Oakland seminary housing sex offender priests

If you attend one of the daily services at St. Albert's seminary in the Rockridge neighborhood, you probably wouldn't expect to be sitting next to several sex offenders. But, that's often the case. The Dominican Order of Catholic Priests has decided to send its members who've abused children across the western United States to live at St. Albert's.

Former seminarian: "I think it's embarrassing for the church, it's a very sad statement on what can happen when people abuse power, when they abuse authority."

This former seminarian attended a meeting two years ago when St. Albert's officials announced sex offenders would be moving in, and that the young men training to be priests should tell no one – not their families, not the media.

Do you know if any Bishops tried using exorcists to try to remove the "demonic" presence from the abusive priests?

Most of the bishops do not believe in the devil (or are on his side--sorry, it's true). There may be a few but the US has fewer than 10 exorcists at last count. Most of the bishops put the false god of modern psychology before any thought of demonic temptation, let alone possession.

I know of one case in California where the bishop refuses to help a man with a very bad obsession despite the Catholic psychologist's outright pleas to the bishop for assistance.

Never fear. Of course I would never give up my Penguin Isle exile Program for contrite abusers,found guilty of a certain level of abuse. And,I have designed a couple of other alternative programs.

Others,who may be less contrite,would be destined for my second Program,which calls for a life sentence spent in an old seminary in the Badlands staffed by an order of feminazi nuns.

The third Program is reserved for bishops who covered for abusers and/or abused themselves. I developed the plan based on some of the liturgy documents I have read;it calls for maximum public participation which I understand is very important. Although the program has to be fleshed out,the idea is to buy a couple of engines and quite a few open air cattle cars,encased in barbed wire.

Then we load them up with bishops dressed only in skivies and send it from city to city via the railroad system. We place ads in the paper so that all know the bishops will be at the train depot certain days and the public can come down and boo,hoot,hiss and throw small sopping wet sponges at them. I kind of hear that song "The Man Who Never Returned" coming across the speaker system night and day,forever.

Island,seminary,engines,boxcars,,staffs,seed,lumber can be paid for from the proceeds of the sale of the fancy digs the USCCB now own.

Of course this would all take place after the jail sentences,if the statute of limitations has run out. None of these programs can be implemented until the bishops or the committee release the information regards the number and degree of abuse. I refuse to be a party to applying either zero tolerance or equal punishment to men whose crimes or sins may have ranged from looking at someone funny,through thwacking bare butts with a towel after team showers to genital contact with an eight year old.

I'm not sure I like the idea of concentrating them all in one place. Not only for the sake of the community but also for their own sakes. They have critical mass in a community like this. That could work to the good but it could just as easily lead to further problems. I think each one needs to be isolated and placed in the personal care of a holy spiritual director ( if such can be found) and put on a round the clock watch, or the spiritual version thereof. Some may simply need to be incarcerated the way any sex offender would.

I note with disgust the following paragraph:

Father Roberto Corral: "These guys have been through their therapy, and working with their counselors and therapists, we are reasonably sure they will not re-offend."

Father, if secular shrinks are all the Church has to fight this problem, then we are in bad shape. Sins of the flesh are impervious to psychoanalysis, intellectual rationalizing, group discussions and pep rally psychology.

They don't listen. They have a life all of their own and only Divine grace can overcome them.

If this is the only treatment these men have received I'll bet my next pay-check that many of them will re-offend if the opportunity arises.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.