. The days of the church having any meaning in people's lives is fast approaching the end. When was the last time you heard a new church or school was going up, because the need was so great?
Pennsylvania is just the tip of the iceberg. This will keep coming up in state after state. Mothers will be afraid to send their kids to a Catholic school. Forget about becoming an altar boy or girl. These revelations will become worldwide. too. Clergy, you cannot run & hide anymore. The internet will find you as victims communicate.
6
I’m not catholic but even I got excited when Francis was elected. I pray he is the man to take this on.
2
They really must take after their prophet.
From the Secret Gospel of Mark:
"And straightway, going in where the youth was, he stretched forth his hand and raised him, seizing his hand. But the youth, looking upon him, loved him and began to beseech him that he might be with him. And going out of the tomb they came into the house of the youth, for he was rich. And after six days Jesus told him what to do and in the evening the youth comes to him, wearing a linen cloth over his naked body. And he remained with him that night, for Jesus taught him the mystery of the kingdom of God."
1
Counsel is correct. The church has protected its institution at all costs. Showing a complete disdain for victims, the church has within the last 10 years moved most if not all their assets into protected judgment proof entities so they are unreachable by plaintiffs in any action for damages. Piercing the "corporate veil" will be difficult.
3
I'm a cradle Catholic and still believe in the beauty of the theology of RCC.
But I also believe if women were in positions of authority in the Church perhaps this abuse scandal would not have been as devastating. The Penn State sexual abuse case went on with men "in charge" as well. I believe Paterno knew there was a serial predator in his ranks but looked the other way as Sandusky abused possibly a thousand vulnerable boys-- but given that Penn State is a secular institution where "winning is everything" I can see how they would ignore the pain and cries of the young as it simply was not their priority to protect children. PSU was about winning football games and making money.
But the Catholic Church's supposed purpose is to support, nurture and spiritually guide young and old. Ignoring the pain and suffering of so many? Its unfathomable. That money played a role makes me even more disgusted.
2
The next diocese that needs to be examined carefully is Buenos Aries. Today, the Pope remained silent on the report from Pa. He didn't pray for the 1000 victims. In January, he accused the victims in Chile of lying and maligning the innocent priests. Chile is much too close to Argentina for his comfort. His first act as Pope was a visit to Cardinal Law, so it was obvious that this scandal is meaningless to him, maybe until he gets entangled in its web. He won't be the first Pope to resign.
6
The Roman Catholic Church has always protected its own. This is nothing new.
The Church made a saint of a man (Thomas Becket) who thought that, if a member of the clergy committed a crime, it should be dealt with by the church, not the secular courts. Sweeping serious offenses under the rug is something with which the Church has lengthy experience.
3
My maternal grandmother had little respect for the church, and no one was surprised when the young, idealistic priest who joined the parish when I was growing up got the head of the young woman's rosary society pregnant and left the church. The sad thing is that much of this probably could have been avoided had the Catholic Church not forced its priests to remain celibate. Divorce is far healthier than child abuse.
4
If celibacy were the issue, priests would be having affairs with women. This problem is a culture of openly gay men in the priesthood--cherry-pick examples, but the truth is that the majority of offenses are same sex.
1
I’ve had the displeasure of reviewing several dozen priest files in one diocese and two archdioceses. There was a pattern: the priests were not fit for the job. They were generally low achievers, lousy seminary students, and in some cases were only saved from dismissal by what seemed to be desperation.
I now have the pleasure of knowing several seminarians and young priests in my diocese. The vocations director was successful in the outside world before taking Holy Orders. He recruits only the best. Our seminarians are all student with excellent preparatory backgrounds. They receive *extensive* psychiatric evaluations. They are out among the people. They are tossed out of the program for what might be considered picayune reasons to some, or for any academic failing. There is a unbelievable degree of accountability demanded by our bishop. We’d rather close parishes and churches than ordain any man who poses even the slightest risk to a child.
And guess what? My diocese, by refusing to lower its standards after once doing so to great detriment, is ordaining record numbers of good, holy men priests. They are out doing good in the world.
Does the Church have a very long, long way to go? Yes. Absolutely. Many, many sins must be atoned for. Many men — including some wearing purple and red — must be dismissed from the clerical state. But the Church will survive. And it will, hopefully in my lifetime but if not then someday, again be a beacon of good in our broken world.
5
I’m starting to get the feeling that the reason Pope Francis was elected was so he could throw off the critics of the church by being relatively progressive about various issues and make stirring humanitarian pronouncements - all meant to serve as a distraction from its continued unwillingness to fully face up to the sex abuse scandal which it knew full well was far from over. And it’s a strategy that’s working, because had this shoe dropped during the tenure of a less personally popular Pope who has such a strong following in Latin America this might have spelled the end of the Vatican. It’s obvious this scandal is bigger than any individual Pope and that there are lines Francis couldn’t cross even if he wanted to, and it’s not completely evident that he does. They’re going to count on this blowing over and it’s up to the world to make sure it doesn’t.
4
@James Jacobs It's the end for the Vatican no matter who the figurehead is. It's now just a matter of when, not if.
2
As of now Francis has said "no comment" on the report. I imagine that will change over the days.
I realize that it is inconvenient and costly for parishes to deal appropriately with priests who are sex offenders, but just as they instruct women with unplanned or dangerous pregnancies to bear up and make sacrifices the Catholic church should bear up and make sacrifices to protect children from abusive clergy.
4
I had the misfortune of being raised catholic by parents who did not have religion but felt it important to raise their children with an organized religion. I think I was 11 years old before the hypocrisy of the catholic church became clear to me (I was very smart for my age). I became ill whenever I was forced to attend a catholic mass. Back in the nineteen fifties, children were kind of forced by the public school system to attend religious class once a week.
Since that time I have learned about the abuses that were rampant in catholicism. So many people have died or been murdered in the name of the church. The abuse of children is one of the most egregious offenses. The brainwashing of so many is probably without precedent.
The fact that the church continues to exist is very troubling. It was responsible for the Spanish Inquisition; when it was done with the Knights Templar, it did its best to murder all of them. It murdered so many people who had beliefs that differed from theirs -- the pagans, the druids, etc. That it still exists today is mind boggling. I am an old woman but I hope to see the destruction the catholic church in my lifetime.
5
Murdering people for differing beliefs was frequently a cover for actually murdering them to acquire their money and property. But they were murderers on a grand scale. Popes, Crusaders, Inquisitors had that special knack. The chaos they created is still with us today.
Any reason the other dioceses won't have the same story? It seems time for the Catholic priesthood to welcome married men or women. And it is certainly time to end the abuse and coverups. Punishment of the church (requiring homeless shelters funded by the church?) is a good idea. Who is in charge? The top man, yes, the Pope, should face charges. I think this was the ENTIRE church, not just Philidelphia.
2
What shocked me about this story the most from the beginning was that the hierarchy would rather protect the institution than the children. However, molestation of minors and protection of the institution at all costs is not exclusive to the Catholic Church. Clergy of other religions can also be implicated. How they can claim to have any moral authority at all over the rest of us is a mystery.
6
I agree with other that have suggested that every victim sue the church.
The artificial limit on filing a regular lawsuit is long past.
What if every victim took the church to Small Claims Court, and ask for current damages?
The Catholic Church doesn't have the money to hire lawyers or mobilize their staff to attend 1000's and 1000's of claims of $5000 dollars each, in every State's Small Claims Court.
Maybe your claim is rejected, or maybe not, and then no one from the Church shows up, and you win!
Death by Small Claims Court, is still death to the church.
2
Hello,
I appreciate this report a lot; it's needed when holding figures of power in religious institutions accountable for the horrendous misdeeds they've covered up.
I have one small criticism; the report states one person victim to these misdeeds "commited suicide." I've seen it reported elsewhere that mental health professionals who study suicide prefer the term "died by suicide." These people did not commit a crime but rather succumbed to mental health issues. Studies have found high correlations between mental health issues and suicide attempts. Hopefully, the style guidelines will be updated to reflect this. https://m.huffingtonpost.ca/arthur-gallant/talking-about-suicide_b_78495...
Other than that, thank you for this report. Keep up the star journalism!
2
My religion? The Golden Rule. So simple. Sometimes so hard to follow. But I keep trying.
My church? Every Sunday I make supper for somebody. Most often it is for my elderly father who can't leave the nursing home.
Sometimes it is for my sweet children and grandchildren who are heaven sent. Sometimes it is just for me my hubby - who is a blessing to me.
"Organized" religion? Organized for who? And for what? I never understood why all of the rules, the hierarchy, the power struggles, the money, the grotesque buildings, the shaming, the exclusion. Doesn't work for me and never has.
Just be nice. That's a religion, right there.
18
My in-laws are devout catholics. My wonderful sister-in-law, when she was working at the church, hung a rainbow flag up to support my husband and I. Now her focus is on anti-hunger programs and the whole family is involved. We cannot lose focus on the good Christians doing good work and leading very honorable lives. I say this as a happy agnostic. I say it also because the only Christians we ever read about are child molesters and holier than thou evangelicals. Also because people in religious communities need to know that there are better churches to belong to if yours is not truly Christian. What these unholy priests did is clear and reprehensible. But the flock is not nearly so judgeable.
2
I am a victim of sexual abuse. Even if you feel you know all about this ugly topic, take the time to peruse excerpts from the Grand Jury report. There has never been such a comprehensive study in America, and it should be shocking to us all.
Then, here are things we all can do now:
1) Work to make sure each state eliminates the statute of limitations for prosecuting allegations of sexual assault of minors.
2) Make sure that legislation includes severe penalties for those who were aware of the abuse and did not report it to the police.
3) Circulate the grand jury report to Catholics you know and love as required reading. Emphasize that this wide scale sexual abuse has been tolerated for so long that no diocese is exempt.
4) Educate yourself about the insidious, manipulative practice by predators of "grooming," which in Catholic communities can look like pastoral care of entire families. Tell others, tell your children, discuss it, watch for it.
5) If you are Catholic, you need to confront your priests and the church hierarchy. You should demand that no priest, whether innocent or guilty, be allowed to be alone-- ever -- with children, until the Church can prove that it does not have pedophiles working in the Church, in any capacity.
8
As long as priests, either male or female, convince church members that they are sinners and that they need forgiveness by way of the priests, this will go on. There is a fundamental problem here, and it is larger than the celibacy requirement. When you "lord it over" young children and tell them they need to be forgiven for "their sins," while you are abusing them, the children will grow up to be deeply damaged. When children are told they should not tell because it is their own fault ("sin"), then many of them will continue not to tell--they are either frightened or brainwashed. The whole foundation of religions that want people to feel inferior to certain other people who have direct or indirect access to a (vengeful) god *is* the problem.
3
@Hope Well played!
1
How can a priest love god and fail to love children?
2
I knew a young man who had been sexually abused from the ages of 8 to 14. He eventually killed himself. The priest was moved to the Vatican. The church has no honor. It gets no respect from me. And now it is meddling in politics which should make it a taxable entity. Telling other people how to live when they themselves are filthy should drive people away from the church but it doesn't. Apparently pederasty is fine with the faithful. Not with me.
24
@Sharon Conway “and now it’s meddling in politics.....”
Really? Now it’s meddling in politics?
Ever hear of John F Kennedy?
Didn’t you know that for more than a century, almost all Catholics were working-class Democrats?
And that they always voted?
And that after Roe vs Wade, they switched to Republicans?
And that they’ve Always been highly involved in politics?
1
I was raised in a family of Evangelical Christians on my mother’s side, devout Catholics on the other. Stories like this and the election of a man as morally reprehensible as Donald Trump (who both sides of my family fervently supported) make one thing clear: Followers of Jesus Christ have utterly lost the moral high ground.
31
@Lee Larson That's perhaps much too broad a brush.
According to a 2014 study cited in the Washington Examiner, 7 out of 10 felons are registered Democrats.
Can we therefore say, "one thing is clear - members of the Democratic Party have utterly lost the high ground"?
Probably not.
3
@Lee Larson You can't lose something that you never had to begin with.
1
Lee Larson,
The Catholics and Christians I know are some of the finest people I have ever met. I am acquainted with some atheists and they are pretty nasty individuals. My point is that there is good and bad in society but I would like to think that most people are good.
1
If the catholic church was a fast food restaurant chain whose employees molested children it would have been forced out of business years ago; it’s assets ceased and distributed to the victims, all its buildings raised and turned to play grounds and other uses that benefit the victims. Any priest with a shred of conscience should immediately resign in protest. Any catholic with a shred of conscience should stop supporting this institution of evil.
17
All priests are share blame because all knew that children were being sexually abused by their co workers yet all kept their mouth shuts rather than calling the police and stopping the madness. The danger of split loyalties.
5
In the 1980s, I was seated at a wedding next to a Catholic seminarian.
The subject somehow got steered toward sex. After too many of his inquiries, I asked about the celibacy requirement.
He said, ‘As long as it doesn’t come between me and God, then homosexual sex and masturbation are acceptable.’
I couldn’t make heads or tails from the response back then. But I think I understand it all too well now. If you can rationalize it in your own head, then anything goes.
7
This is an immoral organization corrupt to its core. It is a magnet for pedophiles. It attracts men who outwardly detest homosexuals but are themselves closeted gay men. It is beyond redemption. It should be abolished.
Why any moral would want to belong is beyond my comprehension.
I was raised a catholic, fortunately I was not abused. I have not been a catholic for a very long time and am a better person because of it.
15
@Mark
your post resonates with me, thank you.
Allowing priests to marry and not be celibate won’t solve any problems because it would force the many priests who are gay to come out of the closest which is a big no no in Catholicism. The priest hood was traditionally and historically the only way a man could remain unmarried and live with other men. To this day men who become priests are often doing it as a form of sexual suppression they learned is the only option for a homosexual sinner to live a normal life. I’m not saying gay people are inherently more likely to abuse children I’m just saying that allowing them to have children and partners would just force the church to come out with the hypocritical truth that everyone has known for a long time.
3
The Catholic Church, as an institution, is composed of living, breathing people. Many of those people wear frocks or other costumes to mark themselves off as holy people. Many if not all of them are not holy people. How can you be holy and enforce patriarchy, devoutly believe in nonsense, or be an aggressive and lying bigot on gay marriage, for example? Many are shameless criminals -- predators themselves, or facilitators or protectors of the predators, all the way to the rotten top of the institution. The rest say nothing. Where are the thousands of clerical voices loudly, publicly, and firmly denouncing the criminality of the Church? Cowards and charlatans is who they are, when not also being criminals.
The institution runs on aggressively posing as the authority on moral rectitude. The brazen disjuncture between this pose and the vile reality handily outstrips, for example, the disjuncture between the Republican party poses of rectitude (economics, healthcare, patriotism...) and the truth of their parasitic, fraudulent, and cowardly selves.
Many tens of millions of people support the Republican party and/or Trump. It should come as no surprise then that the Catholic Church similarly has, despite everything, a broad consistent base of support. The mass psychology on display before our eyes -- if only you have eyes to see, and many of tens of millions don't -- is a deeply depressing fact about humanity. It is not clear that we will ever evolve to be better.
9
The money and power of the Catholic Church has hidden and therefore supported a pedophile ring for 70 years here in America and across the globe. The work of the law officials of Pennsylvania is to be commended for their pursuit of the truth and the exposure of this gross abuse of children.
While the 'current' Catholic Church has a zero tolerance policy, this does not absolve the Church from current efforts to secret their abusers from accountability.
The American Catholic Church needs to stop the protection racquet still functioning and start a more complete and substantial public reckoning. The horrendous abuses need to be addressed in a court of law. The Church needs to stop hiding behind faith and let itself be treated as any other institution in our society where such scope of abuse would not be tolerated.
I hope Rome is watching. The Pope can't and shouldn't hide either. If the Catholic Church wishes to remain as a faith worthy of welcoming people into it's flock, they need to end their international criminal enterprise, become totally transparent and allow the full power of the judicial process to move forward.
1
Something about the Catholic church organization encourages sexual perverts to join up and feel safe attacking the innocent in their flock. What a perversion of Christianity! The Catholic church, throughout the ages, has done more than any other group to turn humanity away from religion.
3
I'm no fan of the Church's hierarchy. In fact, I'm no fan of any of God's Prattlers be they priests, imams, rabbis or the High Poobah of Totem.
That said, a little math might put things into perspective. 1000 / 70 = 14.29 per year. Current child abuse statistics (2001-2013) show that 63,000 children a year were victims of sexual abuse of which 34% were under the age of 12 and 66% between the ages of 12 and 17. These statistics reflect the accepted psychological distinction between pedophilia and ephebophilia (adolescent sex) -- a distinction which too often gets ignored either by the press and groups with agendas.
Most countries outside the highly puritanical Anglo-American sphere accept that post pubescent adolescents are sexually curious and active. They do not always confine their curiosity to their own "appropriate" age group. France's president Macron was having a "relationship" at age 15 with his very senior teacher. For some reason the press thought this was *charmant* while Milo Yanopoulos got run out of town for stating that, at the legal age of consent (14), *he* had initiated sex with his priest.
Human conduct is fraught with ambiguities. It is not automatically the case that every adult who has some kind of sexual affair with an adolescent is a heartless, calculating predator. I accept that bishops put the Church's reputation before any real concern for victims. That is indictment enough. Otherwise judgement should not be based on speculation.
2
@Chip
If you're going to make valid mathematical comparisons, you need to be a bit more careful with your starting data. 1000 is just in Pensylvannia. 63,000 is for the entire US.
Just attempted to email the 2 Bishops in the Scranton Diocese, all directories have been scrubbed, except for their donation page. Cowards! Bishop Tomlinson, when in personal fraught, plays abortions. Hypocrite!
18
I was an altar boy from 5th grade to 8th grade 1974-78. Also, don’t forget many priest we’re dealing drugs from the church Rectory. Believe me I saw it all and then some!
9
@KM I believe you. Three of my male friends in the seventies were groomed by a priest. He invited them after school to the rectory where he supplied them cigarettes and beer. We grew up in a very blue collar neighbourhood and these boys would never tell their parents they drank beer and smoked with the priest because they would have got into trouble. This sealed their fate. The priest sexually abused them. None of us had the language or a culture that even talked about sexual abuse then. There was a silence around this for years. Later all three boys became addicts. One has been in and out of jail. All I know is that priest was moved to another location after a few years.
5
The number of comments is well over 1,000, and the victims' comments are so heart-wrenching. Almost as powerful are the calls for boycotting the Catholic Church. Truly that is the only way to shut this horror down, because the Catholic hierarchy is most worried about that: the end of their meal tickets, no more grandiose rectories, or lavish convents for the nuns who remained silent, schools that have become torture chambers for these children, money going to priests' "therapists." It doesn't mean you have to turn away from your faith. Faith is not about a place or a revenue stream. Stop putting money in the envelopes every Sunday. Stop giving to the "heating fund"; the "capital campaign", the "Lenten" collection, the "Christmas flower fund." All of it is a slush fund for the pedophile defense and/or to support the hubris of this ridiculous institution. A few years ago, CCS Fundraising consultants (who work with many Catholic schools) asked me to work on a fundraising campaign for my high school, Archbishop Prendergast in suburban Philadelphia. After repeatedly asking CCS whether any funds raised would go to defend criminal priests, the consultant asserted that where the money goes should be none of my concern. Of course, I declined support. Until there is restitution for the victims, jail for the perpetrators, and boycott of businesses who aid and abet them, rest assured that money given to the Catholic Church is funding pedophiles.
17
Will the Catholic church ever admit and take responsibility for the sins of the father ? Stomach churning how many people knew and did nothing enabling them to repeat their abuse ; makes a mockery of what is supposed to be the church of Christ . These men should have been defrocked and turned over to the law of men and then perhaps children would have been safe . I can only imagine the lasting damage done to their psyche .
8
Richard Sipe deserves the honor of sainthood.
5
1,000 ,one thousand, really? nice round number. Lets just say 1,000.
The victims want an exact count with names. Each individual victim want to see where their lives are counted. They want to see the Priest and their victims with an exact count.
3
'But several bishops, including Bishop David A. Zubik of Pittsburgh, rejected the idea the church had concealed abuse.
“There was no cover-up going on,” Bishop Zubik said in a news conference on Tuesday. “I think that it’s important to be able to state that. We have over the course of the last 30 years, for sure, been transparent about everything that has in fact been transpiring.” '
1. This shows that the leaders of the Catholic Church are still in denying, "save Mother Church from scandal" mode.
2. Why didn't the TImes's reporters question Bishop Zubik about his obviously inaccurate statement, given the grand jury report's documenting a woeful lack of transparency "over the course of the last 30 years"?
12
It is time humanity at large passed sanctions against this religion for burning people at stack, forcing pregnant women to die rather save them by allowing abortion and above all abusing children. Those wh still want to continue clinging to this outdated Christian sect do not deserve any better treatment.
1
If the PA legislature does not extend the statute of limitations for these crimes they are effectively complicit. These priests belong in prison. What kind of criminal organization defends such monsters from punishment?
17
Someone wrote:
"Let us not forget that those evil priests form a very small portion of the whole body of the church. Still the Catholic church and its priests are behind lots and lots of great work for humanity."
This is typical of people who are too weak-minded and ethically challenged to stand up to wrong doing. Sorry, that does not excuse their criminal activity. Any company that did such a thing would be put out of business. The Catholic Church should also be put out of business. The "good" priests can start a new church without the corrupt and criminal "leadership" they have now. Anyone still supporting the Catholic Church is properly considered to be aiding and abetting their criminal activity.
10
Hear no evil, see no evil, prosecute no evil. There can be no clearer example of the corrupting influence of power than the collusion of the church and government to deny sexual abuse victims justice! These vile creatures should be rotting in prison, period! End of story!
6
Nuns do it too. Sr. Rita Worm, St. Mary Magdalene, Metairie, LA, ca. 1980’s. Sadistic and sanctimonious to the core. I’m in my 40’s and just beginning to understand the trauma she inflicted.
10
What a surprise.......can keep their hands to themselves.
There you have it folks.
Organized religion at its best!
What a joke.
1
@There
Actually.. mankind and false religion at its worst.
time to toss this lot as far away from the faithful as possible, these crimes suggest where they should, end up.
the church has, from the beginning been corrupt, it is an institution that has rather exploited than served its faithful, protecting itself, as in this case, form just about every challenge to its authority and control.
bishop gainer is still at it while former retired coverup cardinal roger mahoney still lives in comfort and takes the altar in st charles borromeo in north hollywood, ca.
if there ever was/is a place for zero tolerance, this is it.
2
If you went to catholic schools, you're probably familiar with the 'holy card', which depicted jesus or various saints. As a very young child, I always was uncomfortable with how the jesus holy card looked, a man sitting, presumably on a rock in the outdoors, legs splayed and arms wide open, gathering very young children around him, including to the wide space between his legs, but seldom actually on his lap. I remember thinking this was not how my dad, who often read books to us in the evening, sat with us kids, not how we would sit on his lap when the tears came, not how we held his hand while walking. There were many ways my dad was a kind and loving father, but none of them were legs splayed and children gathering to lean against him. This did always disturb me, and as an adult I see these holy cards as recruiting posters for pedophiles.
5
A fundamental problem of the high priests of the church (as well as other temples of other faiths) is that religion eschews skepticism and inquiry. No one wants to ask the evidence basis for their precepts, because there are none.
Our young must be trained and encouraged to ask a simple question: Why?
But no, a major populace swallows without chewing the concept that Trump is our Dear Leader, and priests are above human faults. Look at the mess, the despoilment of our country, and trashing of our democratic virtues.
Simply put, teaching religion to the young is child abuse.
2
@Victor Mark
A prime example of reductio ad absurdum.
1
I cannot imagine what the worldwide numbers of abused catholic children might be and what is being done to stop this problem in other Nations. Does the Church continue to be one of prayer, oppression, and abuse? Who would represent it at a press conference?
2
As the horrendous and pervasive sexual abuse by Catholic priests was reported, a female longtime guidance counselor in a Catholic high school in Indianapolis was revealed by a vindictive parishioner to have married another woman. She was immediately placed on leave for having violated the church's teachings and told that she must dissolve her marriage, resign, or be fired. In 2011 another Catholic high school fired a teacher for undergoing in vitro fertilization, again for having violated the church's teachings. Yet priests inflicting lifelong physical and emotional pain on children, sometimes resulting in their untimely deaths, is concealed and goes unpunished. Somehow sexually abusing children does not violate church teaching? The Catholic church has some strange priorities.
