Posted on 11/02/2005 6:29:17 AM PST by Abathar
BAMBERG, Germany -- A U.S. Army chaplain has been sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to three counts of forcible sodomy against enlisted men.
Capt. Gregory Arflack, a 44-year-old Roman Catholic priest, apologized at his court-martial in Germany. He sobbed and said, "I've had a lot of time to pray and consider what I've done as a priest and an officer and I'm ashamed."
One of the victims, whom Arflack had been counseling about homesickness and family troubles, told the court, "I don't understand how a person of the cloth could do something like that."
He added, "I didn't believe God would allow something like that to happen."
Arflack confessed to plying three soldiers -- ages 18, 19 and 20 -- with alcohol and making unwanted advances. He forced oral sex on one soldier in the bathroom of a bar and on the other two at his home, where they had passed out on his sofa.
""I've had a lot of time to pray..."
Isn't that spelled prey? Another Packer fan.
Chill Green Bay.
Arflack?
I can't believe that took 11 posts to pop up
>>>As a Catholic clergyman, I'm appalled at how many there are considering my faith has always seen this orientation as a disorder<<<
It's not a "disorder"; it's a sin. An ugly, perverted mortal sin.
The "orientation" is toward the sin.
Why the hell can't we call a spade a spade when dealing with these faggot priests?
Clergy sexual perversions have done incredible damage to the church.
In some respects it will take a generation to remedy. The church, especially in America, has taken a hard hit, and I am not sure if the US clergy is capable of fixing the problem. There is a very liberal wing in the US clergy who sees no problem whatsoever.
This sight documents 2600 Priest that have been accused.
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/about-us/2004-10-30-Swanson-ChurchAbuse.htm
This sight reports 147 news reports of accusations by SBC ministers.
http://reformation.com/
True.
it just doesn't get reported...
Most of the reports come out of official investigations. Yes, there are examples in every church, but the relative proportion of priests engaged in abuse appears to be much higher in the Roman Catholic church. The RCC has acknowledged an astonishing number of abuse cases. The RCC is experiencing a serious financial impact. This would not happen if the cases could not be proved in court, they would not be paying off if the only problem were media allegations. Other churches have been affected, but not to the same degree. There are websites that cover charges of abuse in other churches, but the sheer numbers don't seem to compare. The RCC needs to figure out why this has happened and clean house rather than trying to spread blame.
Ping!
ping!
Denial aint just a river in Egypt.
All of these "priest/sodomy" cases involve homosexuals.
This is undoubtedly a factor, but how many of these other churches are having to sell off a lot of their assets to pay abuse claims? As I recall there was an Episcopal diocese in Canada that had a lot of abuse claims stemming from a home for children that they ran many years ago, but it's hard to think of many others. In contrast the RCC has problems in many states.
The Lutheran Church (ELCA) has its membership concentrated in a few states in the midwest where they are sometimes the dominant religion or close to it. If they were having as serious a problem as the RCC, there would be a multitude of abuse cases and diocesan bankruptcies in these states, but you don't hear about this from the media or the courts.
Ironically, the priesthood provides a "beard" that those other professions don't provide. It confers automatic respect, and one never has to explain to Mama, or the world at large, why they don't date or never married.
Hmmm...I am not sure I am the one in denial here, Clemenza. Are you so naive as to believe everything you don't read? You obviously seem to fall into that camp of folks who believe that the RCC priests perpetrate these crimes moreso than any other religion but probably have no idea how often these things occur in other religions/sects. Yes, you HEAR more about RCC priests committing these crimes than any other denomination, but are you in a state of mind such that you will swallow this hook, line, and sinker without using any individual thought and reasoning? Other incidents do not get reported on a national scale because the RCC is in the limelight of mainstream scrutiny due to its defiance of left-wing values... Please fight the temptation to graze in the pastures with the other sheeple, blissfully ignorant to the reality being glossed over by the MSM...
2. The prevalence of a disproportionate amount of Gays in the Catholic Clergy has been known for some time, and has been documented.
3. Look at police reports in any city for reports of clergymen getting busted for sexual misconduct. Catholic Priests make up the largest share of offenders. The Miami Herald once did a story that showed the number of Priest who have been busted for sexual misconduct (largely with other men) compared to other faiths.
4. Maybe if those nancy boys in robes and collars wouldn't have covered for their bretheren all of these years, then the Catholic priesthood would not have this reputation.
oh, but they'll say they are not gays. they are heteros who are repressed.
Bump
In the Protestant church there are plenty of allegations of sexual child abuse, but most of the alleged abusers are not clergy or staff, but church VOLUNTEERS.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0405/p01s01-ussc.html
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.