Austin residents shocked to hear about local priests accused of sexual abuse

Austin Daily Herald (MN) ^ | 12/17/2013 | Trey Mewes

[Dr. Thorne]

Austin residents may not remember much about Louis Cook or Jack Krough, but the two are spurring conversation after they were among 14 priests accused of sexually abusing children identified by the Diocese of Winona Monday.

Many residents, including many Pacelli Catholic Schools graduates, were unhappy to hear about the two priests, one of whom taught at Pacelli, but few were willing to speak about the issue.

[BipolarBob]

I’m shocked they were shocked.

[Slambat]

“The Diocese’s list of names included a history of parishes for each accused priest, but didn’t give more information.”

Protect the homosexual agenda at all cost. I’m surprised
they admitted anything at all. The pope says to forgive
these pervs first before looking the other way.

Shannon Hanzel said.
““I just think that people should know,” she said. “I think [priests] should be held accountable. They’re human and things happen. I just don’t think they should be able to hide behind the cloth.”

Unfortunately Mrs.Hanzel , Francis the pope disagrees.

[Farmer Dean]

I’m shocked that the Catholic church can’t or won’t clean up their act.

[Pearls Before Swine]

I’m shocked they were shocked.

Me, too.

[353FMG]

For priests to commit these abuses is high treason to the Catholic church comparable to traitors to our country.

Do we, as a country clean up our act or are we even able to?

Shocking, isn’t it?

This is, God forbid, not an excuse to justify these priests’ behavior but merely to point out that the situation is more complicated than it appears.

[Gamecock]

For priests to commit these abuses is high treason to the Catholic church comparable to traitors to our country.

And what was the Roman Catholic response? Move them to another archdiocese! That'll teach them!

[meadsjn]

Austin residents shocked ... 14 priests accused of sexually abusing children ...

A solid 1700 year tradition of child molesting, and these idiots are shocked?

These must be the same idiots that excuse the 1400 year history of muslims chopping off heads and such.

[Farmer Dean]

I agree.This is so damaging to the church.

[Salvation]

Non-Catholic Abusers

[Mrs. Don-o]

Slambat, you have evidently dug up information that nobody else on this forum has ever seen: some evidence that Pope Francis says to forgive priests guilty of abusing minors first--- before looking the other way --- and that he thinks child abusers should not he held accountable.

I want to look into this. Can you provide direct quotes or links?

[Iscool]

Slambat, you have evidently dug up information that nobody else on this forum has ever seen: some evidence that Pope Francis says to forgive priests guilty of abusing minors first--- before looking the other way --- and that he thinks child abusers should not he held accountable.

If you run a company and find out you have had an employee stealing from one of your warehouses, and found out that the person in charge of managing the warehouses, instead of firing the employee moves the employee to many other warehouses stealing from each of them as well, and you still keep both of these employees hired, I would get two impressions...

One is that there are more employees stealing at all levels and to disrupt one would disrupt all the activity and,
Two; there is probably a kickback going all the way to the top levels of management...

[metmom]

Only a Catholic could be shocked at hearing that news.

For the rest of the world, it’s just another day in the life of the Catholic church.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Isool, this is an analogy which makes perfect sense when applied to certain bishops (I'm thinking of the corrupt Archbishop Weakland in Milwaukee)and heads of religious orders (I'm thinking of the morally repugnant Fr. Marcial Maciel of the Legion of Christ) who knew about abusive priests and transferred them around quietly, even when they knew they were not "rehabilitated" (as the therapists used to say in the 70's and 80's) but, rather, were repeat offenders. Weakland and Maciel themselves, shamefully, were sodomites.

I think that any Archbishop, Superior, or cleric in any kind of supervisory role who knowingly enabled abusers, should be under criminal indictment.

I can't imagine any Catholic I know, or any FReeper Catholic, who would disagreee with that.

It isn't a very good analogy, though, when applied to any of the popes of my lifetime. There is no evidence that any pope --- neither popes John Paul II, nor Benedict, nor the one we are discussing now, Francis--- either had solidly probable knowledge about any abusive priest and undertook to enable or protect him.

The most troubling questions had been raised about Pope John Paul II, who just didn't believe the charges made against Fr. Marcial Maciel. John Paul did nothing immoral or criminal in this regard --- was not an enabler of Maciel --- but mistakenly thought he was a good and holy priest being maligned by the anti-clerical Left in Mexico (who are indeed quite vicious).

Plus, in the latter years of his life, Pope John Paul II was severely disabled by Parkinson's Disease, but stayed on in the papacy because he wanted to offer a living example of suffering patiently in faith. During this period, with a disabled pope, the administration of the Church deteriorated badly.

When Benedict became pope in 2005 he jumped on a backlog of cases started under John Paul II and in 2006 (to take just one example), removed Maciel from active ministry and ordered him to spend the rest of his days in prayer and penance (he died in 2008). Benedict put the whole Legion of Christ under a kind of Vatican receivership, deposing its leaders, re-writing its Constitution, and encouraging its thousands of members to open up and tell what they knew, even if it could lead to civil or criminal charges. You can read more about Pope Benedict's campaign against sexual abuse HERE (Link)

When Francis became pope, he continued the actions against abuse, endorsing what Benedict had started. He wants to get worldwide standards in place, including prompt investigation of allegations,cooperation with secular law enforcement, compensation of victims, and preventive measures including better screening and supervision of church personnel, both clergy and lay workers.

So the broad-brush tarring of popes is out of place.

Bishops and religious superiors? Yes -- on a case-by-case basis. Some of them --- even some high up in the Vatican -- need to be in jail.

[Iscool]

Thanks for the response...It would just seem to me that a pope would get on the Cardinals and demand, ‘I want this mess cleaned up, now’!!!

[Mrs. Don-o]

Oh, "Getting on the Cardinals and demanding!!!..." has been done and done.

But keep in mind that pedos are typically personable, charming peoipole. Hell, they're sociopaths. Lying is what they do--- successfully --- every day of their lives. They're brilliantly leading double loves. There's w reason for the word "diabolical".

And the Church, unlike secular government, lacks worldly means of investigation and enforcement. If the cardinals and bishops keep telling you, "Yeah, no problems here in my diocese. I run a tight ship" --- and really, nobody's getting it done --- the pope won't necessarily know anything's wrong until he reads about the criminal charges against priests in the newspapers.

And since he doesn't read 60 newspapers from the 6 inhabited continents every day, he won't know about it unless his advisors prepare thin summaries with the action points starred in red.

See what I mean?

[Iscool]

See what I mean?

Assuming the pope is not one of them, which as we know from history is not always the case, I can see where it might be difficult to keep track of so many factions...

[Mrs. Don-o]

There have been many popes who were mediocrities on some level --- as administrators, as theologians, as peacemakers, as preachers, who had lapses of charity or chastity or apostolic zeal, or just plain lack of intellectual or bodily strength. There have been a few, over 2,000 years, who have been really evil.

When I was a young agnostic, I went through the whole list of popes and found 7 or 8 I would have classified (as far as I knew) as really evil. In subsequent years I came across other names that weren't on my original papal sh*t list, so that number may go as high as 10 or 11. Fornicators, for sure. Sodomites? Could be. Medieval sermons often grouped usury, luxury and sodomy as sins that often occur together, and esp in the Renaissance, there was certainly usury and luxury.

But our run of popes in the 20th-21st centuries, in my lifetime for sure, has been very, very good.

As for factions: you've got 150+ countries with Catholic clergy; 5,000+ bishops; 400,000+ priests. If there weren't factions I would think it was the Parousia. And even, then, there would be two factions: the saved and the damned.