BBC: Pope orders talks on US sex scandals

BBC.com/Americas ^ | 15/04/02

[history_matters]

Pope orders talks on US sex scandals

The Pope has spoken out against "evil" abusers

Pope John Paul II has summoned leaders of the Roman Catholic church in the United States to the Vatican to discuss recent disclosures of sex scandals, which have rocked the church.

The Vatican says the meeting with American cardinals will probably take place next week.

Demonstrators have been calling for Archbishop Law to go

The Archbishops of New York and Boston - traditionally the two most important posts in the Catholic church in the US - have been under pressure to resign because of their alleged role in covering up cases of abuse involving priests.

The Archbishop of Milwaukee has also been accused of suppressing information about cases of alleged abuse.

The Catholic Church has also faced similar allegations in a number of other countries.

The Pope last month made his first public denunciation of guilty priests.

Time for action

Boston Archbishop Cardinal Bernard Law, 70, has been at the epicentre of a scandal in which he is accused of knowing that a few priests in his archdiocese were serial child molesters, but he did not discipline them - he simply moved them from parish to parish where they preyed on new victims.

The affair is similar to problems in St Louis, Florida, California, Philadelphia and Detroit.

Our correspondent says it has severely undermined the credibility of the church and clearly the Vatican now believes it has to take action.

Cardinal Law did not turn up to mass at his cathedral on Sunday because there were protesters outside the cathedral and he thought they would disrupt the service.

Heavy criticism

Across the whole country, 3,000 priests face allegations of child abuse.

Archbishop Bernard Law: Under pressure

Cardinal Law has been heavily criticised since former priest John Geoghan was convicted of child molesting.

He has acknowledged that he transferred Geoghan to another parish despite knowing of sexual misconduct allegations against the now-defrocked Boston priest.

Geoghan is believed to have abused more than 100 people over a 20-year period.

The scandals are also a huge financial burden for the church. They have settled out of court in many instances and the cost of that has been more than $1bn.

There is talk that some archdioceses will be bankrupted by the scandals.

Commentators suspect that the Pope will have to get rid of a layer of the Catholic hierarchy, starting with Cardinal Law.

[marajade]

I guarentee you that the Latin Mass is the answer to every problem the Church has now.

Really? How many people do you know who speak Latin? What purpose would it serve to conduct a mass in another language other than the language that is prevalent... here in the US which is English?

When the Church in the Book of Acts in Chapter 2 added 3000 did not God give the gift of different languages to each of the tribes so they could teach those of different tribes about God?

[marajade]

Would that be following Romans 13:1?

[marajade]

I care what God says... And I believe that somewhere in the Word of God, there's a scripture that says something like to use words that edify, I can find chapter and verse if you like. How can one be edified if one doesn't even understand the language? If that is God's desire why would the Catholic Church not practice it?

[power2]

...From 1964 to 1974, he served as the secretariat of state in the section for Eastern European countries. In 1974, he was appointed apostolic nuncio to Nicaragua and Honduras. In 1982, he was chosen as a member of the papal mediation office for resolving the controversy between Argentina and Chile. Four years later, Montalvo was appointed apostolic pro-nuncio to Yugoslavia, a post he held for 10 years until 1996. On Dec. 7, 1999, Pope John Paul II appointed him apostolic nuncio to the United States.(/i>

Wow..I guess the Vatican really does see the situation in the US as a potential problem/hotspot. Look where they posted this guy over his career...everywhere they put him was at a critical and turbulent time during the time period he was assigned. When things "stabilized" in that area of the world, they moved him again. In 1999, they put him in the US. Hmmmm.

[Antoninus]

Geoghan is believed to have abused more than 100 people over a 20-year period.

One wonders why this wasn't phrased: "Geoghan is believed to have sexually assaulted more than 100 teenage boys over a 20 year period."

Are they really that much under the thumb of the gaystapo over there in the UK? What pathetic reporting.

[nickcarraway]

The Church is neither for nor against capital punishment, as it is a temporal issue. The Pope has encouraged the diminishing use of the death penalty, but he has certainly not suggested the Catholics have to be against it.

[history_matters]

I strongly agree with Father Elijah that the USCCB needs to be suspended or abolished and the whole Church in America put into receivership to someone who can be like a junkyard dog with a bone rootting out the evil, giving justice to the victims, and setting the Church in America back on the right course.

