HOMOSEXUALITY IS THE MISSING LINK IN THE PRIEST ABUSE SCANDAL

It'll be interesting to see if the New York Times publishes anything from the story below, right alongside all their other coverage of the Catholic sex scandal.

For all of the left's concern for "the children", my guess is that their overriding desire to support sexual licence and immorality will trump any of their outrage at the sexual abuse of minors or anyone else. Because all of their screaming and howling about Catholic sex scandals isn't about protecting anyone; it is designed and directed at destroying the Church, the one institution left standing in the way of the "New World Order".

So there won't be any reporting from any mainstream media outlet about the proven link between homosexuality and sexual abuse by those in a position of power. No, all we'll hear is the continued drumbeat meant to inflame the passions against the Church. That's why there is no reporting of any consequence about all the others being abused in the schools, Protestant churches and synagogues. The damaged and abused children and adults are just pawns in a larger game.

The ends justify the means. Never let a good crisis got to waste.

"Following Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone’s comments in Chile about a link existing between homosexuality and pedophilia in cases of clerical sexual abuse, both Church officials and secular figures clarified his statement. But Dr. Richard Fitzgibbons, a psychiatrist with experience treating sexually abusive priests, told CNA that the cardinal's statement is accurate.

...Many gay rights organizations reacted vehemently to Cardinal Bertone’s statement, leading Fr. Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican Press office, to assert that “it obviously refers to the problem of abuse by priests and not in the population in general."

...However, a U.S. psychiatrist with experience in treating priests with pedophilia disagrees that there is no link between homosexuality and sexual abuse of children. “Cardinal Bertone's comments are supported completely by the John Jay study report and by clinical experience,” Dr. Richard Fitzgibbons told CNA. “In fact, every priest whom I treated who was involved with children sexually had previously been involved in adult homosexual relationships.”

Fitzgibbons, who has been the director of Comprehensive Counseling Center in West Conshohocken, Penn. since 1988, has worked extensively with individuals suffering from same sex attraction (SSA) and priests accused of pedophilia. He also presently serves as a consultant to the Congregation for the Clergy at the Holy See.

...When asked what sort of new information has become available since the publication of the letter, Fitzgibbons put an emphasis on narcissism. “This epidemic personality weakness in the west predisposes individuals to excessive anger, the worship of self, rebelliousness against God and His Church particularly in regard to sexual morality and sexual acting-out,” he said."
Catholic News Agency

BISHOP TOBIN DENOUNCES CHA

Let's hope this is just the beginning. The Bishops need to make sure that any "Catholic" group that supported Obamacare pays a price and either asks forgiveness and repents publicly or is disassociated from the Church. This is the first and absolutely the most important step in beginning to bring the members of the body back into communion with the head. And if any part of the body refuses to do as the head commands:

"And if thy right eye scandalize thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee. For it is expedient for thee that one of thy members should perish, rather than that thy whole body be cast into hell.

And if thy right hand scandalize thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is expedient for thee that one of thy members should perish, rather than that thy whole body be cast into hell." Matthew 5:29-30
Bible.com

"Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island, recently denounced the Catholic Health Association (CHA) for causing “scandal” with its endorsement of the health care bill and asked that a local diocesan Catholic hospital be removed from its membership list.

In a March 29 letter to Sr. Carol Keehan, director of CHA, Bishop Tobin wrote that he was “very disappointed that the Catholic Health Association, under your leadership, publicly endorsed the recent health care legislation that was passed and signed into law.”

“This action was taken,” the bishop lamented, “despite the fact that the legislation will very possibly provide additional public funding for abortion and threaten the freedom of conscience of Catholic individuals and institutions.”

“Your enthusiastic support of the legislation, in contradiction to the position of the Bishops of the United States, provided an excuse for members of Congress, misled the public and cause serious scandal for many members of the Church,” Bishop Tobin charged.

“Accordingly,” he added, “I am writing to request that St. Joseph Health Services of Rhode Island, sponsored by the Diocese of Providence, be removed from the membership list and mailing list of the Catholic Health Association.”

Bishop Tobin further stated that “even the association with CHA is now embarrassing, and for that reason I request that our name be removed.”

The Rhode Island bishop concluded his letter telling Sr. Keehan he hopes “that the future of the Catholic Health Association will review its mission and will find new opportunities to renew its commitment to human life, including that of unborn children. I also hope that the Association will clearly support the teaching mission of the Church as expressed by the Bishops, whose obligation it is to preach the Gospel of Christ and apply the teachings of the Church to the important moral issues of our time.”
EWTN News

WHY THE WITCH HUNT?

"The Vatican heatedly defended Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday, claiming accusations that he helped cover up the actions of pedophile priests are part of an anti-Catholic "hate" campaign targeting the pope for his opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage.

Vatican Radio broadcast comments by two senior cardinals explaining "the motive for these attacks" on the pope and the Vatican newspaper chipped in with spirited comments from another top cardinal.

"The pope defends life and the family, based on marriage between a man and a woman, in a world in which powerful lobbies would like to impose a completely different" agenda, Spanish Cardinal Julian Herranz, head of the disciplinary commission for Holy See officials, said on the radio."
Google

I can't say whether the Vatican is right or wrong, but only about the ultimate reason for the witch hunt being conducted by the media. While it is demonstrably true that sexual abuse is occurring in many different places, whether schools, other faiths, in pornography or the home I don't see any real effort by the media to attack anything but the Church. This tells me these stories of sexual abuse are not directed towards ending the abuse but destroying the Church. The question is, why?