22
Same old story, different day. I lived through it starting at the age of six in 1963 with the Marist Brothers and again through my early twenties with the Jesuits in the 1980's. In the case of the Jesuits it was a high profile ,well known priest who finally was removed from his duties and retired out to pasture. He's on the S.N.A.P. (Survivor's Network of those Abused by Priests) list of predator priests. For years no one would believe the stories I told, they were that outrageous, until he got caught.
I made it through basically unscathed but attribute my lifelong distrust of authority figures to my experiences growing up and dealing with pedophile adults. This problem crosses all religious groups and, in fact, is really a problem afflicting all levels of adults.
10
I am as revolted and outraged as anyone with the outright criminal behavior and concealment by the church. It is simply beyond comprehension.
However, I am reading comments on here that go way beyond the pale of outrage and into outright hate and blatant animus towards the Catholic Church. Some comments being asserted here aren't merely ones expressing justified outrage. Many are teaming with a deep seeded Anti-Catholic animus. There are some genuinely vile comments and some people are using this section more as a platform to spew some very hostile deliberate and bonafide Anti-Catholic rhetoric than to voice outrage at this report. I would remind people that while the abuse by these men is truly reprehensible, the Catholic Church, along with the sacrifices by it's nuns and priests and its many honorable Orders, has done more charity and charitable and made countless scarifices in aiding the poor, sick and dying all over the world and especially in Third World countries than most other religions or groups combined with no fanfare and with complete humility and honor. The vast majority of the aid and sacrifices has been focused with helping and assisting impoverished sick and dying children of all ages. The good the Church has done over the centuries and to this day to tend to and help the sick, dying and the truly needy all over the world by far outweighs the deeds of these priests and their abettors.
5
Aren't religious institutions, by their very nature, supposed to engage in many "good works" and particularly one like the Catholic Church which is international in scope and well-funded to fulfill its expected broad charitable duties? You wrongly suggest that this Church's widespread systemic problem of sexual predation, and its intentional coverup of such iniquities, should be viewed in light of those "good works". Such a morally questionable, transactional perspective not only minimizes the dire, lifetime human consequences of those criminal behaviors, but also cheapens the value of any humanitarian efforts that this Church engages in. Should a horrible rape of a single innocent child be mitigated by the sponsorship of a Church soup kitchen?
10
There is no good done that can erase the evil of raping and torturing children and an institutional denial and cover up of same.
8
@Fletcher Another commenter pointed out that those who covered up and enabled these crimes against Catholic children are the actual anti-Catholics. Doesn't that ring true? Shouldn't the focus be on the 1000 Catholic children in this report, and everyone who took part in harming them are the greatest enemies of the Catholic Church?
2
The Catholic Church has a structural flaw. It is a patriarchy and as such looks first to serve the needs of men. It continues to demonstrate that it cares more about protecting itself, which is to say Priests, than it does the needs of the people it purports to serve.
11
I see quite a few comments stating that these priests represent only a minority and that they grew up in a scandal-free Catholic environment. Sorry, but I just don't buy it. This behavior is rife, possibly affecting all parishes. Personally, I don't care whether the church folds under the weight of an onslaught of lawsuits. But I do know quite a few Catholics who are devoted to the church. Maybe it's time to put women in charge or at the very least reverse the rules that priests be celibate. Clearly this unnatural patriarchy has fostered system-wide corruption. Truly good and decent people deserve better.
13
I thought mine was a scandal free experience in the Catholic Church also. Then the first name on the report from The Altoona -Johnstown Diocese was that of the pastor of the church I attended in college. The church my relatives all attended turned out to have been full of abusers over the years. Yesterday I found the name of the assistant pastor at my old Pittsburgh church on the list. And he was the last person I would have ever expected to see there. Sadly one can't assume anything. Just keep thinking, "Do you know where your children are?"
3
End the tax breaks for the Catholic Church.
16
Bishop Zubik should be excommunicated and jailed, along with all those that participated in covering up the church's crimes. Those religious who did not personally abuse children, but who covered up for priests that did are equally guilty.
12
These priests are criminals and should pay for their crimes in prison, where they belong.
I hope that their victims will have the help they need to recover , and my thoughts if not prayers go out to them.
9
One of the priests mentioned, Rev. Paone, appears to have passed away in 2012. I don’t think we will be hearing from him.
3
And this is only ONE state.
16
And it is only six dioceses out of eight from that state. The other reports were done awhile back. The number of victims is higher in Pa. than reported in this article, which only deals with the latest investigation.
4
Having spent 9 years (K-8) in catholic school in the 60's, I'm every more relieved that I did not become an "altar boy". I may have avoided a fate similar to all these abused people.
9
The number of offences is wildly underestimated. Enquiries in Canada have routinely shown abuse was widespread, indeed the norm. I remember my mother commenting in the 1950s that to be an alter boy was a guarantee of "interference" by the priest. Everyone knew, no one cared or acted. Catholic residential schools and orphanages were nests of pedophiles, as testimony in the recent indigenous people's Truth and Reconciliation report so heartbreakingly documents. The Church knew, everyone knew, and turned a blind eye. This is not, and never was, "a few bad apples" problem. Sexual predation was endemic among the Renaissance priests, bishops and Popes who did little but enrich themselves and their numerous mistresses and, tragically, predation remained entrenched and protected within the Church.
13
If Marriage is ordained by God then why the vow of celibacy?? It’s overwhelmingly obvious the celibacy model the Catholic Church requires in clergy is not only unsustainable, it’s wrecking thousands and thousands of lives. If the current Pope doesn’t change this and see it as it is, the likely root of most, if not all, these abuse problems, the church is going to disintegrate. People are so wary of organized religion and this is why! It’s not just the Catholic Church. Religions around the world are losing their moral authority. No moral authority in politics. No moral authority in business leaders, community leaders. We. can’t even find it in religion. These are scary times.
5
I grew up attending Catholic church and was an altar boy from elementary years until 12th grade. I was not abused. But I wonder if others were.... we definitely had a lead priest with a strong personality. My uncle, now deceased, was a Jesuit and a wonderful man who took his vows of poverty, charity, service, justice and I hope celibacy seriously. I have not attended Catholic mass for maybe 20 years as I felt Catholic priests were out of touch and the institution was not fundamentally connected to teaching, empowering and nourishing spirituality. Turns out it is much, much worse as it is an institution about subjugation, secrecy, control and abuse.
The Catholic church should be dismantled or fundamentally changed. The fundamental change would start immediately with no longer having a vow of celibacy and immediately allowing and encouraging married persons, male and female, to serve as priests. And the church should encourage the statue of limitations to be lifted and the priests held accountable by the law Otherwise, boycott the church, stop giving them your money. There is much good that the Catholic church has done and can do, but this evil must stop and can never be justified by any end.
234
@Chris Amen. Totally Agree.
4
It's a unique sickness and evil that causes any person to harm a child in this egregious manner. I don't believe the celibacy requirement is the answer. Lusting after children has nothing to do with being celibate - why didn't they just secretly go to prostitutes? It's simply that they found a safe haven in this organization where they could commit such vile acts without being discovered. It is critical that as parents we not blindly hand over our children to any organization and that we vigilantly keep an open line of communication with our children explaining to them what is and is not permissible behavior.
130
@Deb I agree that celibacy per se' is not fully to blame. I do find fault with the ancient attitudes of the Church toward women as being inferior and a source of sin, and I dispute the notion that celibacy is more pleasing to God than is the more human alternative.
3
@Deb Thank you for writing this. Too many people seem to think letting priests marry or have partners would solve the problem. As you explain, there are other ways for priests to secretly satisfy their sexual desires. What they do has nothing to do with normal human sexual behavior. What they do is depraved.
4
@Deb The issue is, I believe, that celibacy attracts the wrong kind of people to the priesthood. It attracts men who "think" they can give up their sexuality. But celibacy is an unnatural act and many priests discover that. Or something else is going on with celibacy and who becomes a priest.
2
1960s: My dad was a city cop and a convert to Catholicism. He abruptly stopped attending church due to something a priest did that involved the police and that disgusted him. That was all he told me.
1970s: At a Catholic high school, my 15-year old best friend caught the eye of the principal, who was a priest. I surprised them one day while they were tickling each other on the floor of his office. God knows what else went on.
1980s: Working at a Catholic college, one of the priests gave me a hug and then started violently kissing me (with tongue) until I could get loose. When I complained to my boss she advised me to stay away from him -- that he's known for doing that to staff and students.
1990s: Working at a Catholic college, the top administrators (all priests) were concerned about the press their order was receiving due to a pedophile priest. Their only concern was how it would impact fundraising.
After all this direct experience, it took me until 2000 to quit the Church. Now, I'm not a Catholic nor do I play one on TV. And I will never get the Last Rites from some guy who sexually abused someone or covered it up.
9
@Hutch
Feels good to be awake, doesn't it ?
Religion, the opiate forced on the masses, by the Masters of Mankind, Google Noam Chomsky and spent the time listening to his exposure of how the masses are managed.
2
@Mel Farrell The saddest thing was said by Mark
Ruffalo's character in "Spotlight," But I always though I could go back. I was counting on that. No more.
I am a lapsed Roman Catholic. My family is Irish Catholic, which, indeed, is a very particular identity. Today, I am proud to teach at a small Catholic college founded by the most devout and committed group of nuns that ever walked the face of this planet, and in fact, is close to the Catholic church that I knew growing up.
The abuse scandals repulse me. The church hierarchy owes it to all of us to adopt concrete proactive actions, not to just move or exile or finance errant clergy. What does that mean? Be transparent. Open church offices to all. Female deacons. Women and married priests. In other words, it is time for the church to become a dynamic and inclusive organization, not an exclusive patriarchy that is tolerant of abusing children.
My children will soon be having their own children. I never thought I would say this but, unless the Church changes,
I would like them to join another church.
I can't believe that any God that might exist would tolerate what the Church bureaucracy has encouraged.
9
@Babs
"I can't believe that any God that might exist would tolerate what the Church bureaucracy has encouraged."
If such a Diety existed, He or She, pulled up stakes, and made a very quiet dark of night escape from this area of the Milky Way, a long time ago, fearful lest He or She might become subject to eternal punishment from an Elder, enraged at the evident stupidity displayed by creating homosapiens.
Yes, that's one likelihood, although my preference is that there is no evidence supporting the existence of a benevolent God, or any kind of God, if truth be told, so go forth, and do good, for goodness sake, and hope others do as well.
1
I am a lifelong, loyal Catholic. The Church should lose its tax exempt status and have the pants sued off of it, the money going to victims. This would be a modest step toward their healing.
It would also bring healing to the Church, because it would foist on us what we need most: to become "a Church that is poor and for the poor," in the words of Pope Francis. A Church stripped of power and wealth might then be recognizable to Jesus Christ. And it would free us to pursue truth and justice, unburdened by material assets and the compromises they bring.
17
As painful as it is to think of this, I am very grateful that this information is being released and I thank the NYT's for making it front page news.
Abominable acts can only thrive in secrecy. There is no shame in being a victim/survivor of child sexual abuse. But shame on those who commit these acts and those who conspire to keep these kinds of crimes in the dark.
14
From Ms Egan: "If you are actually a Catholic who belongs to a parish, worships regularly, and pays attention, you will know that there is a zero tolerance policy in place today." And there is a major shortage of Catholic priests today. Coincidence? I think not.
4
This article was interesting to me because hearing about children my age being abused in this way is awful and I hope that there will be a permanent punishment that will be put onto the guilty priests.
7
Revoke Catholic non-profit status now.
$200 billion can fund education and healthcare, solve many problems, do much good.
Let's see which elected officials stand up to the church lobbyists.
10
@kat perkins In many states the Catholic church is the only charity in the community. Yes lets do what you want the poor need nothing.
1
There is no power of God. There is only the power of human belief. The cowardly priests know this which is why they continue to perpetuate the image of the church that is conducive to keeping the fantasy of magical thinking going on and on and on.
4
We have indited Russians and, I believe, Russian companies for crimes committed in the U.S.
Could not the RICO statues be used to indite the Vatican for conspiracy to cover up and involvement, after the fact, in sexual crimes in the U.S.?
12
Celibacy is unnatural. The Pope and the Catholic church should permit priests and nuns to marry. If this is permitted, the rate of child molestation in the clergy will drop precipitously. I know this may be construed as heresy but its the only way to stop this horror.
10
Heresy schmeresy. Forced celibacy is the root of all evil. That goes for nuns as well as priests.
The Catholic Church has done more to discredit Christianity than anyone else in America. The criminal behavior of pedophile priests has given millions an excuse not to go to ANY type of church. Those who characterize these crimes as the product of just "a few bad apples," just continue the horrific pattern of denial and obfuscation by the church's hierarchy. At the very least, the church need to admit that enforced celibacy benefits the devil more than God.
6
This is what you get when you have the most vertically organized institution in the world, have it run by celibate men whose primary purpose includes severely shaming sexually and put the in charge of an 1900 year old “flock” of obsequious “followers” who believe they have magical powers, control the gates of eternal life and are the direct operative arm of God.
Why wouldn’t an organization like that attract a significant number of sexual predators who specialize in children who are by nature weak in critical faculties.
I get it. I was raised Catholic. These guys have tremendous person-to-person level power.
4
There are many comments in this thread stating that if priests would be allowed to marry then these issues of pedophilia would be resolved. Nonsense. A pedophile is a pedophile regardless of whether or not they are in a state of marriage, hetero or gay. Anyone that would do such things to a child would likely do so in any situation.
That the Catholic Church sanctions this behaviour is absolutely appalling. The one true church indeed...
11
I’m infuriated and upset at the Catholic Church. I’m a practicing member with two young sons and I don’t trust my kids around anyone in the church without me present. I stay Catholic due to my love of the Eucharist and the veneration of Mary and the saints. However, if there isn’t a radical demand for transparency soon, I will probably find myself in an Episcopalian pew.
120
@Kelly made the transition to Episcopal. Just do it.
@Kelly
You are wise to protect your kids.
2
@Kelly
We left the Catholic Church 30 years ago over its treatment of women and stance on birth control. Joined the Epicopal Crichton where ALL are welcome to receive Communion and everyone is respected regardless of race, gender or sexual orientation. We have never regretted our decision.
2
My wife attended Notre Dame, a Catholic girls school in Washington DC in the 1960s. Tom Pyne was a priest and faculty member. He began abusing her in a closet when she was 16. He eventually took her to a motel. She was from a devout but broken family. She was forced to marry the abusing priest. They had a child but my wife eventually pulled herself up and got out. We have been married for 40 years but she still has scars from the experience. Pyne is dead but he should have been hanged at the time. His deviance nearly destroyed a life. The Catholic Church is corrupt and attracts sexual deviants.
35
You're a good soul, JR! Love to you.
2
@BoulderJR, I am so very sorry for what happened to your wife. I was never abused by a priest but come from a broken family in which sexual abuse occurred.
I believe there are aspects of the Catholic Church -- especially the all-male power structure/hierarchy; the clericalism; the secrecy/priority of institutional self-preservation; and a requirement of celibacy for all -- that contribute to attracting men who are psychosexually unformed and unhealthy (pedophiles), or hetero- or homosexuals without intent to be celibate, or who find they cannot remain celibate once they get there. I believe there a few people for whom celibacy is spiritually enhancing and helps them serve the faithful...but probably not many.
The church MUST address these problems squarely at the same time it's shedding light on abuse itself and focusing pastoral attention on victims. Until then -- even with strong child protective measures -- we will have ongoing problems.
2
@BoulderJR
I couldn't agree more.
1
As an act of attrition instead of Catholic Churches displaying small crosses on their lawns for abortions, they should instead display small children with their head bowed to represent how many lives they allowed to be destroyed!
31
I will never forget I picture I saw in our parish church of Jesus surrounded only by children, some sitting on his lap, with the caption, "Jesus so loved the children of man".
6
Not being a Catholic...beyond the legal ramifications, does the process of laicization factor into the next several years of unwinding the last sixty plus years of abuse or is there a statute of limitations on that also?
1
@New Senior, This is a very good question whose answer I don't know. As a practicing Catholic, I would like to see this carried out for the sake of victims: as a statement that the Church's intent is to bring these crimes to light and to stop referring to their perpetrators as priests. If marriages initially deemed sacramental can be annulled in my faith tradition, so can priest status when children are molested and scarred for life. The hearts and souls of abusing
men are of course in God's hands, but their public identity as priests should be subject to human authority, I believe.
1
There is no statute of limitations for laicizing a priest. But it is — or at least can be — a lengthy canonical process. This nevertheless needs to be done in large numbers by the Holy See.
The Dallas Charter was just the first step; the Church needs to be *completely* transparent about its past and its review board process, to the maximum extent not prohibited by canon law.
New Senior, if I understand your question, you are asking whether there is a time limit in the priesthood when a cleric can return to the lay state. No, a priest can be laicized involuntarily (and many have been, as a result of a simple "credible" - plausible but not yet substantiated or proven - accusation). A priest can also petition the Pope for a decree of laicization and dispensation from his vows. Priests who wished to marry have requested voluntary laicization.
It's equally important to know that the process of priestly formation is long and arduous. It can take up to ten years of prayer, study, and discernment before the seminarian is ordained to the "transitional diaconate," at which point the layman voluntarily takes a vow of celibacy and becomes a cleric. Ordination to the priesthood usually follows within six months to a year.
In my opinion, ten years of intense prayer, study, and discipline should be enough time for a seminarian to discern whether or not he would make a good, holy priest. If he discovers he would not, if he realizes, for example, "this life is not for me, I can't live like this," he should do himself and all the rest of us a favor and leave the seminary before making a lifelong commitment. It would be like breaking off an engagement or dropping out of college or graduate school.
You have to wonder how many other dioceses have similar "secret archives", locked away, chronicling Church sexual criminality around the country. As an initial step, unless and until all of this documentation is made public, this Church is on a track bound for certain extinction.
12
@John Grillo :"You have to wonder how many other dioceses have similar "secret archives", locked away, chronicling Church sexual criminality around the country. " All of them. For sure.
6
All church goers should refrain from church for at least a month in protest. Pray at home instead.
Why are these monsters not in prison?
One priest got a job was fired and got a job in Walt Disney world... to molest more children?
12
And donate to a transparent charity.
I can't believe that no one is being held accountable for this; there are pedophile priests living out their days comfortably while their victims suffer. I understand that the statute of limitations has run out in most cases, but where is the morality? Where is the sense of right and wrong that ought to be intrinsic to religion?
16
It is the contributions of parishioners at mass, $$'s of the abused faithful, that goes towards supporting the comforts of these pedophile priests.
1
What I find atrocious is that a lot of this happens when protestants want to "become Catholic" and enter into priesthood; they're the ones devoted to giving Catholics a horrible reputation by doing criminal and disgusting acts. All I ever see reported on Catholics is the abuse and sexual assault, but the protestants want to keep the same behavior in their church "hush-hush" and relocate the pastor so word can't travel. Not that it shouldn't be reported, and not that it shouldn't be stopped - because its disgusting and wrong no matter what. But, c'mon...Catholics aren't the only ones who do this. Be honest with yourself, and understand that pastors in a protestant church do the same thing, and even cheat on their spouse. Catholics aren't the only sinners...
20
About as shocking as Omarosa revealing that Trump is a racist.
51
Where is the FBI in all of this? I understand this article is based on the abuse of children by priests in the state of Pennsylvania but why is the former Cardinal of Los Angeles, Mahoney, living out the rest of his life comfortably in a small church and not in a jail cell? These are crimes on a national level. Has any state not been impacted by pedophile priests?
How can men like Mahoney, and other priests, Cardinals and Bishops, like those in this article, who willfully moved known criminals, pedophiles, across state lines in order to cover up the crimes committed by these pedophiles, not get the attention of the Federal government? Does this not make these enablers criminals on a Federal level as well? Why are these men of God allowed to remain free to commit more crimes against children?
It is 2018. Time to remove the tax exempt status for all religious organizations. There’s no difference between the Catholic Church and the Church of Scientology as both “religions” have proven to be dangerous to children. Also, it no surprise both religious organizations are huge Trump supporters. The same guy who walked around a dressing room filled with teenage girls.
As the late great Robin Williams stated when speaking out about child abuse in the Catholic Church “It is not just a sin, it’s a crime.”
Crooked Cardinals, lock them up.
38
How can we trust that this malignancy within clergy level of the church hierarchy does not continue? It would appear that a conspiracy to cover and sustain it was broad. Centuries in the making, maybe? What is there to verify that it is not continuing, not propagating itself among current clergy member, seminarians, lay ministers, deacons and novitiates?
Should its members remove themselves from it? Better to cut it off as it is a means of sin as Jesus would direct.
6
There should be no statute of limitation for rape, especially of children, nor of most kinds of premeditated crimes of violence for that matter. The passage of time rarely heals the wounds of the victims or of the victims' families. Why should it erase the fear of punishment for the perpetrator?
I recall, somewhat vaguely as my religious history courses were several decades ago, that there is some doctrine in the Catholic Church dating to the fourth century CE in reference to the Donatist "heresy" that neither the sanctity or orthodoxy of an ordained priest can in any way affect the validity of his carrying out of church duties such as administration of the sacraments. What he does as a man, in effect, has nothing to do with what he does as an intermediary between God and man, whether he is turning the wine and bread into the literal blood and body of Christ, baptizing, administering extreme unction, hearing confession, etc., etc.
When the Church of Rome becomes answerable in this world to laws requiring the surrender of accumulated treasure in payment for the crimes committed by those hiding behind their robes and other vestments, I'm quite certain we would see some action, ex cathedra, to correct this horrific "shield" that exists for rapist priests to continue their crimes again and again, moved from place to place, since they are considered "holy vessels" able to carry out their duties by an unholy church bureaucracy guilty of crimes dating back centuries.
8
This scandal just brings to light everything wrong with the Catholic Church it's time people opened their eyes and realized these are not men of God they are the opposite of that.
14
I sincerely hope that Catholics have finally had enough and will realize that this is not a problem with individual parishes or priests, but a global systematic pattern within the entire Catholic Church. From The Pope on down, The Church has covered up and minimized the epidemic crimes that have plagued it for literally hundreds of years. It is up to the faithful to bring down this rotten institution. You do not have to abandon your faith to see the evil within your church. This can be rectified, but it's up to everyday Catholics to do the hard work of fixing it. The hierarchy that allowed this to happen will never go willingly to their just punishment.
23
Catholics of a certain age will recall the days when members were told not to say anything that would bring any kind of negative attention to the church.
22
It was also close to a mortal sin to tell tales out of school. Big problem there as it turned out.
1
I doubt the Vatican ever worries about bankruptcy. Just take a stroll through its endless art and antiquities galleries.
16
The Vatican's "endless art and antiquities galleries," according to the Lateran Treaty of 1929, are the patrimony of Europe. The Vatican does not own them. As their custodian, however, the Vatican takes excellent care of them and makes them available to the art lovers and scholars of the world.
2
Last week the Times ran an article on the Church's impact on health care as the Church owns quite a few hospitals. I commented on this at that time (Aug. 10), noting a number issues that involve the Church. Among the issues I noted was the harboring of pedophiles. I got a reply that stated rather emphatically that the Church does not harbor pedophiles. I'm wondering if people who could say that in light of what had already been exposed about the Church have had an epiphany now? Given the history of this outrage, I'm sorry to say that if one goes this far downs the road with the Church, there's not a lot of hope for them "seeing the light."
I'll explain my use of "the Church." In Boston, where I was brought up (I attended Catholic elementary schools), that was how the Catholic Church was referred to by everyone. I thought that the use of this term in the movie Spotlight showed an attention to detail that helped give non-Bostonians a sense of the political and cultural weight of the Catholic Church in Boston.
11
My husband's grandfather had to be buried outside the consecrated ground of a small North Dakota Catholic Church cemetery because he had hanged himself. It turns out he had suffered from excrutiating gall or kidney stones. We just don't know for sure. But there is no marker because in the eyes of the church he was a shameful man.
To the end of her life, though, his daughter, my mother-in-law, was a faithful Catholic. My husband is not.
14
And Trump supporters will instead continue to chant "Lock Her Up" rather than addressing real and valid issues.
6
I am not Catholic, but my cousin is a Catholic priest. I've always admired him as one of the best people I know. He's smart, funny, and has a heart of gold. He could have been anything, but chose to become a priest because he felt that was the best thing he could do with his life.
