N.H. Bishop: Priest Sex Is Less Serious if Is Not With a Parishioner

AP ^ | 12-23-2002 | J.M. Hirsch

[Cagey]

I owe a certain amount to MY Church.

I know exactly what you mean, Happygal. The Church had many positive affects on my life as well. And that is why we have to be appalled at people like this and expose them for who/what they are.

[iconoclast]

I am not a Catholic, but I feel sorry for the Catholic church. I think they still have allot of rough weather ahead..

I am Catholic, and God help us. (He will).

[yendu bwam]

Only Catholics can trust a bishop?

My bishop (Frank Rodimer) is a homosexual rapist enabler. I wouldn't trust him for a second. He disgraces my Church.

[BunnySlippers]

You seem to forget that the church is not above civil law.

I DON'T seem to forget that at all. That's EXACTLY why I said the priest should be tried under the laws of the land.

[yendu bwam]

And quit trying to sell the Catholic Church down the river..this stuff happens in THEM ALL!

The Catholic Church hierarchy is doing that quite well all on its own...

[Itzlzha]

What I am saying is...in Islam, anyone not Muslim is a "dog" or "pig" or beneath the followers of MoFohammed.
You can kill, maim, abuse, use, lie to them...you can do anything you want.

Islamazis cannot do the same to other Islamazis, for that is "wrong".

Kinda like saying butt-sex with a minor BOY from OUTSIDE your Parish/Area is more OK than doing one of your parishioners, ain't it?

Me either, but you can bet the paintbrush is a mile wide.

No, the only thing her a mile wide is the road to hell, being paved by these perverts in Cassocks and Miters!

Got Blinders?

[iconoclast]

AMERICAN Catholic Church perhaps?

I hope you'll pardon me madam, but you're an idiot.

The AMERICAN Bishops are precisely the problem!

[Itzlzha]

You seem to forget that the church is not above civil law.
Certainly not in Ireland, any way.

And yet today, the lawyers for the Boston Dioscese filed a motion in Court to have all lawsuits thrown out on 1st Ammendment grounds...seems they want to say that the Law cannot speak to how matters are handled in the RCC.

What say you to this?

[xm177e2]

When did anyone say it wasn't evil? It was just a bit LESS evil. It's LESS evil to molest a 14-year-old than it is to molest a 13-year-old. It's LESS evil to kill three people instead of four people. It's LESS evil to cut off someone's arm than to cut off both of their arms. Just because something is LESS evil doesn't mean it's not evil. This is a pretty simple concept, but some people tend to have real problems with it.

Show me where ANYONE said what this priest did was okay. Show me where ANYONE was making excuses for the priest. You can't, because nobody did.

[xm177e2]

What happened to logic and reason? Aren't you people supposed to be intelligent?

[xm177e2]

The Pope approved of the shell game plan to shuffle abusive priests from one place to another. The corruption goes all the way to the top.

[Cvengr]

I would believe a judgment would be far more lenient to the Church than a simple settlement in the long run.

Now, another judgment might be made by higher authority without being interfered by double jeopardy regarding numerous liabilities.

Perhaps a better method for rendering the appropriate justice.

[Happygal]

Cagey...you are so like me. Annoyed and affronted by the wankers the Church are afraid to exorcise! *s*

[Torie]

Is this priest attempting to mitigate felonious criminal activity as long as it is conducted outside the flock in off hours, or is the guy simply clueless, or was he talking about teenagers who have reached the age of majority? Inquiring minds would like to know.

[Palladin]

McCormack is one of Bunny Law's boys. A card-carrying member of the Lavender Mafia. Now is good time to re-read some of Rod Dreher's columns on this infamous bunch. Here's an excerpt:


THE LAVENDER MAFIA


The raw numbers are less important, though, if homosexual priests occupy positions of influence in the vast Catholic bureaucracy; and there seems little doubt that this is the case in the American Church. Lest this be dismissed as right-wing paranoia, it bears noting that psychotherapist Sipe is no conservative — indeed, he is disliked by many on the Catholic Right for his vigorous dissent from Church teaching on sexual morality — yet he is convinced that the sexual abuse of minors is facilitated by a secret, powerful network of gay priests. Sipe has a great deal of clinical and research experience in this field; he has reviewed thousands of case histories of sexually active priests and abuse victims. He is convinced of the existence of what the Rev. Andrew Greeley, the left-wing clerical gadfly, has called a "lavender Mafia."

"This is a system. This is a whole community. You have many good people covering it up," Sipe says. "There is a network of power. A lot of seminary rectors and teachers are part of it, and they move to chancery-office positions, and on to bishoprics. It's part of the ladder of success. It breaks your heart to see the people who suffer because of this."

In his new book, Goodbye! Good Men, Michael S. Rose documents in shocking detail how pervasive militant homosexuality is in many seminaries, how much gay sex is taking place among seminarians and priest-professors, and how gay power cliques exclude and punish heterosexuals who oppose them. "It's not just a few guys in a few seminaries that have an ax to grind. It is a pattern," says Rose. "The protective network [of homosexual priests] begins in the seminaries."

The stories related in Rose's book will strike many as incredible, but they track closely with the stories that priests have told me about open gay sex and gay politicking in seminaries. The current scandal is opening Catholic eyes: As one ex-seminarian says, "People thought I was crazy when I told them what it was like there, so I finally quit talking about it. They're starting to see now that I wasn't."

Goodbye! Good Men links homosexuality among priests with theological dissent, a connection commonly made by conservative Catholics who wonder why their parish priests have practically abandoned teaching and explaining Catholic sexual morality. But one veteran vocations-team member for a conservative diocese cautions that Catholics should not assume that theological orthodoxy guarantees heterosexuality or chastity. "You find [active homosexuality] among some pretty conservative orders, and in places you'd not expect it," he says. "That's what makes this so depressing. You don't know where to turn."

An especially nasty aspect of this phenomenon is the vulnerability of sexually active gay priests and bishops to manipulation via blackmail. Priests, psychiatrists, and other informed parties say they encounter this constantly. "It's the secrecy," says Stephen Rubino. "If you're a bishop and you're having a relationship, and people know about it, are you compromised on dealing with sexually abusive priests? You bet you are. I've seen it happen."

Longtime observers predict that in the coming weeks, bishops and priests will be forced to resign under fire after their closeted homosexual lives, including sexual abuse, become public. The disgraced pederast former bishop of Palm Beach, Fla., is probably not alone. If this happens, the Vatican will face mounting pressure from the Catholic rank-and-file to take action. As Fr. Greeley has written, "The laity, I suspect, would say it is one thing to accept a homosexual priest and quite another to accept a substantially homosexual clergy."

[yendu bwam]

When did anyone say it wasn't evil? It was just a bit LESS evil.

I disagree completely that it is less evil to go rape or molest a 14-yr. old boy outside of your parish than within. I doubt (though obviously I cannot know for sure) that Jesus Christ would have made piddling distinctions such as you and McCormack make.

[Palladin]

Being more or less evil is like being more or less pregnant.

[Happygal]

I DON'T seem to forget that at all. That's EXACTLY why I said the priest should be tried under the laws of the land.

So what's the problem then?

Or the automatic assumption that Catholics defend child abuse?

[Cvengr]

Maybe the appropriate consequence is to let the RCC pull an OJ. Since they seek to exercise their own control and power rather than submitting to God's will, perhaps they simply will be made low in the long run.

[iconoclast]

The Bishop is right. It is worse for a priest to abuse the trust given to him by his flock than to have sex outside his base of parishioners.

Shame on you. Weasel words. If you're not a present day American Bishop, you missed your calling.