I believe it transcends any specific teaching. Sure, the left doesn't like the consistent stand the Church has taken against abortion or homosexual marriage. But I don't think this is the core reason for this campaign of subversion. The reason is authority. The Church stands as the last vestige of Christian moral authority on earth with the power to stand in the way of the Satanic goal of the "New World Order". Everything those that follow Marxism have worked for is on the cusp of fruition; central control, redistribution of wealth, the state as the final arbiter of human rights and the enslavement of all mankind. Only the Roman Catholic Church stands as a bulwark against this tide of Satanic subjugation.

This is the reason for the campaign of lies and hate. This is the reason that the Church must fall. Satan cannot get to the center of the Church, her teachings and doctrine, but he can attack the weaknesses of those selected by God to lead us. He can undercut their moral authority and by doing so he can marginalize the truth that is so desperately needed today.

This is the reason for the attack.

ABUSE-IT'S NOT JUST FOR CATHOLICS ANYMORE

Do any of the articles below sound familiar? Of course they do, with one vital difference; they are about sexual abuse in the Baptist Church. We never hear about this in the mainstream media even though it is just as bad as the abuse in the Catholic Church. Why is that? The victims are just as traumatized and their lives are just as damaged. Aren't the journalists that cover these stories of abuse inside the Catholic Church doing it out of concern for these victims? Or, is there perhaps another reason for their pogrom?

Pray for all the victims of abuse, whether Catholic, Baptist, other faiths or none at all. We all need to clean our houses and prepare the Church for what is coming. These abuses point out a deep and systemic rot inside Christianity and other faith communities. This rot exists at the very core of the leadership in all churches and needs to be revealed and addressed in an honest and forthright manner.

The Catholic Church is well on it's way to ending this problem, mainly because of reporting done by those who look to harm her. It looks as though God is using their hatred against them by using it to clean out His Church.

The press needs to turn its focus on other faiths now. If they can expose the corruption elsewhere they will be doing the work of the Lord, whether they want to or not.

This must be about the victims, not about vendettas.

All of the stories referenced below were found at Stop Baptist Predators.

"Perhaps Thomas is uninformed about the preachers who prey on children in the Southern Baptist Convention in particular and the Baptists in general, a scandal that has been exhaustively covered on EthicsDaily.com with well over 100 articles. He is certainly unfamiliar with Christa Brown, founder of Stop Baptist Predators and Baptist coordinator for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, who has tirelessly sought to rip off the cover of secrecy within Baptist life and to press Baptists to reform their practices.

If Thomas is uninformed about the Baptist child-abuse scandal, then Baptist denominational leaders have successfully kept the shameful, systemic problem off the national media's radar.

Protecting the Baptist denomination and churches from public humiliation and discrediting has been a higher priority for many Baptist leaders than protecting children from the predatory ministers – ministers who move from church to church, state to state, without punishment, only to harm again.

One Baptist state convention even dismissed a staff member after his reporting on a preacher predator in an apparent effort to protect the preacher and the organization."
Ethics Daily

"Sex abuse in the church is not a Catholic crisis alone. A skeptical public repulsed at news of a priest abusing 200 deaf boys lumps local church leaders into the same putrid pot.

All Christians are stained in the sweep of the same broad brush, but a Baylor University School of Social Work study released last fall suggests that tainting is not without foundation. The study found just over 3 percent -- or seven women in a typical congregation with 400 adult members -- have been victims of clergy sexual misconduct since they turned 18.

American Catholics have instituted rules that immediately and forever remove a man from the priesthood who is shown to be guilty of abuse. The pope apologized for the sexual abuse of minors and pledged that pedophiles would not be allowed to become priests in the Catholic Church.

The Vatican even instituted reforms to prevent future abuse in the U.S. by requiring background checks for church employees and issued new rules disallowing ordination of men with "deep-seated homosexual tendencies."

Sex-abuse cases also rock Baptist churches. Individually they are just as bad, and collectively we are doing a lot less than the Catholics about resolution.

Southern Baptists as a national entity have nothing in place to prevent abusers from carrying their satchels of pain to another church or to yank credentials from an abusive clergyman."
Associated Baptist Press

"An angry population of abused Christians and those who love them and advocate for them is demanding that churches of all types stop the child sexual abuse in their midst. While many other structures of modern life have heightened the protections offered to children, the churches have lagged behind -- with disastrous consequences. The Baptist situation
may be no better than the Catholic, only shielded more deeply from view. This situation demands reform, immediately, for the sake of the vulnerable and abused children among us -- not to mention for the sake of the gospel witness, so desecrated by the abuse behind our stained-glass windows."
Associated Baptist Press

BALANCED REPORTING ON THE MURPHY CASE FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

It look's as though we may have found where the real journalists work. Thank you Mr. McGurn for your balanced approach to this story. That's all we're asking for.

"...Martin Nussbaum, a lawyer who is not involved in the Murphy case but who has defended other dioceses and churches in sexual abuse suits, emailed me four interesting letters sent to Murphy from three Wisconsin bishops. These documents are not among those posted online by the Times. They are relevant, however, because they refute the idea that Murphy went unpunished.

In fact, the letters from these bishops—three in 1993 and one in 1995, after fresh allegations of Murphy's misconduct—variously informed the priest that he was not to celebrate the sacraments in public, not to have any unsupervised contact with minors, and not to work in any parish religious education program.

