[Aliska]

Guess it is still going on. Who is it who said they would welcome priests from Africa, etc.?

[Aliska]

ping. Please ping the others.

[MaskedMan]

What parents in their right mind would let a 12 year old go to the beach with a Priest? - Holy man or not, what an odd outing, anyway....especially with what's been going on lately....Not trying to deflect blame from the real criminal here, but a little common sense goes a LONG way!

[sinkspur]

Who is it who said they would welcome priests from Africa, etc.?

Nigeria, Kenya, India.

The Vatican maintains that this is is only an "American problem."

We are the tip of the iceberg, folks. There is something inherently wrong with the kind of men the Church is calling to the priesthood, worldwide.

[MVV]

Gee....our catholic parish has a visiting priest coming this Sunday to discuss his missionary. He was held up because of his visa and got delayed by a week or two. Should I begin to worry?

[Palladin]

Hurrah! They're sending the bastards to Riker's instead of to some cushy place like St. Luke's in Maryland. Maybe the Bishops are sincere about zero tolerance.

[maryz]

Let's see -- Kenya, India, Nigeria -- we have to import predatory priests? One would have thought that was carrying coals to Newcastle.

[AlGone2001]

A priest visiting a Roman Catholic parish in Queens was arrested last night and charged with the sexual abuse of a 12-year-boy during a Father's Day excursion to Rockaway Beach.

This is just another example of the media making an issue out of nothing, right? /sarcasm

[eastsider]

For years, he said, the diocese has had a policy requiring priests from abroad who are authorized to work in parishes to provide an affidavit, signed by the priests' own bishops, that they have no history of "anything that would disqualify them from working in a parish." Such affidavits were provided by the two other priests who now face sexual abuse charges, he said.

The bishops who provided the predator priests with the affidavits should be investigated immediately. And since it involves the international exchange of clergy, that investigation should be conducted by Rome.

It may well be that the bishops will maintain that they were merely relying on the word of the heads of the orders. Passing the buck seems to be S.O.P. (e.g., note the spokesman for the Diocese of Brooklyn's comment that the accused priest "is not a priest of the Brooklyn Diocese or associated with that parish").

The article of faith we all need to adopt in our fight to cleanse the temple is this:

THE BUCK STOPS WITH THE BISHOPS