Posted on 04/06/2010 9:58:13 AM PDT by TSgt
Should Pope Benedict’s Vatican advisors sincerely believe he is the victim of a smear campaign, or wonder why his call for priests to live “as angels” has been greeted with derision, they could take a look at the case of Rev. Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul. Fr. Jeyapaul was charged with sexually assaulting a 14 year old girl in Minnesota in 2005, shortly after he was discovered having an inappropriate relationship with a 16 year old girl. He was in India visiting his mother when the “relationship” was discovered by members of his church in Greenbush, Minnesota and was contacted by his bishop, Victor Balke, who decided to keep the matter within the church. He contacted Fr. Jeyapaul in India and told him to stay there and that he would contact the police if he returned. Soon after the call, he was charged in absentia, for the sexual assault of a 14 year old girl. Instead of putting child protection and justice for the victim firs, Bishop Balke referred the case to the Vatican, which recommended but did not insist upon his dismissal. It was left to the discretion of his new bishop in India, the Most Reverend A Almiraj of Ootacamund. He held a canonical trial, and sentenced the priest to a year in a monastery, and now works in the bishop’s own office overseeing the appointment of teachers to local schools. It’s a powerful position which comes with influence in a society where status is everything. When contacted by Associated Press yesterday, the bishop said: “We cannot simply throw out the priest, so he is just staying in the bishop’s house, and he is helping me with the appointment of teachers. He says he is innocent, and these are only allegations. … I don’t know what else to do.”
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.telegraph.co.uk ...
/do I need the tag?
I don’t have an opinion one way or the other on this because I have come to the point where I can’t take on face value a thing the liberal media says about the Catholic church. The media has a clear agenda here.
Pathetic hatchet job, Mr. Weasel
The Church, like other organizations, tends to protect itself and its members first. Much like cops tend to close ranks when a fellow cop is accused of wrongdoing. Or, for that matter, attorneys, doctors or congressmen investigating their own kind.
The difference, of course, is these groups don’t claim the same mantle of moral superiority.
The Church’s problem in this regard goes back way more than 1000 years. Canonical trials have pretty much always been a joke. Unless, of course, heresy was involved.
Here is the story via the non-liberal non-agenda-driven FOXNews if it helps.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/04/05/priest-accused-abuse-working-india/
Good thing they can't be burned at the stake for diddling an altar boy, eh?
He is not being protected. He was not accused of any crime in India and the bishop there was told by the priest in question that he was innocent. At that point, what is the bishop to do? He prevented him from working with children just to be on the safe side and kept him from active ministry.
He has said that he will return to the US to face the authorities. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/world/asia/07church.html
I guess you’re not paying attention again. He’s not being protected by anyone.
Oh, it’s an isolated incident...let bygones be bygones... it’s the queers’ fault... hey look! The Easter Bunny!
That should cover it.
So, does this mean that the Church is bad? Or does it say that the Chuch consists of men who are themselves imperfect?
Disclosure: I am NOT a Catholic, but I’m married to one. The spotlight should be focused on the men involved, all of whom should be accountable for thier action (or lack thereof).
Exactly. Let's face it. "Indiscretions" on the part of the Catholic clergy are nothing new, and have always been hidden/downplayed by the hierarchy. I know folks who still will tell you about how Catholic priests in working class Catholic neighbourhoods in England would use the power of their position to basically force husbands to endure being cuckolded by the priests. Guy comes home from work, sees shoes sitting on the doorstep, his best bet is to head down to the pub for a few hours.
Every group has its bad apples. The difference is, most other groups don't go to such lengths to hide the problem and then fight its correction. I'm sure some bozo of a Catholic apologist is going to read this post, get all steamed off, and go searching the news archives for some story about a Baptist preacher who diddled a little girl at some point. Fine. Difference is, when a Baptist church finds out about it, they fire the preacher and hand him over to the cops. They don't move him to another diocese two thousand miles away so he can start afresh.
No spotlight, no reporting, no discussion. All of those activities are anti-Catholic.
Yeah, just like the Vatican, who told the Indian Bishop to comply with authorities and the Archbishop who is sending the priest back to the US.
TOMMY GILMORE:
Shouldn’t Parents Be Told About a Minister Like This?
http://stopbaptistpredators.org/TommyGilmore.html
Despite the snarky, condescending tone of your above statement, you make my point. The Telegraph article you first choose to post headlines that the Church is covering for a pedophile. The Fox story more objectively states merely that the priest has been accused and chose to waive extradition. VERY different approach in the two stories and buttresses my decision to take the media with a grain of salt. Interesting you choose to lead the thread with the obviously agenda driven Telegraph article rather than the more objective Fox article. I'm sure you had your reasons.
Put your flame retardant suit on.....
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