It's accurate to say Murphy was never convicted by a church tribunal. It's also reasonable to argue (as I would) that Murphy should have been disciplined more. It is untrue, however, to suggest he was "never" disciplined. When asked if she knew of these letters, Ms. Goodstein did not directly answer, saying her focus was on what was "new," i.e., "the attempts by those same bishops to have Father Murphy laicized."

...A few years later, when the CDF assumed authority over all abuse cases, Cardinal Ratzinger implemented changes that allowed for direct administrative action instead of trials that often took years. Roughly 60% of priests accused of sexual abuse were handled this way. The man who is now pope reopened cases that had been closed; did more than anyone to process cases and hold abusers accountable; and became the first pope to meet with victims. Isn't the more reasonable interpretation of all these events that Cardinal Ratzinger's experience with cases like Murphy's helped lead him to promote reforms that gave the church more effective tools for handling priestly abuse?"
Wall Street Journal

REMBERT WEAKLAND-CORRUPT ARCHBISHOP OF MILWAUKEE

"Many orthodox Catholics have wondered for weeks why the sex-abuse scandal has hit America's more conservative bishops — Law of Boston and Egan of New York — hardest. Not any longer: Archbishop Rembert Weakland of Milwaukee, the most liberal bishop in America, has been disgraced by the revelation that he paid $450,000 in hush money to buy the silence of an apparent former male lover.

...The alleged ex-lover, Paul Macoux, is calling his decades-old encounter with Weakland "sexual abuse," but from what we know now, that's not the case. Macoux, 54, was at least in his late 20s when he began a relationship with Weakland, and from an 11-page, handwritten 1980 "Dear Paul" letter Weakland wrote to Macoux, it appears that the archbishop and his paramour had a consensual relationship, one that Weakland ended when he decided to begin honoring his vow of celibacy.

The letter reveals Weakland, archbishop of Milwaukee since 1977, to have been in "deep love" with Marcoux, who comes off as a manipulative grifter who looked to the archbishop, 21 years his senior, as a sugar daddy. Responding to Marcoux's apparent request for more money to fund a personal project, Weakland tells him that the $14,000 he had already given Marcoux "is really my personal limit."

"I feel you are putting me in an impossible situation here," the archbishop wrote. "I consider all that Church money as a sacred trust; it represents the offerings of the faithful and I must be accountable to them for how it is all spent. There are hundreds of requests on my desk for funds for worthy causes, for inner-city projects, to the elderly, to the handicapped, etc."

Yet 18 years later, facing the threat of a civil suit by Marcoux, Weakland directed his archdiocese to fork over $450,000 to buy Marcoux's silence. On Thursday, Milwaukee County Attorney Michael McCann told reporters Weakland had confessed to him that he had had a "troubling" relationship with an adult male, and was afraid he was going to be extorted because of it. McCann now says he will consider appointing a special prosecutor to find out where the hush money came from.

..."The best compliment I received, then, came from a religious superior in Rome who said: 'Rome does not know what to do with Weakland. He is a free man.' I feel I have been able to maintain my own dignity and identity through it all."

Here's a tiny portion of what the Free Man of Milwaukee has meant for the Church in his city: He directed Catholic schools there to teach kids how to use condoms as part of AIDS education, and approved a graphic sex-education program for parochial-school kids that taught "there is no right and wrong" on the issues of abortion, contraception and premarital sex. He has advocated for gay rights and women's ordination, bitterly criticized Pope John Paul II, denounced pro-lifers as "fundamentalist," and declared that one could be both pro-choice and a Catholic in good standing."
National Review

"Weakland also writes about his failures to stop sexually abusive priests. In a videotaped deposition released last November, Weakland admitted returning guilty priests to active ministry without alerting parishioners or police.

"Any deposition is just a part of a whole picture and that picture has not been painted yet. And anybody can take out of that any sentence they want," Weakland said in the interview.

"I try to deal with this, I hope in an honest way, admitting my weaknesses in not being able to see this earlier, but at the same time doing what I could confront it."

Advocates for abuse victims said that Weakland's cover-up of his own sexual activity was part of a pattern of secrecy that included concealing the criminal behavior of child molesters."
Huffington Post

I thought that perhaps, in light of the current sex scandal in the Church, and particularly the problems surrounding Father Murphy and the media's attempt to tie the Pope to them, it would be good to take a look at the then Archbishop of Milwaukee, Rembert Weakland. Much has been made of the two letters sent to Rome by the Archbishop in 1996, 19 years after he took over the archdiocese and forty years after the abuse started. The media, and the New York Times in particular, have attempted to portray Weakland as a crusader for the children, as a man acting in a selfless and holy manner, only to be rejected by Rome or, more importantly, by Cardinal Ratzinger himself.

In reality Weakland was a corrupt, homosexual modernist that did nothing about Father Murphy or the kids he harmed for 19 years as Archbishop. It was only when allegations of abuse in the confessional surfaced that the case was forwarded to Rome because the authority to deal with this abuse lies in the CDF. Weakland could no longer contain it.

Weakland was a darling of the leftist media in this country because he was one of them in political inclination, lifestyle and in the way he managed his archdiocese. In the stories that have been published of late he is treated as some sort of hero instead of the sexual degenerate he was. We see no reporting on his history as Archbishop or his payoffs, from Church funds, to his gay lover. We only see the saintly Archbishop fighting against the oppressive powers of the evil Cardinal Ratzinger in Rome.

