Quote of the Day: More Sex Abuse Files Relased by Archdiocese of Los Angeles

Not surprisingly, the latest document dump by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has revealed more disgusting evidence of cover ups and serial sexual predators.  It's more or less what one has come to expect of the Roman Catholic Church if one has opened one's eyes and stopped drinking the Kool-Aid dispensed by the Church hierarchy.  The document dump also looks at the way in which the dysfunctional seek refuge in the priesthood and behind the pulpit.  Bob Felton sums it up well:

More files chronicling sexual abuse of children by clergy and nuns have been released in the Los Angeles diocese. It’s depressingly familiar stuff, and not worth belaboring, though this remark from one of the news stories bears repeating.

At more than 500 pages, Martinez’s file is among the most complete, and it paints a devastating picture of a troubled and repressed child who later joined the priesthood to satisfy a domineering and devout father.

There are a lot of troubled men in the clergy; proportionally, there are undoubtedly more basket-cases behind the pulpit than in the pews. They end up there as self-selected therapy for what they suppose to be sinful sexual inclinations, and they end up there because religiosity is the family business and it’s been expected of them from childhood.

 Bob describes the Catholic priesthood - and senior officials at the Vatican - all too well.  It's no wonder the Church fathers are so obsessed with all things sexual.
 

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bishop in charge of cleaning up Vatican finances 'Got Stuck in Elevator with a Rent Boy; Lived with Gay Lover in Uruguay

Absolutely nothing surprises me any more when it comes to the hypocrisy and number of gays in the Catholic Church hierarchy.  As more and more bizarre stories come out, one is left feeling that one could not write stuff as crazy and over the top of the reality within the Vatican and the Church hierarchy.  The latest story involves Monsignor Battista Ricca was recently appointed as Pope Francis's new point man charged with cleaning up the beleaguered Vatican Bank.  It seems that in addition to living with a gay lover in the past, Fr. Ricca was trapped in an elevator with a rent boy.  As I said, you can't make up shit this good.  Absent a complete house cleaning of the hierarchy to purge (i) child rapist enablers and protectors and (ii) hypocrites like Ricca, Pope Francis will only bring more of the same old sickness to Roman Catholicism.   The Daily Mail has coverage.  Here are highlights:

The man appointed by Pope Francis to clean up the Vatican's scandal-hit bank allegedly had a gay affair with a Swiss soldier and had to be rescued after getting stuck in a lift with a rent boy.

Monsignor Battista Ricca was recently appointed as Francis's new prelate with responsibility for the Vatican bank, the Institute for Religious Works which has been hit by years of financial scandal.

But according to an expose by weekly Italian news magazine L'Espresso, Monsignor Ricca's own record is less than spotless.

The publication has claimed that Monsignor Ricca only got the position as IoR prelate after the supposedly powerful 'gay lobby' in the Vatican airbrushed his CV.

According to the claims, Ricca took a Vatican diplomatic post in Uruguay in 1999 and caused shockwaves within the church when moved his Swiss army captain lover, Patrick Haari, in.

The publication claims that the allegations have been confirmed by a number of bishops, priests and laity in Uruguay.  Ricca was eventually moved to Trinidad and Tobago and then recalled to Rome in 2002.

The same year, he allegedly found himself in more hot water when he was attacked at a notorious cruising ground.  Soon afterward, Ricca had to be rescued by firemen when he got trapped in a lift.   He was reportedly found inside with a youth who was known to local police.

As well as his role as primate of the IoR, Ricca is also in charge of the Pope's residential quarters at the Vatican.

The allegations come a month after Pope Francis acknowledged the existence of a 'gay lobby' inside the Vatican's secretive administration for the first time.

The Vatican is no stranger to gay sex scandals.  In 2010, it was reported that one of Pope Benedict's ceremonial ushers and a member of the Vatican choir were involved in a gay prostitution ring.

