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Posted on 06/11/2002 1:21:39 PM PDT by Timesink
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I'm sitting here, having a little trouble getting started. We have reported on this scandal several times so far. For the most part, the stories are fairly similar, the anguish of the victims, and their anger, and the response by the Church. But it is sort of like profiling each tree, one at a time, and not looking at the forest, to use an old metaphor. Just how widespread is this problem? If it were just one person here, and maybe another there, it might be easier to understand. But there has always been a feeling that this is a systemic problem, that underlying the individual stories that have come into the public eye, and those that have not, is some sort of widespread problem.
Some say the issue is celibacy. Others that the priesthood attracts those disposed towards children. Still others argue that the issue is homosexuality in the priesthood. And there are many other explanations. And they may all be partly true, and party false. But tonight we will address just how widespread this problem is. This week, the bishops are meeting in Dallas to debate a proposed policy to deal with priests who are accused of, or proven to be guilty of molestation. Many of the victims say the policy doesn't go far enough, that it is too lenient. But with the bishops and others beginning to arrive in Dallas today, our friends at the Dallas Morning News came to us with the results of an investigation they conducted. Their story will be in the paper tomorrow, and on their Web site tonight. They tried to track down every credible allegation. And the numbers they found are staggering.
Roughly two-thirds of the bishops have either been accused themselves, actually a relatively small number, or more commonly, are accused of covering up the actions of one of their priests. We'll be reporting on the details of what the Morning News found tonight, but clearly the numbers indicate that the problem is more than just the crimes of isolated individuals. So we'll have a report from ABC News correspondent Bill Blakemore from Dallas on the Morning News investigation, and a preview of what will happen later in the week. Ted will interview the bishop who headed the committee that wrote the proposed policy. But I think tonight's broadcast will make it clear that this is much more than a couple of isolated cases being given too much publicity. Something has gone terribly wrong.
Tuesday, June 11, 2002
Leroy Sievers and the Nightline Staff
Nightline Offices
Washington, D.C.
Many stories circulate here in Boston about private suppers in his residence with a major league poofter employed as an attorney in City Hall.
Don't be surprised if you here the name Avery Dulles!
I just looked through the Bible and it didn't have any list of names. I guess some other authority will have to do the purging, eh?
SD
All seriousness aside, though, this is really starting to unveil into something. Time for a real housecleaning and no more under the carpet treatment.
That's rather ambiguous and slightly dangling in antecedents. "Roughly two-thirds have EITHER been accused themselves, actually a relatively small number," [?] "OR more commonly, are accused of covering up the actions of one of their priests."
Does that mean 2/3 are merely accused? Or that, in total and combined, 2/3 are EITHER accused of molestation OR covering up? Those are different crimes. Considering that some accusations may be from schizo-affective psychos, and therefore untrue, is not included in this sentence. This needs clarification.
Do you seriously not know? It's called Gramscian takeover of the Institutions, and it's rolling through a gov't school, university, or Church near you.
Why have these pillars of society arrayed against your "progressive" agenda, when you can join up and pervert them from within?
SD
Oh come one. I'm a Unitarian, one of the first heretics the Catholic Church went after, and even I can see the good the church has done. It has been a bulwark against secularism, marxism, fascism and all the other isms which plagued us in the last century. Now it is fighting the UN/George Soros/Marxist NGO crowd. Tens of millions have found great comfort in their faith. That doesn't happen in a church which is, as you suggest, a fraud.
The church will emerge from this purged and stronger than ever. And that is good for everyone who loves liberty.
It means 2/3 have either committed a crime or are covering it up. The actual number who have molested is what they are referring to as a"relatively small number."
In other words, a relatively small number have committed abuse, but a large majority have covered up for someone who has.
SD
And some say "all of the above."
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