The excerpt from the article below comes from the New York Times and is written by Laurie Goodstein, who, and I'm sure this is just a coincidence, is one of the writers, along with Maureen Dowd, at the Times that is currently heading up the pogrom against the Pope. Note the sympathy shown Weakland in the article below. Goodstein glosses over the payoff to his gay lover while focusing on Weakland's loneliness, his intellectualism and his belief that the teaching of the Church on homosexuality is wrong (couldn't the case for a conflict of interest be made here?).

The modernist, progressive, Marxist bent of the media, especially the at the Times, can no longer be tolerated. It has become a weapon of destruction aimed at the institutions that support our society. It is being used by those that seek a Marxist Utopia to weaken and eventually eradicate all that can create a barrier to their Satanic dreams. The entire paper has become an editorial, with reporting designed to sway opinion, not convey fact.

Since we have freedom of the press, that's OK. They can do what they want. Let the market decide. Unfortunately, since the Times is the paper of record, the dribble it publishes is passed on as fact through so many other media outlets that the story becomes gospel through sheer repetitive power. And since most professional journalists today either can't or are not allowed to do their job, balance is nowhere to be found.

"Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland of Milwaukee was one of the Catholic Church's most venerable voices for change until 2002 when he resigned amid revelations that he had used church money to pay a $450,000 settlement to a man with whom he had had a relationship years earlier.

Archbishop Weakland, who had been the intellectual touchstone for church reformers, has written a memoir scheduled for release in June 2009. In it he speaks out about how internal church politics affected his response to the fallout from his romantic affair; how bishops and the Vatican cared more about the rights of abusive priests than about their victims; and why Catholic teaching on homosexuality is wrong.

On ABC's "Good Morning America" in 2002, the man the archbishop had fallen in love with 23 years earlier said the Milwaukee archdiocese paid him $450,000 years before to keep quiet about the affair.

Archbishbop Weakland said he had been aware of his homosexual orientation since he was a teenager and suppressed it until he became archbishop, when he had relationships with several men because of "loneliness that became very strong." He said he was probably the first Catholic bishop to come out of the closet voluntarily."

COMMENTARY ON THE POPE AND THE CURRENT SCANDAL FROM PRAVDA

Pravda is presenting a more balanced approach to this story than the New York Times and other American media outlets. That pretty much says all that needs to be said about the current state of American journalism.

"Much of the news coming out, in the effort to disguise ideological propaganda, contains the fundamental error of mistaking the wood with the trees ... especially when the aim is to denigrate. That is, from an isolated case, preferably rough outlines, and generalized in order to induce the reader to think that the whole is of the same nature. This generalization obviously has ideological connotations and follows a political agenda that seeks to deconstruct traditional society and all its secular institutions and to impose a New World Order after the manner of the sinister interests of the international oligarchy, the same ones that handle the financial markets and through them, largely control the global economy. We refer to cases of pedophilia within the ranks of the Catholic Church recently publicized by international news agencies."
Pravda

HAVE THEY FOUND THE SMOKING GUN?

Top Vatican officials — including the future Pope Benedict XVI — did not defrock a priest who molested as many as 200 deaf boys, even though several American bishops repeatedly warned them that failure to act on the matter could embarrass the church, according to church files newly unearthed as part of a lawsuit.

The internal correspondence from bishops in Wisconsin directly to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future pope, shows that while church officials tussled over whether the priest should be dismissed, their highest priority was protecting the church from scandal.
NY Times

Wow, so they finally found the smoking gun that can tie the Pope to the abuse scandals. Or have they?

The New York Times did supply copies of all the documents they base this story on at their website. Go read them. I did and I'm not so sure they paint the story the Times would like us to believe.

In reading all of this I came away with the sense that I was reading documents very similar to those I've read in court cases I've been involved with in business. One side is in the right and they are appealing for justice; the other side is in the wrong and I think quite aware of it and they are appealing for mercy. You've got a bunch of lawyers involved trying to figure out the best way to move forward within the strictures of the law.

The only difference is that in this case the accused is a priest, the attorneys are priests and the court is the Church, which on the surface just doesn't seem right, at least in a civil sense. However, this is purely a matter of Canon law that is being discussed and the Church is the legal authority.

Admittedly this case of abuse was handled wrong way back when it happened, in the '50's and '60's. That is where the real problem lies. But then, in this respect it really isn't that much different than most of these cases. The big difference is that, because it passed through the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith during the Popes tenure there it is seen as a way to finally link him to the scandal.

By the time it got to the CDF and theoretically into the hands of Cardinal Ratzinger how much of a case was there? Reading the documents you start to see the predicament faced by the attorneys. The case had long ago exceeded the statute of limitations of both the Church and the civil authorities. This was addressed by the Church by suspending the statute to allow the trial to move forward. Next they had a problem with the witnesses, all of whom were deaf and presented a barrier to clear communication. Thirdly, Father Murphy is obviously nearing death because some of the documents are concerned with setting up his funeral.

Surrounding all of this is the question of scandal. The Church realizes that the case will open a big can of worms and that prosecution will be extremely difficult. They know they have a priest that is probably guilty but is on the verge of death. So they are trying to weigh the possible good of the trial against the bad.

Based on legal situations I've been in these seem to be pretty normal parts of the process. Because it is child abuse emotions run high. Because it is child abuse and the Church, the sense that justice demands action is even higher. It is after all the Church and it is, or should be, held to a much higher standard than any other organization.

Now, because there is a possibility that the Pope can somehow be tied to it, justice has been thrown out the window and the jackals are circling.

This case is bad because of the numbers of kids potentially involved. It's bad because it was so badly handled from the very beginning. It's bad for the victims because they must feel betrayed and they must feel like they can never get back what they lost. I believe all these things are true.