A few years ago, my cousin told me he'd just been at his local hospital to give a dying parishioner his last rites when he stopped at a McDonalds. As he was sitting in a booth eating, a little 4-year old girl in the next booth stood in her seat and turned to look at him and say hello.
He smiled at her, when suddenly the girl's mother grabbed her daughter and jerked her away from my cousin, growling, "Don't talk to HIM!" As if all priests were pedophiles.
My cousin has told me he always felt proud to wear the priest's collar. Now, as a result of this scandal, and the incident I just described, whenever he is done work and has to go into the general public he removes his collar.
Seems a sin that even the good priests like my cousin are being painted with the same brush as the criminals.
9
It is too bad for your cousin and the blame rests entirely with the organization he chose to join.
I feel for him but his burden pales in comparison to the childhood victims of this horrendous abuse. I’m also taken aback that he feels it’s okay to complain about his predicament given he has a choice and these children did not, given he’s inconvenienced and they are scarred for life.
21
Unfortunately, your cousin is part of the hierarchy. A hierarchy that has for centuries aided and abetted pedophiles and other abusers. So now, everyone is, justly, cautious of them...all.
6
@Stef
These cover-ups required the participation of many otherwise "good priests." The reality is that only a completely corrupt organization could have enabled such evil to go unchecked for centuries.
2
When you are looking to remove and prosecute people such as as priests, bishops and pastors for covering up the abuse, don't forget to take a look at the police, DAs, judges, and politicians at the state and federal levels for their complicity, failure to investigate, and act. . The Republican Pa. legislature right now is unwilling to extend the statute of limitations for these crimes. The politicians, as always, are far more interested in their next re-election campaign than actually protecting and serving the public.
27
@Bashh1
Yes. They say Pennsylania is 25% Catholic. No wonder the politicians have closed their eyes to the abuse, given their lust for votes and the church's financial and 'moral' support.
2
I haven't read the report, but beyond the sexual abuse was the rampant emotional abuse inflicted on students of all ages by nuns. Not all (and there were fine ones), but many of the nuns that taught us in the 1960s and 70s were abusive in the classroom. Some of this was actually sanctioned by parents who wanted the nuns to "straighten the kids out". I don't think much attention has been paid in the US to this kind of abuse, and the role of the nuns. Their behavior would never be permitted today.
17
That's a whole other story, the nuns! Some were decent, but many were forced into being nuns by families that couldn't handle their mental health or emotional issues. I believe that the whole hierarchy of the RCC is rotten to the core.
2
And the Pope continues to shield pedophile priests from consequence by moving them and refusing to investigate allegations of abuse, while reinstating defrocked abusers. This problem is endemic within the church.
18
Just think, more than half of the Supreme Court justices belong to this odious cult. It will never be held to account or better yet, abolished, via American law. More's the pity.
14
Until every guilty priest and everyone who was aware or suspected their crimes is purged from the church there will be no healing. If that leaves 100 priests standing so be it.
7
How much more evidence is required for the church to end its outmoded ban on marriage of their clergy ? Priests with families of their own raising children of their own would be far more preferable to sexually ill priests hiding within the cloak of the church.
2
This article makes me ashamed to be a Catholic.
It is deeply disturbing, and make me very sad.
Do we clean the house completely?
Do we let Priests marry?
Such evil, and such disdain the the most vulnerable amongst us.
4
The Chicago Tribune recently reported 230 cases of credible evidence of abuse in Chicago public schools since 2011. People who think only Catholic schools have this problem are in denial.
7
As a survivor of Roman Catholicism not only should their and other religions tax exempt status be rescinded but the RC church should have a RICO prosecution begun, they are after all “organized” and they use their outsize influence across the community’s at large.
If by good fortune they were to disappear my thoughts and prayers would be with them.
9
After 2,000 years, THIS is a surprise?
8
Actually, I was surprised the first time I heard about this a decade ago. But looking back, there were signs everywhere of systemic abuse. We had a pastor go off on our teen daughter for talking during Mass. we should have left then!
2
Before you judge, Know the difference. If you attack the Church, you attack America at its foundations, i.e., separation of Church and State. No American wants or ought to be involved in religious wars, e.g,. between Jews and Israelis (Shapiro, Deutch, (resident of Israel)and Levin) and christian leaders and Vatican City State
Remember, the Church X,Y,Z is a body of believers. No one is without sin, ignorance, error and misjudgment. All are forgiven and to be eternally judged. And as a broad principle applicable to every individual in our social compact, it is only individual acts that are to be forever condemned.
2
@Hobo Mo Rhetoric. These were not "individual" acts. These were a large number of priests and members of the Catholic church who were protected. Evidence of their deeds was placed in a very specific file. These are the sins of a a very sick organization. This is on the Catholic Church and every member who willingly chose to cover it up at the peril of our children. Oh and yes. We all make mistakes. But there are small mistakes and there are unforgivable sins. Sexual abuse of children is in the realm of evil and the Catholic Church allowed it to flourish.
11
@Hobo Mo
I'm not the State, I'm free under the First Amendment to attack predators and predatory institutions alike. There is a strong argument that the Roman Catholic church (which is not "the Church" to the rest of us) as an institution meets the criteria for criminal prosecution under the RICO law (whether it is politically realistic for some AG or DA to pursue such a prosecution is an entirely separate story).
It is bizarre for someone to demand "separation of Church and State" in order to protect the same criminal "Church" that wants our tax dollars to indoctrinate children to submit to its absolute authority while actively shielding these children's clerical abusers from criminal punishment.
5
All members of the USCCB need to submit their resignations to the Pope. THIS is a scandal. THIS is the corruption of absolute power.
3
It's always interesting to see what those of faith are up to.
5
The US should sever diplomatic relations with the Vatican until a grand jury in each state can investigate all Catholic diocese.
All US catholic bishops have known the truth for decades.
12
Criminal conspiracy, obstruction of justice, conspiring with a foreign power (Pope)...
Hey, looks like Donald Trump and the catholic church are twinning!
7
Religion is destroying itself in America. Evangelicals support Trump; a liar who cheated on multiple wives. Never trust anything a religious person says again. Ray Sipe
10
How many lives are we as a community of compassionate humans , going to stand by and let this happen.
How are these parents still believing the Catholic Church is from God. It's obvious it's the Wolves in sheep's clothing, and we still institutionalize children into the world's largest known pediphile organization. Wake up Catholics, stop this devistation upon our future and your children. Of your pope was from God he would not be afraid of death, but he is paraded inside a bullet proof glass carriage. He is from the devil as he is filled with fear.wake up. Abandon the church .
5
Of course, that's RELIGION, imagine! #45 is against legal abortion! Imagine, his new chosen one for the Supreme Court another religious hypocrite who by accepting to be nominated by such insulting, racist, angry old-very old
man we have as president should be ipso facto disqualified as it should have been Gorsuch!
5
The Roman Catholic Church is a criminal enterprise with fund raising and welfare arms on par with the likes of Hamas and ISIS. They should be prosecuted like any other criminal enterprise and their property including churches, cathedrals, cemeteries, schools, hospitals, universities and seminaries subjected to seizure and forfeiture!
10
Who and what protects the victims of these crimes?
The diocese have and must continue to be required to make financial settlements with the victims of the crimes, and the abusers must face prosecution. In most diocese they are selling buildings, closing schools and joining parishes to save costs in order to pay the costs of these crimes.
I was baptized in the Catholic Church, went to church on a regular basis, but at an early age I realized what a sham that religion is. I firmly believe in the morals of Christ and I believe that God exists, and I am spiritual in that way. I try my best, yet fail often, to be a good person such as Christ was. But organized religion is nothing but a group of people who reinforce bigotry, hatred, discrimination, sexual and emotional abuse, and all the while get rich off of it. The Catholic Church is the worst offenders. The priest when I was growing up lived in an expensive home and drove a new Cadillac (at the time when they were the American Luxury of vehicles) and all the while told the poor that they should hand their money over to the church to help others. They don’t tell you that the others are themselves. You have Muslims, some of whom commit terrorism, perform horrible acts in the name of religion, sexual abuse goes on all the time, and believe everyone who isn’t a Muslim is going to hell. Evangelicals who use the guise of religion to exploit political gains, preaching of Christ and God and all the while praising Trump who should be a devil in their eyes. It truly amazes me just how many people are fooled into believing in religion, in just the same manner that they believe in trump, republicans, democrats, and corporations that are bleeding us all dry. It all just gets worse with no end in sight.
8
One of my happier memories from Catholic school was the pastor's car. It was a big black limousine with running boards, a big tire on the side and jump seats in the back. To be fair to him for awhile he drove it around and picked a few of us for school every day. Then after he drove the kids to school he apparently used to drive around and visit their mothers who were home alone. I was really disappointed when we got a school bus and so were the mothers because now the pastor could squeeze in another visit or two.
Protestant white nationalists on one side. Catholic pedophile networks on the other. Carnival-barking “prosperity gospel” hucksters on TV. There is nothing any liberal secular humanist could do to undermine religion that the churches aren’t doing to themselves.
16
“Be on the watch for the false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inside are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will know them...”
Matthew 7:15-16
You will know them indeed.
15
“Woe to the world because of [a]offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!”
You just gave atheists one more reason to hate you, your god and to convince others of their point of view.
What comes afterwards to them will be on you “PRIESTS”
3
If people would totally cease their weekly donations to their parishes, TOTALLY, the church would listen to them. Demand an end to an all-male clergy. Demand an end to the unrealistic expectation that all priests can live the severe discipline of celibacy. Demand an end to the hypocrisy of allowing 'annulled' and remarried Catholics to receive communtion but not remarried divorced catholics. Demand an end to the hypocrisy which denies that love between same-sex persons can be holy and sacramental. If we stop supporting the church financially you can be sure they will listen.
12
Authoritarian regimes will always get away with their crimes because they are supported by people with an authoritarian personality - absolute believers in authority - the authority of their leaders. This is especially true even when the believers are the victims of the crimes.
To give an example regarding religion, victims are shamed into believing they are at fault. They rarely see the leaders as the true cause of their distress, as that would require too great a change in their worldview. Catholics are especially vulnerable because their church has existed for 2000 years during which it exerted absolute authority. Other denominations may be authoritarian, but only for a much shorter period.
Oops - my apologies. I thought this article was about Trump, and was only using the church as an example of what Trump is doing. Please reverse everything I said, substituting "church" and "Catholicism" for "Trump". The true believer stuff holds regardless, though maybe some soon to be bankrupt farmers might break the mold.
5
This breaking news is extremely disturbing to me as a Roman Catholic. I thought that after the ground breaking news from Boston a few years back, that the Church would have done the right thing by researching abuse and cleaning up their messes before they would again become the public scandal of what is today's news. Knowing one of the principal Bishops in this area I am not surprised at his hardhearted reaction to this news and to actually wanting to quash the investigation last year. He purports to be a man of the cloth, but he does not even speak to his own family. What can one expect? Regardless, what comes to light here today and has come to the attention of the world several times are the sins of the Roman Catholic Church, and rightly so. However, this Church is hardly to blame for all that transpires in this arena, but it is largely to blame for how it has dealt with these transgressions. I've heard it from so many other "faiths" so to speak, from so many members of these religious organizations on FB pages and various sites and it is sickening in every respect and form. After reading the book, Hush, by Eishes Chayil, I was satisfied, and much to my surprise, that every major religion had been effected. First and foremost, the statute of limitations on crimes such these should never expire as these scars emotionally and psychologically never do.
6
Is this story true? Most likely.
But the way in which news gets slanted is not so much in truth or falsehood, but what gets reported.
Fox News will report the same story with less emphasis.
Newspapers with mostly Catholic readers will report the same facts but with different emphasis which makes the priests look less guilty.
The NY Times has about 2 million official readers. There are 326 million Americans who get their news from various sources. Some will rely on Facebook which has algorithms to select stories that appeal to their audiences.
Thus I receive lots of stories about space travel on my Facebook page, nothing about sexual abuse of priests.
The real problem is the stories that the NY Times does not report. There were about 17,000 murders in the US last year. The vast majority were not newsworthy.
Given the choice of either being abused by a priest or murdered I would choose the abuse any day.
There are Americans who are dying because they receive inadequate health care in spite of having insurance policies furnished by Obamacare. The deductibles are too high. The copays are too high. No or little reporting on this issue.
People have different experiences. The college professors who read the NY Times have no comprehension of the difficulties confronted by the rising number of poor in the US, whose incomes have stagnated for decades and whose living standards fall as population rises.
In that sense the NY Times is indeed fake news.
Remember that all of this has been funded by non-taxable contributions from the members of the church. This is systematic abuse of children.
10
As a young gay man starting to venture out in the gay world back in the 70s, I met a number of men who had pursued the priesthood as a means to fight the attraction they had for children or adolescents, or simply didn't want to be gay. They viewed celibacy as a safe haven, but it failed them. I don't believe that men become priests to prey on children, on the contrary, many are seeking a way to block those urges. We'll never know about those who succeeded with this approach, we only know about those who failed, and the tragic outcome of that failure.
11
Changing the statute of limitations to allow prosecution for past offenses has been deemed unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court (Stogner v. California). Perhaps that explains why there is no urgency in Pennsylvania to change the statute to provide justice to current surviving victims.
2
@kleeneth Well, that's funny, it was done in a number of other states and worked out quite well.
1
One statement by Attorney General Shapiro says it all. The Catholic church "weaponized" the faith to target children. In some Catholic communities, medieval thinking about the body, about women, about sin and about offering up any and all "sufferings" to God as Christ offered his sufferings to God, set the wheels turning for sadistic manipulation of a naïve child's trust. When I'd just turned 11, our parish priest told me that sometimes girls needed to suffer like Christ so boys could keep clean records and support wives and children down the road or down the line. Within a couple months, I was tied flat on my back for penance in a so-called "magdalene program" in a local orphanage. Decades later, I am still sorting out what happened to me, but this I know for certain: adults, including priests, nuns, laity and even law enforcement authorities who themselves have been steeped in a bodily shaming religion will instill shame in children whether they touch the children or not. Children taught to feel ashamed of themselves are primed and groomed to be physically, emotionally and sexually abused. My heart goes out to the girls who, when they are impregnated and then separated from their children, are doubly abused.
9
In all the years that sex offenses by Catholic clergy have been revealed, not once have I read or heard about the possibility of the Church dropping its rule of celibacy for priests. Why is that?
1
@Gianni Z Because these are pedophiles. They are only interested in small children, not grown women. Although I do believe priests should be allowed to be married. The reason they weren't was because any money they obtained had to be given to the Vatican. They were allowed to marry in the earliest centuries. But the wife kept the money when the priest died. So the Vatican changed the rules.
2
It is not about celibacy. Married men are pedophiles, look it up. There is no way to prevent it, unless they are turned into police and held accountable. Even then some get off and abuse over and over again. There is no cure for them.
3
There are a small number of married Catholic priests, typically converts from other denominations. I’ve met a few. All of the ones I have met are, in my opinion and the opinions of their parishioners to whom I’ve spoken, rather mediocre priests at best.
1
The church is often seen as a safe place for people to go when they're in trouble, in need of help, or upset. So, the fact that the people who are supposed to be helping the public are the ones that are hurting those around them is horrendous. Especially considering the fact that there are other priests helping the abusers cover up their crime. Despite the fact that the alleged abusers are priests, they still should be held responsible for their actions just like any other person would be. The victims are doing the right thing by coming forward and working towards fixing this problem in the church.
3
A single pope in the Middle Ages decreed that priests must remain celibate. Henceforth, they were not permitted to marry. Any succeeding pope could have reversed this decree. They did not. The result has been the obligation to suppress a strong, God-given urge. Some priests could not do so and committed atrocious acts on youngsters. It is long past time for the present pope to allow priests to marry.
8
Is Ohio Rep. Jordan, Republican, still under investigation?
3
And this same church, which institutionalized sexually abusing even the smallest children, is allowed to run a hospital system that encompasses one of every six hospital beds in the country? Hospitals in which patients were sexually abused by the church's priests?
The competent authorities should require the Catholic Church to divest itself of its hospital system. It cannot claim to be of good moral character and capable of protecting its patients.
10
Well there's obviously not only a problem in the Catholic church, but there's a problem in law enforcement. How do you convince law enforcement not to investigate child (sexual) abuse? For 70 years? Drug empires make a bunch of money and they're quick to get a big RICO case going and indictments in 10 years at the most, but this goes on for 70 years...
4
Since sexual abuse is against the law, all such offenses should be reported to the police and the church should not be immune from the same type of scrutiny and investigative and or legal process that applies to any and all violations of the law. When there is an offense, file a complaint with both the church and the legal authorities, in which case both the church and legal authorities would investigate the matter thoroughly and jointly in a transparent manner. That is the only way to avoid a "cover up". Once guilt is established, the legal process takes precedence, in which case the only proper course of action by the church would be to de-frock the cleric involved. The court would then exact proper punishment of the de-frocked cleric in accordance with the law. That would truly be zero tolerance.
2
I have recently seen "Spotlight", a film that sheds light on sexual abuses committed by clergies in Boston. the movie has really come true.
4
The current Pope still does little of any substance to redress abuse in the priesthood. He may talk the talk but he still allowed Cardinal Law to die a free man in Rome after aiding and abetting widespread abuse for decades in Boston.
Praising this 'man of the people' is still only about vile politics over principle.
8
But he sent an employee to a Vatican jail for discussing the chaos and criminality in the Vatican bank.
6
I'm a a cradle Catholic, I left the church recently, it took a long time for me to leave our wonderful community of wonderful parishioners. But finally, I couldn't continue to support the Roman Catholic Church, and it's hierarchy! Dressed in luxurious Medieval robes, Gucci slippers, living in their mansions and palaces! I know Francis is attempting to change things, but THIS culture of abuse has been around for centuries! This is not new nor recent.
Many comments state, "let the priests marry" sorry to pop your bubble, but married men can be pedophiles, too. Ask around, many children were abused at home. The answer is to STOP aiding, hiding and abetting the monsters who abuse children! For centuries, the hierarchy have moved priests, hidden them in retreat centers for treatment, or simply turned a blind eye to their abuse! And folks, it's not just children, priests have raped women, have been violent, etc. The abuses are systemic.
IF we think this is bad, imagine what's happening in third world countries?! To children who are poor, whose parents have little education or recourse! This IS a HUGE problem within the hierarchy of the RCC! One comment suggested that we, Catholics, STOP TITHING.....we should! Not one more dime to support for the hierarchy, let them sell off their billions in real estate, art, etc.!
Lastly, I will pray for the victims and their families. My heart aches for each of you.
11
Pure, unadulterated evil - there's no other word for it. What makes it so unbelievably heinous is the fact that these priests carried out their abuse under the veil of God - it doesn't get worse than that. I am 64 years-old, atttended Catholic school in the 60s for 12 years of education and I know there are classmates or peers that I know who have been abused. I have not set foot in a Catholic Church since seeing "Spotlight" and I don't intend to go anytime soon. The pries that could be handing me the Eucharist may be guilty, the priest who married me and my husband or the ones who baptized my children may be guilty. The ball is in Rome's court. I love Pope Francis but please, your Eminence, DO SOMETHING. On this end, hopefully we can extinguish the statute of limitations for these heinous and sour-destroying offenses.
6
Why doesn't the RICO act apply to the Catholic Church?
18
Truly a complete failure in management that should be studied at business schools. The RC Church is the oldest and largest integrated religious organization. The Church operates in most countries. It has over 500,000 personnel in orders - religious and lay, men (priests, brothers) and woman (nuns).
Pedophilia and sexual abuse predates the RC Church. What is common in the series of reports is a depiction in church history that is associated with irresponsible management approaches that cast a pall on all priests. The "mortal sins" by some priests represent the worst evil committed by those who pledged holy allegiance to the faith.
Church Bishops are experts in catechism and evangelization methods; bringing together those of us to share our faith in God. But the missing link is "sound management" of the dioceses by some bishops.
All the wisdom in the world fails when one bishop acts foolishly by covering-up a potential or actual claim against an alleged predator within their ranks. The issue begins "after" a superior is made aware of priest malfeasance. The appropriate decision must require the issue be subject to rigorous examination - from the victim's perspective.
If the Church is compromised, as it often is, the matter should be reported to the civil authorities where the event occurred.
The Pope may consider formalizing a chancellery division to order separation matters of faith, with bishops, and matters of admin-HR management with lay Chancellors.
1
I'm seeing a lot of recommendations that if priests could marry women that this would not happen. In the past at least the training for seminary generally started well before the usual age of marriage. Basically they were still teenagers. They were then quite isolated from being around women except family members. Nevertheless most people /men still contended with a healthy sex drive but theoretically they were never to act upon it. The avenues available were actual celibacy, described by some priests as wretchedly difficult for decades ,or their drives got channeled in these horrible, cruel, criminal , destructive directions by a hierarchy of older priests. A secret society well understood as to purpose.... Problem solved ? And maybe a few of them were going to be pedophiles no matter what. But mostly I think it was situational. Sailors and prisoners often engage in situational same sex behavior. You could not design a system better constructed to result in these secret ongoing crimes; helpless victims easily at hand.
Every time I read the new investigations I am just disconsolate and enraged. I was a Catholic but left about 13 years ago when the dimensions of this became too troubling to forgive in any way. Catholics who stayed are often angry at those who left. My family is angrily and bitterly divided over this issue. And even this recent report will not convince some of them that it was institutionally enabled /promoted as they prefer to blame " individual sinners".
11
A crime against a child shouldn’t have a statute of limitations. How frustrating for the victims, to first have to mature to the point they understand the behavior wasn’t ok, then to work through the shame...only to find that when they are able to speak, they’re denied justice.
13
I do not understand how anyone of good conscience can remain Catholic.
14
There is a dirty little secret that some don’t want you to know:
By far the most numerous, as well as the most serious, cases of abuse chronicled in both the Pennsylvania investigating grand jury report and in the 2004 John Jay College of Criminal Justice Report (http://www.usccb.org/nrb/johnjaystudy/) involved homosexual men wearing Roman collars preying not upon children, not upon females, but upon pubescent and post pubescent males.
From the Pennsylvania report: “Most of the victims were boys …. Some were teens; many were prepubescent.”
The Jay College Report provided actual data: nearly 80% of the abuse cases there examined involved not the violation of children but the violation of pubescent and post-pubescent adolescents, with 81% of all victims being male, and over 40% of those being males between the ages of 11 and 14.
Both reports demonstrate clearly that this scandal (for which people should go to jail) has its roots not in pedophilia (sexual feelings directed towards children) but in ephebophilia (sexual feelings directed towards adolescents, in this case, boys).
Does not mean that all homosexuals are pederasts?
Of course not.
But it does mean that major media outlets that boastfully purport to publish "All the News That's Fit to Print", and pompously proclaim that "Democracy Dies in Darkness", make a mockery of their high ideals when they fail to reveal, much less to examine, these "inconvenient truths" about the clergy sexual abuse scandal.
8
@Frank McNamara No. Heterosexual, married church officials have preyed on children (boys and girls) as well. What we have here are predators. They probably fall in the spectrum of psychopathy and malignant narcissism (basically they are Machivelian and lack empathy.) Psychopaths prey on male and females. It is about power. That is their "thing" not homosexuality.
1
I keep declaring that I will never go back to Mass. This, despite good folks telling me about an apple in a barrel.
Starting in 2002, I rejected their support.
When I read that Cardinal Bernard Francis Law of Boston was whisked away to the Vatican for a life of luxury, I crumbled.
Where is righteousness?
My faith is as a lion roaring. I’m chained in this circus and I tremble in fear.
6
@-tkf You are a person of free will. A person of free will can learn, reason, and change their mind. You may have been indoctrinated as a small child, but you're an adult and can free yourself from your self-imposed servitude. Bernard Law is just a man. None of these people is any better than you, in any context. They are human beings, and many of them are selfish and cruel.
1
If you choose a religion to guide you through your short time on earth try to find one that doesn't violate the laws of nature.
5
The Catholic Church has coordinated a decades long, intentional, coordinated effort to hide abusers in an effort to protect the organization's financial and real estate assets. Even after years of these events being exposed, the Church continues to try and cover up these atrocities. All the apologies and crocodile tears in the world will not make these children whole or give them back their innocence. Time to strip all religious orders of tax exemption and other special privileges. Enough.
