www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Dallas Morning new expose

The Dallas Morning News added yet another aspect to the clergy abuse problem. That of religious orders moving priests and brothers around the world when accused of sexual abuse. The authors of this series of articles found priests that superiors said were taken out of active ministry, working in parish and school settings. One priest even admitted his sexual behavior to the reporter and there was also evidence the same man was couseling children in his bedroom at the new assignment! Could be an even bigger scandal than what we already have. What is one to think? How can the hierarchy be trusted when they do things like this? And I cannot believe the powers that be in Rome aren't aware of it.

http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/spe/2004/runawaypriests/

NPR also did a radio interview last week that bears listening to.

http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1963800

Part two of the series.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/062104dnprovasquez.202f8.html

Part III:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/062204propriestpt3.1db08.html

Part IV:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/062304dnprodominic.1de2b.html

Seems like the DMN articles are getting some results:

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/06/24/1088046224669.html?oneclick=true

Thanks be to God! Let's hope others will be caught too!

It is beyond me why the church would "move" a priest from one country to another and expect their behavior to change. I do not believe that a priest, once they are investigated and found guilty of being an abuser should be able to council or for that matter have any contact at all with minors. To forgive them would also be very difficult. I know that they are as human as the rest of us but should be beyond this kind of temptation. It is my opinion that they should remove themselves from the public and serve in a solitary manor. The church does not serve its people by being silent or sweeping it under the carpet. Tari

And yet another very good article from the Dallas Morning News. Kind of sums up what the series is about and what they are trying to do by publishing it.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcon...ries/062704dnedirunawaypriest.6ad29.html

"In the end, the demon of priestly pederasty will only be expelled from the church when cardinals, bishops and the next pope take this issue as seriously as did the man they have given their lives to serve."

I don't get it, its not Lent. Don't the newspapers have more to report, like sexual happenings among Republicans? Or some other scandal?

Republicans don't do sexual scandals. All our sins are financial - greed, stealing from widows, etc. - if you believe the newpapers. For kinky sexual escapades you have to look at Democrats. When their birth control methods fail, of course they will want abortions, too - at taxpayer expense

byzanTN, what about Gov. Schwarzenagger? He had a few escapades, I understand. As apparently also did Jack Ryan. There are plenty more.

When it comes to these types of scandals, the media doesn't play favorites. That sells units, no matter what party is involved, so I don't buy one party getting hit harder in the media at least on this issue.

There are also Republican politicians who fit your last statement.

Diak:

Of course there are Republicans who do those things, as well. I think my point, if you read between the lines, is that the two parties have done a pretty good job of demonizing each other. Republicans are greedy, grasping, uncaring - Democrats are free-love, degenerate ex-hippies, and so forth. Actually, I don't see much hope for the country in either party or their candidates.

Since we don't seem to have a St. Catherine of Siena to publicize and encourage the Pope to correct abuses such as these, we should be happy the secular world is willing to do so. The Church could have taken care of this problem in house years ago, but rather it was hidden and these priests and religious allowed to continue in public ministry without so much as a slap on the wrist. This is a black moment in the Church's history that will take a long time to get over and for some, they will never get over it. Do you realize that most of these folks who have been abused will never darken the Church's door again? And those who haven't given up on religion and God entirely, will be going to non-Catholic Churches because they can't trust the Catholic Church any longer? We (the Church) have a lot we will have to answer for on the Last Judgement for how these folks have been treated.

Thanks, Don, for getting the thread back on track.

Although we may chide for the secular media for airing our dirty laundry in public, God can use them for his purposes as well. I cannot help but wonder if the counselors who pronounced some of these men as "healed" have some complicity in this as well? A few bishops did rely on the recommendations of the "experts" to restore priests to ministry. I do realize this was not the case for all situations.

You have to wonder about that, don't you? I am leery of counselors. It seems to me that one of the most destructive forces to enter the church in recent times, has been secular psychology. It seems to sway doctrine, liturgy and discipline within the Church. As a school teacher, I see what it has done in the schools. We can no longer automatically apply consequences for bad behavior. We first have to analyze it, realize the conditions that produced it, etc. I have seen some of the worst student behavior excused by counselors because the students "have a bad home life." So I have to wonder if the counselors in the sex abuse cases were capable of pronouncing the abusers healed. It seems to me that if you are operating from a perspective that doesn't clearly see right from wrong, your judgements are suspect.