generalspeaking

The Roman Catholic Church Besmirching Itself

"The coverup was so sophisticated. And all the while, shockingly, church leadership kept records of the abuse and the coverup. These documents, from the dioceses' own 'Secret Archives', formed the backbone of this investigation."
"Church officials routinely and purposefully described the abuse as horseplay and wrestling and inappropriate conduct. It was none of those things. It was child sexual abuse, including rape."
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro announces the Grand Jury report Matt Rourke/AP

"We are sick over all the crimes that will go unpunished and uncompensated."

"We believe that the real number of children whose records were lost or who were afraid ever to come forward is in the thousands."

"Priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing; they hid it all. For decades. Monsignors, auxiliary bishops, bishops, archbishops, cardinals have mostly been protected; many, including some named in this report, have been promoted."

"As a consequence of the coverup, almost every instance of abuse we found is too old to be prosecuted."

"There have been other reports about child sex abuse within the Catholic Church. But never on this scale. For many of us, those earlier stories happened someplace else, someplace away. Now we know the truth: it happened everywhere."

Pennsylvania Grand Jury statement

"The report of the Pennsylvania grand jury again illustrates the pain of those who have been victims of the crime of sexual abuse by individual members of our clergy, and by those who shielded abusers and so facilitated an evil that continued for years or even decades."

"As a body of bishops, we are shamed by and sorry for the sins and omissions by Catholic priests and Catholic bishops."

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Bishop Timothy L. Doherty, chair, bishops' Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People

Pope Francis had little option but to strip 88-year-old Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of his title. The elderly McCarrick was ordered to a lifetime (!) of prayer and penance as his penalty for sexual abuse of boys, along with forcing his sexual predation on young adult seminarians. He had held the position of bishop of Pittsburgh. Cardinal Donald Wuerl , formerly bishop of Pittsburgh had taken that post as Cardinal McCarrick moved on in the Church. And Cardinal Wuerl now stands charged by the grand jury of concealing clergy sexual abuse.

Cardinal Wuerl is now one of the highest-echelon cardinals in the United States, and he released a statement in response to the charges against him, that he had acted always in good faith, that he had "acted with diligence, with concern for the victims and to prevent future acts of abuse". Abuse allegations in Pennsylvania dioceses ministering to over half the 3.2 million Catholics in the state were scrutinized by the grand jury, its statement released yesterday, condemning 300 priests for their sexual crimes against over a thousand children.

That this widespread atrocious sexual abuse by clergy and the fact that church officials concealed all evidence is now revealed as a matter of public shame and contrition merely reflects what the Church has been doing undetected for generations, and in the process ruining the lives of countless of the faithful whose trust in the clergy who molested them shattered their sense of self, rendering them emotionally wounded, impacting their lives and leaving them with no recourse to justice.

A succession of Catholic bishops, in a long-honoured tradition in the Church, along with other diocesan leaders made no effort to help the victims, but did extend themselves to sheltering the reputation of the Church, while shielding the clerics from publicity and the Church from financial liability through their enabling coverups, their failure to report those who had abused their authority and trust to law enforcement, while discouraging the victims from reporting the crimes that victimized them.

Most of the priests identified as abusers and perpetrators of sexual crimes are now dead, or will be able to avoid arrest since the crimes they committed are considered to be too stale under state law for prosecution. Cardinal Wuerl is now taking the brunt of outraged criticism for his claims of surprise and insistence that he had no knowledge of allegations that his predecessor molested and harassed young seminarians. When McCarrick vacated the post of Washington archbishop, McCarrick followed him in 2006 to take up that senior, prestigious post.

According to the bishop of the Pittsburgh diocese, a few of the priests the report names remain in ministry resulting from the diocese's determination that allegations lodged against them were unsubstantiated. 

• In the Greensburg diocese, a priest impregnated a 17-year-old, forged a pastor's signature on a marriage certificate and divorced the girl months later. According to the grand jury, the priest was allowed to stay in ministry by finding a "benevolent bishop."

• Another priest in Greensburg groomed middle-school students for sex, according to the grand jury, by telling them that Mary had to "bite off the cord" and "lick" Jesus clean after the Nativity.

• In Harrisburg, a priest abused five sisters from the same family and collected samples of their urine, pubic hair and menstrual blood.

• Also in Harrisburg, a priest raped a 7-year-old girl who was in the hospital after her tonsils were removed, according to the report.

• In Pittsburgh, church officials said that a 15-year-old boy "pursued" and "literally seduced" a priest. A church report later acknowledged that the priest had admitted to "sado-masochistic" activities with several boys.

• In the Allentown diocese, a priest admitted sexually molesting a boy and pleaded for help, according to documents, but was left in ministry for several more years.

• Also in Allentown, a priest who had abused several boys, according to the grand jury, was given a recommendation to work at Disney World.

• In Scranton, a priest who later served prison time for abusing children was found to have been HIV-positive for years

Labels: Catholic Church, Child Abuse, Priests, Sexual Predators, United States

posted by Pieface @ Thursday, August 16, 2018