11
The depravity and hypocrisy are beyond comprehension - Preaching celibacy while raping children.
I can't think of a more heinous widespread crime carried out by any organization, legal or illegal. Even notorious organized crime syndicates would not tolerate this abhorrent behavior.
13
The disturbing thing about religion (or any organized group) is the propensity for evil and/or devil worship. It goes with the territory. Yes, religion gives great comfort for many but at what cost? And to what degree to people turn a blind eye because of the need to believe in a false prophet?
2
What about the other 49 states?!
13
This went on for decades and because this was perpetrated by priests but there is no real public outrage. If this was a company covering up these horrible actions there would be a boycott and the company would go out of business.
5
It turns out that’s what’s happening.
Which is sad. Service, faith, hope, love, a higher power, bread from heaven: these are products people need.
Don’t confuse boycotting the company with rejecting the product.
It’s more than possible to find a faith community with integrity. It does involve being face to face with actual people on a series of Sundays. They will be candid with you about their brokenness, and about the role of lay people as well as clergy in service to Christ’s people. They will have concrete answers about “safe church” practices and church governance and accountability. It will be okay to ask questions of your fellow worshipers, of your clergy, and of God.
— a “mainline” liberal Protestant
These are grave sins for which the Church must atone. The priests are the poison, and Rome has the antidote.
500,000 documents just in the PA? Rome knows where all the molesters and their protectors are hiding. Francis must root them out, regardless the cost in bad publicity, money or lost membership.
Francis and his allies need to hold their noses and keep reminding themselves: Suffer little children to come unto me.
The time is coming when I will have to ask my conscience if it is time to leave the Church. I don't want my conscience to break my heart.
1
I wonder what would happen if parishioners stopped giving money to the church until the abusers were brought to justice.
9
Why is it consistently the case that those who purport to be Christian are the most un-Christian people imaginable? The Church gets far too much legal latitude and must be reined in. How much more evidence is needed?
8
The number of abused children given in the latest report does not take into account the abuse that occurred in the Philadelphia dioceses and the diocese of Altoona-Johnstown. That abuse was investigated by another grand jury and the Philadelphia DA. The number of abused children is well over 1000 and the abusive priests number more than 500.
12
In the 1980's, I had a clerical job at a Roman Catholic diocese. One morning I arrived at the Chancery Office, to find a palpable mood of gloom and scandal. The bishop's secretary told me that everyone was upset over a diocesan priest requesting laicization. He and an adult woman had fallen in love, and planned to marry. That this priest was openly breaking vows of celibacy, and leaving the priesthood, was viewed internally as tantamount to a sex scandal. Now I know that this same diocese, in the 1980's, was cognizant of at least one pedophile priest in its ranks. Of course, the pedophile problem was a secret; the marrying priest's exit would soon be public, with the bishop tasked with filling a vacancy amidst a priest shortage. The bishop's secretary (a non-Catholic) didn't get why no one in the Chancery could accept with equanimity the marrying priest's honest, moral choice. I told her, "It's complicated". Attitudes about sex in Roman Catholic tradition are rarely (to this day) wholesome and transparent, IMHO.
5
Jesus taught that the two greatest commandments are to love God with your whole heart, mind, and soul, and to love your neighbor as yourself. The Catholic hierarchy has NOTHING to do with these teachings and does not follow them. Their only goal is to preserve the institution of the church, and Jesus' teachings are not even an afterthought. Stop giving them money, stop attending their services, call them out for the criminals they are.
6
Maybe taking an oath of celibacy isn't such a great idea after all?
4
If you want to live a moral life, stop asking self appointed experts on god to tell you what it means. Morality is an internal struggle with your own conscience, and a negotiation with others, where you make choices about your own behavior. If you outsource these decisions to priests, you get no practice at being a moral being.
The sexual morality of Western Civilization was largely invented by the Catholic Church. They spent well more than a thousand years trying to convince people that sex is evil, causing a false dichotomy between our souls and bodies.
If you accept that you are an animal with animal needs, it is easier to find a natural balance, then if you deny your own sexuality (as priests do) then have it come out in twisted ways (as it does with far too many priests).
The human race evolved to need sex. Fish never have to meet to lay eggs and fertilize them. But for humans the strong desire for sexual relations is as strong as thirst or hunger. Pretending otherwise makes your body desperate, even if your mind is trained to pretend to ignore it.
Protestantism tried to throw off the idea that a priest knows more about morality than we do, but now many Protestants have fallen into the trap of putting wired interpretations of the Old Testament ahead of their own judgement, or even the teachings of Christ. Christ never said sex was evil.
The attempt to separate the soul from the animal creates lost souls with no idea how to nourish their their inner animal.
6
Time to jump from the sinking ship that is Catholicism if you are one that still follows. Here’s a crazy idea - let a new religion form that has only WOMEN as leaders and priestesses. Men will be barred from holding those positions in this new religious institution - sort of a direct inversion of what the catholic church does now. Women tend to be nurturing towards children and are less likely to see children as sexual objects to be used for selfish fulfillment of repressed sexual desires.
4
Catholic nuns can be even scarier than priests. And then there is that religion/cult currently in the news. While the actual boss seems to be a man, his women priests are branding the female followers and don't seem to have a problem with it.
6
So disgusting and to all the Catholics who keep saying it's a small minority are furthering the abuse by minimizing the impact that these animals had. Keep throwing money their way. What a great cause this organization you are enabling. Makes Pat Robertson and Jimmy Swaggart look like amateur hour with their fleecing of their flock. I would ashamed to admit I was Catholic.
11
"By their fruits shall ye know them". This religion has terribly sick attitudes toward sex.
7
These priests went, daily, from hearing confessions to making their own confessions. It didn't work in the end. They are still guilty and they have not been absolved. Maybe we should start by burning down the confessionals, lest this fraudulent ritual continues to operate under these very false pretenses.
4
The report does not and cannot account for the level of ambition that drives those who are made bishops in the Church. An overwhelming majority of bishops are the product of lesser positions in the church management structure. That structure is designed to protect and serve the needs of the Ordinary of the diocese. Keep "the boss" happy and you'll be rewarded. Want to become a 'boss/bishop' protect him and keep your mouth shut!
Ambition coupled with a lack of conscience will allow you to advance. Check the CV of the current roster of American bishops and see what jobs they've previously held. It will be interesting reading.
4
How is this not organized crime, fronted as a tax-free institution? Shouldn't the IRS take interest? And why isn't Jeff Sessions invoking the Bible as a reason to get the Justice Department mobilized?
9
My late wife was a victim of a priest in the Pittsburgh diocese in the late 50s along with her older sister. Friend of the family, some friend eh? Parents refused to believe their children over the priest. I wish she was here to read this as finally some justice is served. The bishop of Pittsburgh should be fired now!
13
I'm was a practicing Catholic but have left the church over the immorality of the hierarchy in dealing with this matter. I want the Cardinals and Bishops who oversaw this removed. Now. No excuses, out. Out Cardinal Wuerl , out all the bishops of these dioceses out the seminary heads, out the American Conference of Catholic Bishops, Out to all of them. And if you can't do it Pope Francis, then you must go too.
8
What happened in Chile needs to happen here: every Bishop in the US must offer his resignation to Pope Francis. And then the church (i.e. the laity) needs to take an honest look at the rules about celibacy, marriage, gender and sex that these cowardly and weak men have been trying to impose on themselves and others for the past 50 years.
7
I grew up studying the catechism and worrying about all the childhood sins I had to confess. I have since thrown off the burden of religion and try to live by the Golden Rule.
So what has the Catholic Church got to say for itself? What was the Golden Rule for them?
8
Weird. At my extremely Christian high school we were always told atheists were the "real threat" to children.
11
Reading this article is like reading a report on organized crime. Conspiring to protect criminal sex traffickers results in RICO charges and these Bishops and Cardinals conspired to protect rapists so why no RICO charges? I guess the District Attorneys needed the Chuchs political support so they are complicit as well, and this are fellow conspirators. And that is why the legislature will not lift time limits on prosecution many legislators were once Days and would be subject to charges.
6
Elimination of sexual abuse will only come from the laity, the practicing Catholics, who demand that the Catholic Church confront this widespread problem that has been going on for years. Together we can clean up this problem and bring about positive change in our Church. It can happen if we are determined to do so.
Those Catholic haters will never assist in this undertaking because they want to close the Church down. This will never ever happen because there are too many of us faithful who love our Church and will help in this very important cause. There is no better time to achieve this goal than the present. We can do it.
1
I grew up hearing that talk, and have heard it for decades. But read this report and you can see the Church hierarchy are still trying to shut down these investigations, even now, after decades of being outed over these issues. So when's this problem going to get cleaned up? Get it done or stop criticizing people who simply don't want this massive pedophile ring in our society.
12
@WPLMMT Not a good outlook here. It's been up to the laity since the Boston Globe exposed it, and the laity have done nothing. Actually, it's up to the non-Catholics and former Catholics to look out for Catholic children and try to protect their dignity and innocence. You can thank us later for doing what the Catholic laity is hopelessly incapable of doing.
The Church is a church for the believers of that faith. It is not a court of law unto itself. Therefore when a crime is committed the Justice System of the land gets precedence over the Church's system to deal with criminals. Period.
6
How many of those not participating directly in this awful behavior still knew it was going on among their organization's ranks? The Catholic Church itself has clear ideas that there are both sins of commission and sins of omission. If the sins of commission are this widespread, how much more widespread are the sins of omission among the ranks of the Catholic Church? Anyone of good moral conscience simply shouldn't be participating in this kind of behavior, or turning a blind eye to it, or going along with the silencing of it, even passively. The amount of abuse the Catholic Church has been responsible for has clearly been documented as so widespread that there's simply no excuse for not recognizing that anymore--and anyone who wants to do good work for humanity ought to be doing that via some other organization. This organization has been too rotten, for too long, in too deep and widespread a way, to be salvaged.
4
Nauseating in it's scope. Institutionalized sexual abuse, complete with lateral job transfer opportunities, promotional opportunities, and career respite care at Vatican City for multiply offending and exhausted priests. Confidentiality maintained by a super secret filing system. Maybe priests should be allowed to marry...men or women. But, in the meantime, they need to be thrown in prison for sex abuse and punished to the full extent of the law if found guilty of any of this behavior.
7
Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Bishops enjoy virtually absolute power in their dioceses. Bishops fear NO ONE. Outside of criminal and civil law, the bishop is only accountable to the Pope.
Justice for the victims....punishment for the victimizers/abusers/and those who covered up...
But it can not stop there.....we are where we are because of an abuse of power...Power in the church is for service, not for domination, manipulation, not even to save itself.....This is a systemic failure due to what seems the unconscious consent given to bishops and clergy for them to exercise power over us. We must take greater responsibility about to whom, when, about what, and how we give consent to those in authority over us.
Yves Congar wrote in 1964, Power and Poverty in the Church...pg 80
"It is true the faithful are our masters, since we are their servants: their welfare must decide how our effort shall be applied (quoting St. Bonaventure). To know all this not by them intellect alone but in the heart and conscience has been and never ceases to be the principle of true evangelical holiness for those who have offices of command in the Church and in the world. The measure of all things, in Christianity, is indeed the spirit of the beatitudes. This is not an admitted fact: authority in the Church, is not domination, does not impose itself by force; it is service, humility, unselfishness, self-sacrifice."
Enough with the apologies. Time to get angry. Flip the tables in the Temple. Pray for the many good and holy priests. Our priest cried from the pulpit, at a loss as to how people could hurt the Church he loves so much. We live in a sick world. The Church is sick, too. Stand for what is good, pure, and beautiful; stand with the victims, stand with each other. Realize Evil is alive and roaming in our midst.
6
Never having been religious, let alone Catholic, my whole life I have wondered how a devout and practicing Catholic can possibly reconcile this obvious pattern of abuse by these priests. It's been in the new for decades. We can't ignore this.
I know more than any other religious, this Catholicism has the greatest number of "defectors".....but why hasn't there been even more? Why are there still Catholic Churches??!!
4
Any church that was found to be part of this should have their tax exemption removed.
7
When is their tax exempt status going to be taken from them?
13
@Debbie
For that matter all of them should not be tax exempt.
They have all gotten involved politically and that was to be a no no. Trump recently changed that law. Evangelicals are a huge part of Trump followers, he is giving them their goal of making this a Christian Nation in exchange for their vote/backing. That is why they ignore his unChristian behavior.
I left the Church in my twenties because I found it utterly obsessed with sex and with the elevation of the male religious. The environment was unhealthy, abusive to women and utterly incapable of serving its laity. Frankly I think the entire organization needs to be torn apart and re-invented. No more sacred priesthood of males. Let's see a Church that is at one with it's members.
8
And Al Franken had to resign because of his transgressions?
178
@Nuffalready
Is Al Franken a Catholic priest?
@Nuffalready yes, he did. Since he harassed and demeaned a sleeping human, Al Franken is unfit to be a senator. Not sure how that relates to these priests who should be in jail and hopefully will be criminal charged as they should have been years ago. Are you saying that because the degree of crimes can be so heinous that Al Franken's behavior should not have been called out? I don't understand the correlation.
1
@Nuffalready
He shouldn't have - it was wrong of the Democratic senators to dogpile, I wrote in and told him not to resign, as did many others, and many of those who were initially in favor of it changed their mind before he resigned.
4
For my fellow Catholics that still try to brush this off as "few bad apples," the known abuse of 1000 children is a sign of a systematic and aggressive culture of abuse and cover-up. Even worse, even when the parishioners know or at least suspect (as happened in my childhood church), that this going on, they often turn a blind eye. I remember wanting to an altar boy as a child, but my family adamantly refused, even though I was among the top students in my catechism classes. Years later I found out why, and while I'm thankful in a way, it's disheartening that nobody in the parish did anything to protect my peers who were less fortunate.
6
The Catholic Church keeps inviting me to leave. One day, I will take them up on it.
Tired of hearing that Francis is different. What has changed? He is all talk and no action.
Allowing women to be ordained and allowing for married clergy is the only answer.
The mortal sins of Catholic leadership makes me question everything about my faith.
5
This report seals it once and for all - I am never going to (any) church again. I am done with any and all organized religion, worship or faith. The hypocrisy is mind blowing and I'm truly having trouble wrapping my head around this. These men are supposed to have devoted their lives to God, instead we find out they engaged in criminal acts that would have put other men in prison - sequestered from the general population because their crimes were so awful. How can anyone sit in a pew, listen to the homily which asks us to look at ourselves and admit to our failings while the guy up front has been silent about other priests fiddling with children. I'm so done.
5
This tragic abuse of children, both past and present, has never been up for more public scrutiny than it is today. Worse yet, it is world wide. The Pope has the opportunity to deal with it as harshly as it deserves.
Why is he not doing so?
7
a@Cone Especially after the announcement about Pennsylvania's Catholic Churches.
1
When oh when will the Catholic Church understand that women must allowed to be priests and priests must be allowed to marry?
A more diverse clergy would not eliminate the problem of course. But I believe it would be greatly reduced.
And the criteria for selecting bishops need to be looked at very carefully. "Protect the Church no matter what" is not a christian value!
2
is it time for the federal government to shut down this criminal organization? why not? let Rome do whatever it wants, but why has our own government turned its head on this terrible problem all these years? do the politicians care? looks like they do not care and have not cared for many years. are the politicians complicit in these crimes aginst young people?
of course, these crimes were not caused by recent presidents and the current president, but the solution is now in Trump's and congress's hands. will they do nothing? i suspect they will let it go. why? because no one will pay them to correct the problem.
4
The answer to why is VOTES. Five Catholics on the Supreme Court won't help to straighten much out. Zubik, the bishop of Pittsburgh was the person who took the case to the Supreme Court that allowed businesses to opt out of providing contraception coverage on their group health insurance plans for religious reasons. They will do a lot more damage in the years to come.
3
Another outrage is that taxpayers are forced to subsidize these criminal activities.
11
I would be inclined to look deeply into every facet of the Catholic Church to see if there isn't something or things in its doctrines and/or organization that is infecting the morality of its clergy.
5
This is certainly not the first, nor likely the last, episode of widespread sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church. It is apparently not controlable because the church demands the celibacy of its priests. Clearly this an unnatural demand for many men, clergy not excepted. It is certainly not my place to suggest changes for the church. Nonetheless it is clear that many lives, both parishioners and clergy, would be better served if the unsustainable demands of celibicy be modernized.
This is what happens when society allows religions to institutionalize repressive strictures against human sexuality.
The human sexual response is inherent and normal. It can, however, become distorted when society, or religion acting as society’s agent, calls it evil and represses it.
A healthy view of sex must include the means of expressing sexual feelings in socially appropriate, responsible ways. Simply labeling it as bad and attempting to push it out of sight all too often causes it to re-emerge in clandestine and dangerous ways.
I understand the need for victims and relatives to push for punishment of perpetrators, and perhaps that is appropriate. A more lasting solution is to reform religious beliefs. A good start on that for the Catholic Church would be eliminating priestly celibacy.
6
This is why I left the Catholic Church. I urge every District Attorney in every state to start an investigation as thorough as this investigation. We should also note that the Catholic Church fought this investigation tooth and nail. The Church fights any attempt to extend the statute of limitations for sex abuse victims. Please contact your state Senators and Representatives (often) and get these laws changed.
10
Perhaps the church needs to examine whether celibacy is a good idea. The repression of a natural sexual life is part of this extraordinary cycle of abuse in the Catholic Church.
The harm that has been done by the Church's stand on sexual matters is a chronicle of violence against men, women, children, and even infants.
There are no words.
6
Time for the church to allow priest to marry, as they do in some South American countries. Also to consider allowing women into the priesthood.
I have an acquaintance who had been a Catholic priest and fell in love with a women in his parish. He left the church to marry her, of course not only did he have to leave the profession he loved, he was excommunicated and ostracized by family.
They lost an amazing person and it broke his heart to not be able to continue being a priest and openly practice the religion he loved.
It seems to be an open door to men with these sexual sicknesses and the title gives them respect, contact and control over the very people they should not be around.
I think in lieu of the horrors of this situation becoming more and more out in the open, It's time for Pope Francis and the diocese to make the necessary changes to the Catholic church to allow priest to marry. It won't be the first time that the church has made radical changes to keep itself alive.
5
Two thoughts:
- So much for the idea that abuse in the Catholic Church is no worse than in some other institutions.
- I can hardly wait to hear Mr. Douthat’s thoughts on this.
12
I guess the Pope's criticism of capital punishment makes more sense now. I bet he saw this coming, and wanted to prime the "compassion for criminals" pump.
The only question now is what will this do for the Church's PR on the left? I feel like it could go either way.
Supporting open borders? Check.
Opposing law and order? Check.
Embracing "sexual liberation?" A big case like this could break either way.
5
I don't think we can expect much truthfulness from the male hierarchy of the church. But what about the nuns? When are these women going to be transparent about their own needs for human intimacy and how they deal with this? Human beings need intimacy and the rules of celibacy deny them this, so their needs become perverted. We need to hear more from nuns who will speak the truth.
4
Every person who remains loyal to the Catholic Church has a part in this: every parent who forces this unproven and ancient faith upon their children, every adult who remains loyal to a belief system that has endured 1,800 years without a single iota of authenticity, and every community that values the archaic imagination of wholly unknown New Testament authors as undeniable reality.
The horrible pattern of abuse by the church isn't the outlying scenario, it's the same one played out in every state in the country. At the heart of every religion is power, not truth, and the cost for the flock that refuses to examine the veracity of extraordinary claims will go on and on. What an awful delusion.
8
@James D
Yours is the sort of comment many will despise. But I totally agree. Religion was about power and control from the start. It still is. That so many are so stubbornly tied to ancient fantasies that they knowingly allow the suffering of real children and the ruination of real lives... for what? And it is willingly and knowingly. It isn’t as if this is a shock to anyone. It has been common knowledge for decades that the Catholic Church has these problems. And this report is just the tip of the iceberg. Many people will simply never come forward with their stories.
3
Sadly, I believe this kind of cover-up has gone on for more than 70 years. I knew a woman, who would be in her 90's now, if she were still alive, who told me she was molested by a priest when she was a child. She was from Harrisburg, PA.
6
And what about the nuns? There have been stories floating around for some time that they also abuse children. Are there no nuns in Pennsylvania or did they never sexually abuse children there?
Or did the Grand Jury not look into this?
5
Good Lord?! This is just one state?
Follow the money, follow the votes. Nothing really monumental will happen, lawmakers rely on votes and money. This is a huge voting bloc with a lot of money. You can apply this rule to just about anything.
Let's say we uncovered a unbelievably huge group of serial rapists not connected to a huge voting bloc or campaign money or a lobby group, would something monumental be done to curtail it, of course.
3
There are, of course, many fine Catholics who do much good in their communities and in the world.
But "The Church," until it begins turning over its criminals to the police for these abominations, and until it turns over those who have protected these criminals to the police, can no longer be presented as doing good.
"The Church"is now about self-preservation, and certainly not about serving the community and NOT about serving God in ANY way.
5
It is unfortunate that all Catholic priests will now be tarred with the same brush as these sex offenders. Having said that, it is more than time for the Catholic Church and all ministries of faith to pull off the bandages and blindfolds, expose the sickness to the light, and truly take steps to prevent this from happening again. If not, their time of being relevant and respected (which is already declining precipitously) will soon come to an end. Start over and go back to the 10 commandments and get rid of all the man-made dogma
7
"Bishop Gainer in Harrisburg recently ordered that the names of accused priests and of bishops who mishandled abuse cases be taken down from all church buildings in the diocese."
No no, leave them up. It is fitting.
They need to own their Catholic ethos.
4
Be curious what Joe Biden knew since this seemed to involve people in positions to do something to look away and he is a well known Scranton Roman Catholic.
Not sayng he is complicit. Just curios about his perspective.
3
I would imagine Biden is a appalled as any Catholic but he has lived,in Delaware for most of his adult life and represented that state in the Senate.
1
I am deeply saddened by yet another report on the infidelity to their vows of these priests.
I would like to know something that no news source has reported. Some 300 priests in Pennsylvania were accused over a 70 year period. How many priests were there in Pennsylvania during that same seventy year period?
What is the probability that any priest or pastor or rabbi or iman is a pedophile?
What can be done to protect our children today?
2
This report did not cover all of the Pa dioceses. There were over 500 priests accused of abuse and many more than 1000 children. I am sorry, I have posted this before, but I think it is important to realize that yesterday's report was just a part of the story.
1
My first thought is that if the Catholic Church would permit priests to be married this could only help the situation. Pedophiles have been attracted to this club, and it has been horrific for so many children.
1
When are the authorities going to arrest and prosecute the rapists and molesters, and those who covered for them?
9
At every turn in this decades-long institutional atrocity, the Catholic Church, the self-proclaimed high moral authority -- with rituals and costumes to prove it -- has behaved criminally, cowardly, and with aggressive dishonesty. And they have behaved shamelessly. Costumes and institutions do not make anyone holy. These many men of the cloth are not holy. But they do pose, shamelessly and aggressively, as holy, all the way to the top. They have learned nothing. They yet try to duck and dodge. As an institution, the Catholic Church is the opposite of holy: much closer to an entrenched unrepentant psycho-criminal organization.
6
Read the Bible. It makes CLEAR that neither God nor Jesus EVER intended for ANY man to be raised above another. The Bible makes no mention of Priests, Bishops, or a Pope. These are a creation of MAN to gain power over the MASSES. God does not approve of violence or war in his name. God does not approve of false idols (i.e. mega-churches or flashy church adornment!). He seeks FAITH and a RELATIONSHIP with us (which HE isn't getting if we are listening to distorting RELIGIOUS Dogma, which is a creation of MAN). He wants us to look at each human being, no matter what their standing, no matter their skin color, their sex, their background, their sexual preference, as a HUMAN BEING. Treat each other kindly. That is the best way to be of service to God.
The Catholic Church needs to be removed from the Earth for their sins against SO many children. They cannot repair the damage they've done. EVER. How could anyone trust them again?
4
@Elle Does God intend MAN to be on a hierarchy above WOMEN? ... because as soon as that happens there is imbalance in the world. Many religions are to blame for the mistruth of the inequality of the sexes and its time we did away with that as well.