What it is not true is a condemnation of the Pope or his activities as head of the CDF. And it is not evidence that he was somehow involved in a cover up. It is none of the things that the press and the enemies of the Church will try to paint it as.

What it is is just another sad reminder of how much evil has entered the Body of Christ and how much damage it has done.

THE MYTH OF PEDOPHILE PRIESTS

I seldom reprint entire articles from other websites but in this case I'm making an exception. Father Dwight Longenecker at Standing On My Head wrote this article and I'm sure it won't be seen in the mainstream press. It's important that the current sex abuse scandal in the Church is put in context. Not to excuse it but to see it as it really is.

The Myth of Pedophile Priests

As more pedophile priest scandals blow up across Europe we should be ashamed of the offenders and those who sheltered them and oppressed the victims. The guilty should be weeded out, removed from office and handed over to the civil authorities where they are guilty of crimes. Systems to avoid abuse must be established and rigorously maintained, and victims should be justly compensated for their suffering.

However, Penn State professor Philip Jenkins (who is not a Catholic) has written the most objective book on the subject, and he summarizes his arguments in this excellent article. In light of his work, we should remember some basic facts and principles:

Priestly celibacy is not the issue - married men are more likely to abuse children than unmarried

Most child abuse takes place within the home.

All religious groups have pedophile scandals, and the Catholics (while the largest religious group) are at the bottom of the list statistically.

Child abuse is prevalent in all areas of society: schools, youth organizations, sports, etc
.
Statistically, of all the professions, Christian clergy are least likely to offend. Doctors, Farmers and Teachers are the professions most likely to abuse children--not clergy.

Among clergy offenders Catholic priests are least likely to offend.

Catholic cases of pedophilia make more headlines because of anti Catholic prejudice and because the Catholic Church is bigger and more lucractive to sue.

Pedophilia and Euphebophilia are different problems. The former is sexual attraction to pre-pubescent children. The latter is attraction to teenagers. Most cases branded 'pedophila' are actually 'euphebophila.'

Most of the cases of euphebophilia are homosexual in nature, however the politically correct do not want this problem to be associated with homosexuality.

The number of Catholic priests guilty of pedophilia is very small.

What we now call 'cover up' was often done in a different cultural context, when the problem was not fully understood and when all establishment organizations hushed scandals. They did so for what seemed good reasons at the time: protection of the victims and their families, opportunity for rehabilitation of the offender, the avoidance of scandal to others. It is unfair to judge events thirty years ago by today's standards.

When lawsuits are looming people smell money. We must be wary of false accusations.

The accused must be entitled to a fair hearing. The church should insist on hard proof of the abuse, and for the sake of justice, ensure that the innocent are not prosecuted.

When guilt is established the offender must be punished, not sheltered.

Distinctions must be made between types of abuse. Some offenses are worse than others. Verbal abuse or corporal punishment during a time when that was acceptable, while lamentable, is not the same as sexual abuse or extreme physical abuse.

Sexual abuse of an adult, or a sexually experienced older teenager is wrong, and damaging, and should be punished, but it is not the same as the sexual abuse of a younger, innocent child.

Number of offenses must be considered. One lapse is not of the same seriousness as repeated, persistent and premeditated offenses.

I am in no way wishing to be soft of pedophiles and those who covered for them, however justice and truth demand an objective analysis of the facts.

THE LETTER TO THE CHURCH IN IRELAND

Below you'll find excerpts from Pope Benedict XVI's Letter to the Catholics of Ireland. Go and read the whole thing because it is worth the effort. You can also go here to read commentary on this topic from Ioannes at "Commentarius de Prognosticis".

I think that the Pope has done a good job of starting the process of a serious reaction to the scandal. His words are strong and his remedies worthy; from the spiritual standpoint. However, this is just a start. While I realize that the main concern of the Church is the soul, the people of the Church NEED to see some heads roll.

I sincerely hope and pray that the people involved in this scandal in Ireland and elsewhere seek a true conversion and find forgiveness for their sins. I just want them to go through this process of redemption without benefit of the Roman collar.

Please, Holy Father, remove anyone that has even a slight, tangential connection to this scandal from the priesthood. Cut the "cancer" from the body. The guilty can work towards forgiveness as a member of the laity.

This must be done for the sake of the souls of the many faithful that are being driven from the Church. In many ways, because theirs is a separation caused by the scandal and not because of involvement in it, the Church is more obligated to see to their needs than the needs of the guilty. The actions of our leaders have caused this separation and the Church needs to see it repaired.

"...You betrayed the trust that was placed in you by innocent young people and their parents, and you must answer for it before Almighty God and before properly constituted tribunals. You have forfeited the esteem of the people of Ireland and brought shame and dishonour upon your confreres. Those of you who are priests violated the sanctity of the sacrament of Holy Orders in which Christ makes himself present in us and in our actions. Together with the immense harm done to victims, great damage has been done to the Church and to the public perception of the priesthood and religious life.

I urge you to examine your conscience, take responsibility for the sins you have committed, and humbly express your sorrow. Sincere repentance opens the door to God’s forgiveness and the grace of true amendment. By offering prayers and penances for those you have wronged, you should seek to atone personally for your actions. Christ’s redeeming sacrifice has the power to forgive even the gravest of sins, and to bring forth good from even the most terrible evil. At the same time, God’s justice summons us to give an account of our actions and to conceal nothing. Openly acknowledge your guilt, submit yourselves to the demands of justice, but do not despair of God’s mercy.

