Pennsylvania grand jury releases report on abuse by Catholic clergy

[47of74]

The latest on the church abuse scandals in Pennsylvania

Quote

A long-awaited grand jury investigation into clergy sexual abuse in Pennsylvania was released Tuesday in an interim redacted form. The report detailed decades of alleged misconduct and cover-ups in six of the state's eight Roman Catholic dioceses.

The roughly 900-page report, not including exhibits, is thought to be the most comprehensive of its kind and paints a horrid portrait of activity that occurred in the dioceses of Scranton, Allentown, Harrisburg, Greensburg, Erie and Pittsburgh, implicating 300 "predator priests" statewide who committed "criminal and/or morally reprehensible conduct."

One priest in the Diocese of Harrisburg abused five sisters in a single family. Another, in the Diocese of Greensburg, impregnated a 17-year-old girl, married her, then divorced her months later.

A priest in the Diocese of Erie admitted to assaulting at least a dozen boys, yet was later thanked by the bishop for "all that you have done for God's people."

Here's a link to the report.

 

[Themanda Duggar]

I grew up in Pittsburgh as a Jew, and even I knew that you should never be alone with a priest.  I graduated from high school in 84, but had already known about pervy priests for years.  It was a very open secret.  I knew a number of religious Catholics there who wouldn’t allow their sons to be altar boys at particular churches.  It’s really shocking to me that people were surprised by the extent of abuse in the Catholic Church.  The kids where I grew up all knew about it from at least the early seventies.

[lexiloumarie]

14 hours ago, Themanda Duggar said:

I grew up in Pittsburgh as a Jew, and even I knew that you should never be alone with a priest.  I graduated from high school in 84, but had already known about pervy priests for years.  It was a very open secret.  I knew a number of religious Catholics there who wouldn’t allow their sons to be altar boys at particular churches.  It’s really shocking to me that people were surprised by the extent of abuse in the Catholic Church.  The kids where I grew up all knew about it from at least the early seventies.

It was the same for me about 20 years later. I knew people in the Catholic school system and it was a general known thing that sometimes things we're just off. Some of the names on the list were posted on Facebook because they were the local parish priest and it was a general consensus that he person was known to be sketchy.  That deciding to be a priest meant something was "wrong". 

[CatholicLite]

Honestly I wasn't at all shocked when I read it. I know that sounds awful, but in my mind I thought, "ugh, another one". Still, the abuse of power baffles and angers me, because people that religious and who are supposed to lead their congregants need to do some serious mental gymnastics to try and absolve themselves from all that Catholic Guilt. 

Makes me think they really just belive God will absolve them of all their bullshit. Gross.

[Howl]

I was gobsmacked and then sickened, then really, my heart ached, when I read that there were 300 priests and realized the staggering number of victims involved.  

[47of74]

On 8/15/2018 at 8:24 PM, Themanda Duggar said:

I grew up in Pittsburgh as a Jew, and even I knew that you should never be alone with a priest.  I graduated from high school in 84, but had already known about pervy priests for years.  It was a very open secret.  I knew a number of religious Catholics there who wouldn’t allow their sons to be altar boys at particular churches.  It’s really shocking to me that people were surprised by the extent of abuse in the Catholic Church.  The kids where I grew up all knew about it from at least the early seventies.

Hell, every good priest knows that they should never be alone with anyone under the age of 18, as much as for their own protection as for that of the children.

I remember a story an older gentleman once told me where his grandfather had pulled his entire family out of the church for several months.  We may not think as much of that now, but this was back in 1880s Iowa and that sort of thing was just not done back then.  He was wondering if there had been some sort of abuse going on and this was his grandfather's way of protecting his family. 

On 8/16/2018 at 11:08 AM, CatholicLite said:

Honestly I wasn't at all shocked when I read it. I know that sounds awful, but in my mind I thought, "ugh, another one". Still, the abuse of power baffles and angers me, because people that religious and who are supposed to lead their congregants need to do some serious mental gymnastics to try and absolve themselves from all that Catholic Guilt. 

Makes me think they really just belive God will absolve them of all their bullshit. Gross.

I wasn't surprised either when this came out.  Unfortunately the extent of abuse does not surprise me now.   If this had come out 20 to 30 years ago it might have been more of a shock, but knowing what I know now it doesn't.  If these enabler bishops had given two shits about the priesthood and the church they would have done everything in their power to get these guys out of the priesthood and in to prison post haste.  