2
Have the radio on to a classical station and just a short time ago they played some ancient instrument Mass. I was reminded that even though it supposedly banned the practice, the Catholic Church was obsessive in their efforts to keep women out of the ceremonies of the religion, they preferred to use the voices of men who had been castrated before their voices changed rather than let women sing the parts for higher voices.
i disagree celibacy makes pedophiles.but i do agree that celibacy gives priests access to children. priests are celibate men.of course they arent sexual beings...is the fallacy. catholics should demand the shutting down of all catholic schools and getting rid of all alter boy systems or whatever systems they have concerning child contact.enough is enough. such an institution should not have any access to children period.the catholic church has proven to be completely oblivious to the saftey of children. dont let them have access to kids.how can the world let this be?
3
An institution whose leades are old celibate men, whose chief officers are celibate men, where women are excluded from important positions. What could go wrong?
5
@Bob Brisch
Apparently, none of the men in Vatican Inc. are celibate.
3
Catholic scandal is very upsetting cannot get it off my head. All catholics should feel shame for not questioning the church as a habitual practice on so many levels. To do so might have uncovered these evil doings.
Catholics sit on a pew repeating the same things for centuries not engaged w the church nor doctrine nor the bible really (exceptions few) not knowing each other, no meetings outside mass, cafeteria catholics. Women cannot be priests and nuns are their maids, so all male bastion back there.
The church needs to be dissolved so a new church can arise. All existing clergy reapply.
1
1,000 children sexually abused is a shock statistic. But put in context it isn’t shocking at all. The annual number of incidents in the church is 14. Nationwide, according to the SPCC, the number is 600,000. And Catholics are 25% of the Pennsylvania population.
At worst, the Pennsylvania numbers are ambiguous and tell us little about how abuse in the church measures up to abuse in the population at large. Viewed in context it seems that the 600,000 annual abuse cases include 14 committed by PA priests. Playing with statistics is a nefarious thing. Are they trying to inform us or are they just looking for a sexy headline?
2
Reinforces my decision to leave the church years ago.
5
A major problem for Catholics is the confession requirement before receiving communion at mass. To tell my sins to a possible pedophile or one who sheltered a pedophile is something I can't do.
What gives a priest the moral high ground to hear and forgive sins when he turns a blind eye to his own or to those around him? What makes him think that Jesus Christ and God himself give priests the absolute power to forgive the sins of others? They hold this power over parishioners who must compromise their own principals in order to receive communion. I will not and ironically, my Catholic catechism has led me to this decision. The Jesus I've learned about would approve.
1
Catholic priests are celibate ?
.... According to what Clintonesque definition of sex ?
Sexually abusive priests are a bit like contraception.
.... Officially banned but most everyone is doing it.
The Catholic Church does not like male-to-male sex.
.... Unless the giver is a priest and the receiver is a choir boy.
Religious and offended ?
Well I'm atheïst and continuously offended by the religious notion that we can live our evolving modern lives whilst chained to obsolete ideas from 2000 years ago penned by fundamentally quite ignorant and un-educated people.
Would it not be better for the Catholic Church to evolve and let its priests live complete human lives full of all the challenges of marriage, childbearing and child-rearing all within the constructs of the rich diversity of loving human relationships ?
And yes that means embracing LGBTQ people in their full human glory.
By the way when I say evolve in this context ... it's that same Darwinian notion but applied to how you think.
Is that going to be a problem ?
Do you think ?
7
Let me say this at the onset: I was once a practicing Catholic.
There isn't enough room in the NY Times, or any other publication, for me to state my thoughts and feelings on this subject. But I will make this analogy; the supporters of, and believers in, Donald Trump, have been analysed, criticized, and mocked, by many since he announced his bid for the presidency. And yet, since the first credible report surfaced years ago pertaining to the sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests, not a negative word has been written about the believers and followers of the Catholic faith. To me, there is no difference between the people who continue to be deceived and manipulated by the charlatan Donald Trump, and the people who continue to believe unfailingly in Catholicism and the Catholic Church.
5
Money talks. Parishioners, stop giving money to the Catholic church until the abusers are brought to justice. Put no money in the weekly envelopes, no tithes, no pledges, no donations, no cash in the Offertory basket. Nothing. All parishioner donations stop. Not only in Pennsylvania, but everywhere. Then watch what happens.
6
I read part of that report . The worst part of it it's not the just the cover up. For the Church those priests were "just sick man of God" and all they did is relocate a lot them to new parishes. And in the new locations a majority of those priests kept committing the same crimes.
The only solution I see to the Catholic Church is a complete reform: Celibacy is a lie and a form of torture. Priest should to able to marry (including same-sex marriage).
Pope Francis should come with the solution and not with "prayers and excuses".
1
A former pastor of my parish said around 20 years ago that the Church will sacrifice itself on the altar of celibacy. These words ring more and more true with every revelation of sexual abuse.
3
August 15, 2015
This saga goes on and on and truly needed to understand the sub-culture in the Roman Catholic Church, not to say exclusive in the matter of sexual abuse to only RC. The education and in the historic context of the institution of the two thousand years for its priesthood is surely beyond rational that the findings are so massive and so incomprehensible to both readers and the cast of significant authorities that seek to lead and counsel bu the wisdom of the divine revelations and accordingly sacramental degrees of achievements. This let's give pause to how we as the entire culture learn the lessons of professional supervision and monitoring the dark elements of evil and delusions that soiled the many and for how long and why. Why is not easy - sure one can say abuse and yet the motivation and leadership is in question. Say for example a shortage of priest could or should of allowed for adapting to its liturgical mandates and with flexibility to preform the sacramental dogma of the daily and weekly services and the not to monitor the personnel side of the human resources to embrace the fact - date one say -the priesthood itself was a deep abusive working challenge and yet with the means for confessional sorting out the light & dark actions the means for corrective authority seems to have missed the opportunity to purify its institution to cleanse its evil, destructive contamination wherever & by whoever: remedy must yes to say found in faith's forgiveness.
1
The Church has not policed itself. As a Catholic, I believe the only way to force the Church to finally put an end to abuse is through financial means. Stop contributing to your local parish. Give to local charities instead to help those in need. If the hierarchy in the church won’t put a stop to the abuse, we the parishioners must stand up. Additionally, it’s time to allow priests to marry and to ordain female priests.
5
I'm a victim who has yet to come forward to report a priest not yet on the 40th Grand Jury list.
I knew several of the names in the report, (some very well) and could identify at least one of the victims by name.
The abusive conduct of these priests is hardly new -- it has been going on for as long as there have been Catholic priest denied the ability to live openly as sexual beings as well spiritual leaders.
It's a perversion separating mind and body. Moreover, it creates a psycho-ecosystem that naturally attracts a certain predator-profile, or at least men with seriously unresolved sexual issues.
It is good that there are zero tolerance programs today at all parishes. That said, zero tolerance does not equate to zero offenses.
The combination of a church desperately in need of priests and a job description that denies one a basic part of the human experience while immersing them in the passions of school and parish life, is inherently and demonstrably contrary to reason.
Unchanged, it will continue to reap a vile harvest.
7
The Pennsylvanian grand jury's "40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury REPORT 1" issued on August 14, 2108, is so enormously damaging, disturbing, and challenging, that it should cause every American to regard it with as much concern and willingness to repair the damage described in it, as our government treated the 777.68 point drop in the Dow Industrial on September 29, 2008. Every law and every remedy and as much resource as required should be applied to this historical social and religious catastrophe which has played out too many times for decades in our nation. Where is our humanity?
2
There are simply no words beyond these -- May God bless the victims, and may they get all of the support they so desperately need.
2
@Sarah But where was this "God" when these children were abused by godly priests?
2
Where were the parents when their children were victims of these horrific abuses and how is it that an 18 month child is accessible to a priest? Appalling!
2
It’s time to let these guys get married and to remove the vow of celibacy entirely. Past time.
The Catholic Church does a whole lot of good around the world. I do not agree with the general hostility and disdain that is reflected in these comments, and as a devout atheist I am a big supporter of Pope Francis for his advocacy for the poor and human rights.
I hope this is the last wake-up call the Vatican needs to undergo major reforms.
1
Problem is, that there are plenty of married pedophiles! Marriage does not guarantee sanity nor normalcy!
3
In the early centuries of Christianity, often sinners were required to go public for serious crimes. The local communities required penitents to wear sackcloth and ashes at the entrance of churches until their penance / amends had been fulfilled. The PA Report names the guilty in a way that is fitting, and, hopefully, offers some comfort to victims who need to see public acknowledgment of their perpetrators, many of whom are now deceased. What remains to be worked out is an ecumenical and government consensus defining a universally just reparation to victims and families and a standard of just punishment for surviving perpetrators in both civil and ecclesiastical realms. This could be applied to all realms where sexual abuse are found - in homes, schools, medical residences, youth clubs, etc. Because of the lifetime trauma victims experience, the statute of limitations must be lifted in all sectors of Church and Society, equally, with no exemptions. Time to set things right in all realms. God help Church and Society recover.
1
This is a painful day for anyone connected to the Catholic Church in Pennsylvania. I used to be an "altar girl" in Dunmore, PA, and I know some of these shocking names listed. I remember their faces, over two decades ago, when they were priests in my hometown, highly revered and celebrated members of society. My family is also reeling from knowing many of the names listed in the document in Scranton; there are men who interacted closely with local families, performing baptisms and officiating wedding ceremonies. The level of betrayal cannot be understated. I mourn for my home community today.
This upcoming Sunday, it will be revealing to note how Catholic churches in PA address this abominable news in their services, if at all.
One wishes the Catholic doctrine to radically shift, allowing priests to marry and women to serve, and to face their systemic disease of abuse head-on. I know none of these things will happen, at least not in our current times.
Let's see what unfolds in the next few days....
1
I agree married men and women should be allowed to be priests. But, fact is that even married men can be pedophiles. Many children have been abused within the home. The answer is for zero tolerance! As soon as a priest is accused, he should be immediately removed from the parish, and the authorities must be called!
1
It seems as though everyone is focused on the prosecution of these offenders, which is clearly necessary. However, I can't help but wonder, what about the victims? These children were stripped of their innocence and scarred from the mere thought of a church or the religion they once followed, and what is being done to help them? The solace of knowing that their attackers have been convicted of their abuse is not enough to heal the psychological damage that has been festering in these victims for years to decades. and what will the public do to help them heal? these victims are not just a part of the big scandal, or the headlines, they are real people who have been severely damaged in possibly the worst way imaginable. Does that truly matter in the eye of the public, or is it all just politics?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/14/us/catholic-church-sex-abuse-pennsylv...
3
I grew up in a Catholic family in Philadelphia. Attended 12 years of Catholic school. Never saw sexual abuse, but saw plenty of physical abuse of children done by priests and nuns, including hitting with objects and slapping, and a lot of verbal abuse. In fact, I saw it so often it became normalized in my mind.
As kids we knew that a few nuns and priests were "off," meaning they seemed to have either personality disorders or mental health problems. We would roll our eyes and duck for cover. I walked away from the Catholic Church 30 years ago and have never looked back.
When I started to read about the abuses coming to light in recent years, I was not surprised. Heartbroken for the victims, yes, but not surprised that it happened.
8
“The report is unlikely to lead to criminal prosecutions or civil lawsuits.” What was the purpose of the grand jury if not to prosecute people? It seems it failed in its mission. Reading it sounds like an op ed, not a finding of facts.
4
I am starting to think organized religion does more harm than good in our society. I hate feeling this way, as I know and have witnessed churches doing wonderful things, charity, help in disaster areas, ministry to those who need it. But these examples are disturbing and indicate a willingness to cover this stuff up to protect the power structure above all. It happens in evangelical protestant churches too, men abusing women, ministers encouraging women to put up with abusers, bad behavior pushed under the rug, etc. Growing up my church had a music minister who was sleeping with half the congregation. He had a wife and three little kids. One common thread in these stories is that these religions are almost exclusively run by men. Women do not have an equal seat at the table. Perhaps if they did, things would be different. Until that day, I'll keep my distance.
8
Religion should serve its followers as providing a moral and ethical compass. Unfortunately it does not. I have found that community is the best thing that religion provides. I ignore everything else as I only see man made self serving purposes promoted.
I was raised Irish Catholic, and (at 55 years of age) resent that fact to this day.
I had no say in the matter. From the time I was young, I was sent to 'catechism classes'. Church each Sunday. Got baptized, 'first communion', 'confirmation', etc. (THIS is yet another problem with parents introducing their kids to ANY kind of religious practices. Let them decide for THEMSELVES, and I don't just mean by your 'suggesting' to them that they might like it, and then, to please you, they say 'yes'. In fact, don't ALLOW them to attend any service or classes UNTIL they are teenagers.)
As a typical rebellious teen, I began to start skipping church. Eventually I stopped going altogether, and interestingly enough, so did all my siblings and even my parents. It all happened rather gradually, with none of us questioning 'why' we were no longer going.
With age, and becoming more enlightened about the world as a whole, formalized religion as a whole, etc., I was eventually able to see my Irish Catholic upbringing more clearly. For me, it was horrible, and did not 'serve' me in any shape or form. But at the time, I didn't know any better, nor was I in a position to ever 'question it'.
This story only proves all the more that we REALLY need to ask WHY we need religion? We are told that we 'need' it in order to know how to 'be' good...to 'do' good. But, do we really?? Seems to me the most 'good' people in the world are spending their time OUTSIDE of religious institutions.
8
@Lisa
It's brainwashing and child abuse, and people who choose to do this to dependent children should be stigmatized in our society, if not prosecuted.
I am appalled when women of my (middle-age) and younger generations still choose to send their defenseless offspring to "catechism" and other indoctrination sessions. It's abuse, pure and simple.
And on the taxpayer dime no less. My school district supports parochial schools with bus service and other perks, much to the ire of me and other citizens.
3
I attended Catholic school in the 1960's. Classrooms had 50 kids taught by one nun. Elementary school kids were slapped across the face, poked in the collar bone, hit on the top of the hand with a ruler, and thrown into blackboards. If one of us came home with red slap marks across our cheek, our parents' reaction would be: "what did you do to that poor nun?" Nuns and priests were saints, never to be questioned. It's no wonder the abuse existed and persists when our parents never said a word.
1
Stating the obvious, but this is bad, and there's no amount of publicity or shaming that isn't fully deserved. As a "committed" Catholic (according to most), I personally have little issue with anyone who believes (no pun intended) that the Church should "burn the house down", mainly because I believe the Church is, and should be, more than an earthy, materialistic, and in many ways morally bankrupt and corrupt, house. But... I think by doing so there would be many, many faithful, most of whom have never had any part is this disgusting part of the Church, for whom that degree of change ("let's start again from scratch") would be harmful. I'm a strong supporter of enlisting the laity in both future oversight as well as current adjudication of wrongdoings, as a liaison between what passes for "canon law" and civil authorities. Forget any moral high ground; that train probably never even existed, much less left ages ago.
2
I don’t care if there are truly some good Catholic priests and communities. This won’t end as long as people are willing to still be associated with the church while all of this goes on. Walk out. Leave. Give them empty buildings and no one to preach to. Otherwise you belong to an organization where far too many of your “leaders” are either pedophiles and sexual predators or are unscrupulous and amoral people willing to hide and protect these criminals as they destroy the lives of small children. What moral guidance do these priests have to offer anyone anyway? They knew about this and cared nothing for it. It is only a problem because they were found out. Had they truly cared they would have fixed this decades ago.
The Catholic Church would rather protect pedophiles in order to continue the charade that they are a good and moral institution than protect innocent and trusting young children from harm. It is inexcusable and monstrous. Who are these hideously evil priests? This is not a story of one or two priests being rotten apples. It appears the Catholic Church has whole bushels full of these “rotten apples.” These religious leaders are hypocrites of the most vile sort. Who, with any sense of right and wrong, wants to belong to this organization? And why would anyone think anything will change unless every good person shows that they will no longer be associated with this bunch of evil charlatans?
8
You've got a fiend in Pennsylvania.
3
I personally know children who were molested and abused by catholic priests in Nepal. Priests, nuns and the entire institution of the Vatican need to be accountable for their crimes against children at a global level. From the cases against native american children to children in Uganda, they have destroyed generations of vulnerable lives. These ad disgusting sick people who need to be in jail.
11
I am sure the abuse is rampant in third world countries! Such a tragedy!
Public policy that lends credibility to anyone's projection of a human personality onto nature is nothing less than official enablement of psychopathy.
5
There must be many, many more. Where are the victims of color? Blacks? Hispanics? Asians?
Diane Edwards, Philadelphia, PA
6
When you see the comments here (by Catholics, I'm assuming) assuring us that it's just a few bad apples, there have been reforms, etc. -- comments that are weak attempts to modulate your natural outrage -- you can see the mindset that made all this rape possible.
27
Quite a racket the Catholic church has going.
16
If this were a corporation or any organization other than the Catholic Church they would be immediately out of business with no chance of resuscitation. May this bring the 1000’s of victims some peace.
12
Waiting for NYTimes to research the so-called “Playbook”
3
They're getting nervous down at Our Lady of the Alluring Altarboy.
17
1,000 children in 70 years is 14/year. That could be one or two priests. If there is a big problem in Pennsylvania, the report here didn’t find it. And the headline here should be “Evidence Shows Church Coverup of a Couple of Abuse Cases”.
2
You've got to be kidding, right? Even one case is unacceptable. Sexual abuse ruins lives. A child NEVER gets over it. It's a wound they much carry the rest of their lives. I know someone who was repeatedly molested by her priest. Here is a tragic story which I won't go into here. Suffice it to say that she has gone thru her life a broken person. And 1000 cases may only be the tip of the iceberg here.
5
Those are the ones who came forward! I'm willing to bet good money the numbers are much higher! And worse in third world countries! The RCC is rotten to its core!
3
@michjas That's funny, in 2012 the Vatican's own abuse summit acknowledged at least 100,000 American children had been abused by priests. John Allen reported on it. Of course, nothing got done about it, but we are talking about more than a couple abuse cases.
I love Pope Francis, but this endemic filth that has and continues to be revealed requires a crushing level of reparations. Sell the Church's riches and real estate, repay both the victims and the greater society that has been robbed of all of the human potential that sexual abuse creates and if they still insist on having their church, let them pay taxes like all law abiding organizations do.
12
You don't need an interpreter in the room, when you're with your higher power.
You don't need a conduit. You don't need a liason.
You don't need a congregation to reinforce what only you know for yourself.
I don't need you to tell me your good news. I don't want your prosthletizing. I'm not interested in your religious point of view, beyond how I see it shapes you culturally. Your religion is cultural, not a needed mechanism to connect to what is more powerful than your own humanity.
You don't need hats, or special clothes. You don't need special underwear, Mitt. You don't need to tell me you're a methopresbyscientolcatholjewimuslibuddhishintozoarastrihindufundamentalivanglicalbaptist. The one thing those creeds all have in common should be the simple rule, "don't be a jerk." I'd use a stronger word, but it wouldn't make it past the person tasked with monitoring these comments.
A priest is denies their sexuality and is conscribed to live a human existence without being a whole human. They dwell in manufactured worlds of rituals and moral ambiguity, cloaked in vestiments and ordained with some abstract authority. No wonder they become evil preditors. There is nothing about their existence that is natural, including their relationship with a force they sense pervades everything.
Want to find your spiritual core? Find a way to be with yourself. It's in there. Knock off the distractions and you'll find it. Everything else comes down to "don't be a jerk."
16
To el jamon
You couldn’t be more right
What you need is already in you
1
This is not an isolated incident: Pennsylvania, New York, Washington, Atlanta, Houston, Phoenix, my home of San Diego, LA, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Dublin, Berlin, Venezuela, Australia, on and on. The Catholic Church is a predator who we are allowing in our mist. We are supping with the Devil and continue to do so because he is a charming host.
Enough! "Get thee behind me Satan!" There is no reforming them. By their actions over hundreds of years they have shown no interest in changing. It is time to ban the Catholic Church.
10
The Catholic Church's with it's rituals and wealth, including this dark abusive and scary side with all these pedophile priests and systemic cover-ups has an almost anti-Christ and satanic nature about it. Who'd want to belong to it?
10
@Andrew America with its locking up children in cages, who'd want to belong?
(rhetorical silliness)
2
@Jack
Catholic illegal immigrants who are allegedly fleeing 3rd world broken countries with endemic violence and poverty, rape and murder, lack of education and job, zero women's rights...all genuflecting to Vatican Inc. for centuries. There are enough tragic and bloody histories of Vatican crimes over 1000+ years in Europe to know how this plays out in Latino, SE Asian and African places the Vatican has also trained its predatory eye for the last 600 years. After all, the Reformation (of the Catholic church) was met by the bloody, violent Counter Reformation, which left the RCC in control of Europe for another couple hundred years. Need more proof, research what the RCC did to Huguenots - essentially, genocide.
Ignorance fills many these comments. However if you have read this article you can no longer hold claim to not knowing, or not understanding what has and continues to go on within the Catholic Church and other organizations. "Catholic Priests Abused 1000 Children in Pennsylvania" Ridiculous!!! For every child known to be abused there have to be 2 to 10 times more who have not come forward or come to be known. This is not now and was not ever a problem, it is and was the culture of the "clergyhood." Anyone who thinks otherwise after seeing the facts is not ignorant, they choose to be stupid and part of the "problem." Just like all that look the other way.
17
The world would be so much better off without religion.
18
Shut this so called church and religion down. It is nothing more than a front for sexual predators and financial fraud. The parents of the abused children actually gave money to support this criminal enterprise.
14
At what point will the Catholic Church be deemed a criminal enterprise and priests be charged for belonging to it like the Crips, Bloods and other gangs?
16
@Raoul Do you mean the billion people who call themselves Catholics? Then one should ask the same thing about America in the age of Trump, no? I love my Church like I love my country, passionately, including its flaws. But to mistake the institutions for its people and declare implicitly those who identify with it are members of a gang is a pointless, overly simplistic exercise of no deep insight and much self-congratulation.
@Jack
How anyone could "love" such a sick, vile, destructive cabal, that preys on and robs from the ignorant poor to clothe itself in robes, is beyond me. The Catholic Church is one of the most odious insitutions ever devised by humankind.
I'm not religious in any way. I am mystified by the allegiance of people to an organization that knowingly and repeatedly and without remorse subjected children to unfathomable abuse. Christianity seems to have no real relationship with the actual teachings of Christ- abuse of children, "prosperity gospel", discrimination, . All of this makes possible enormous hypocrisy and yet people continue to be suckered in. It has even facilitated the support of a liar, adulterer, cheat etc. by organized "evangelicals" who suddenly have decided that Trump is exempt from the the damnation that similar folks face. The whole system is structured to take advantage of people's fears and we willingly walk in to the lies and abuse. I hope the truth will continue to come out but I don't expect it make any difference.
13
@BA I realize that I am angry today, but I will go as far as to say many religious people are not suckered in. They are fully in cahoots and side by side with a religious narrative that employs fear tactics to control people, when the object should always have been to uplift humanity toward equality, love and a better world.
1
These priests are worst than Harvey Weinstein. This news makes me sick and angry. I strongly believe that there should no "statute of limitations" in child abuse case . These sick guys deserve maximum punishment possible. No wonder , the churches are so empty now a days. Any body who did , who tolerated and who protected these animals are equally guilty. I am curious that these children abuse happens only in catholic church ? These priests are against abortion and death penalty! Ridiculous.
21
And Catholics still think they are pro-life. Really mind boggling.
32
A safe haven for pedophiles and probably for the ages. Shame on anyone who puts money in the collection basket.
12
The Times doesn't care about my rape 40 years ago so why should I care about this. My family tells me to shut up about my rape over 3 years so this MeToo movement only applies to women and not men. My spouse tells me not to inform the city that post-humorously promoted my abused to Police Captain that he was responsible for my rape plus 3 others.
2
"Religion began when the first scoundrel met the first fool" (Voltaire)
Unfortunately, we now see the results of the scoundrels and fools at play!
11
And unfortunately, children are the innocent victims.
Prison time for all. Stop letting the "church" handle this internally.
9
Lots of clergy, who harmed children in any fashion need to take off their Roman collars.
4
This week I chose this article because this is my religion and to see this happening is awful. I want to know all I can about this issue. I do believe if priests or anyone in the clergy has commuted this awful sin should go to jail. It should not be brushed under the rug like it was nothing because if they get no punishment for this, it could keep happening over and over again. They need to learn their lesson. I need to know that people who are doing this are being punished and put in jail. I don’t understand how people can just forget about this issue and continue with their lives when little do they know, it could happen again. ([email protected])
3
as someone who grew up catholic and still believes in christian values the roman catholic religion is a total sham.. when i was in catholic school it was common knowledge there were certain brothers and priests to stay away from.. if jesus were alive today he would be ashamed to see what the catholic religion has become..