... (To the Bishops) It cannot be denied that some of you and your predecessors failed, at times grievously, to apply the long-established norms of canon law to the crime of child abuse. Serious mistakes were made in responding to allegations. I recognize how difficult it was to grasp the extent and complexity of the problem, to obtain reliable information and to make the right decisions in the light of conflicting expert advice. Nevertheless, it must be admitted that grave errors of judgement were made and failures of leadership occurred. All this has seriously undermined your credibility and effectiveness. I appreciate the efforts you have made to remedy past mistakes and to guarantee that they do not happen again. Besides fully implementing the norms of canon law in addressing cases of child abuse, continue to cooperate with the civil authorities in their area of competence. Clearly, religious superiors should do likewise. They too have taken part in recent discussions here in Rome with a view to establishing a clear and consistent approach to these matters. It is imperative that the child safety norms of the Church in Ireland be continually revised and updated and that they be applied fully and impartially in conformity with canon law.

Only decisive action carried out with complete honesty and transparency will restore the respect and good will of the Irish people towards the Church to which we have consecrated our lives. This must arise, first and foremost, from your own self-examination, inner purification and spiritual renewal. The Irish people rightly expect you to be men of God, to be holy, to live simply, to pursue personal conversion daily. For them, in the words of Saint Augustine, you are a bishop; yet with them you are called to be a follower of Christ (cf. Sermon 340, 1). I therefore exhort you to renew your sense of accountability before God, to grow in solidarity with your people and to deepen your pastoral concern for all the members of your flock. In particular, I ask you to be attentive to the spiritual and moral lives of each one of your priests. Set them an example by your own lives, be close to them, listen to their concerns, offer them encouragement at this difficult time and stir up the flame of their love for Christ and their commitment to the service of their brothers and sisters.

...I now wish to propose to you some concrete initiatives to address the situation.

At the conclusion of my meeting with the Irish bishops, I asked that Lent this year be set aside as a time to pray for an outpouring of God’s mercy and the Holy Spirit’s gifts of holiness and strength upon the Church in your country. I now invite all of you to devote your Friday penances, for a period of one year, between now and Easter 2011, to this intention. I ask you to offer up your fasting, your prayer, your reading of Scripture and your works of mercy in order to obtain the grace of healing and renewal for the Church in Ireland. I encourage you to discover anew the sacrament of Reconciliation and to avail yourselves more frequently of the transforming power of its grace.

Particular attention should also be given to Eucharistic adoration, and in every diocese there should be churches or chapels specifically devoted to this purpose. I ask parishes, seminaries, religious houses and monasteries to organize periods of Eucharistic adoration, so that all have an opportunity to take part. Through intense prayer before the real presence of the Lord, you can make reparation for the sins of abuse that have done so much harm, at the same time imploring the grace of renewed strength and a deeper sense of mission on the part of all bishops, priests, religious and lay faithful.

I am confident that this programme will lead to a rebirth of the Church in Ireland in the fullness of God’s own truth, for it is the truth that sets us free (cf. Jn 8:32)"

LET THE GUARD DOG OFF HIS LEASH

From Damian Thompson in the Telegraph:

"What are non-Catholics to make of all this? I'd argue that, like Catholics, they need to resist sweeping conclusions and try to reconcile two truths. The first is that many Catholic bishops, especially in Ireland and America, betrayed children, families and their own good priests by covering up for abusers. The crimes may have reached their peak as long ago as the 1970s, but the culture that enveloped them has yet to be fully dismantled.

The second is that secularists who despise Catholicism are manipulating tragedies to marginalise Catholics and blacken the name of a Pope, Benedict XVI, who has done far more than his predecessor to root out what he calls the "filth" of sexual abuse. Unfortunately for the Pope, his enemies inside the Church, who include members of the College of Cardinals, are happy for him to take the rap. Ratzinger was never "one of the boys", the "magic circle" of bishops who covered for each other, and now he is paying for it. Expect some judicious leaking of scandals to sympathetic journalists just in time for his visit.

Ultimately, only the Pope himself can resolve the tension between guilt and innocence, and he needs to act fast. The "Rottweiler" nickname was always misleading, given his personal gentleness, but it would be no bad thing if he launched a ferocious attack on sexual predators and their hand-wringing accomplices in the higher ranks of the clergy."

The Pope absolutely needs to come out swinging on this issue. To react in a deliberate manner, as is the normal style of the Church, will be disastrous. I'm sure that Benedict has plenty of information at hand to name names and take apart the corrupt system inside the Vatican and the Church in general that has supported this cover up.

He needs to start at the top. There is no one so valuable that they are indispensable. If there is rock solid proof that anyone in the Vatican has any ties to this horror, throw them out, give the evidence to the proper secular authorities and see them prosecuted where possible. For those where evidence exists but not enough for prosecution, strip them of their rank and place them in positions of a menial nature far removed from children and any authority.

The souls of the faithful are at risk. This scandal lends itself to the ends of those that would destroy the Church and they'll use it to drive Catholics from the pews. The Pope cannot waste time; he needs to act swiftly and decisively.

This is why you were chosen Holy Father. You have the intellect and the backbone to get this done. And no matter how much grief you get from the press and inside the Church know that the people are behind you. Go get 'em!

TEN IN VATICAN TO HANDLE SEX ABUSE CRISIS

"As hundreds of new allegations of sexual abuse surface in the German church alone, a top Vatican official acknowledged Tuesday that, with only 10 people handling such cases, his office might not be adequate for the task.

