Posted on 04/14/2010 7:27:01 AM PDT by Judith Anne
You wrote:
“There may be some here who object that this is an old article, given the date it was published, but considering that dates mean nothing when the Catholic Church is being criticized for the same thing, I don’t think the date should make a difference.”
TOUCHE!
I’m not going to say what I think because it will only get me in trouble and serve no real purpose.
But let me say this much, Oh how I long for adult conversation.
From the article:
"He didn't want to leave us, and we didn't want him to leave, but the Chicago Presbytery required that he not be in a ministerial position," Gracey said, adding that, until formal findings to the contrary, Mason still has their support."
So, he apparently was removed from a ministerial position, pending the result of the investigation.
"Also named as a defendant in the case is the bishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago of the Roman Catholic Church. The Chicago Tribune said the Catholic Church was accused of negligence for allegedly releasing the boys to Mason during school hours while they were students at St. Gregory Catholic High School. "
This was true recently enough that we still have some priests who entered seminary for precisely this reason.
However, the screening and formation today is set up in such a way that a bunch of questions are asked before and during formation. It's not a good hide-out anymore.
(Full disclosure: I speak this as a current seminarian)
I don't know that his new employer was aware of the accusations.
Just because somebody said something is so does not make it so.
Why didn’t the new church do a background check? Why didn’t the old church stop him before he had abused CHILDREN for 9 years? There’s something rotten to the core in the Presbyterian Church that permits these monsters to destroy young souls year after year after year.
I suspect it’s because nobody talks to anybody in that church. As long as the preacher sticks to the company line, he can abuse all the learning disabled kids he wants.
NOW if I wanted to spin this like an atypical religion basher I have seen on FR I would ask/exclaim indignantly and righteously:
Where is the compassion for these innocent children from the Presbyterians here on FR -are they so preoccupied defending thier Church that they care nothing for the victims? Ohhhh... the HUMANITY!!!!
If there were no convictions at that time -- because the Civil authorities apparently dropped the ball pretty badly on this one -- would a background check have even shown anything?
Why didn’t the old church stop him before he had abused CHILDREN for 9 years? There’s something rotten to the core in the Presbyterian Church that permits these monsters to destroy young souls year after year after year. I suspect it’s because nobody talks to anybody in that church. As long as the preacher sticks to the company line, he can abuse all the learning disabled kids he wants.
Perhaps the fault lies with the Roman Catholic diocese which happily fed this monster his victims.
I'll have you know, I've never accused the Roman Catholic church's discipline of Priestly Celibacy as being the "cause" of that denomination's problems with pedophilia. I do think that the RCC does have a problem with a disturbingly large minority (note I said, "minority") of priests in that area; and I don't think that Priestly Celibacy is theologically correct, myself; but I think that the problem has at least much more to do with Homosexuals entering the priesthood... for which the RCC's procedures might be criticized, but not their theology: the RCC has never approved of homosexual practice.
But if you want to TEAR DOWN Presbyterians as a way of trying to make your own denomination look better -- fine, I can play that game, too.
I think that the only post I've made on the subject of Roman Catholicism, on ANY recent thread, was a couple weeks ago when I observed that whatever my disagreements with Roman Catholicism, I still think that Pius XII was a hero of World War II for his work in saving 800,000 Jews from the Holocaust. Whatever problems you may have had with other Protestants, I have not been lurking the Religion threads looking for opportunities to bash the RCC for pedophilia.
But I certainly can do so, if you want me to.
Thanks for your thoughtful post, semi-FRiend.
But really, this thread is not about Catholics, or anyone’s bigotry about Catholics. The thread is about a PRESBYTERIAN. The minister is PRESBYTERIAN. And was allowed to molest learning disabled children BY THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH for 9 years.
What in the name of all that’s holy causes people to be blinded into thinking that PRESBYTERIANS are free from child molesting ministers? They are not. This is not the only one.
"Also named as a defendant in the case is the bishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago of the Roman Catholic Church. The Chicago Tribune said the Catholic Church was accused of negligence for allegedly releasing the boys to Mason during school hours while they were students at St. Gregory Catholic High School."
So far Judith Anne has dug up a decade-old article which reflects poorly on the RCC and another article that condemns the PCUSA for believing EXACTLY as the Roman Catholic church believes regarding eschatology and Israel.
LOL. Judith, you said you have a new book you have to read. Hopefully it's either the Bible or a current newspaper.
Must have hit a nerve.
The only reason they dragged the Catholics into this lawsuit against the filthy Presbyterian minister is that they know the Presbyterians are poor stewards, and after all their internal strife, broke. Any hope of getting cash for the attorneys rests with the Catholics, if they can somehow drag them into it.
I doubt it though.
Straws being grasped and missed.
Sorry.
But you seem to want this whole thread to be about bashing Presbyterians.
And you don't seem to want there to be any deviation from that agenda.
Fact is, there's much more sexually-dangerous schools for kids to be in -- and I'm not talking about Catholic schools. But you don't seem to want to talk about that.
Is that what you think? Heh. In a few days, I'll have more time to present more reading. ;-D And as I said in my comment above, the only reason the lawyers dragged the Church in is, the Presbyterians are broke. Lousy stewards of time and treasure. To get the lawyers paid, they have to try to get the Church involved. I don't think it will work.
Oh, no, I agree the public schools are in many cases a cesspool.
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