The Vatican's problems would be laughable but for the harm that the sex obsessed bitter old men continue to do to gays  - especially gay youth - and women by portraying women and gays as inherently disordered sinners and temptresses, respectively.  If anyone is disordered, it's these bitter old queens in dresses.    With every passing day, I become increasingly amazed that anyone truly moral listens to these foul men much less gives them undeserved deference.

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United Nations Demands Answers from Vatican on Child Sex Abuse

As this blog and other sources have sought to demonstrate, the one constant in the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy's approach to the global sex abuse scandal involving Catholic clergy is lies, cover ups, shuffling sexual predators from one unsuspecting parish to another.  And no one in the hierarchy ever receives meaningful punishment for their role in this criminal conspiracy, least of all from the Vatican which is always so quick to condemn others (e.g., gays) and feign piety.  Now, the United Nations has lost patience and the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has asked for “detailed information on all cases of child sexual abuse committed by members of the clergy, brothers or nuns” since the Holy See last reported to it some 15 years ago, and set November, 1, 2013, as the deadline for a reply.  My bet is that the Vatican will blow off the U.N. since it believes itself to be above the law (like most Christian extremist organizations).  First, here are highlights from CBC News:

 

A United Nations panel is demanding that the Vatican hand over detailed information on child sex abuse cases involving Catholic clergy.

 

In a document published online, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has asked the Vatican to come clean with how it addresses children's rights around the world, including what measures it takes when dealing with sexual violence.

 

The panel, which polices the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, wants the Catholic Church to reveal confidential records on investigations and legal proceedings against clergy members accused of sexual crimes on children.

 

The Geneva-based committee also wants to know what measures are being taken to ensure that clergy members accused of sexual abuses are not in contact with children and how members are told to report allegations of sexual violence.

 

It also wants records on investigations into the Legion of Christ in Mexico, where young boys have accused the congregation of separating them from their families.

 

The list of demands comes ahead of a planned meeting between the UN and Holy See officials in January.

 

Clergy abuse victims had been calling for swift and bold action from Pope Francis as soon as he was elected in March. Weeks after his election, Francis directed the Vatican to act decisively on clergy sex abuse cases and to take measures against pedophile priests, but the directive was dismissed by some advocates as just talk.

The Globe and Mail also has coverage.  Here are excerpts:

The request was included in a “list of issues”, posted on the CRC’s website, to be taken up when the Vatican appears before it next January to report on the Church’s performance under the 1990 U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child.

It will be the first time the Holy See has been publicly questioned by an international panel over the child abuse scandal which severely damaged the standing of the Roman Catholic Church in many countries around the world.

The CRC has no enforcement powers, but a negative report after the hearing would be a blow to the Church . . . .

By issuing its questions, the Geneva-based CRC brushed aside a Vatican warning that it might pull out of the Convention on the Rights of the Child if pushed too hard on the issue.

There was no immediate comment from the Vatican on Wednesday.

Nothing short of a global investigation will expose the full magnitude of the sexual abuse of children and youths countenanced by the Vatican or the complicity of most of the hierarchy in placing protection of child rapists above the safety and well-being of innocent children.  The world - especially the Catholic laity - needs to see the true moral bankruptcy of the institutional Church.

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Lawsuit Seeks to Hold Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph Liable For Teen Suicide

While Pope John Paul II and his successors - and liars like Cardinal Timothy Dolan - we busy worrying about the Catholic Church's "reputation" and about hiding Church assets, real lives were being damaged and/or destroyed.  Not that these horrid narcissistic men gave a damn about the countless children and youths who were sexually assaulted and raped.  A lawsuit in Independence seeks to hold the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph liable for the suicide death of one teen sex abuse victim.  Hopefully, the lawsuit is successful and better yet, I hope it is the first on many such lawsuits.  Here are highlights from the Kansas City Star:

A civil trial begins Monday in a wrongful-death lawsuit alleging that a boy took his life 30 years ago because of repeated sexual abuse by a Kansas City priest.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/07/07/4334143/trial-begins-monday-for-lawsuit.html#storylink=cpy

The trial, in Jackson County Circuit Court in Independence, could be notable for the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, some say.