But the official, Msgr. Charles J. Scicluna, who is effectively the Vatican’s internal prosecutor, said the church was working to bring more “transparency” to the delicate and emotional process of settling allegations of abuse by priests that have severely damaged the church’s moral standing.

“We have to get our act together and start working for more transparency in investigations and more adequate responses for the problem,” Monsignor Scicluna said, adding that this should happen “on every level of the church.”
NY Times

I don't say this to be flippant but, if the Vatican has only ten people in place to handle this, sell some paintings and hire more. Ten People??!! After what has happened here in America there should be an army of people in place to push these cases through with as much speed as possible.

If what is said by the Monsignor is true then I have to conclude that the resolution of the homosexual child sex abuse scandal is not a high priority and never has been. This speaks volumes about the true nature of the cover up. Yes, cover up. If there was really an intent to get this out, deal with the damage done and separate fact from fiction there would be hundreds of people involved in this. Instead, we have ten.

The Vatican hoped that this would go away and refused to confront the problem directly. Their staffing of the office tasked with handling this proves my point.

Confess your sins and do penance, Vatican. To the Pope; if you want to clear your name and that of the Church the only way to do it is to show the world you mean business. Put the funding in place to handle this problem. Get to the truth. Do whatever it takes to help the people that were damaged by the members of our Church, even if you have to sell everything to get it done. Great sin has been committed by those that were chosen to preach the Gospel. Great penance will be required.

Ten people working in an office somewhere in Rome just doesn't cut it.

YOU NEED TO ADMIT THE PROBLEM TO SOLVE IT

"The Roman Catholic Church is “holed beneath the waterline” and may take generations to recover from the sex abuse scandals, according to the first English bishop to speak out on the crisis.

The Bishop of Arundel and Brighton, the Right Rev Kieran Conry, rejected accusations of media bias against the Catholic Church and said the problems of paedophile priests dominating headlines in the UK and across Europe were problems of the Church’s own making.

“The Roman Catholic Church sets itself up to be the great moral authority. When it does fail its own rigid standards, it deserves to be attacked and criticised,” he said."
Times Online

Straight (no pun intended) talk from Bishop Conry. Now if the rest of the Church leadership will just be as honest and forthright we can deal with the problem and move on. My guess is though that just as here in America the powers that be will do their best to obfuscate and spin the problem away. It won't work.

"Confess therefore your sins one to another: and pray one for another, that you may be saved. For the continual prayer of a just man availeth much." James 5:16

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity." 1 John 1:9

It really is that simple, isn't it? Confess your sins, ask for forgiveness and undo the damage.

"Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you." Matthew 7:7

Isn't this the good news? Isn't this what you have been teaching us? Ask forgiveness and through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross you shall receive it. Then why can't the Church seem to follow it's own teaching? Why are we bombarded here in America with lawyers and hidden abusers in our parishes? Why, if a priest has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt to be guilty of this terrible crime, why can't the Church just admit it, ask forgiveness and do its penance? Even if this means destruction of the physical institution. Don't they trust the promises of Christ?

"And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Matthew 16:18

Why does the Church leadership have so little faith in the God of creation?

"Now if God clothe in this manner the grass that is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more you, O ye of little faith?" Luke 12:28

Is it because the leaders of the Catholic Church have become too much of the world? Are they more concerned about their place at the table than the souls of their flock?

"No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." Luke 16:13

I don't know the answer; that's for God to understand. What I do know is that something is terribly wrong with the Church. From sexual abuse to the abuse of our rights in the health care debacle, the ability to speak the truth has become almost a forgotten skill.

But let your speech be yea, yea: no, no: and that which is over and above these, is of evil. Matthew 5:37

It really is that simple, isn't it?

ET TU, MOESHE?

"Last week The Jewish Week reported that Gov. Paterson had allocated $500,000 to be channeled to an as-yet-unnamed organization in the Brooklyn Orthodox community. The money is to be used to help address what many now believe is an epidemic of childhood sexual abuse in the ultra-Orthodox world. While in theory we as a community should welcome governmental support to help us solve our social problems, how does one explain the apparent absence of rabbinic and lay leadership on this issue? When did protecting our children become the job of the governor and a local assemblyman? Where are the voices of our rabbinic and lay leaders?"
The Jewish Week

Where is the media? In a week filled with stories about the Pope and his tenuous, at best, connections to the homosexual child abuse scandal, why haven't we heard even a single word about this?

The coverage of this issue has been skewed against the Catholic Church since the beginning of this scandal. It has been intense and unrelenting. I have no problem with that at all. If it takes this kind of exposure to run the rats out of the basement, fine. But what about the kids that are being harmed by others. From teachers to preachers to the Rabbi most abuse is under covered or not covered at all. Because the Church is perceived as the enemy by most on the left they have targeted her to the exclusion and detriment of the many kids being harmed on a continuing basis by those outside the priesthood.

So, if there is a legitimate story about some priest abusing kids, go get him. But, for the sake of the other kids, and not just a political crusade, go after the rest of these animals, too. Quit wasting your time trying to manufacture news to suit your agenda. Do your job and report the facts; and in the process, protect the innocent.

THE PERFECT STORM

The last few days the media has begun a feeding frenzy around the issue of the Pope and what he knew about the homosexual child abuse scandal in Germany. I pray that our Holy Father is innocent of all charges leveled against him in the court of public opinion. However, guilt or innocence may not matter to those that would see the Church destroyed. So let me put forth a couple of theories:


1) These stories are true, in which case we've got big troubles ahead for the Church. Even if the Pope is involved it still has no effect on the teaching authority of the Church or the guarantees of Christ to protect that authority. It doesn't matter though because most don't understand the structure and foundation of Church authority so something like this would drive millions away.