6
Organized religion at its finest.
5
It is just as sickening that the Catholic Church would lobby the legislature to stop the release of names and to stop the enacting of a law to remove the statue of limitations to hold child molesters and those who cover up their crimes accountable for their actions. How can a church preach the truth and supposed word of God and then act as demons attempting to hide the truth. These supposed men of God go about excusing these monsters...more like condoning and aiding them in their criminal actions.
4
From personal experience, it seems as if the Catholic Church's go to move regarding their pedophile priest problem was to hide it and defend it. I was sexually abused by a Dominican priest in the late 60s to early 70s.
It took me thirty five years to come forward.
The Dominicans at first claimed that there was never a single complaint about this priest, who I know abused several other young boys in our Chicago neighborhood. Then, they sent me a letter stating that my allegation was credible due to other complaints.
They hired a damage control firm to discredit me and to minimize their damage. They refused to pay for any mental health counseling. They were concerned only with the potential financial hit. I never sued them. To this day, fourteen years after I reported the pedophile priest, they refuse to pay for mental health therapy.
This priest was transferred from parish to parish in the southern states. He was given refuge in an Alabama parish. They did not tell the parishioners that a pedophile priest was living out his last days in their rectory.
The authorities of the Catholic Church who protected the thousands of their pedophile priests all deserve to rot in prison.
471
@Pete
And the bishops con the membership, through their tithing, to subsidized the coverups, denials, "treatment" spas/hideouts for predatory priests, and scant payments to victims.
Meanwhile the Vatican Bank sits on bags-o-cash in amounts unknown. I dropped out of this membership long ago. This is a most ungodly and corrupt group, pretending to be followers of Christ. They make me sick. The stories make me angry and activated.
3
I am so very sorry this happened to you.
3
@Pete Been there, Pete. I was abused @50-60 times as a high school student in Sioux Falls, from 1972 - 1976 ... 4 years of abuse by a priest who was the director of the boarding school I attended. I had nowhere to go because we lived under the same roof. No one spent 10 minutes in prison.
7
The church now recruits priests and higher clergy from Africa and other developing, uneducated countries, as well as fervent believers in former Russian-controlled countries. The chuch's survival depends on the uneducated masses to ignore reason and logic in favor of 'a leap of faith'.
"We don't do that now!" Catholics may say. That's like a murderer saying, "I don't do that now so don't prosecute me!"
6
I can think of nothing more profane than using a gold cross as a sign to priests that the child wearing it is ripe for sexual exploitation.
17
The LDS church is next. The victims are coming forward.
Children and teenagers are forced to sit alone in rooms with old men (bishops) and discuss their sexual "sins". Its only a matter of time before the mormons meet the same fate.
Protectthechildren.org
14
These priests need to be held to the same standard as anyone else who conspires to hide a crime. They have intimidated trusting Catholics to protect their fellow witch doctors. Would this even be a debate for any other group of men? Let’s see some trials.
7
Research reveals that organizations with the worst gender balance in leadership have the worst sexual abuse records.
If the Catholic Church hopes to survive this downfall, embracing women in leadership is a requirement.
6
The "only true church" is brought to it's knees! Thank God for that.
5
Can't wait to hear how Bill Donohue and the Catholic League is going to try to spin this one.
8
How extreme my comment would be? The question may go onto another phase for moral assessments of the sensibles. *** The Catholic Church is an institution. Each diocese carries its mission by being set in a region. It functions itself deeply and locally within. Since regional dioceses do not geographically change their administrative ranges, for the same reason that, let me say, the state of New York does not go suddenly to the West Coast; a local church and the community can become inseparable. *** So, criticizing *your* bishop or pastor is easily considered as if attacking your community. Communal pressures come along, first. Efforts of adjustments appear, next. *** In addition, priests are keepers of parishioners’ sin secrets. In an extreme case, hypothetically, who can threat whom on what basis, when survival is necessary? *** Here is another extreme. Under the litany of “win win situations” (that means your sins can be wiped out through Church and you can win a ticket to Heaven), the heaven, described as a place where you as (approx) 30 years old, regardless of the actual age of your death, can meet everyone else, who is also (approx) 30 years old, including your parents, grandparents, grand-grandparents and so on going back to all the generations backward till the birth of Jesus, and happily enjoy your forever-life with all others and singing angels, seems, to me, rethorically fictional enough to cover up civic liabilities in this world.
2
This is what happens when sex for pleasure is deemed inappropriate. Sexual desire is a basic human instinct and need. Just another example of religion disregarding science.
7
This is why we need to add a sixth Catholic to the Supreme Court...to insure for the next few decades that women know their place and that no one has to bake a cake for anyone they don't like.
4
How is the Catholic Church still allowed to operate on US soil? If Wal Mart was found to be covering up child sexual abuse by its employees for more then a century would it still be granted a business license and allowed to operate freely?
11
Catholic school kids knew from intermural sports teams that horrible predatory abuse was going on. It seemed the guys were groomed then figured it out. Then they'd quietly announce things like I quit being altar boy today.
Small schools, small class sizes, and tight groups of kids who lived in the same neighborhoods, and traveled to surrounding ones for games in a city with a million people.
And priests would be transferred suddenly to other parishes.
Whoosh. Gone overnight. The church just moved these predators from church to church. Certainly girls weren't altar boys, were they....
4
I just read through the introductory matter of the Grand Jury Report, and it reads like something out of the Marquis de Sade.
The horror of these transgressions is impossible to convey; only descriptions of the actions of the irresponsible, mentally sick perpetrators are left to us in this Report. This Grand Jury Report is a window into the macabre.
The victims have had to confront this Church's abuse. All parishioners will have to join with them to make sure that all Church clergy are held accountable. Denial is no solution.
I think that one cannot continue to be a Catholic until the Church resolves these vile incidents. Belief does not contain the consequences of a horrible reality.
13
The Holy Roman Catholic Church is guilty and has been guilty of the longest history and most evil treatment of humans since the new common era. The Catholic church also serves those in power by blessing the empire building and war-faring of nation states.
4
1. Repeal the tax exemption status of all religious businesses and corporations, foreign and domestic;
2. Repeal statute of limitations laws with regard to rape, incest and molestation.
Vatican Inc. in every state will open it's gold lined bank vault to throw money around to quash those long overdue just corrections to our laws. So strengthen sunshine laws and the ability of the press to obtain access to political and "religious" activities, particularly when they co-mingle.
3
At what point does our society say enough's enough and use the RICO statutes and laws to finally dissolve this (international) criminal organization? Religious liberty should be no shield for the multi-generational depraved criminality perpetrated and protected by the Church.
7
Catholics who continue to go to Church in the shadow of this global atrocity are implicitly giving endorsement to the very institution that created and nurtured the predatory atmosphere that resulted in vast sexual abuse - abuse that undoubtedly stretches back thousands of years to the requirement of clerical celibacy. Claiming ignorance of such behavior by crying “that’s not the Church I know,” and acting devastated is a passive, hypocritical response. The “faithful” who do so are guilty too.
You can’t simply isolate and cubby hole the abuse by priests and ignore the rest of the rot. The problem is not just the predatory priests –the problem is the CHURCH itself. It is an anachronistic institution with an ancient, outdated cosmology that preys on humanity in more ways than just sexually. It is a men’s club, controlled by men, for the benefit of men.
The Church should liquidate its vast holdings, works of art, and gold chalices and pay reparations to victims and families whose lives have been destroyed by men in the name of God. Then – it should close its doors for good.
That would at least be a gesture of honesty and justice, rather than to continue on, posing as a false paragon of sanctity and positive influence – let alone a conduit to God.
“You shall not bear false witness” (Exodus 20:16) - you shall not lie. The Church lies; it is a lie. To participate in it is to live a lie.
6
@Michael There is sadly sexual abuse all across society. The most abuse happens in schools. Should we stop going to schools? Stop believing in Education? Or what about sports? There are so many athletes continually abused by their coaches. Should we shut down the Olympics? Should we stop enrolling our kids in sports? No. "There is some good in this world and it's worth fighting for," as Tolkien, a devout Catholic, once said.
2
Certain persons have a predisposition to young boys others find opportunities to have sexual power. Nothing better than the priesthood. What the Church has failed to realize is it has through God the power and mercy to forgive sin,transgressions,etc but that Does not go for sexual predators.Yes your sins will be forgiven but sorry you can not stay under this UMBRELLA we call the CHURCH in any professional capacity. Goodbye.
If the entire Catholic Church were to spend the next 40 years wandering in the wilderness it wouldn't even begin to atone for this horror.
7
This is a sickness of male sexuality. Sexual abuse, perpetrated by men, is in the shadow of every area of our civilization; the home, schools, universities, religious organizations, the government and the workplace. It's time we a people look at the causes of male deviancy.
3
You can believe in God, put God at the centre of your life, spend your life trying to follow God's wishes through the revelation of prayer, without ever joining any one of the many organised religions.
Joining an organised religion, or staying in the one in which you were brought up, is the coward's road to salvation.
If you are a member of an organised religion such as the Church of Rome, then you are part of the problem.
3
Is there any other institution, private or public, that is allowed to perpetrate, enable and then cover up this kind of behavior? Can you imagine the pitchfork and torch parade if something like this was happening at, say, Miramax? Well, I guess you can, but that was one man; this single report identifies ONE THOUSAND priests, and it's one report. I remember shaking my head in disbelief when, at the end of "Spotlight", they ran a list of the countries throughout the world where pedophile priests had committed these acts. The list scrolled endlessly.
For all its sanctimonious drivel about praying for victims, the Catholic church steadfastly refuses to change the structural components of the church that are at the root of all this. In fact, not only will they not entertain making the needed changes, they fully deny the changes are needed at all. Instead, we're told that a new "zero tolerance" policy will fix everything, that every priest caught abusing children is removed from service and the authorities notifies. Of course, this would be AFTER the abuse takes place; where is the policy or changes that would prevent it from happening in the first place?
One last thing: I think it would be good if the NYT could find another way to identify these pedophile priests other than as "Reverend" or "Father". They deserve neither honorific.
8
Bishop Zubik is just following Trump's lead by basically claiming this is fake news. Will he call out the press as the enemy of the church?
5
Priests who break a country's laws should be subject to trial in the country's criminal court system.
Instead of this the Catholic church is allowed to continue acting as judge and jury - as it has for centuries. So, unsurprisingly, they coverup, pay out and transfer priests.
5
Let us not forget that those evil priests form a very small portion of the whole body of the church. Still the Catholic church and its priests are behind lots and lots of great work for humanity.
64
@Wissam Raji
Doesn't it bother you that your "very small portion" is greater than any other religion? Could it be that requires it's clergy to be celibate?
2
@Wissam Raji Tell that to the thousands of people affected by the "very small portion" of molesters.
6
@Wissam Raj Lots of non-Catholics do great work for humanity too.
7
The biggest obstacle to getting justice for victims is the statute of limitations.
If an effort is made to change this ridiculous law in the cases of rape and child molestation then perhaps we can address the magnitude of this problem.
There are serial offenders walking free due to this and that should anger everyone.
4
These institutions need to be shut down until a full investigation has been done and people are in jail. This is ridiculous. If your concerned about freedom of religion your safer praying at home.
1
Findings in one state, consider how many have been assaulted across the globe especially in developing nations where they were doing missionary work. I grew up catholic attending catholic schools that were not without their scandals of child rape and molestation. I left the church after attending a Jesuit college, as an adult I could not abide by the misogyny in the dogma of the church or the hypocrisy I found in how they managed the abuse of children. For those that still claim to be catholic and support their church where is your voice to demand justice? How about selling off some of the idols that they store in the Vatican that is worth millions to provide monetary compensation to those lives they have marred forever. Shame on the Catholic Church and to those active Catholics that do not find their voice to demand change and justice after exposing this obscene coverup.
2
The Catholic Church cannot assert that it will protect
"the most vulnerable among us" - namely, the unborn - and allow this to happen to young children over decades. Hypocrisy at its worst.
6
If this was a private, corporate daycare chain-they would be shut down and the corporate directors would be jailed. Why does the church get treated with kid gloves?
Shut them down, lock them up and seize their tax-free property nationwide.
5
Pope Francis,
This is an (overdue) moment to stop celibacy so priests like their protestant colleagues can have a normal family life, sex life + know a bit more about the REAL world!!
Only introduced about 1000 years ago it has NOTHING to do with the Bible and is an arbitrary, outdated rule.
8
This grand jury report should literally be nailed to the front door of Saint Peter's Basilica. Any tourists from Pennsylvania in Rome this week?
4
Who didn't know that Catholic Church clergy was rife with inhuman inhumane unnatural persons? Pedophiles should be criminally prosecuted. Separation of church and state does not shield church from criminal and civil liability.
5
I was sickened at the details of abuse in this article. We've heard about priests sexually abusing children but this was nauseating. Especially the one who beat the kids. The scope was just shocking. So many kids, so many priests. I grew up Catholic in Pittsburgh and went to a working class Catholic School in the 60s. Most of the neighborhood went there. It all seemed so wholesome and good. The church was always crowded and they built a second building on the school in 1960. Even though I left the church and never really believed the dogma, I still felt it was a pretty good childhood. Now the rug has been pulled out from under that sense of stability....And the vermin have crawled out.
2
Voltaire: “Those Who Can Make You Believe Absurdities, Can Make You Commit Atrocities” and we must add for the Catholic church "cover up atrocities". I wish for a world where people will stop honoring those without honor, those who are brainwashing their children into believing imbecilic stories as facts and abusing them.
6
Isn't it looking more and more like the church is just a front for abusing children?
6
Wow, all that praying to the Lord, along with solemn vows of celibacy, you would think, that having sworn themselves to chastity before God and men, that the Almighty would have protected these priests from falling into such depredations.
Perhaps there needs to be a serious analysis of the efficacy of prayer.
4
This is not an isolated case, it is a Symphtom that even recently in New York itself has beaten big waves. It is the greatest fallacy of the Catholic Church to claim it would be an internal affair. Even the church, whatever, is not above the law-so it can never be an internal enlightenment that must now be initiated!!! External reconnaissance, advancement to the law and claims for damages by provided solicitors in individual cases!!!
1
Billions of dollars spent (payoffs, settlements, legal fees) by the Church to protect its image and assets. Time for all good Catholics to stop putting their dimes and their dollars into the collection plates.
4
This has been going on for centuries!
4
A few bad apples, or a bad barrel?
3
If these calamitous events were caused by female members of the church, they would have been burned at the stake. Men run this haven of crime and misdemeanors. They and the church that protects them should be outlawed.
3
A few rotten apples in the Roman Catholic church have been reported to be sexually abusing children for a long time and it is good that the bishops and other leaders are being forced into confession and will not be forgiven but severely punished.
Additionally it is high time the Roman catholic church continues the good work that it does but without interfering with governments trying to implement sound public health policies of birth control as well as physical barriers to prevent sexually transmitted diseases. Let abortion be available as a safe but choice carried out responsibly by women. In short, The Roman Catholic Church has to reform now and do what is best for the practicing Catholics. It is time for the current Pope to act with the urgency of now.
126
@Girish Kotwal "A few?" How dare you. Thousands of children, thousands of priests, dozens of countries, spanning literally decades. Shame for suggesting it's just a few. It is most certainly not. It is at the core of the church.
2
@Jamila Kisses Yes it is a few thousand rotten apples across the world are the major perpetrators of abuse of thousands of children. Do you know how many Roman catholic priests are there in the world? Close to half a million and do you know how many Roman Catholics around the world? over 1.2 billion.
So it would be grossly unfair to say that it is to the core of the church. I maintain that there are rotten apples in the Catholic church who need to be punished severely in accordance with the law of the land.
Would you condemn the entire people to Islamic faith for the rotten terrorists who commit violent acts under the name of Islam? No. Deal with the criminals , rapists, murderers no matter what their religion. Spare the innocent ones and those not doing or supporting the criminal acts.
1
@Girish Kotwal: "Urgency" is an unknown concept to a church that only recently admitted Galileo was right.
3
Given the support and complicity of the church, the multi-decade history of abuse, and the absence of any real visible changes to prevent further abuse, one wonders how the church enjoys such special considerations in the communities it claims to serve.
Despite publicly denying documented and continuing cover-ups of prolific child abuse, or exercising tremendous political influence as a nonprofit (setting aside that it is one of NYC's top landowners), somehow this group receives extensive protection under the law.
We can point to the charity of the Catholic church, but at what cost? Is not their documented and ongoing behaviour evidence of a fundamental misrepresentation? Of animus?
1000 children
3
Enough is enough. While I suspect the Catholic church in the U.S. - - may be protected by the First Amendment - state and federal prosecutors need to have a long look at charging the US Catholic Church as an institution - not its priests, bishops, and cardinals - with felonies and shutting it down - a la Arthur Andersen.
Federal prosecutors think nothing of sending people to prison for decades for possessing a single image of child pornography. It is past time to look at the US Catholic Church institution that purposely enabled the church's enormous harm, and continues to keep secret the scope of the abuse it knowingly allowed.
5
The real question is, "What is it really about". It has to be about money and keeping the Catholic Company intact particularly in a time of increasing diversions and disinterest in attending liturgy, sermons, confession, communion and the like. One way to keep to your bishops and priests happily employed is to allow them to express themselves physically and sexually however they please, keeping your antiquated laws of celibacy intact and "turn a blind eye" so this massive employment and entitlement program can continue unabated and, apparently, untethered to the laws the rest of us are expected to abide by. Ignore the law and your financial "kingdom" continues.
3
This reading kept me up last night--it's shatters all our hopes and dreams for our children. If these acts were going on in a corporation, we would shut it down. And, there are another group of men who are abusing students, seminarians, and children. The brothers. There are hundreds of lawsuits against the Marist Brothers, the Jesuits, the Franciscans. There was an article yesterday in the Guardian that spoke about the Chilean government coming down on the abusive acts of the Marist Brothers. My brother was one--we were very close--no secrets. He attempted suicide multiple times. We were frightened that another attempt might be coming. He stopped taking all his medications and said his good-byes to friends. He died almost two years ago--he made it look like natural causes, but it definitely was not. We ought to look into places like South Down and St. Luke's Institute that harbor these men who ought to be relinquished from their vows. The cardinals and bishops and provincials accept all kinds of behaviors that go far against the vows that these men have taken--their numbers are low--they will hold on to anyone even if it goes against their mission and their humanity.
5
Roman Catholics need to re-think the parameters of the confession box. Contrition and forgiveness are good things. But the secrecy and lack of societal accountability embedded in the ritual of private confession as a way to absolution seems to have encouraged the church's belief that it is above the law and helped create a culture of conspiracy to protect the image of priests as holier-than-thou.
3
I went to Catholic grammar school, was an altar boy, graduated from Georgetown and raised my two sons as Catholics. I gave generously to my parish. My Aunt was a missionary nun and a saint in my opinion.
I no longer attend church although I still pray regularly. I didn't leave the Church, the Church left me. This ongoing disgrace is worse, in my opinion, than the selling of indulgences and is much a stain as the Inquisition. The Church has behaved at every turn like a corrupt corporation, more concerned with protecting its reputation and money than with the lives of its flock. Ornate vestments and grand Cathedrals cannot obscure the truth.
11
This behavior is not one that should be rewarded by retaining their tax exempt status. They should be treated as any other corrupt organization and certainly not receive the benefits of tax relief.
2
This is just terrible. I'm so upset of the lack of leadership and the arrogance of our bishops. I wish they would actually follow the results of the two, indepedent CUNY studies which point to the reason why the Church is having this issue: the predation of (both straight and gay) seminarians by older men. It's very sad.
2
Two issues come to my mind with regard to this scandal:
It's interesting and revealing of the Catholic Church's priorities that priests who have dared to ordain women are always excommunicated at breath-taking speed, while serial sexual predators were (and often still are) ignored, protected and allowed to continue their predations unchecked.
On the other hand, there is also the problem-- rare but nonetheless existing-- of false accusations of sexual misconduct being leveled at high-level Catholic clergy for political reasons. The most significant case was that of the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago. He was a political and theological moderate (and a life-long Democrat) who was targeted with sordid accusations of sexual misconduct by ultra-conservatives within the Church who hoped to ruin him. The charges turned out to be fabricated, but they darkened the last years of one of the very few cardinals who deserves to be made a saint.
8
It's probably somewhat unfair to say this, I know, because not all priests are predators and many are humble about their calling. But what exists in practice is also unfair, so I will say what I'm thinking. Catholicism is a religious organization that demands obedience to its dogma including its non-neogitable stance against abortion and birth control. Thus women's sexuality and role in the Church leadership are highly regulated and restricted. But practice allows for priests who committed unspeakable acts against children to be sequestered and protected. I think we all need a big time pause to retreat and reflect on how we find a more compassionate and just way to honor God besides the shameful way religious organizations are being run today.
5
It is not only the church that deserves the disgrace it brought upon itself, other institutions bear responsibility as well. In particular police departments failed to pursue leads or rumors of priestly misconduct. This participation in the misconduct was facilitated because many officers were themselves Catholics, who either disbelieved the rumors to which they were privy or actively contributed to the misdeeds through neglect of duty. This was especially true in the Boston area and no doubt could be found elsewhere.
6
"In statements released on Tuesday, Pennsylvania’s Catholic bishops called for prayers for victims and for the church, promised greater openness and said that measures instituted in recent years were already making the church safer."
"But several bishops, including Bishop David A. Zubik of Pittsburgh, rejected the idea the church had concealed abuse."
That says it all. They are hopelessly corrupt and they are not alone in that respect in the world of organized religion. The time is long past for ALL of these religious businesses to have their books open to the public, their revenues taxed and their clergy policed by the state. Enough of this madness already.
4
And clerics like the archibishop of Phila and the former cardinal of Phila Bevilaqua and all those who put loyalty to the church authorities above the Gospel, these are the people responsible for this tragic state of affairs. It's wny I'm out of the church now. I'm not sure even Pope Francis appreciates the need to reform the Church's priorities so they mirror the priorities of Christ.
3
Anyone who thinks that the message can be separated from the messenger is depressingly barraged by contrary evidence.
It occurs to me that the arguments we're hearing to support Trump in spite of his behavior and guttersnipe personality have been honed in service of corrupt institutions such as the RC that somehow are afforded undue respect not only by followers but also by supposedly neutral arbiters such as the press.
If the Catholic Church were a pizza pie maker in Washington, D.C., the GOP outrage would be unrelenting. Rather, though, as one of that group's own, who could be given an honorary membership in the Worldwide Leader of psychological X Games, just might be the next Speaker of the House, what's a bunch of pious frauds to do?
It's all well and good to blame the sin and not the sinner, but when an organization seems to have perfected a selection process that ensures crimes against children, we might make an exception.
5
What authorizes a grand jury to publish a report? Grand juries normally issue indictments, so I am curious as to the role prescribed to grand juries under Pennsylvania law.
1
@Molly Bloom--A fascinating historical aspect of the Church's tax-exempt status is that this has ALWAYS been the case, from the earliest days of the RCC's formation in the 6th Century A.D. For hundreds (thousands?) of years powerful political figures found it useful to align with the RCC to keep their subjects "faithful and obedient." During the 11th-14th C. the RCC killed somewhere between 200,000 and 1,000,000 fellow "Christians" known as Cathars for daring to stand up to the abuses they saw within the RCC (e.g., selling of church offices, accumulation of vast land holdings and wealth in general, etc.).
An obvious question to ask your local priest or bishop is, "Do you recognize that the RCC slaughtered many hundreds of thousands of fellow Christians then?" The official response is that they'll acknowledge that it happened, but was "necessary to consolidate the Church."
Sound familiar? Not much has changed in the past 800 years or so. And I agree 100% that a good start would be to eliminate their tax-exempt status, which has allowed them to propagate the most horrendous acts for centuries. Follow the money.
7
Great news... But as some have said, the abuse is no more pervasive in the Catholic faith than in the Protestant, Presbyterian, Jewish, or Islamic faiths. In fact, data shows that most of the abuse in the Catholic faith happened not in the recent past, but longer ago, unlike some other faiths. The grand jury should have had the courage to explore all faiths and be honest about what they might uncover. It would be different too, if the media explored how many children are being abused within all faiths...and reported on it with as much rigor and zeal as they seem to go after the Catholic faith.