“This is an especially significant case,” said Timothy Lytton, a legal scholar at the Albany School of Law and author of “Holding Bishops Accountable: How Lawsuits Helped the Catholic Church Confront Clergy Sexual Abuse.”  “One reason is that it’s rare for any of these cases to go to a jury; most of them are settled. The other reason is that it’s possibly the first high-profile case on the watch of the new pope.”

Brian Teeman, 14, died of a gunshot wound in November 1983 at the family’s home in Independence. His parents, Donald and Rosemary Teeman, filed the lawsuit in September 2011 after a man who had served as an altar boy with their son told them of the alleged abuse.

The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, says the diocese shares responsibility for Brian’s death because church officials knew that Monsignor Thomas J. O’Brien was sexually abusing boys but covered it up.  O’Brien is also named in the suit. His attorney, Gerald McGonagle, did not respond to a request for comment.  O’Brien, now 86, has been the subject of more than two dozen sexual abuse lawsuits since 2004.

Jackson County Circuit Judge Michael Manners held as valid the Teemans’ argument that the statute of limitations should be suspended because of what they said was the defendants’ coverup, fraud and concealment of O’Brien’s alleged abuse of their son and other children. The diocese unsuccessfully appealed Manners’ ruling to the Missouri Supreme Court.

The lawsuit says O’Brien forced Brian and three other boys to perform sexual acts in the sacristy at Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Independence. The abuse began when Brian was 11 and continued until he graduated from eighth grade, the lawsuit alleges. It says O’Brien warned the boys that if they ever told, they would be kicked out of the church, be disowned by their parents and go to hell.

“The reason they (dioceses) avoid trials is because so much stuff comes out during them,” McKiernan said. “Another dynamic is that if they do take this to trial and they get punished, that may have major implications for all the other cases that are in play.”

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/07/07/4334143/trial-begins-monday-for-lawsuit.html#storylink=cpy

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The Church’s Monstrous Shepherds

Some question why I so frequently slam the Roman Catholic Church.  There are several, not the least is the anger I still harbor for the institution that caused so much self-hate and so many years of needless unhappiness.  The largest reason is that the Church hierarchy continues to disseminate the same anti-gay lies and propaganda that harmed so many years of my life and in the process harms thousands and thousands of young gays as well as older gays who cannot let go of the brainwashing they received growing up.  Few things can screw one up psychologically and emotionally than being raised a Roman Catholic,  Perhaps the second reason I have such contempt for the Church is the utter hypocrisy of the Church leadership which shows no signs of changing under Pope Francis.  Hundreds of thousands of crimes against children covered up and predators protected - all by those who put on false shows of piety and demand respect and deference.  Frank Bruni has a column in the New York Times that looks at the sins of the Church hierarchy.  Here are excerpts:

BOSTON, Philadelphia, Los Angeles. The archdioceses change but the overarching story line doesn’t, and last week Milwaukee had a turn in the spotlight, with the release of roughly 6,000 pages of records detailing decades of child sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests there, a sweeping, searing encyclopedia of crime and insufficient punishment. 

But the words I keep marveling at aren’t from that wretched trove. They’re from an open letter that Jerome Listecki, the archbishop of Milwaukee, wrote to Catholics just before the documents came out.   “Prepare to be shocked,” he said. What a quaint warning, and what a clueless one. 

Quaint because at this grim point in 2013, a quarter-century since child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church first captured serious public attention, few if any Catholics are still surprised by a priest’s predations. 

Clueless because Listecki was referring to the rapes and molestations themselves, not to what has ultimately eroded many Catholics’ faith and what continues to be even more galling than the evil that a man — any man, including one in a cassock or collar — can do. I mean the evil that an entire institution can do, though it supposedly dedicates itself to good.