2) These stories are part of a disinformation campaign orchestrated by interests threatened by the Pope and the Church. This could very easily be an attempt to discredit a very conservative Pope before he is able to make changes that will bring the Church back from the edge of the abyss. There are many, many powerful people and groups inside and outside the Church that are threatened by some of the things the Pope has been doing. Satan cannot directly attack or affect the doctrine and dogma of the Church. He can, however, directly attack the leadership in all areas that are not protected, which is in everything except issues of faith and morals at a dogmatic or doctrinal level. For Satanic groups that believe they have the power to destroy the Church, this is the perfect storm. 


If, as I have long suspected, the homosexual child abuse scandal is part of a larger effort to destroy the Church by outside forces, this accusation would be the culmination of their efforts. This is the way Communism/Progressivism works. It is deliberate and patient. Some of it's adherents may lack this virtue but those at the center put plans in place that take decades to come to fruition.


Watch how all of this plays out. This will be used to drive a wedge between the Church and her people. This may be the issue that finally causes a public split of the Church into two distinct camps; those that trust Jesus and his promises and those that fall for the siren song of Satan.

And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.
Matthew 16:18-19

Pray for the Pope and the Church; and for the members of the body that will be torn away by this scandal.

The time of winnowing is at hand.

St. Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray,
and do thou,
O Prince of the heavenly hosts,
by the power of God,
thrust into hell Satan,
and all the evil spirits,
who prowl about the world
seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

COVER UP UNDERWAY AT USCCB

Disco Mike left an address to a cached copy of the USCCB website on the comments area of this blog showing the USCCB website right after the release of Reform CCHD Now's report on the "Way of the Cross Towards Justice and Peace", reported on in a previous post. The link can be accessed here. The link to the stations is clearly visible under the heading of "Lent".

Amazingly, within 24 hours, the link to the stations has disappeared from the USCCB site.

Do you think that there just might be a cover up under way?

HOMOSEXUALITY CAUSED THE CRISIS, NOT CELIBACY

"After media outlets misinterpreted an article by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn to say that he is questioning the Church's rule of priestly celibacy, several high ranking churchmen have spoken out in praise of celibacy as a gift. They also dismissed the idea that celibacy is connected to pedophilia."
Catholic News Agency

We just can't bring ourselves to name the real cause of this, can we? It isn't celibacy, it's HOMOSEXUALITY! Most of these guys weren't buggering little girls, were they?

THE PRIEST THAT SAID NO TO THE LESBIANS

This is the website of Father Bill Breslin, the priest at Sacred Heart Parish in Boulder, Colorado: The Heart of the Matter. He is the priest at the heart of the storm surrounding the lesbians that tried to enroll their kids in a Catholic school. His comments on the dispute can be found here. I'm going to post them in their entirety below.

Keep Father in your prayers. I'm sure he is blasted from every direction. Visit his blog and let him know that we're out here; that many of us still believe that the Church and God's law mean something.

Here are his remarks:

"If a child of gay parents comes to our school, and we teach that gay marriage is against the will of God, then the child will think that we are saying their parents are bad. We don't want to put any child in that tough position - nor do we want to put the parents, or the teachers, at odds with the teachings of the Catholic Church. Why would good parents want their children to learn something they don't believe in? It doesn't make sense. There are so many schools in Boulder that see the meaning of sexuality in an entirely different way than the Catholic Church does. Why not send their child there?

The core issue for us Catholics on this question is our freedom and our obligation to teach about marriage and family life as our Faith teaches. If parents see the cultural interpretation of what tolerance has become as more important than the teachings of Jesus, then we become unfaithful to the Lord and we lose the meaning of the beatitude, “Blessed are you when they insult you for My sake, for the Kingdom of Heaven is yours.” Many of Jesus’ teachings were not popular. In fact, He was crucified for His teachings.

Glossing over differences on essential matters, and pretending that crucial issues are irrelevant, is not tolerance.

It is relativism, meaning that nothing is important anymore and everyone can have their own interpretation of what is goodness and truth. This kind of tolerance, which is a decidedly secularist invention, seeks to separate all moral discourse from public life. However, those who embrace this kind of tolerance do not, of course, acknowledge that they are imposing their own moral judgments upon society.

The Catholic Church invests in parish schools so as to assist children in becoming disciples of Christ and to stand as a light shining in the darkness that has rejected Christianity and the truth of being human, including the meaning of human sexuality."

USCCB UPDATE #9- DEMOCRAT OR REPUBLICAN?

This video addresses the key problem in the USCCB scandal; should the Church endorse any political party, whether explicitly or implicitly? The answer, in my opinion, is yes; but only in so far as the party agrees with the truth, not because of any political agenda. That is at the core of the problem with the American Bishops. Instead of holding the politicians to the fire and demanding they uphold the truth the Bishops have seemingly decided to change Church teaching to make it more pleasing to the political point of view they and their politician friends adhere to.

I've been reading a lot of Pope Benedict's speeches and papers lately and I gotta hand it to him; he does exactly what he should. He slavishly follows the truth, aggravating those on the left (Progressives, environmentalists, USCCB) and those on the right (Neo-cons, bankers, trad-caths) with his incredibly robust teachings regarding the Catholic faith. Instead of supporting any political agenda he challenges the politicians to support Christ.

Isn't that what the Church is supposed to do?

USCCB UPDATE #8