[Aunt Polgara]

I read part of the document, and what struck me the most is that it assumed that pedaphilia is a disease, not a crime. Twenty years ago that seemed like the most common assumption. Since it was produced by a priest/psychiatrist, it kinda reminds me of the old saying about the whole world looking like a nail to someone holding a hammer.

It has only been recently that most people look upon pedaphilia as a crime that should be reported to the police.

[american colleen]

Ping for later use...

His Holiness Pope John Paul II
The Apostolic Palace
La Santa Sede
00120 Vatican City
Europe

Thank you h_m!

[sinkspur]

This is actually a spiritual problem which only the Latin Mass can solve.

I think you are seriously mistaken.

[tiki]

Do you know how many priests there are in the US? Could there possibly be 3000 abusers?

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

I can only conclude that your lack of education in Biblical history is the reason for your unpleasant posts. Perhaps I can clear some things up for you.

Jesus Christ was Jewish. He came in fulfillment of Jewish law. He was of the House of David. As the kings of the Davidic lineage reigned and surrounded themselves with advisors, ministers, and prophets so did our spiritual King, Jesus, surround Himself with twelve Jewish men and countless disciples with whom He would work to spread His message. He expressly gave the keys to His earthly kingdom to Simon, who He renamed 'Peter', the rock on which He planned to build His earthly Church. He thus chose Peter, a sinner, as the first leader of His earthly Church. We see Peter's primacy again and again throughout the gospels and later letters and epistles. Peter is the only apostle to walk on water. Peter is frequently the one who speaks for the other apostles, indicating that they themselves regarded him as their leader. The examples are many, but the important point is this. If you are the CEO of a major corporation you don't leave and fail to designate someone else in charge while you are absent.

The chosen people to whom Jesus came rejected His message. After Jesus' death, the apostles debated among themselves whether or not they would remain Jewish or start another faith. And so, Christianity was born and spread to the Gentiles. The Gospels were believed to have been written down by followers of the apostles. Mark was a follower of Peter and author of one, while Luke the physician was a friend and traveling companion of St.Paul. The author of the Gospel according to Matthew is unspecified but believed to have had access to Mark's gospel. The Gospel according to John is believed to have been written by the apostle himself and edited by his followers. The New Testament Scriptures are made up of these Gospels as well as letters and epistles by St. Paul, St. Peter, St. James, and St. John, all apostles or followers of the apostles.

Over time the growing Christian communities came together to codify their Scriptures, beliefs, and faith into one established Church. Of this we see the birth of the Bible as compiled by St. Jerome and the transition of Eucharistic and worship services from private homes into building specifically for this purpose, Churches.

I trust that other posters will be able to flesh out the details more so than I have at this point. But rest assured, the Gospels and Scriptures were indeed present from the beginning.

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

In regards to your concerns about the Latin Mass, it was the established Mass for hundreds of years up until Vatican II. While I would not force it on anyone, I do believe it should be made more available to the growing numbers of Catholics who prefer it. I myself do not care for the modernization of the Mass as it is today but I would not wish to subject other Catholics to the same in reverse. Latin is a highly spiritual language and those who attend it recognize the difference in quality of the Mass. Beyond this, as I believe you are not Catholic, it would not be worthwhile to go into it more. Suffice to say, those who would like to reinstate it are not doing so in order to force others to learn to speak Latin.

[tiki]

Amen. I don't think our bishop will ever forget me after this week-end. I am usually such a wimp! It must have been the Holy Spirit because I was able to talk to him as easily as I could talk to my husband. He really is a nice man and I wasn't mean or anything, I just told him how I and many others felt about some things.

[Romulus]

Good for you! I plan on writing a letter to the Apostolic Nuncio tomorrow (cc to my Archbishop who as far as I can tell is more part of the problem than of the solution).

[tiki]

But not only on sexuality. They are not following the liturgy correctly, they are not following Canon Law in many cases.

We need to start at the grassroots, we need to be good Catholics and ask our priests to live up to our commitment to Jesus through His Church.

[tiki]

The words of consecration are the same throughout the Church so if it is Latin or Spanish or Swahili, any practicing Catholic will know what is being said.

I've never been to a Latin Mass but I have been to a Spanish Mass, I knew what was being said and I knew what was happening.

I don't care what language the Mass is in as long as they are true to the teachings of Jesus Christ and being led by the Holy Spirit.