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

It isn't just the ones who have been abused who won't be back. A few years ago, the former Latin Rite Bishop of Knoxville had to resign his position in Florida because of sex abuse he had committed years earlier in Missouri. It was one of the times I was genuinely glad to be Byzantine. Some of the Latin Rite people who had known and trusted this Bishop were devastated. The result was nearly a loss of faith for some, and an actual loss of faith for others. Although not abused, some have not come back. Some of the ones who remained in the Church don't really trust it anymore.

Uh, don't look now, but there have been both Byzantine Catholic and Orthodox scandals of the same sort.
The idea that some sins are the exclusive province of some group or other drives me crazy. Really folks, when will we get it through our heads that the problem is not "them"? You know, those evil Others? Every sin and every evil is common to Man. If we think that our particular religious communion is immune we are asking for trouble.
I remember years ago, when all of this was just breaking, there was a story in the Wanderer about a young priest who had been arrested for such transgressions. They made him sound like the ultimate ultra-liberal wacko.
Well, I had gone to seminary with the guy and the portrait they composed was unrecognizable. He was, in fact, a very conservative, "orthodox" man, even down to his style of dress and personal habits. Indeed, he thought I was pretty way out [for my "radical", Catholic Worker sympathies].
In fact, the Wanderer was not interested in truth, but in using the scandal to advance their own agenda. Beware of such thinking.
"Thank you Lord, that we Byzantines are not like other Catholics" etc.

In some ways we are like other Catholics, but not enough so that the other Catholics, their hierarcy, or the press have any understanding of us. But you are right about the sins not being the exclusive province of a particular group. The Latin Rite is the 500-pound gorilla in the Church so it will always get more press attention. I am glad you didn't expect truth from the Wanderer. If you did, I would start to worry about you.

I'd be worried about me too, though in fairness they have been ahead of the curve in reporting bad news about the Roman Church.
Anyway, I'm glad you are under no illusions about any particular sin being outside our borders...

Here is an article from Australia, about the Salesians and how they have shifted their problem clergy around the world.'

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,10050659%255E28737,00.html

"The newspaper alleged influential Salesian officials had spoken out forcefully against co-operating with law enforcement agencies investigating sex abuse allegations.

"For me it would be a tragedy to reduce the role of a pastor to that of a cop," one Salesian cardinal, Oscar Rodriguez of Honduras, a prominent candidate to succeed Pope John Paul II, told the paper's reporters. "I'd be prepared to go to jail rather than harm one of my priests," he said.

The paper also found Salesian officials in Costa Rica and Chile are facing criminal complaints, accused of protecting priests who were shuffled across international borders."

Another article in the series, this time about a Canadian Franciscan friar who is now living in California.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/071204dnprochumik.1e4a9.html

>>I'd be prepared to go to jail rather than harm one of my priests," he said. <<

Is this supposed to be a noble statement?
What about harming/raping/sodomizing innocent children? Where is the accountability?
They just DON'T get it, do they? :rolleyes:
Sam