The Milwaukee documents underscore this, especially in the person of Cardinal Timothy Dolan, now the archbishop of New York, previously the archbishop of Milwaukee from 2002 to 2009 and thus one of the characters in the story that the documents tell. Last week’s headlines rightly focused on his part, because he typifies the slippery ways of too many Catholic leaders.

[Dolan's] his letter contradicts his strenuous insistence before its emergence that he never sought to shield church funds. He did precisely that, no matter the nuances of the motivation. 

Dolan has quibbled disingenuously over whether the $20,000 given to each abusive priest in Milwaukee who agreed to be defrocked can be characterized as a payoff, and he has blasted the main national group representing victims of priests as having “no credibility whatsoever.” Some of the group’s members have surely engaged in crude, provocative tactics, but let’s have a reality check: the group exists because of widespread crimes and a persistent cover-up in the church, because child after child was raped and priest after priest evaded accountability.

That’s what church leaders and church defenders who routinely question the amount of attention lavished on the church’s child sexual abuse crisis still don’t fully get. 

[O]ver the last few decades we’ve watched an organization that claims a special moral authority in the world pursue many of the same legal and public-relations strategies — shuttling around money, looking for loopholes, tarring accusers, massaging the truth — that are employed by organizations devoted to nothing more than the bottom line. 

[B]y last week the only shocker left was that some Catholic leaders don’t grasp its greatest component: their evasions and machinations.  

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New York Times Slams Cardinal Timothy Dolan

In a previous blog post I noted how Cardinal Timothy Dolan - a/k/a Porky Pig on this blog - worked to hide $57 million in church funds form victims of sexual abuse by priests aided, abetted and protected by the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy.  And not surprisingly, (i) Dolan lied about his activities in the past, and (ii) Dolan's actions were blessed by the Vatican in a matter of a few days.  The New York Times has rightly joined in the condemnation of Dolan and the Church's larger moral bankruptcy.  Here are editorial excerpts:

Tragic as the sexual abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church has been, it is shocking to discover that Cardinal Timothy Dolan, while archbishop of Milwaukee, moved $57 million off the archdiocesan books into a cemetery trust fund six years ago in order to protect the money from damage suits by victims of abuse by priests. 

Cardinal Dolan, now the archbishop of New York, has denied shielding the funds as an “old and discredited” allegation and “malarkey.” But newly released court documents make it clear that he sought and received fast approval from the Vatican to transfer the money just as the Wisconsin Supreme Court was about to open the door to damage suits by victims raped and abused as children by Roman Catholic clergy. 

The release of about 6,000 pages of documents provided a grim backstage look at the scandal, graphically detailing the patterns of serial abuse by dozens of priests who were systematically rotated to new assignments as church officials kept criminal behavior secret from civil authority. 

It is disturbing that the current Milwaukee leader, Archbishop Jerome Listecki, said last week that the church underwent an “arc of understanding” across time to come to grips with the scandal — as if the statutory rapes of children were not always a glaring crime in the eyes of society as well as the church itself. 

The documents showed how the Vatican slowly took years to allow dioceses to defrock embarrassing priests. Yet the same bureaucracy approved Cardinal Dolan’s $57 million transfer just days after the Wisconsin court allowed victims’ damage suits. 

I ask again: how can any moral person give these foul men any respect or deference?  They belong behind bars and a full blown government investigation of the Catholic Church should be commenced.

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Two Former Popes Who Protected Sexual Predators to Be Made Saints

If one need yet another demonstration of the moral bankruptcy of the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy, the announcement by the Vatican that Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II will be canonized certainly fits the bill.  Why do I say this? Because both, especially John Paul II, oversaw a worldwide conspiracy to protect sexual predators who raped and sexually molested hundreds of thousands of children and youths during their years of misrule.  But for the undeserved deference given to religion John Paul II should have been criminally prosecuted.  The same holds true with former Pope Benedict XVI.   The New York Times looks at this travesty which ought to be repellant to anyone truly moral.  Here are highlights:

VATICAN CITY — Pope John Paul II, the globe-trotting pontiff who led the Catholic Church for nearly 27 years, and Pope John XXIII, who called the reforming Second Vatican Council, will be declared saints, the Vatican said on Friday. 