I remember the former rector at the Episcopal Church said that when the abuse scandals really took off she at first didn't feel comfortable being wearing clerical clothes and the collar in public.  This was a female Episcopal priest who was so ashamed of what Catholic priests had done that she felt ashamed of being a priest for a while.  She eventually came to the conclusion that doing that was giving the abusers a victory, that she could take back some of their power by being proud of being a priest. 

[Tatar-tot]

I figured it was around 15% - 20% of the priests were actively abusing children. DISGUSTING When is the Church going to wake up and realize these are not isolated events.  IT IS A SYSTEMIC PROBLEM.  The Church  needs to clean house and let the cards fall where they may.

[47of74]

Of course that useless fuck Bill Donohue had to chime in.

http://deadstate.org/catholic-league-president-defends-pedophile-priests-its-not-rape-if-there-was-no-penetration/

In the wake of a horrific grand jury report detailing the rape and sexual abuse of over 1,000 Pennsylvania children at the hands of hundreds of Pennsylvania Catholic priests, Catholic League President Bill Donohue wrote an op-ed for the website CNS News (an affiliate of the right-wing Media Research Center), where he claimed to ‘debunk’ the report released by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court as an “obscene lie.”

This is Donohue’s “debunking” of the story. It gets worse.

At one point in the rambling piece, Donohue declared that rape accusations against the priests are a “myth.”

“This is an obscene lie,” Donohue declared. “Most of the alleged victims were not raped: they were groped or otherwise abused, but not penetrated, which is what the word ‘rape’ means.”

Shut the FUCK up Bill for once in your useless life.

[MayMay1123]

13 hours ago, 47of74 said:

Of course that useless fuck Bill Donohue had to chime in.

http://deadstate.org/catholic-league-president-defends-pedophile-priests-its-not-rape-if-there-was-no-penetration/
 

 

Shut the FUCK up Bill for once in your useless life.

i want to know how he'd think/do/react if 300, much larger than he is, men groped and molested him. would that maybe be a big issue for him? might perhaps change his mind? but i'm sure he never thought of it like that

[47of74]

10 hours ago, MayMay1123 said:

i want to know how he'd think/do/react if 300, much larger than he is, men groped and molested him. would that maybe be a big issue for him? might perhaps change his mind? but i'm sure he never thought of it like that

Until he does Billy needs to drink a giant mug of this....

 

[CatholicLite]

What frustrates me the most is that this will keep happening. Instead of truly accepting this problem and trying to truly fix it, I can't help but think that there isn't going to be much of an improvement. 

Also, Bill? Needs to shut up. 

[47of74]

What frustrates me the most is that this will keep happening. Instead of truly accepting this problem and trying to truly fix it, I can't help but think that there isn't going to be much of an improvement. 
Also, Bill? Needs to shut up. 

That’s the thing. As long as the priesthood remains a men’s only club I don’t see the problems facing the church getting better anytime soon. Not just abuse but the shortage too.

The church needs both women and married clergy but as long as the church has its head in the sand past its ankles that’s not happening.

[Soulhuntress]

On 8/17/2018 at 9:17 PM, 47of74 said:

I remember a story an older gentleman once told me where his grandfather had pulled his entire family out of the church for several months.  We may not think as much of that now, but this was back in 1880s Iowa and that sort of thing was just not done back then.  He was wondering if there had been some sort of abuse going on and this was his grandfather's way of protecting his family. 

I wasn't surprised either when this came out.  Unfortunately the extent of abuse does not surprise me now.   If this had come out 20 to 30 years ago it might have been more of a shock, but knowing what I know now it doesn't.  If these enabler bishops had given two shits about the priesthood and the church they would have done everything in their power to get these guys out of the priesthood and in to prison post haste.  

I recall stories from family friends about nonna refusing to go to mass and now that makes me wonder.  :,(   The rot goes to Rome and Back and hurts the good priests and parishioners.   

[47of74]

A group is calling for US based bishops to do what their counterparts in Chile did and offer their resignations to the Pope.

Quote

More than 140 theologians, educators and lay leaders have called for all U.S. bishops to submit their resignations to Pope Francis, much like Chile's 34 bishops did in May after revelations of sexual abuse and corruption, as a public act of penance and a "willing abdication of earthly status."

"Today, we call on the Catholic Bishops of the United States to prayerfully and genuinely consider submitting to Pope Francis their collective resignation as a public act of repentance and lamentation before God and God's People," said a statement, posted in English and Spanish on the Daily Theology blog on Friday.

"Only then might the wrenching work of healing begin," it said. 

The statement came in response to Tuesday's release of a grand jury report that detailed seven decades of sexual abuse by clergy and cover-up by church leaders in six dioceses in Pennsylvania, as well as allegations earlier this summer that former archbishop of Washington, Theodore McCarrick, sexually abused two children and adult seminarians.

