Posted on 04/29/2002 5:00:20 AM PDT by american colleen
Edited on 04/13/2004 2:07:44 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
The cardinal's claim, filed in court by his attorneys, is boilerplate legal defense language. But a lawyer who is not involved in the case and has handled other cases involving allegations of clergy sex abuse said last night that the decision to use such a claim in so sensitive a case showed poor judgment.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
"You are flowers who shed no perfume,
but stench that makes the whole world reek."
I ask you and anyone else who's read the book to post a review on Amazon before they do.
I'm not holding my breath waiting for Cardinal Law to visit the victims. He's too busy trying to deflect criticism of himself ("poor record keeping") and breaking up those "militant" Church groups that are forming within different parishes in order to formulate a way to deal with the evil pervading the Archdiocese of Boston and the Catholic Church in America.
This is the approach that every parent should take with any man, if your child is under the age of 14 –or even older if the child isn't worldly wise.
It isn't worth the risk.
Certainly the standing policy within the Church should be that any private counseling take place in rooms with glass doors. To do otherwise is irresponsible. At this time, the Church cannot afford even the appearance of scandal.
This has been a recurring theme in the history of the Church, from the forgery of the Donation of Constantine to the conflicts between Innocent III and Emperor Friederich, to the Reformation and Counterreformation.
The encouraging thing is that the Church has survived through it all, the frightening thing is that they keep getting it wrong and creating crises of faith by the blatant contradictions between the Church's teachings and the behavior of the hierarchy. Someday, they won't be able to survive their own stupidity.
1. As I read it, the plural term "plaintffs" are who were negligent. Thus the victim was never named as negligent, rather it was the parents who were obviously considered negligent.
2. This court document was filed awhile ago - before the media circus reached global proportions. Thus the incredulity of everyone is a little over the top. If Law's attorney had filed this 3 days ago I would be incredulous - as it is, I am simply sad and frustrated.
Time to go for a Holy Hour.
Jesus, save us.
I read it this weekend -- I plan to give it to a friend of my nephew's who was rejected by the Boston seminary. I don't know the kid myself, but my sister does. She says he's very orthodox (which, of course, according to Rose, is a disqualification in too many seminaries).
I had Blute and Ozone on this morning; they had a guy on (Gallagher?) who's associated with that Voice of the Faithful. I have my doubts about him -- he thinks the Church is trying to scapegoat gays and there's no scientific basis to think homosexuals are more likely to abuse children. Blute and Ozone just let him talk; no one asked where the female victims are.
I agree that it's everyday lawyering, but it's really stupid everyday lawyering.
As I pointed out above, because the Church specifically encourages trust in priests and because the Church admittedly covered up for abusers and knowlingly placed them in positions where they had access to children, the Church is hardly in a good legal position to tell victims and their parents they 'should have been more careful' about priests. What the abusers themselves did was a crime, the Church's cover up may or may not be a crime, misprison of felony. The question of civil liability is judged on a different standard. In civil actions, you cannot use your own fraud and bad faith as a defense to your liability for the consequences of your actions. That's what the Church is trying to do. I'm astounded that the Church's lawyer's can't see what any first year law student would consider a 'gimme' issue on his torts exam.
Nobody, NOBODY, NOBODY, NOBODY, "bows and kneels" to the priest at ANY Mass.
You are an anti-Catholic bigot.
One parish priest says he will never forget the day he realized his former boss, an East coast bishop (now retired) [anyone know who this might be?], was a true man of God. 'We had to meet with a family whose child had been abused by one of our priests. When we sat down face to face with them and the lawyers, we told them that the bishop had said his first priority was to do the right thing. We told them our investigation had found that the priest was guilty, but that he had never been in this kind of situation before. We had removed him from any further parish involvement. We told them that we didn't believe we had been neglectful, but we wanted to help the family in any way we could, because we recognized lives had been damaged, and we were profoundly sorry. And that was the bishop's position."I looked across the table, and the family was crying," the priest recalled. The father said, "Thank you. We never wanted to persecute anybody. That was all we wanted to hear."
I understand Law's lead attorney is a father and a grandfather of, I think, six. He practices with his son.
Obviously just another case of "Catholic bashing" and entrapement. After all,how could any reasonable person blame a priest for going after a 6 year old boy who looks "hot" to him? I mean,it's not like he did anything truly evil,like have sex with a adult woman,use birth control,or get a divorce.Well,on second thought,maybe this WAS his method of birth control.
Besides,these people are "Princes" and can't be held to the same standards as us non-cult leaders.
I listen to Imus, so I didn't hear Gallagher on Blute and Ozone. I don't see how Gallagher thinks the Church is trying to scapegoat homosexuals - we never heard a Cardinal address the homosexual problem within the Church until some of the Catholic columnists addressed it - and then of course, we hear it here on FR.
My best friend's husband attended BC High and two of his friends entered the seminary at St. John's about 1976 - both of them left because of the pressure placed on them by the overwhelming number of homosexual seminarians - one of them said it was like living in a gay bar.
Yesterday I had a conversation with a friend of mine who is a former Catholic, went Unitarian and now is agnostic. She has a friend (I know him as well) who is a former priest and is now living in a homosexual relationship (and they have an adopted child [female] but that is another story) - they are convinced that the problem is not a homosexual one. She thinks it is because the seminarians are joining much too young and therefore, their sexual growth is arrested at that age and it is not normal and the result of that is the behavior we are seeing now. Naturally, she thinks celibacy isn't normal. I didn't address the fact that most seminarians are in their 20s, but I did ask her why almost every single victim is a boy - and she did not reply. It is just common sense to see the link.
Personally, I think a lot of these Cardinals and Bishops are afraid of offending the homosexual community - they don't want them picketing outside the Churches and they don't want to be accused of being "homophobes" - horror of horrors! That's what happens when you forget that Jesus' Church isn't supposed to be "pc" - She is in the business of salvation and nothing else.
Their whole approach is disgusting and mean and unworthy of truly christian people much less "leaders" of the Catholic Church.
But it is good for the People watching this meltdown who had to be convinced of the Nastiness and corruptness of Law and his etherial Collegues.
Always remember that the guy who hires the Lawyers tells them what to do,or they don,t work for him anymore.
As all this Horror plays out we see the real Bernie Law, (The Man Behind The Curtain) and It Ain't a pretty sight.
Law appears to be Morally and Managerially Bankrupt and certainly undeserving of leadership or directing the once vast resources of the diocese of Boston.
Bernie Cardinal Law is a very sad old man who sold his soul for some reason he thought was worth doing so.
Not only does he have no compassion for the victims but he increases his attacks on them with all the power he can muster.
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