The Vatican said Pope Francis had approved a second miracle attributed to John Paul, a Pole who was elected in 1978 as the first non-Italian pope in 450 years and died in 2005. His progression to sainthood is the fastest in modern times. 

The Vatican also said Pope John XXIII, who reigned from 1958 to 1963 and called the 1962-1965 Second Vatican Council - which enacted sweeping reforms to modernize the Church - would be made a saint even though he has only been credited with one miracle since his death. 

Liberals in the Church say John Paul was too harsh with theological dissenters who wanted to help the poor, particularly in Latin America. Others say he should be held ultimately responsible for sexual abuse scandals because they occurred or came to light when he was in charge. 

John Paul also drew criticism for supporting the late Father Marcial Maciel, the Mexican founder of the Legionaries of Christ religious order, defending him despite charges of sexual abuse that later turned out to be true.

Gay Star News reminds us of John Paul II's toxic views of gays:

John Paul II was deeply opposed to gay rights and said transgender people should not be allowed to have any position within the Catholic Church.
In his book Memory and Identity, he said the push for same-sex marriage was part of a ‘new ideology of evil, perhaps more insidious and hidden, which attempts to pit human rights against the family and against man.’
He also described equal marriage as threatening society and culture, adding family ‘must never be undermined by laws based on a narrow and unnatural vision of man.’
- See more at: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/pope-john-paul-ii-who-called-gays-%E2%80%98evil%E2%80%99-become-saint050713#sthash.4z3TcoPN.dpuf

John Paul II was deeply opposed to gay rights and said transgender people should not be allowed to have any position within the Catholic Church.
In his book Memory and Identity, he said the push for same-sex marriage was part of a ‘new ideology of evil, perhaps more insidious and hidden, which attempts to pit human rights against the family and against man.’
He also described equal marriage as threatening society and culture, adding family ‘must never be undermined by laws based on a narrow and unnatural vision of man.’
- See more at: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/pope-john-paul-ii-who-called-gays-%E2%80%98evil%E2%80%99-become-saint050713#sthash.4z3TcoPN.dpuf

John Paul II was deeply opposed to gay rights and said transgender people should not be allowed to have any position within the Catholic Church.

In his book Memory and Identity, he said the push for same-sex marriage was part of a ‘new ideology of evil,perhaps more insidious and hidden, which attempts to pit human rights against the family and against man.’

He also described equal marriage as threatening society and culture, adding family ‘must never be undermined by laws based on a narrow and unnatural vision of man.’

Gays are evil, but the rape and molestation of children was perfectly fine so long as the media did not find out about it.  Talk about moral depravity.

 

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Cardinal Dolan Sought to Hide Church Assets

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee has begun a huge file dump in connection with the huge sex abuse scandal that rocked the archdiocese and some of the newly released documents indicate that as long suspected, Cardinal Timothy Dolan - a major loud mouthed homophobe - tried to hide archdiocese assets so as to screw over sex-abuse victims seeking compensation for the criminal actions done against them.  The man is a disgusting pig and obviously a huge liar.  Note too that the Vatican was in on the move to hide assets. The New York Times has details:

Files released by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee on Monday reveal that in 2007, Cardinal Timothy F. Dolan, then the archbishop there, requested permission from the Vatican to move nearly $57 million into a cemetery trust fund to protect the assets from victims of clergy sexual abuse who were demanding compensation. 

Cardinal Dolan, now the archbishop of New York, has emphatically denied seeking to shield church funds as the archbishop of Milwaukee from 2002 to 2009. He reiterated in a statement Monday that these were “old and discredited attacks.” 

However, the files contain a 2007 letter to the Vatican in which he explains that by transferring the assets, “I foresee an improved protection of these funds from any legal claim and liability.” The Vatican approved the request in five weeks, the files show. 

