Vatican Defrocks Boston Monsignor and 6 Priests

Yahoo News ^ | March 17, 2006

[NYer]

A former vice chancellor of the Boston Archdiocese and six other priests accused of molesting children have been defrocked by the Vatican, church officials announced Friday.

In a statement, Boston Archbishop Sean O'Malley expressed his "deepest sorrow for the grievous harm" done by Monsignor Frederick Ryan and the other Boston priests.

"The violations of childhood innocence, under the guise of priestly care, are a source of profound shame," O'Malley said.

Ryan was one of the highest-ranking church officials to be accused of child molestation since the Boston sex scandal broke in 2002. He resigned that year after being accused of abusing two boys in the 1970s and '80s at a Boston high school.

The scandal led O'Malley's predecessor, Cardinal Bernard Law, to resign, and the archdiocese agreed to pay $85 million to settle lawsuits by about 550 alleged victims.

A state investigation found that about 1,000 people had been molested by dozens of priests over about five decades. Some of the priests were shuffled from parish to parish to try to conceal the allegations.

[A.A. Cunningham]

child-molesting Baptist ministers is that the Baptists are arrested, tried and thrown in jail.

Not all of them.

What is your opinion of those parents who accept settlements and don't report the crimes to the police? Shouldn't they be prosecuted as coconspirators?

[ishabibble]

First, I am not from Massachusetts. I simply keep a jaundiced eye on what goes on up there. The news is all bad.

Second, I am all too aware that creepy child predators abound in every profession that centers around children. Anyone who reads the Free Republic pages, day after day, knows about the escalating sex crimes against young, innocent children. There was a news story posted yesterday re the live video kid porn ring that is simply too disgusting to even repeat. There is also one up today re a sex for cigarettes arrest. So, I don't think I am talking through my hat when I state my opinion that Bernard Law is even more guilty for having known about the sex crimes committed by the homosexual/pedophiles and let it continue.

I attended two "masses" at a very wealthy parish church in Naples, FL recently. Far more than the hip-hop hootenanny music, far more than the overtly lesbian nuns putting their hands all over the teen girls, far more than the glass window of the children's room (God forbid children are taught to behave in God's house), it was the sickening behaviour of the "priest" who told some tired Internet jokes, bragged about all the lobster he ate on his vacation in Maine, and then did a breezy one minute on the Gospel, that makes me know to a certainty that the homosexuals are winning in our churches.

My children are grown. I saw the stupid parents in that church and thought that if someone doesn't take back the American Roman Catholic Church soon, we might as well hire Gay Gene Robinson when he gets out of his latest rehab. It's starting to look like it's the same difference.

My own parish is a very poor, inner city, falling down, school closed ,barely hanging on church. The priest who says the Latin Mass is young and enthusiastic. He is leaving very soon. My former husband, just like me, travels over 45 mins. to attend a Latin Mass in upstate NY. His priest is old and tired. He will be leaving soon, too.

The church in Naples has a multi-million dollar music room built largely for some Englebert wannabe whose chief talent is his hair. I am not making this up. Also, if you go to this church, you will see no statuary, no crucifix, nothing at all to identify it as a Catholic Church. It's a big sprawling "feel good" center.

This obscenity and the disgraced reputation of the Roman Catholic Church is the result of years of the Bernard Laws of the Church, the fat cat cowards, the false prophets, the criminals. This is my opinion. I stand by every word.

[dsc]

"My former husband"

Ummm...huh?

[Dick Vomer]

thanks... I feel the same way.

[ishabibble]

Yes, indeed. Fortunately, the divorce hasn't worked out!

While Mr.X continues his career up in the frozen tundras, I am much more inclined to frolic in the sun and surf. He has a big stack of plane tickets and I have a fabulous new look!
The silver lining in the darkest cloud there ever was is the fact that Mr. X and I are now chasing each other around like young lovers (after 30 yrs. of responsible adulthood/parenthood/upstanding members of the communityhood) and our children are delighted. We still have a ways to go, but I have faith that we will succeed.

Someone else on this thread called me Law's judge and jury.
So, yours is the second stone...

[sitetest]

Dear ishabibble,

Who is casting stones?

"Bernard Law is going to rot in hell anyway,..."


sitetest

[NYer]

I'm sick unto death of seeing the Roman Catholic Church disgraced by the homosexual/pedophiles who flooded it after Vatican II.

It has been documented that 70% of the sexual abuse cases involved priests ordained pre-VCII. This is not a defense or justification, simply a statement of fact. When the abuse scandal broke open in my diocese, one of the victims who stepped forward, was 65 years old. Unfortunately, there was no way to address his accusation since the priest he accused was dead.

Like you and so many others, I was shocked by this scandal and dreaded watching the nightly news. It seemed as if the media had singled out the Catholic Church. Over time, I learned there was a higher incidence of sex abuse in the public school system and even among protestant denominations, yet the media kept their finger pointed at the Catholic Church. Why? The following article explained it and I pass it along for your edification.

Prof critiques coverage of (Catholic) church scandal (How the 'perfect storm' developed)

If you step back and look at the big picture, perhaps you will arrive at the same conclusion I reached. This 'airing' of our failed priests, is the work of the Holy Spirit, pulling the weeds from the wheat. With Ratzinger as pontiff, the house is being swept clean, as evidenced by the many defrockings that have taken place since he was elected to the Chair of Peter. This is not happening in any other church. We have much to be grateful for.

[ShandaLear]

So not true. These types of activities have been covered up in every church and denominations for years.

[Salvation]

**if someone doesn't take back the American Roman Catholic Church soon,**

There is no such thing as the American Roman Catholic Church.