Here's the group calling for the bishops to do the right thing; https://dailytheology.org/2018/08/17/statement-of-catholic-theologians-educators-parishioners-and-lay-leaders-on-clergy-sexual-abuse-in-the-united-states/

Here's the form where one can add their signature:  https://goo.gl/forms/0LXLPMpzTo56M8G12

 

[AmazonGrace]

If this was any other organization it would be disbanded by now.

Would you go to Walmart ever again if you learned that Walmart had systematically covered up hundreds of child abuse cases just in Pennsylvania alone?

 

[47of74]

Fr. Marek of the independent Polish Catholic St. Stanislaus parish (my parish when I'm visiting STL) had some thoughts about the abuse report.  

Basically he said that mothers and grandmothers should be in leadership roles in the church, that if a mother or grandmother was a bishop it'd be a lot less likely that this stuff would be going on. 

1 hour ago, AmazonGrace said:

If this was any other organization it would be disbanded by now.

Would you go to Walmart ever again if you learned that Walmart had systematically covered up hundreds of child abuse cases just in Pennsylvania alone?

Hell I don't go to Wally World now.  I worked there just about two years and had enough of that place to last me the rest of my life.

[Briefly]

Apparently, one of the named Priests has run.  He is believed to have returned to the Philippines.  https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/08/20/texas-priest-accused-sexual-abuse-molestation-missing/1048206002/

[47of74]

A Harrisburg school is going to change its name

Quote

A Roman Catholic high school will shed the name of Washington's archbishop after he was cited in a sweeping grand jury report as having allowed priests accused of sexually abusing children to be reassigned or reinstated while he was Pittsburgh's bishop.

The Diocese of Pittsburgh said Wednesday that Washington Cardinal Donald Wuerl made the request to remove his name from Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School, and that school and diocese officials accepted it.

The 77-year-old Wuerl has defended himself, saying he acted to protect children, promptly investigate allegations and strengthen policies as understanding of child abuse evolved. He has said he will not resign.

In its statement, the Pittsburgh Diocese cited what it said was Wuerl's Aug. 16 letter: "In light of the circumstances today and lest we in any way detract from the purpose of Catholic education ... I respectfully ask you to remove my name from it. In this way, there should be no distraction from the great success of the school and, most importantly, the reason for the school — the students."

 

[47of74]

A priest was attacked

Quote

A local priest is badly bruised after he was beaten until he passed out Monday. The priest says the attack was not random, but that he was targeted by someone filled with hate.

The attack on Father Basil John Hutsko happened at the Saint Michael Byzantine Catholic Church in Merrillville, Indiana.

“Mostly the bruising on his forehead, the whole front of his head went into the floor,” said Chief Joseph Petruch of the Merrillville Police Department, as well as a friend and fellow priest. “Grabbed him by the neck, threw him down on the floor and immediately started slamming his head against the floor. Both sides, front and back.”

“The subject yelled out ‘This is for all the little kids.’ I have enough there to say it’s a hate crime,” said Petruch.

I hope the attacker is caught and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.  This helps no one.  Not the victims of the priests who did abuse others, and not innocent priests either.  

[47of74]

And of course, as always, the Bishops miss the point entirely and blame their usual targets - gays, secularism, etc etc for all the ills of the church.

Quote

Accusations of sexual abuse and misconduct by former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and within several U.S. seminaries have rematerialized past charges placing gay priests and homosexuality at the root of the church's escalating crisis, positions backed in recent days by a handful of bishops.

"It is time to admit that there is a homosexual subculture within the hierarchy of the Catholic Church that is wreaking great devastation in the vineyard of the Lord," wrote Bishop Robert Morlino in an Aug. 18 letter to Catholics in the Diocese of Madison, Wisconsin.

In a nearly eight-minute video titled "Sexual Misconduct: Pruning and purification continues within the church," Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, called for "a profound spiritual renewal at all levels of the church" concerning its teachings on chastity and sexual morality.

"I say all levels of the church because the sexual revolution of our secular world has obviously infected the church at all levels," he said.

My next LTTE to the local paper originally was going to be about how every Bishop in the United States needed to offer their resignations to Francis before I instead decided to tell off fuck face and his groupies about politicizing Mollie Tibbett's death. 

[EmainMacha]

A Facebook friend shared this. I'm not familiar with the group so I'm a bit confused by the whole thing but they seem to be suggesting that Francis is complicit and must stand down.

The guy, who looks like he has a cat on his head, appears to only be concerned about the abuse of men and boys.