The release of more than 6,000 pages of documents on Monday was hailed by victims and their advocates as a vindication and a historic step toward transparency and accountability. They were well aware that the archives would bring unusually intense scrutiny to the country’s most high-profile prelate, Cardinal Dolan, who as president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the archbishop of New York has sought to help the church turn the corner on the era of scandal. 

[T]he documents lift the curtain on his role as a workaday church functionary concerned with safeguarding assets, persuading abusive priests to leave voluntarily in exchange for continued stipends and benefits, and complying with Rome’s sluggish canonical procedures for dismissing uncooperative priests who he had long concluded were remorseless and a serious risk to children. In one case, the Vatican took five years to remove a convicted sex offender from the priesthood. 

Victims on Monday called for a federal investigation into the actions of Cardinal Dolan and his predecessors, but the cardinal sought to deflect criticism by saying in a statement Monday that he welcomed the release of the documents. 

The current archbishop of Milwaukee, Jerome E. Listecki, had announced his decision to release the documents in April, one day before a judicial hearing. Lawyers for abuse victims had asked a judge to compel their release. 

There is more in the article that deserves a read.  I have long maintained that Dolan is a liar and needs to be criminally prosecuted.

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Italian Police Investigate Whether Catholic Priests Hired Rentboys for Sex in Churches

Yesterday porcine Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York was whining and spewing untruths in reaction to the Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Windsor.  Here's a sampling of Dolan's batshitery via the New Civil Rights Movement:

“Today is a tragic day for marriage and our nation,” Dolan, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and thus the head of the Roman Catholic Church in America.

“The Court got it wrong,” Dolan added, in a joint statement with Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, chair of the U.S. bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage.

In typical false-framing and fear-mongering, the pair continued: "The common good of all, especially our children, depends upon a society that strives to uphold the truth of marriage. Now is the time to redouble our efforts in witness to this truth. These decisions are part of a public debate of great consequence. The future of marriage and the well-being of our society hang in the balance."

But just as always seems to be the case, as the Catholic hierarchy was loudly decrying gays as a threat to America and society in general, yet another scandal was breaking in Rome involving, yes, you guessed it, priests and underage boys.  As always, the bitter old queens in dresses cannot abide normal, well adjusted gays living their lives openly  and with legal recognition of their relationships even as members of the priesthood continue to engage in sex crimes against minors.  The hypocrisy is truly mind numbing.  The latest dirt comes via the International Business Times.  Here are excerpts:

Italian investigators have opened an inquiry into claims by a convicted paedophile priest that an underage prostitution ring has been operating inside the Holy Roman Church with clergymen hiring rentboys for sex inside churches.

Don Patrizio Poggi, 46, told Italian authorities that a former Carabinieri pimped boys for nine clergymen.

The boys were chosen because they were starving and desperate, he claimed, according to Il Messaggero newspaper.

The former policeman used to recruit the boys, mostly eastern European immigrants, outside a gay bar named Twink near Rome's Termini train station. He reportedly sat in his Fiat Panda - marked "Emergency Blood" to avoid parking fines - to make his selection.

He was helped in the recruitment process by a friend who ran a modelling agency. He lured underage boys into prostitution through "false work offers for modelling and acting roles", Poggi said.

The agent also looked for rentboys at gay discos, saunas and gyms across Rome. An accountant was also said to be involved.  The boys were paid €150-€500 (£130-£425) to perform sex acts in church premises across the capital.

Poggi reportedly presented documentary and photographic evidence to police in the company of two senior Vatican clergymen who vouched for his credibility.

Poggi identified the nine clergymen, including two senior church officials and a religion lecturer. Three people have been placed under formal investigation.

And meanwhile, there is this headline out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Dolan's former archdiocese "Capuchins Protected Sex Abusers for Years."  Here are some highlights from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

It's been 44 years since Father Mel Hermanns sexually abused a boy at St. Lawrence Seminary in Mount Calvary in Fond du Lac County.

It's been 23 years since a separate case of suspicious conduct "involving physical activities with minor males" was reported.

