[Polycarp IV]

This is Dallas Morning News' first installment in the investigative series.

Ping. (As usual, if you would like to be added to or removed from my "conservative Catholics" ping list, please send me a FReepmail. Please note that this is occasionally a high volume ping list and some of my ping posts are long.)"

[edweena]

I do not believe that President Bush will gain any advantage by allying himself with Catholic bishops. I think he should distance himself from the Pope instead of trying to court his support.

[sharktrager]

The guy actually bought the excuse "It was an accident"?

Nobody is that dumb.

[Polycarp IV]

DMN introduction to this investigative series:

Runaway priests hiding in plain sight

11:12 PM CDT on Friday, June 18, 2004

Catholic priests accused of sexually abusing children are hiding abroad and working in church ministries, The Dallas Morning News has found.

From Africa to Latin America to Europe to Asia, these priests have started new lives in unsuspecting communities, often with the help of church officials. They are leading parishes, teaching and continuing to work in settings that bring them into contact with children, despite church claims to the contrary.

The global movement has gone largely unnoticed -- even after an abuse scandal swept the U.S. Catholic Church in 2002, forcing bishops to adopt a "zero tolerance" policy and drawing international attention.

Starting this week and continuing in coming months, we report the results of a yearlong investigation that reaches all six occupied continents. Key findings include: Nearly half of the more than 200 cases we identified involve clergy who tried to elude law enforcement. About 30 remain free in one country while facing ongoing criminal inquiries, arrest warrants or convictions in another.

Most runaway priests remain in the church, the world's largest organization, so they should be easier to locate than other fugitives.

Instead, Catholic leaders have used international transfers to thwart justice, a practice that poses far greater challenges to law enforcement than the domestic moves exposed in the 2002 scandal.

Police and prosecutors, however, often fail to take basic steps to catch fugitive priests.

Church discipline, such as the U.S. bishops' new policy, doesn't keep all offenders out of ministry. Dozens of priests who are no longer eligible to work in this country have found sanctuary abroad.

[struwwelpeter]

I went to a Salesian school. Best education in the world.

[SuziQ]

My brother-in-law, who is a priest, and is familiar with a lot of this info told me last year that problems of sexual abuse in the religious orders would be the next bomb to drop. I wonder if we'll hear anything about the Jebbies. The media may not be too keen on bad publicity about their favorite religious order because they're mostly fellow liberals!

This is difficult, because I don't believe the Bishops can do anything about these priests because they're not part of the Diocesan structures.

[NYer]

And so it begins .... er, correction ... continues. The Holy Spirit works in marvelous ways. By focusing the media attention on the Catholic Church, it is just a matter of time before these "weeds" are yanked from the priesthood and devoted young men are put in their place. Call me an optimist but I see a bright side to this torrid and scandalous news coverage.

Catholic Ping - let me know if you want on/off this list

[Dajjal]

"He said to me, 'You are my best friend.'"

nauseated bump

[ELS]

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle,
be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil;
may God rebuke him, we humbly pray,
and do thou O Prince of the heavenly hosts,
by the power of God,
thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits
who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.

[kstewskis]

"For me it would be a tragedy to reduce the role of a pastor to that of a cop," said Salesian Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez of Honduras, a leading candidate to succeed Pope John Paul II. "I'd be prepared to go to jail rather than harm one of my priests."

This statement is chilling, in that this bishop is possibly on deck to follow JPII.

Are not the "leaders of the flock" supposed to be the "cops" when it comes to judging their own morality, and setting examples to others as the Followers of Christ?

I think not only "the smoke of satan" has entered The Church, we just might be looking at a full blown, 5-alarm fire.

[kstewskis]

A judge in Chile is reviewing whether there is enough evidence to try a Salesian bishop on obstruction of justice charges, which would be the first such prosecution of a Catholic leader anywhere.

And my hunch, this could be happening just about anywhere. Our (thankfully) ex-bishop O'Brien here in Phoenix was nearly prosecuted with such a charge.

Do we know if he violates his parole (and/or caught lying again about how many hours he really puts into his "community service") if the charges will be thrown at him? I can't recall if that was a condition for penalty of parole violation.

[Salvation]

**"I think we have to do something about it; justice has to be served," said Archbishop Mataeliga, who became leader of the archdiocese last year. "Samoa should not be a place where they send priests like that."**

Sounds like the Archbishop wanted to move on this, but the order overruled him. Not that way in the U. S., as I understand it.

[Antoninus]

The liberal religious orders are shot-through with homos. The quickest way you can tell if that's the case is their recruiting numbers. If they're dying out, you can bet they're having a "gay old time" in seminary.

Dear Lord, send us worthy shepherds. And have them bring their shovels as we're up to our necks!

[AnalogReigns]

More clear evidence that the hiarchial form and authoritativeness of the Roman church was rightly abandoned by Calvin and most Protestants since.

Following the biblical model for church government doesn't allow for the unaccountable "mafia" described in the article to exist.

[cpforlife.org]

When Frank Keating said something regarding the bishop(s) conference(s) being like the mafia he was not off at all.

Though he may have insulted the mafia in some ways...

PRAYERS