Most grateful if anyone can enlighten me about what the heck he's talking about?

[laPapessaGiovanna]

5 hours ago, EmainMacha said:

A Facebook friend shared this. I'm not familiar with the group so I'm a bit confused by the whole thing but they seem to be suggesting that Francis is complicit and must stand down.

The guy, who looks like he has a cat on his head, appears to only be concerned about the abuse of men and boys.

Most grateful if anyone can enlighten me about what the heck he's talking about?

Former Vatican ambassador to Washington, Cardinal Viganò, publicly alleged that pope Francis covered up for McCarrick crimes before removing him. But this resembles a personal vendetta of the very conservative anti-LGBT rights cardinal against the pope and other bishops that are perceived as "too liberal". Pope Francis in fact removed Viganò after he organised a surprise meeting between the pope and the American clerk that refused to sign gay marriages certificates.

Note the cynical irony and the cognitive dissonance of ultra conservatives in the RCC blaming the "liberals" for the abuse scandals saying that the Catholic Church is plagued by "homosexual networks" that "act under the concealment of secrecy and lies with the power of octopus tentacles, and strangle innocent victims and priestly vocations, and are strangling the entire Church."

It's all gay people's fault, pedophiles and bigots have no part in it! This pope is an ebil librul homosexual lover!

Viganò seems a deranged bigot that didn't think twice about throwing the pope and the church under the bus to benefit his anti-LGBT agenda and ultra conservativism aka bigotism. More in this CNN article.

It still would be interesting to see how much truth is in his statements.

The only certainty is that this is the first time that such a highly placed clergyman accuses the pope himself of something so serious. Either the church is crumbling under the weight of its crimes or the ultra-conservative side is so blind-sided by its hate towards the libruls and the gayzz that it's willing to cripple the whole church to settle its petty vendettas.

Either way I bought lots and lots of pop corn.

[CatholicLite]

Gosh just because they're pedophiles and happen to be gay now every person who is gay has to be thrown under the bus. Gross. Where's that Christian love and kindness now?

[47of74]

On 8/27/2018 at 11:55 PM, laPapessaGiovanna said:

Former Vatican ambassador to Washington, Cardinal Viganò, publicly alleged that pope Francis covered up for McCarrick crimes before removing him. But this resembles a personal vendetta of the very conservative anti-LGBT rights cardinal against the pope and other bishops that are perceived as "too liberal". Pope Francis in fact removed Viganò after he organised a surprise meeting between the pope and the American clerk that refused to sign gay marriages certificates.

Note the cynical irony and the cognitive dissonance of ultra conservatives in the RCC blaming the "liberals" for the abuse scandals saying that the Catholic Church is plagued by "homosexual networks" that "act under the concealment of secrecy and lies with the power of octopus tentacles, and strangle innocent victims and priestly vocations, and are strangling the entire Church."

It's all gay people's fault, pedophiles and bigots have no part in it! This pope is an ebil librul homosexual lover!

Viganò seems a deranged bigot that didn't think twice about throwing the pope and the church under the bus to benefit his anti-LGBT agenda and ultra conservativism aka bigotism. More in this CNN article.

It still would be interesting to see how much truth is in his statements.

The only certainty is that this is the first time that such a highly placed clergyman accuses the pope himself of something so serious. Either the church is crumbling under the weight of its crimes or the ultra-conservative side is so blind-sided by its hate towards the libruls and the gayzz that it's willing to cripple the whole church to settle its petty vendettas.

Either way I bought lots and lots of pop corn.

Yeah I think it's more the hate towards anyone to the left of Himmler and the gayzz that is driving Viganò and those like him, and they're willing to cripple the church to settle their vendettas.  If the current Pope was a clone of Pope Gregory XVI or Pius IX Viganò wouldn't be saying a word.

Leaving aside all the other issues that would be fixed if I was Pope, if I was Pope and Viganò pulled that sort of stunt with me he'd be a former Archbishop cooling his heels at a remote parish somewhere well above the Arctic Circle and with strict instructions to shut the fornicate up and confine himself to the duties of being a parish priest.

[Bethella]

16 hours ago, 47of74 said:

Leaving aside all the other issues that would be fixed if I was Pope, if I was Pope and Viganò pulled that sort of stunt with me he'd be a former Archbishop cooling his heels at a remote parish somewhere well above the Arctic Circle and with strict instructions to shut the fornicate up and confine himself to the duties of being a parish priest.

If he was going to do that, he should have done it right after the Kim Davis stunt. If he does it now it will give Viganò’s faction ammunition to call the demotion a cover up/punishment for telling the truth and they’ll use it as proof Francis is guilty.