And 20 years since the Capuchin priest's order paid for the seminary victim's counseling, and sent Hermanns to a treatment center known for its programs for sex offenders.  But Hermanns was not removed from ministry until just last fall, and even then there was little public notification.

Hermanns' name appears on a list of 23 current and former Capuchin friars removed for sexually abusing minors. It was released last week as part of an unprecedented audit commissioned by the Detroit-based Capuchin Province of St. Joseph, which operates parishes and other ministries in Milwaukee, to assess its sexual abuse policies and come to terms with its history.

The audit echoes the broader church's handling of the global sex abuse crisis, and provides insight into how one religious order systematically protected abusers and put the concerns of friars and their organization ahead of their responsibility to victims.

I'm sorry, but I would argue that the Catholic hierarchy and priesthood are a far greater threat to society and certainly the welfare of children than gay marriage.  One has to wonder why individuals like Dolan - who is rumored to have hidden millions in Church assets rather than pay compensation to abuse victims - are not behind bars at this very moment. 

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Poll: Catholic Church View on Same-Sex Marriage Causing Parishoners to Flee

To listen to Catholic bishops and cardinals around America one would think that gay marriage will destroy civilization and lead to the collapse of heterosexual marriage.  None of which is true, of course, and the irony is that this propaganda comes from an institution which has been documented to have engaged in a world wide criminal conspiracy to cover up sex crimes against children and youths by Catholic clergy.  The hypocrisy is stunning.  Another irony is that a new poll has found that the Catholic Church hierarchy's anti-gay jihad is causing members of the Catholic laity to leave the Church.  One can only hope that the phenomenon accelerates and becomes more widespread.  Here are highlights from NBC 10 News on the poll findings:

Not surprisingly, a high percentage of area Catholics have left the church over the sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the organization in the past decade. But that's not all.

A Catholic parish in Philadelphia surveyed lapsed Catholics to find out why they left. The results show a dissatisfaction at both the local level and with the Vatican.  .   .   .   . 17 percent — said they did so because of the priest abuse scandal. 

"People who are going to leave the church over the scandal and the church's handling of it have already left. So people leaving the church today are leaving for other reasons," said Zech. "A growing reason we found out was the church's attitude toward homosexuals and gay marriage. A lot of younger people object to the church's teaching on that."

According to a recent national study on religious life in America by the Pew Foundation, a third of baptized Catholics leave the faith, often due to policies originating in the Vatican.

Nevertheless, Zech's study shows that local churches have some power to keep disgruntled Catholics from leaving, such as improving the quality of liturgies.

"Liturgies are really important. I'm not sure that parish staff and clergy understand how important liturgies are to people, that they have good music and the liturgy be meaningful," said Zech.

"People who feel they are not being fed by a meaningful liturgy — they'll go where they are being fed."   Most of those former parishoners became Protestants.

In the short term, the influx of Hispanic immigrants has masked the decline of the Catholic Church in America.  Over time, that will change and the Church will follow the downward trajectory it has experienced in Europe and other modern nations.   The choice for the Vatican is to either accept modernity and modern knowledge or eventually become a third world religion based in the most ignorant and uneducated nations of the world. 

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The Unthinking Mindlessness of Catholic "Sheeple"

The reactions to the news story that Pope Francis has admitted that there is a gay "lobby" or cabal in the Vatican is all over the ball park.  All too typically, some of the laity in the pews refuse to recognize that THEY are part of the problem because they continue to bankroll the corrupt and morally bankrupt Church hierarchy.  One such Kool-Aid drinker, apparently from Australia - where a government investigation is revealing orchestrated cover ups of sexual abuse by the hierarchy -  was incensed by my post that suggested that an organization like the Vatican hierarchy deserved to be destroyed:

That organization would be the GLBTI and the sooner it is destroyed for good the better. I notice today that the Russians have set the world a good example. 