3
Let's not see how low we can set the bar based on the breadth of criminal activity. Rather, let's raise the bar to the level we wish to attain (ie without victims)
2
You dishonor the victims — alive and dead. While people acknowledge that sexual abuse of innocent children happens in all faiths and kinds of families, no institution beats the Catholic Church for doing nothing to stop the abuse in its tracks and perpetrating a massive cover-up. As someone who had 16 years of Catholic education, beginning in the mid-fifties, this story and others like it make me weep for every one of those innocent and defenseless children.
3
@Kimbo Actually, the media are reporting on child sex abuse scandals in Protestant denominations - the Independent Fundamental Baptists, PCA, Willow Creek, LDS, Sovereign Grace Ministries, Jehovah's Witnesses, various churches that encourage "courtship" and marriage for young girls, etc. But as decentralized organizations that haven't had centuries practicing cover-ups, they've not been able to rack up as many victims in one faith as the RCC. Boz Tchividjian of the Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment (GRACE) has been widely quoted as saying he believes the sex abuse scandals in evangelical churches will be revealed and will rival those in the RCC. This also implies that having a married clergy is not a silver bullet for church child sex abuse, especially in churches whose members believe themselves to be persecuted or under siege by the secular world (including law enforcement) and those which are essentially cults of personality for a charismatic leader who has unquestioned authority.
1
How is anyone surprised by this? And how does this criminal organization manage to maintain tax exempt status? It’s time to liquidate their landholdings to pay for a victims fund.
2
As a former Catholic, I wonder if Catholics can be so naive as to think these problems are mostly in Pennsylvania. Future investigations in Boston and Lincoln are meaningless if they are conducted by the Catholic church. Grand juries need to be called to get truth. Catholic leaders now call for prayers for the church, Where are their calls for justice? They are silent about justice because justice means monetary recompense. Why is the Catholic church against changing laws regarding staute of limitations? Agaun, because of the possibility of losing hundreds of millions of dollars.
5
So much for using the words priesthood and virtue in a word association game.
Apart from the obvious issue of a religion which intentionally places felons into unsuspecting communities because its self-image is far more important than your right not to be abused, the question presents itself: what does this latest revelation say about the God who so many supposedly believe in and follow?
What kind of god lacks the will and the power to protect his own children from such unspeakable violence? Think Sandy Hook for one moment. Maybe god is too busy picking winning football teams, or helping bakers decide who not to serve.
Or maybe there's no protection for our young because there's no god; that's certainly a plausible answer to the question. Only asking how priests have come to have such authority over others, without also asking why we have priests in the first place, is just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
4
At some point the RCC needs to be charged for racketeering. We view the Mafia as evil and a scourge, and we passed anti racketeering laws to go after organizations like the Mafia that shield their evil doers, so that we not just picking off the frontlines soldiers in the Mafia, but going after their bosses as well as anyone who belongs to such an organization (i.e., crime family).
Isn't the entire RCC structure of clerics guilty by association, if it is reasonable to believe that it was common knowledge by all clerics that this was going on for decades? And, does this not make the RCC a criminal enterprise?
3
I apologize if this idea has already been expressed. I’ve never commented on an article before, but reading this article is got me staggering at the potential scale of the crimes. So 1000 victims from 6 diocese equates to about 167 victims per diocese with rounding. There are 197 diocese in the US according to a quick check of Wikipedia. Does that mean if similar investigations were carried out across the country we could expect about 32,900 victims over a similar period? I think I am going to spend a little time reading about the RICO act or maybe understand the definition a crime against humanity. This all happened right in front of us - truly amazing.
7
I've been hearing and reading this sort of stuff going on since I was a kid. I'm now 78. Am more convinced than ever that religions contain and nourish the roots of all evil. At the very least, "statutes of limitation" ~ certainly as here ~ should NOT apply for crimes committed by clergy against children.
2
A system which demands submission to a hierarchy in order to practice spiritual beliefs should be considered a cult, not a religion. As soon as other human beings are required between a person and their god, it is inevitable that exploitation, subjugation and abuse will follow.
10
I stopped going to church several years ago. The reason was an letter from the bishop of Allentown read out at all parishes “about the child abuse. The letter was a simple plea: give money to help the church legal defense and liability fund. No words of shame, no acknowledgement of pain, just a collection plate.
17
I think that many of those writing comments are happy that this abuse took place. It gives them a wonderful excuse to bash the Catholic religion. I also think that many of them are fallen away Catholics who hate the Church and take out their frustrations and unhappiness on the faith. I have met more than one fallen away Catholic and this is definitely the case.
This sexual abuse against children by priests was awful. No one in their right mind will ever deny this fact. But the Church of over 2000 years with 1.3 billion members will never die and fade away. There are too many good living Catholics who will keep it going.
Today is the Feast of the Assumption, a very important feast for Catholics that is celebrated around the world. There will be many devout Catholics in the pews who will be there to pray and ask God for his assistance. You cannot keep the faithful away as their faith is paramount to their lives. I am one of those Catholics. We will also pray for the Church, the victims, the clergy and the nuns. The active Catholics can have a huge impact on the survival of the Church. And it will survive in these trying times. It has before and it will now. Catholics who are devoted to their faith will see to it.
1
@WPLMMT
Your first inclination is to call out those who are holding the RCC responsible for the vile and evil acts it’s priests committed against children and adults.
You blame the victims, and those who refuse to close their eyes to the abuse of authority these priests had over their prey. Yes, prey! How ironic it has the same pronunciation as “pray”.
Many of us left the Church because of the scandals, the gross distortions of truth coming from the pulpit, and the hypocrisy of ‘do as I say not as we do’ priests and nuns.
I don’t hate the RCC, I’m ashamed to be associated with it. Anyone with scruples would be.
“The active Catholics can have a huge impact on the survival of the Church.”
“Catholics who are devoted to their faith will see to it.”
The active Catholics did nothing to expose this abuse. How many active Catholics were complicit? How many catholic attorneys defended the church against these abuse allegations? How many Catholic clergy, nuns, and laity conspired to cover up abuse? How many of them revictimized the survivors to protect the pedophile priests in their midst?
That your first thought was not about the victims speaks volumes.
4
@WPLMMT
Not at all happy this abuse took place. Happy it is brought to greater light, especially on the Feast of the Assumption. No doubt it is Mary's desire to lessen the suffering of her children whose souls and bodies are cast into hell on earth by priests and bishops acting in the name of her Son. No doubt it is the sword of St Michael the Archangel lancing a boil of secrecy, silence, arrogance and privilege. God bless the grand jury for bringing this wound to light and air. Every Catholic should read every word of the report. If your faith is solid, you will rejoice. The truth will set us free. This is the beginning of healing.
1
If even one of these abuses had happened in a frat house, it would have lost its charter, and yet the Catholic church soldiers on. We give this heinous monument to abuse a pass because it is a religion. It's time we stopped.
2
So, the church’s stance against abortion is a simple matter of supply and demand.
Lord, protect us from your followers.
5
@William Leptomane I was tempted to agree with you, but the truth is even uglier than that, I think. The church's stance about abortion is allegedly about when the soul enters the body of the fetus (or zygote, I guess). But it's become about 1) enforcing the second-class citizenship of all girls and women by preventing them from controlling their own destinies and shaming them for sexual activity, even if they've been raped; and 2) total disregard for the welfare of children. The church and other religions have proved their allegiance to both priorities. They want girls and women to be forced to carry pregnancies to term no matter the damage to them or the potential future of the child. The horrors of child abuse clearly don't matter at all to people who want to impose control over other's lives.
6
I just finished dealing with court attendance legalities with lawyers, interstate police concerning my subpoena as a witness.
It is hard to sleep and think clearly.
I ask myself what do I do next.
My view is to just assert polite and valid indignation.
Comply with the law concerning prosecution of these folk assiduously and justly.
Attend court when requested and be prepared to be cross examined.
I went to a Catholic Convent run by nuns in my formative years and cared for by a gentle Irish Priest.
He and the dear sisters would put out by any damage to children.
I am a Catholic and as such given my upbringing I condemn hurting children.
Moving to the big city to a boys school rumours got round that the Headmaster, a Brother, had punched up and literaly kicked out another brother for touching kids.
The rumours were true.
The catholic church should deal manfully with its own.
A punch up and exiting of miscreants was standard and more common than publicly known.
Soft hands of the episcopate lack boxing gloves.
No one is ever alone.
The impression I have is that these
I share the grief and rage displayed in the Comments. As citizens, as voters, regardless of what state in America we live in, do we have the courage, persistence, and personal responsibility that are necessary to demand justice?
Why wait for the institution or U.S. law enforcement to perform what they have been unable to do, or for journalists, lone whistleblowers, injured victims and their loved ones to do the work and pay the price? Isn't seeking justice and cleaning up the corruption that pollutes our country and puts our people at risk a worthy cause for ALL?
I hope that all of us are willing to call, email, write, or visit our state and federal representatives to demand legal reforms. Keep the pressure on them and don't let up until justice prevails. If they won't listen, start petitions for ballot initiatives and VOTE THEM OUT.
Who said that if we do not hang together we will all hang separately? And who said that all it takes for evil to flourish is for good people to do nothing?
NOW is the time to demand that our public servants do the will of the people. Put your money, your time, your votes, and your will where your feelings are. Take your righteous anger and grief and put them to work.
* Demand that the RCC Pope appear before Congress and respond to a federal inquiry into these crimes.
* Ditto for the PA legislature.
* END the statute of limitations on sex crimes nationwide.
* Revoke the RCC tax-exempt status and apply RICO.
* Let's all be heroes!
2
This so sad, tragic, and evil, it defies words. To all of the victims, their families, and anyone affected directly or derivatively, I am so very, very sorry. And to those in the Church, SHAME! I am with Bill Maher on this one.
3
Can someone tell me why we still allow these vile institutions to freeload on society via tax exemption? They are shirking billions of dollars a year in revenue, property and sales tax. Probably employment taxes too.
Why? They are political action groups disguised as ancient superstitious cults -- neither of which are a societal good. Let's end tax exemption now!
5
Time to change the statue of limitations.
8
So many hopes and wishes expressed here that the sexual misconducts at the Catholic Church will come to an end living now in the 21st century, new legal laws, technologies, principles, etcetera. Please grow up. The underlying purpose of this church is to commit such crimes - where else do you have rules that only men can be the leaders and never be allowed to have sexual interactions with others. Pure insanity thus very dangerous.
5
Nothing surprising about the wide spread scandalous sex abuse by the Catholic Clergy.
What's amazing is the convoluted logic of the Vatican confronted with the scandal. Instead of facing the issue head on the Catholic church systematically covered up abuse and tried to silence victims. Threatening excommunication to anybody who speaks out, indicating the lengths the most senior figures in the Vatican were prepared to go to prevent the information getting out. A confidential order issued by the Vatican more than 55 years ago instructing Roman Catholic bishops to conceal cases of sex abuse.
Bishops who received the order were instructed to pursue these cases "in the most secretive way... restrained by a perpetual silence". Everyone involved, including the alleged victim, was sworn "to observe the strictest secret, which is commonly regarded as a secret of the Holy Office... under penalty of excommunication". (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/aug/18/uk.religion)
I wholly agree with Alex Gibney an American Director "Jesus Christ never preached there should be celibate priests. The only reason the church has this is because it's a mechanism of power and control. You can control priests who are celibate".
2
When, oh when, are American Catholics going to say,"Basta --enough!" When is the Church going to prosecute the perpetrators instead of blaming the victims? When are parishioners going to walk out on masse? As someone who left the Church many, many years ago, I am again reassured that it was an excellent decision.
The utter hypocrisy of it all is staggering, especially when we read that the priests (these men of God) arranged for abortions for the girls they impregnated. (Naturally they had not used contraceptives.)
Even if it means breaking with Rome on this issue, American Catholic priests should be allowed to marry and live regular family lives. Women priests might be a good idea too.
2
My experience has been that Catholic priests chase women, and Catholic brothers young boys. Not everyone of them of course fortunately.
The most vulnerable are the younger boys. Around Grade 8, most students know which ones to stay away from.
I believe since the Catholic Church was founded this behavior has been integral to its culture. People are sexual beings. One could easily make the argument that sex is a gift from God. Why did the Catholic Church publicly (because now we know that and sexual abuse was going on) demand that Priests and Nuns be celibate? It warped the entire culture. In addition to it happening everywhere it makes me think of the poor Irish boys sent off to Australia to live in isolated Catholic schools etc. It’s not hard to guess what monstrosities went on there. Terrible abuse by the Church from the laundries in Ireland to here and everywhere. Where was the Christlike compassion?
4
Being raised Catholic , I cannot believe I kneeled in a confessional booth and told the so-called "men of God" all my little sins. And they sat in moral judgment of me. I sort of left the church over this hypocrasy a few years ago, but now I will never set foot in a Catholic church again.
8
The problem is one of arrogance and the "we know better than any layman" how to handle everything. Until this attitude changes, the 'devout' can bow down to the puff of white smoke but those intelligent and responsible enough to raise questions will not. As a former altar boy, I absolutely recoil at the thought of this happening and was lucky enough that my local parish did not have these issues. However, I have experienced escaping a similar uncomfortable situation as did a colleague in a related higher institution and it is terrible this problem cannot be cleaned up at every level.
A catholic priest family member cannot speak to my non-catholic wife on grounds of such marital heresy, but can quickly kiss the ring of leaders ("chosen by god") who let these atrocities happen?
Keep bowing to the puff of white smoke, but try not to choke on it and all of its hypocrisy.
2
May 2013 - passage of Child Victims Act - standing to sue pedophile priest that preyed on me when I was six years old.
Aug 2013 - protected info wrongfully disclosed on electronic health information exchange.
Sep 2013 - misdiagnosed and mistreated, denied care.
Sep 2013 - complaint filed
Dec 2013 - records omitted during investigation of complaint
Jan 2014 - Church officials invite to survivors to come forward for healing, counseling
Feb 2014 - contact with licensed psychologist advocate for abbey - 100s of emails
Jun 2014 - computers hacked, landlord lockout, seven day notice to evict, professional equipment stolen under landlord control, movers hold goods hostage, ransack belongings maliciously
July 2014 - Church official says sorry, won't provide assistance but will keep me in prayers
Dec 2015 - I post display of falsified medical records and commingled movers estimate
Jan 2016 - Church official posts psych records obtained by psychologist online
Mar 2016 - Police tell me they have "orders from upstairs" not to write report on commingled email from malicious movers - it contains an inexplicable hyperlink to the health care provider in the footer the message
Jan 2018 - records freshly falsified, 20+ denials of requests to amend records
Diddled by a priest pedophile at age six; lost life savings, privacy and health care rights.
Why is health care mixed up with clergy abuse?
7
@Doe 492
“Why is health care mixed up with clergy abuse?”
Prior sexual abuse could be designated a pre-existing condition that can cause long term mental health issues. The insurer will cancel or refuse to issue a policy if it anticipates the prospective patient might utilize too many healthcare dollars for mental health services.
Actually, it’s because the records are relied on in litigation, so if they are falsified with misdiagnoses to muddy the history and reduce the exposure of church officials, the health care providers can help the church save money and get back to educating more children. And the church provides money to fund research in memory - to say it ain’t so. And to suggest that appropriate treatment is lots of medication instead of telling someone what happened. Pharma and all, would be pleased with the win win win. Victims are silenced and the pedophile problem statistically disappears.
mi
@Doe 492,
I should have also included your reference to lost healthcare rights. Based on that I thought you meant the victim was denied health insurance, and I offered an explanation as to why an insurance company might do this based upon my experience as a RN. I am firmly on the side of the victims. I have volunteered with a Sexual Assault Response Team (SART). Please read my other comments on this article.
“And to suggest that appropriate treatment is lots of medication instead of telling someone what happened...”
Where in my comment did I state this?
When is this Pope going to do something about this and Christian genocide in ME and Africa instead of lecturing us about climate change and our border wall?
6
This Pope as you may know, he is tackling all those issues, including protecting life in our planet. Climate change is real.
I believe that the Vatican should be investigated for Child molesters.
9
With all it's ritual, reach, and influence...to me, the Catholic Church has never been a bastion of moral credibility.
It's always targeted the vulnerable, and was harshest on them. Especially women and children...as such institutions as the Magdalene Laundries will attest.
What a disgrace.
What an utter, shameful and horrific disgrace.
If there is a hell down below...
6
The revelations in this article are horrific. If the state won’t enlarge the statute of limitations to allow justice for these victims, then the Church, if it has any shred of morality, would sentence the perpetrators to cloistered monk’s cells and a vow of silence to do penance for the rest of their miserable lives,
14
I’d like to read a refresher article on our relationship to the Vatican. A few decades ago we declared it something of a political entity, with ambassadors, political relationships, etc. whatever the change, it seems definitely time to revisit that decision.
18
When there are no limitations to the outcomes of being violated, physically, psychologically, socially, spiritually, economically, politically, legally, etc. the concept and process of a statute of limitations becomes a violation of daily social interactions based upon menschlichkeit and its necessary mutual respect. Mutual trust in safe environments. Mutual caring. Mutual help, when and if needed. In addition, enabling the violators to continue their trauma-producing behaviors, whatever their own backgrounds and mental health status, indicates both types,levels and qualities of active complicity, which need to be addressed, as well as fostering a culture of personal unaccountability, which effects all of US in our enabled WE-THEY world. A statute of limitations can itself be, and function, as a societal violation when laws determine the temporality of ethics.
3
So many of the comments here suggest that allowing priests to marry and end the celibacy requirement would solve the problem. I don't think that is the issue. Rape and sexual abuse are all about power. The paternalistic hierarchy of the church may well be the biggest problem. Relinquishing individual power to someone who, in the eyes of the church, speaks for an all powerful god sets up a situation for many types of abuse. All Christian church denominations have this problem. They just hide it better. I can't speak for the other monotheistic religions, but investigation might reveal they also have problems in this area. These abusers should not be above the law and should be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. No exceptions!
51
@Katherine Good comment and you’re correct. A police officer investigating a case involving a local youth abused at a non-denominational church indicated a high percentage of abuse cases he investigated were connected to churches, not just Catholic ones. Any organization, religious or not, with a strong power structure and enough clout for people not to speak will be suspectible.
4
@Katherine I so, so agree with you but you said it much more eloquently. This problem will not be solved by allowing priests to marry. A choir master in the Catholic church where I live abused many, many boys and he was married and had two children. We are dealing with abusers and I think they are in the Cluster B realm (psychopathy, narcissism.)
2
Would Catholics and their children not be better off forming their own new religious group with the same rites and type of church building but with married priests of both sexes? The number of church goers in Ireland is drastically reduced in response to the abuses of the church. If that happens here, and it may already be happening, it would be better to form a "life-boat" religious group to escape the one that is sinking.
8
@Phil Levitt
"Would Catholics and their children not be better off forming their own new religious group with the same rites and type of church building but with married priests of both sexes? "
There is such a group, the Episcopal Church.
Myriad denominations exist without the millennia of baggage - pedophilia that spans centuries, the Magdelan Laundries, a papacy that claims legitimacy due to it's "direct descent from St. Peter", (through, inter alia, the Borgias, the Medicis and Pius XII).
It is beyond my comprehension how anyone cleaves to this rotten stone.
2
The life boat already exists. The Episcopal church is full of former Catholics.
1
And anyone is surprised? This was an open secret when I was growing up as a child in suburban Philadelphia.
23
@Robin Victor
Why didn't you speak out?
1
Where were the parents? This was too widespread and systematic for parents not to know about it. What happened to the first guardians and protectors of children? This is a missing part of the tragic puzzle.
11
You are trying to shift blame from the Catholic Church to the parents? Regardless of whether the parents were too trusting this is a systematic cover up by the Church.
1
@Osunwoman
Blaming the parents is the wrong approach. Look at any major sex scandal- Larry Nassar, Jerry Sandusky, Richard Strauss. You can ask, "Where were the parents?" In some instances the parents may have known and turned a blind eye, but I believe many parents simply did not know.
Here's what's important to remember. Parents don't always do the best job at protecting their children. So actually the first and ultimate guardians and protectors of the children should have been the priests, bishops, cardinals and the pope who claim to follow the teachings of God and Christ. But they failed miserably.
@Osunwoman When the (married with two children) choirmaster at the most prominent Catholic Church in the town I grew up in, was caught sexually abusing the choir boys, many of the parents could not believe it. This man had ingratiated himself into the community. He was charismatic and powerful. Some parents stood by their boys. Others did not until a huge amount of evidence finally brought the man down. Two of the boys committed suicide. At the time (1990's) many people had not been educated about sexual abuse. The silence was dangerous and destroyed at least two boys lives. Sadly, some parents were complicit in refusing to believe their own children.
These conversations must be had as uncomfortable as they are. I am grateful there is much more education around sexual abuse but today I am heartbroken that it still exists in such numbers within the Catholic Church.
3
And people still attend this organization for moral guidance and support it with their money. It boggles the mind.
58
@Scott: People cling to religion as a tribal identity.
1
Extrapolate this research to the other states and imagine the true scope of the problem within the Church.
22
@Bruce Jacobson
I'm still waiting for the problems of abuse in 'Third World' countries to explode. European and American priests who went to African or Asian countries to minister to the local converts, they really had carte blanche to do what they would with the locals. We can only imagine the extent of abuse there.
2
I am appalled at so many comments blaming celibacy for sexually abusing and raping children. Celibacy is not the problem. Predatory pedophiles CHOSE to go into ministry because it would put an almost limitless amount of children in their path to sexually abuse. Sexual abuse of children is not usually about sex. It's about recreating their own abuse and having power over their victim. Please use some common sense here. These men didn't just wake up one day in their 20's and think to themselves, "I really want to have sex, but I took a vow of celibacy. I have to have sex. Let me find an available child." CHILD. These were CHILDREN. If these men were normal, they would find an ADULT WOMAN to have sex with. But they CHOSE TO SEXUALLY ABUSE CHILDREN. Not just once, but hundreds of times with many children.
45
@Mollie Powell
Celibay is ALSO a problem. The requirement nourishes hypocrisy, because few people are called to a life of celibacy, few can adhere to that severe discipline. Not every priest is carrying on a sexual affair (with either a man or a woman) but how many, in the privacy and darkness of their own bedrooms, really don't resort to self-pleasuring? When we look at how so many overeat and overimbibe alcohol, we have to conclude that personal discipline of the appetities isn't the strong suit of the priesthood. Why wouldn't this laxity extend to sex? Yet in the Church's hypocrisy, these men, the teachers and authority figures in the church, continue to preach what they themselves don't practice. Hypocrisy is at the root of so much that is wrong in the Church.
3
@Mollie Powell
Married priests would make a difference if only for selfish reasons. If priests were married with families and children of their own they would not be so willing to tolerate the sexual predators among their ranks.
Anything is better than the current outrageous state of men living unnatural and unhealthy lives of loneliness. It is a magnet to predators that offers them respectability, power, protection from responsibility and most of all endless access to victims.
1
@Mollie Powell
I think the point is that the celibacy rule shrinks the pool of candidates for the priesthood. Celibacy goes against our very nature - not only our sexual drives but also our need for human intimacy. Elimination of celibacy requirement may result in a mentally and perhaps spiritually healthier priesthood. But it is probably too late to right this sinking ship.
3
As one who left religion a long time ago, I simply cannot fathom why it has such a firm grasp over people's minds.
The time has come to:
1) prosecute every single church official complicit in the acts OR the cover up afterwords, and also every single public official who turned a blind eye to the ongoing abuse
2) remove the tax exempt status of religious institutions
3) abolish religious schools of all denominations
Effective measures are imperative. Thousands of kids are likely being abused daily still in the millions of churches worldwide and we're still talking? Would we still be merely talking if this had been any other institution?
God's always been dead, but now religion needs to be laid to rest as well. Amen...
34
Unfortunately the laws of supply and demand influenced the powers that be in the church to provide cover for these monsters. The critically shrinking population of priests has left the church with Hobson's choice: either close down most parishes or protect the pedophiles that serve there. A major violation of the 10 Commandments is to bear false witness. Far worse is to protect the evil.
16
@nzierler: It is false witness to claim that nature has a caring human personality that intervenes in human affairs.
This is a report from one state only, Pennsylvania, two years in the making.