For such simple minded - and dare I say in my opinion psychologically disturbed - individuals the facts don't matter.  Documentation exists that proves conclusively that every Pope from 1962 onward - yes, even John XXIII and the less than saintly John Paul II - directed that crimes against children be covered to protect the Church's "image and reputation" and , of course, its money and wealth.  Apparently, in the warped world of the author of the comment, the last six or seven Popes were all part of the "GLBTI."  The ignorance and refusal to face reality is stunning.  Unfortunately, that phenomenon seems to increasingly describe the "pious" and "godly" folk.

Fellow LGBT blogger Father Tony - who served at the Vatican while a young priest before leaving the priesthood - had theses comments:

Poor naive pope. He reads a report about a "gay lobby" among his cardinals in the Vatican. He equates "gay" with "corruption" in his comments and he goes on to say that he will do something to correct this. All this tells me is that we once again have heterosexual pope. And one who is sexually infantile. http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/06/11/pope-francis-gay-lobby-exists-inside-vatican/

[H]e will find it impossible to administer a successful gay witch hunt: a queen cardinal attacked will strike back by naming his enemies. Francis will find himself caught in a huge crossfire of substantiated accusations. He will have to either replace the entire curia or drop the idea of the purge. The funny thing is that if he replaced the entire curia, in would come some new queens who will be exactly what Francis is trying to get rid of.

As CNN noted, the The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests summed up the root of the problem well:

The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests said, "structure, not sexuality, is the real issue."  "The church is a monarchy. Monarchs are unaccountable. So many monarchs are corrupt. This is true in both secular and religious institutions," SNAP said in a statement.

The willful rejection of reality and modernity is the hallmark of the Vatican's shrinking echo chamber and members of the Catholic laity who insist on sticking their head in the sand.

 

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Pope Francis Admits a "Gay Lobby" Exists At the Vatican

Some estimates put the percentage of Catholic clergy who are gay at over 50%.  This reality should come as little surprise given that the Catholic Church's celibacy requirement provided a perfect cover for closeted gays and the for sexually dysfunctional and pedophiles.  Now, Pope Francis - for whom I have little use from what I've seen of the man so far - has admitted that, surprise, surprise, there is a gay lobby if you will within the Vatican.   My only questions are (i) whether this lobby includes former Pope Benedict XVI and his handsome personal secretary, and (ii) whether they will be swept up in the coming witch hunt for gays.  Google News looks at this less than surprising admission. Here are highlights:

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has admitted the existence of a "gay lobby" inside the Vatican's secretive administration, the Roman Curia, allegedly exposed during a leaks scandal, according to a Latin American Catholic website.

Back in February Italian media claimed that a secret report by cardinals investigating the leaks included allegations of corruption and blackmail attempts against gay Vatican clergymen, and on the other hand, favouritism based on gay relationships.

"In the Curia, there are truly some saints, but there is also a current of corruption," the pope is quoted as having said during an audience last week with CLAR (the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Religious Men and Women).

"There is talk of a 'gay lobby' and it's true, it exists. We have to see what can be done," the 76-year-old pontiff is quoted as saying on the Reflection and Liberation website, which was flagged up by religious news agencies on Tuesday.

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told AFP: "It was a private meeting, I have no comment to make."  The secret report compiled by a committee of three cardinals for the pope's eyes only was the result of a broad inquiry into leaks of secret Vatican papers last year -- a scandal known as "Vatileaks".

Just days before pope Benedict XVI's resignation in February, the Panorama news weekly and the Repubblica daily said that the report contained allegations of blackmail attempts and gay favouritism -- though Lombardi insisted at the time they were "conjectures, fictions and opinions."

The Argentine pope has made reforming the Roman Curia -- the heavily criticised and intrigue-filled administration of the Roman Catholic Church -- a priority of his papacy, but said it would be "difficult".

If a witch hunt does in fact ensue, let's hope that the closeted gays spill their guts to the media and maximize PR damage to the Vatican.   Any organization that has systematically protected child rapists and threatened and intimidated victims of sexual abuse deserves to be destroyed.

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