Consider the rest of the nation, and the power of this Catholic church, and realize that unimaginable efforts are still ongoing to hide the true extent of what this entity is doing, as it hides behind its God.
It's time for the Department of Justice to weigh in, begin it's own investigations, and meet out Justice in accordance with the law of our land, and not allow some psuedo legal religious authority (the Vatican) to evade financial and moral responsibility by imposing sentences of prayer and reflection on these criminals.
28
A disgraceful betrayal of the crucified Jesus. The mortally wounded church should renounce its shameful past, pray for forgiveness and find a way to relaunch itself. In the Lord’s Prayer there’s the line “... deliver us from evil ...” We’ve known for a long time where that evil has resided. It’s time to start over.
5
@Liberty Apples
"Start over"?
Better to disband. Put an end to this abomination of corruption.
Time for laws that require priests, nuns, rabbis, imams, to be mandated reporters of sexual abuse within their institutions. I authored a law as a Legislator in Nassau County in 2002, passed unanimously, that does just that. In addition, the tax exempt status of the Catholic Church should be pulled until such point as they can rid themselves of abusers and those who enabled it and shielded the offenders from prosecution. Statute of limitations also needs to be extended.
569
"In addition, the tax exempt status of the Catholic Church should be pulled until such point as they can rid themselves of abusers and those who enabled it and shielded the offenders from prosecution."
Or better yet, just take off and nuke all the religious tax-exemptions from orbit. With gods-know-how-many other scandals—in the Catholic Church, other Christian churches, and other religions—yet to surface anyway, it's the only way to be sure.
@Lisanne Not sure a law would make a difference, sadly. It would seem that their devoutness and their morals would lead them to do the proper thing, the ethical thing, the right thing. And it obviously hasn't.
1
As well, the church needs to look at the selection process whereby Bishops and Cardinals who put the reputation of the church over the most basic moral and ethical principals and Christian teachings. What is wrong with these men. This is a contradiction of huge magnitude. @Lisanne
1
Finally, Pennsylvania has come clean and shone the light on these sick abusers. It's time for EVERY diocese and state to do the same.
17
This is the church that denies Communion to people who are divorced and remarried, saying they are living in adultery. We would profane the Eucharist by receiving it in our impure state. How much more profane the liturgies performed by pedophile priests!
The only sane response is to leave the church and hope it collapses under the weight of its own sin. Only then can we rebuild.
36
The NY Times opened up the story about Hall in Boston years ago. It's good to see they are staying with this and reporting about PA. To the NY Times: please stay on top of this and open up this cancer for the world to see. Some things in this world defy description and this is at the top of the list.
8
Why aren't the priests and bishops who covered up these felonies being charged as facilitating a felonious act?
Why is it that they are being given a free ride just because they are supposedly "men of god?"
This is more than a criminal act committed by priests against helpless children, it is a betrayal to the parents who entrusted their children to these criminals.
It's time for the Roman Catholic church to allow priests to marry. Then and only then will the priesthood attract people who do not have a tendency to sexually assault children. Time to week out the pedophiles, whether their collars are turned around or not.
10
The celibacy requirement surely is one factor in creating an environment of risk of sexual abuse. Also from my own unscientific evaluation, many young men with psycho-sexual demons tend to go into the church professions to deal with these demons. There are truly many pious men who choose this line of work, but a lot of the fire and lightning holiness has its roots in sexual deviancy. Just an observation.
4
The Roman Catholic Church needs to seriously consider, what Jesus would say about the Roman Catholic Church.
8
Maybe there is something about the restrictions mandated by the belief system of this religion that are inconsistent with that of the real life needs of the human animal.
5
If there had been even ONE MOTHER in the leadership of the Catholic church, would this have ever been allowed?
15
@Sue
Yes. It’s highly likely. Nuns are also abusers. Additionally, too many wives look the other way while their husbands sexual abuse their daughters and sons.
Problems of abuse are widespread and not the exclusive domain of a particular group or church. These abusers know how, where and when they can get away with their crimes.
2
@Sue
Brava!
1
Get rid of pedophiles and those who enable them, not the church. In fact, if more people would become involved in their churches, basically community centers, we would have less problem with pedophiles who need privacy to prey on children.
And this is only in Pennsylvania..I can't wait for the report about the Archdiocese of NY to come out b/c i know first hand there are still pedophile priests in some of the parishes. I was an altar boy, worked in the Parish office, went to Catholic High School and there are still priest lurking about all because they are being protected by the Vicar General who has his own sordid past.
15
Since you mention NY, I hope that investigations will also include the Diocese of Rockville Centre with its own collection of scandals and shady cover-ups, including one involving the former chaplain of one of the Catholic high schools, circa 1992 (James Miller). The former Bishop was a soldier for Bernard Law and now the most current Bishop hails from ALLENTOWN. The latter spent most his time during Confirmation last fall rambling on incoherently about the "sins of sexuality" and in these last weeks, OBSESSING about Humane Vitae and the "abhorrence" of contraception. Interesting but NOT surprising that his name is mentioned in several articles this morning about his complicity during his time in PA. Deflect much Bishop?
3
Child abuse is digusting and a crime. Comitted by people with authority is worse if that is possible.
But catholc priests are not the only one to commit such indignities. Teachers, step parents, managers are also frquently involved.
And the NYT title " 1000" corresponds to years and hundred of priests. Not that a few abuses by a few priests is acceptable!
But thr catholic church is now days just looking for trouble when it refuses to allow priests to marry.
This interdiction was created a rhousand years AFTER Jesus, and was edicted to remedy problems that existerd at the time ( see the Borgias).
But no longer is this of any use, and the marriage of protestant ministers is a clear proof of that.
Let's hope that thr Pope and his cardinals see the "light"
Amen
2
The Church canonized John Paul II who presided over this scandal and did nothing about it. If this is the man considered a saint by its institution, the Church is worthless.
47
@AG
I've also thought this for a long time. To canoncize such a charismatic phoney was an act of evil, the kind of act that enables the coverups of sexual abuse. De-canonize him!
John Paul welcomed a Mexican priest into the Vatican. The priest had fathered children, abused his own children as well as seminarians and nuns. He came with briefcases full of cash which he had managed to con from the faithful who. like John Paul, thought he was some kind of a divinity. Of course he was welcome with open arms. Nobody ever smelled the fire and brimstone that accompanied Father Maciel to the Vatican. Believing that John Paul is worthy of sainthood is, as they say about some literature, requires a willing suspension of disbelief.
The gross hypocrisy of the Catholic Church is appalling on so many levels. It is nauseating to think of the suffering caused by an organization that claims to espouse high moral values. It is time to eliminate the celibacy requirement, allow women to be ordained, and throw all of the pedophiles and their keepers in prison (with the general population).
7
Religion is a fraud. The instant it moves out the individual's personal spiritual sphere into a social ritual space, it is a paradox because that defiles the sublime connection of the individual with the universe by imposing a mortal agent in between - destroying the essence of what it seeks to institutionalize. From there its a simple hop, step and jump to power, politics, riches, corruption, debauchery and deception.
But the biggest hypocrisy is how the American media (especially this publication) doles out advice to other countries. How unrelated mob lynchings in India are a problem caused by the right wing government appeasing Hindu majoritarianism but there is absolutely no expectation of any US politician, president, senator, congressmen and women, governors, attorney generals, sheriffs of any hue, any orientation to take a stand against the Catholic Church, ever. Not even firebrands like Bloomberg who were vocal about guns.
Yes, the Clergy had a playbook of deception but for 70 years, while thousands of kids were raped and destroyed. But were the police, judiciary, politicians consistently incompetent or complicitly corrupt? In the country where incarceration is easy, there is no concerted political movement to put them behind bars?
By contrast - Mr. Modi has publicly denounced lynchings and called for law and order in states to their job. Swift prosecution has sent 2 high profile rapist godmen to prison for life.
Trump is just a symptom I think. Don't blame him.
3
World wide, and probably for thousands of years, the catholic church has been sexually abusing children, covering up for those who sexually abuse children, and abusing their knowledge of family problems to find additional victims. What other organization, with this history, would be allowed to exist? The catholic church is a world wide cabal that exploits the very people they claim to help. The catholic church should be abolished.
12
the sorry not sorry gets rather old, the Church has been consistent in declaring contrition every time another case of systemic abuse of vulnerable groups comes to light. the indian boarding schools, the mary magdaline laundry, this.....its time for them to get past contrition, recognized this is an ongoing problem of a bigger underlying issue and deal with it.
4
That the Catholic Church is arguably the largest ongoing criminal enterprise in the world should surprise no one. The undeniable fact that law enforcement (at all levels) has essentially given this well-organized den of child-raping vipers a free pass for decades is disgusting. While the church is morally depraved the police and prosecutors are morally and politically unwilling. The situation gives rise to the old cliché: "If you're not part of the solution you are part of the problem."
12
More than 30 years ago, The Times of Acadiana in Lafayette, LA published in-depth installments of the same crimes committed by the pedofile priest Gilbert Gauthe. The Diocese of Lafayette and Bishop Gerald Frey moved this criminal from small town to smaller town to even smaller town. The Diocese, with its attorney team, attempted to suppress our coverage with a priest-led door-to-door boycott campaign aimed at our advertisers. The Roman Catholic Church and the Vatican have no defense.
15
The former Pope Benedict (before his elevation) ran the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, you know, those folks responsible for the Inquisition. Every case of abuse and sexual misconduct came across his desk in Rome.
This stink does reach to high heaven.
It’s all mumbo jumbo anyway. All hail Odin, he not asking for your money and children.
13
The Catholic Church has been killing, stealing from, torturing and generally tyrannising the faithful for two millennia.
Why are we surprised that it still goes on?
13
Ban abortions in mainly Catholic countries, supply a wave of new children to be subjugated by priests.
8
As a child I was taken for rides in his car by a local priest. He’d come to the house to pick me up. What were my parents thinking? We aren’t even catholic. I recently created a short two minute music video that sheds light on child abuse. www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCUtXTNWbaU
3
It is so obvious what should be done here. Shut down the Catholic Church as it now exists. Their ridiculous rules cause
this kind of abuse. Allow priests to get married and have sex.
Why on earth are people so dumb and so blind that they
cannot see? And, why on earth do so many people believe in
this religion? The rules are so stupid, and like I said, it just
creates a haven for child abusers. Put these criminals in jail.
9
@jimfaye But Jim - they still have so much work to do in telling others how to live moral upstanding lives.
1
The Catholic Church used to castrate young boys in order to preserve their ‘angelic’ choir voices. That was common practice.
If Pennsylvania is the first state in the country to have had such a widespread investigation into its Archdiocese, then the implications regarding this kind of sexual predation in the Church are baffling (and infuriating).
There is no sympathy owed to a bunch of serial paedophiles for the divine constraints that they have opted into.
5
Don't forget...there are 49 other states...how far has Satan sunk his roots?
8
@Piotr
Hopefully, the tangled web of rapists and child molesters in the other 49 states - many are the same criminals who were simply moved by the Vatican from Pennsylvania - will result in a cornucopia of lawsuits. The U.S. might be able to bankrupt that criminal network and drive them from the America in order to preserve a national citizen well-being that is the chief benefit of freedom from religion, as Jefferson and Madison intended.
it is nothing short of appalling to read these articles of clergy sexually abusing young people; it is the scale of the abuse that’s mind boggling. It’s not just a problem for the Vatican to confront once and for all but the epidemic proportions which they are occurring. While allowing priests to be married and practice their profession may address the issue we’re not sure to what degree it will. We still find in ‘normal marriages’ where one of the spouses may have a prolictivity towards deviant sexual behaviors. Aside from the Vatican’s problem of ignoring these problems for so long the level of lawsuits has and will continue to bankrupt many parishes. At each discovery the monetary damages that arise as a result of these incidents, the legal wrangling for years and resultant diminishing numbers of the flock the Church as we know it will be in danger of collapse. Without moral leadership and action from the top down this may inevitably be the path it faces
4
One good thing that could come from these continuing revelations: more civil and criminal actions resulting in the Catholic Church in America ultimately declaring bankruptcy and then dissolving .
12
I wonder what publicity and news this would generate if this a Sadhu (Hindu) , a monk (Buddhist) or a Mullah (Muslim).
4
As of yet these groups you mention do not have the history, influence at the polls. in education, healthcare or other areas as the Catholic Church. If Donald Trump and Stephen Miller have their way they will never have that influence. I trust in Trump's failure in all things, so when these groups reach the length of the long arm of the Catholic Church I trust criminal acts by their clergy will get the same attention.
Your attempts to deflect attention from Catholic clerical abuse by insinuating that "they all so it" won't solve the problems of the Catholic Church. Straighten your own organization out before you worry about what others are doing.
Now we know why the Catholic Church is adamantly against abortions. Need to feed the beast.
25
There are millions of faithful Catholics around the world who are as horrified by this as we all are. Pedophilia is against the tenets of the Catholic church. Evil abounds everywhere - Satan never sleeps and entices everyone, no matter the religion, to commit evil acts. Islam, on the other hand, in its "tenets", compels practicing moslimes to be like their prophet, mohammad, who was a pedophile war lord. This is one of the many reasons I post over and over again that "Alah" is not God - "Alah" is Satan.
1
This is called organized crime.
46
If there be no hell after death, perhaps there ought to be one to house these vile men.
1
Elements inside the church have been running this criminal enterprise for centuries, hiding in plain site behind their pious homilies.
8
The Catholic Church appears to be the largest pedophile ring on the planet.
15
@Dominic
Well, read a history book. Vatican Inc. is the oldest sex trafficking and murder network of young girls and women, as well as the originator of most bloody wars over the last 2000 years. That $trillion corporation would not have survived without most men and all nations supporting its widespread organized crime.
1
This is the tip of the iceberg. This report was about Pennsylvania priests. Pedophilia is not limited to Pennsylvania nor is it limited to men. I used to think if the Catholic Church eliminated celibacy some of these issues would go away, but a predator is a predator and needs to be treated as such, with no statue of limitations.
7
The Catholic church has for centuries been the most politically dominant party. The church worked hand in hand with kings and other powerful men. You just didn't cross the church. The risks were too high. And so, the church was free to do whatever without fear of retribution. Until now. What a shock! The church is now active in Africa and I fear for the young abused African parishioners who will probably never have a chance to be heard.
11
The 4 year long Australian Royal Commission into institutional child sex abuse was preceded by a similar Irish one in 2009. The results of the latter are believed to have paved the way for a loss of respect for the Catholic church as the moral arbiter of public as well as private values in Ireland - which then in turn led to recent public support for less restrictive abortion laws and for same sex marriage, despite opposition from the church.
In Australia the Catholic church was not the only faith based institution found to have abused then concealed the sexual abuse of children although the most serious. It also occured, even without celibacy, in Anglican and Salvation Army homes and schools for example. In one state the Anglican church is now trying to sell churches to fund the compensation negotiated for victims.
A similar commission in the US would probably take many years in a much bigger country than either Australia and Ireland and is there any political appetite to pay for one at the moment? To an outsider it looks as if the current SCOTUS nominee and Education Secretary want, in the name of religious freedom, a greater role for the Church in the lives of American children without any meddling from the State. Whether this will protect more children and give them more freedom from damaged, often ruined lives remains to be seen. The Pope could help by changing canon law to remove absolution in confession for child abuse to aid such a cause but will he do so?
6
Glad and thankful to have been raised atheistic. It allowed me to find way more spirituality than if I had been brainwashed as a kiddo.
Jesus did not have a church, he was himself criticizing the abuses around and in the temples.
7
@Jane--There are no atheists who are also pedophiles? Kind of hard to believe.
Lest we forget, Pennsylvania is only one state.
24
I have wrestled with being Catholic since the priest abuse scandal came out and the antiquated views on women, sex and homosexuality. Pope Francis had given me some hope to stay connected, but finally, I think I am done.
11
@Sarah that's interesting. But why did it take ANOTHER scandal? When one hears for the FIRST time that a massive, dysfunctional, wealthy organization or institution of any type rapes children, covers it up, pays off the abused to keep quiet, and simply moves the abusers elsewhere to do it again, did it really have to take multiple occurrences? That Catholic guilt and shame thing is powerful.
7
That’s a good question, Frank. In addition to the guilt, I think I held out hope the church would do the right thing, take full accountability, and move towards a more transparent future. Pope Francis’ provided me with some optimism, but it’s not enough.
2
It happened everywhere. A priest I know was arrested for soliciting sex in a public park. The irony is that the plainclothes cop who nabbed him was...a former student.
His abbot moved him to another parish, of course. No charges filed. At least he wanted sex with adults. Others I know groped children.
And one wonders why I and many friends left The Church. I will not return, no matter how much I like Pope Francis, until women are ordained and all clergy can marry.
12
This report and the horrific sexual violence and assault against children is sickening. The Coverups are worse as we read them today. I hope a way can be found to prosecute all those involved. Also, victim advocates should support suit in the Billions to make the Church pay. I am also aware that this is not solely a Catholic Church issue. A similar report covering 70 years of the Boards of Educations across Pennsylvania would most likely find even more abuse and all the same behaviors by those responsible. There have been three cases this year alone in the NYC schools of teachers having sex with students. Men and women, married, single, gay and straight.
3
As a former Catholic, I have to wonder how this church is permitted to continue operating at all. The conduct of the priests, bishops and cardinals is criminal and disgusting. I also have to believe the institution is so powerful that banning this church will never be an issue on the forefront.
8
While I like this Pope I do not like his church. I left years ago. There is only so much hypocrisy one can witness. I didn’t suffer sexual assault or abuse by priests, and I hope my friends didn’t either. We did suffer verbal and sometimes physical abuse from the nuns.
I predict it won’t be long before we find out the priests were aided and abetted not only by the RCC but by nuns and some parishioners as well.
6
It has become a truism that overbearing righteousness cloaks the most egregious offenders. Religion, by definition dictates the 'proper' way to live and has regularly proven itself to be directed by those incapable of maintaining the rules they espouse. Our political leaders are no different.
2
When considering “celibacy” as the reason, don’t fail to consider the powerful positions these men hold. It’s the same dynamic which has powerful men abusing women, and women staying silent. I don’t let any man, preacher or politician have dominion over me.
5
As one who left religion a long time ago, I simply cannot fathom why it has such a firm grasp over people's minds.
The time has come to:
1) prosecute every single church official complicit in the acts OR the cover up afterwords, and also every single police officer who turned a blind eye to the ongoing about
2) remove the tax exempt status of ALL religious institutions
3) abolish religious schools of ALL denominations
4) make it illegal for children under age 18 to enter any active religious building. (After all, we don't allow them on casino floors, and there's no danger there of sexual molestation or rape)
Effective measures are imperative. Thousands of kids are likely being abused daily still in the millions of churches worldwide and we're still talking? Would we still be merely talking if this had been any other institution?
God's always been dead, but now religion needs to be laid to rest as well. Amen...
5
The most baffling question is: why are these so-called priests and their protectors, assuming they are all still alive, not in prison? This is where they should be. Allowing priests to marry, which they should be allowed to do so, hasn't stopped the deviant from engaging in their evil behavior. That being the case, prison is where these monsters belong and have belonged for a very long time. The time for excuses by the Catholic Church is long over. A clear out of the deviant in its midst is long overdue.
6
In what other organization would this be tolerated? If we discovered a cult in Montana with satellite locations around the country that was systematically abusing children sealed with a pact to "kept it inside the group", the FBI would be raiding every location in a matter of hours. This ingrained notion that these (almost entirely) men are somehow "different" than any other human walking the planet needs to be dispelled immediately and permanently. Who you worship, what you wear, and where you live changes nothing about your DNA. Religious leaders have no magical powers, they have not "leveled-up" in the eyes of the universe, and they are as fallible as anyone else. (Given their obligation of celibacy, perhaps even more so.)
If we have any sense of what is right and wrong, surely the protection of children is (or should be) the #1 item on that list. Yet, this simple rule is nowhere to be found in the commandments.
10
If this was not done by a religious organization, it wouldn't be allowed to operate in the US or work with children. Of course, we need to protect faith and spirituality, but the government needs to stop protecting religious organizations with things like statues of limitations. I do not believe priests should be allowed to work with children alone ever. If the church wants to keep its lucrative tax benefits, it should agree to install lay oversight with its children's programs. There has been systematic and protected child abuse and subsequent cover-ups world-wide by the catholic church. I feel terrible for the parishioners who end up footing the bill for these pedophiles.
6
Why would any moral Christian want to be associated with the Catholic church at this point? There are other Christian choices with similar beliefs that are not ensteeped in supporting this kind of evil on a wide scale.
4
Meanwhile, anti-immigrant hardliners like Laura Ingraham, see an enormous threat from undocumented, people coming over the border. Ingraham can always find some example of one of these people committing some horrible crime, even though, their crime rate is lower than that of established Americans. Ingraham, who is Catholic, will be outraged, in passing, about some pedophile priest, before moving on to the REAL danger at the borders. She'll then give a stirring fire-bell-in-the-night speech about the "the invasion".
Here's a thought, Ms. Ingraham. Let's deport pedophile priests rather than desperate people seeking a better way of life.
31
@Thucydides
The U.S. is now @ 25% latino = Catholic. No joy or safety in any of that for America.
1
I grand jury report on stale claims over 70 years can only be based on rumor, and is wholly unreliable. Grand juries are not rumor mills, but investigate crimes within the statute of limitations, and either charge or decline to charge. Any other activity of a grand jury is illicit. Face it, the powers of high finance wish to destroy the Catholic Church, and this report is another illustration of this trend of religious bigotry. -- John Remington Graham of the Minnesota Bar (#3664X)
1
@John Remington Graham that Catholic guilt and shame model is powerful in some of you. Do you put out tea and cookies when the priest comes a calling?
It’s not just the Catholic Church, people. This is happening in every religious institution. These men think they have power of God that is above the law. These people not only perpetrate crimes but their leadership perpetuates cycles of long term sexual abuse within congregations. I had a leader argue why a boy predator of his sister should be allowed back into the home after being removed for chronically abusing his sister. These people have twisted understandings of religion and should be under the law and locked away for life.
6
I gather from the comments that there is widespread belief that the problem persists and that the Church has done nothing about it and continues to do nothing about it.
The cases in this report cover a long period of time, seventy years. Many of the guilty are dead, as are many bishops who turned a blind eye, worried too much about the Church’s reputation, or trusted too much in the power of redemption.
If you are actually a Catholic who belongs to a parish, worships regularly, and pays attention, you will know that there is a zero tolerance policy in place today. Dioceses have mandatory preventative programs for those who interact with children, and any priest or church employee who even has the hint of an accusation leveled against him or her is immediately suspended from duty, and the civil authorities are called upon to investigate.
We who grew up Catholic, were educated in Catholic schools, have belonged to scandal free parishes, and have never had anything but positive experiences with clergy and religious are utterly devastated and infuriated by what we have learned over these last several decades. We weep for the victims, are appalled at the hypocrisy, and flirt with the idea of walking away.
We also hope that the bright light that has come to shine on the issue will never be turned off and that the Catholic Church will never again be a safe haven for wolves in clerical clothing.
224
@Marion Eagen,
I hear what you're saying, but I think there is very little reason to trust the Church when they try to make a show of doing better. First of all, if any other organization in modern times had done what the Church has done, they'd be gone. If Uber drivers had raped their customers and if the Uber higher-ups had covered it up, when the news broke Uber would be no more.
But the Church is more powerful and more ingrained in people's lives. So it appears we're stuck with it for a bit longer. Given that the Church appears to be rotten from top to bottom, I see little reason to expect them to change, and I am going to be skeptical as hell when they say they have. There is a zero tolerance policy today? Great. Who is overseeing that? The Church?
6
@Marion Eagen,
I hear what you're saying, but I think there is very little reason to trust the Church when they try to make a show of doing better. First of all, if any other organization in modern times had done what the Church has done, they'd be gone. If Uber drivers had raped their customers and if the Uber higher-ups had covered it up, when the news broke Uber would be no more.
But the Church is more powerful and more ingrained in people's lives. So it appears we're stuck with it for a bit longer. Given that the Church appears to be rotten from top to bottom, I see little reason to expect them to change, and I am going to be skeptical as heck when they say they have. There is a zero tolerance policy today? Great. Who is overseeing that? The Church?
2
@Marion Eagen "Thought and Prayers" for the victims? No worries folks, it happened a long time ago and some of the predators and victims are dead! I admire your faith. it will be truly tested.
2