We are members of the Roman Catholic Church.

[NYer]

We are members of the Roman Catholic Church.

Actually, we are members of the Catholic Church. At present there are 22 Churches that comprise the Catholic Church.

[aimhigh]

This is not happening in any other church.

In other churches, the perverts were fired immediately, not shuffled to other churches.

[Conservative til I die]

The difference between child molesting Catholic priests and child-molesting Baptist ministers is that the Baptists are arrested, tried and thrown in jail. The priests get "defrocked" and sent to some administrative job because the church pays off the child's parents...sort of like a awarding a damage claim in a car wreck. That is not equal justice in America and smacks of Mafia tactics.

I wasn't aware the Vatican had the power to place American priests under arrest, then charge them, then try them, and then mete out punishment in the US penal system.

I would have thought this would be the responsibility of the appropriate American state or municipality.

I don't know, I'm just some dumb Mafioso Catholic, so maybe I'm missing something here. Mind explaining it all to me, Brainiac?

[Conservative til I die]

Have you asked Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly why he couldn't get the grand jury to indict Law? Have you lobbied the Massachusetts legislature to send a bill to Romney that would make it possible to hold people like Law, public school superintendents, etc., criminally liable? Got anything to say about these protestants?

Not to minimize the scandal, of course, but I think your post touches on something I feel, which is that a lof of the righteous indignation from the Right comes from an almost subconscious 19th Century style Nativism.

Seems the Catholic Church is the only one set aside for special treatment when it comes to these scandals.

[Conservative til I die]

So I'm not really being Christian here,

Yeah, I'll say. And during Lent no less.

[Conservative til I die]

You're not SSPX or otherwise schismatic are you?

[A.A. Cunningham]

Here's more questions you no doubt won't answer either, did you complain to the local bishop about what you witnessed in Naples, including references to specific violations of the GIRM and Canon Law? Have you ever put pen to paper and written to the CDF or a bishop or do you simply sit on your hands and flap your gums about how terrible things are?

[ishabibble]

I had a long luncheon today with an old friend who knows far more about the law than I do. This topic and your suggestion re MA AG Tom Reilly came up, and his professional opinion is that while Reilly and the Commonwealth can't do anything about Bernard Law, the federal gov't sure can.

Law could be tried under the RICO statutes for racketeering.
He didn't commit the crimes, but he sure facilitated them.
Right now, Buddy Cianci, habitual Mayor of Providence, is sitting in a federal prison for the exact same thing. The rub is that the feds would be reluctant to extradite Law from the Vatican, a sovereign gov't and a religious country.
I don't claim to be a legal expert, but I did ask someone who is, and it sounds plausible to me.

From the responses I've gotten to my comments, I do believe I have been officially flamed. Oh well, life goes on!
The comments remind me of all those parents who are outraged about the conditions in the schools today, and then add quickly in the next breath, "but, of course, not MY child's school. My child's teacher/school is the greatest. Yes, there is sex ed, of course, but it's not that outrageous stuff. Yes, there are the tolerance and diversity BS courses, but, of course, my child knows the difference."

It's just the same with our churches. There were many older people at those hootnanney masses in Naples, why do they just sit there and take it? I didn't. I am not a self-flagellating nutcase or a renegade cult member. I am simply a fed up Catholic. I attend the Latin Mass in a poor parish, and do what I can to keep it going. The fat, sleek priest from my former parish refused to give the 20 Week money to flood victims in South America (after being asked to do so by many families in the church) and the last time I saw him, he was driving a very nice gold Mercedes. The big one! He is an unrepentant happyhead liberal, but he is straight. How indicative of the times. That is the only decent thing I can say about a man who has very little to do with the Catholic faith that I was raised in by my parents.

Bernard Law was so bad at his job, so deceitful and false, that his part in the sex abuse scandal is greater than the acts of the individual homosexual/pedophiles. IMHO.

p.s. Re the crack about my statements during this time of prayer and reflection, I want you to know that I gave up lipservice for Lent.

[A.A. Cunningham]

How's the annulment coming since we all know a good Catholic like you while "chasing each other around like young lovers" is stopping short of fornicating with Mr. X.

[ishabibble]

Hello. I just posted a reply to you and others. It takes time to get free info from a lawyer!

As for Naples, what can one do? Buy some tickets to the oh so hey Father Jerry show, and watch in horror as all those suckers get a Las Vegas Passion Play, complete with a live simulated crucifixion that was more homoerotica than religious. Liberace will always be an icon as long as Father Jerry is ministering to the young kids of SW FL.
The diocese quite obviously knows about this guy, and also about the shyster with the hair, who uses that music room at the Anonymous Catholic Church to make a promo video about him and his music, and and and...charges those old folks 20 bucks a head!!!

As for the last part of your insult, I was a visitor to that area, and I certainly did tell the priest about my shock at seeing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING on the altar. Not even a crucifix. I was stunned. Then I was really, really mad.

I saved the best for last. The very butch nuns I mentioned earlier ran the Offertory. All the young teens, dressed in ripped jeans, shorts, tight T-shirts, etc. participated (God forbid that any of them learn to strive for an honour) but was really fascinating to me, was that while the boys genuflected before the altar, the girls, all of them believe me, only bowed from the waist. The girls DID NOT genuflect before the Host. It was very creepy.

I am simply fed up with people who go along to get along. Maybe it's OK for some things, but when it's my faith, and my faith is on the line because of a battered image and destroyed reputation, when good priests are tarred with the same brush as the Geoghans, and when we start sniping at each other on a message board instead of standing up to the Rainbow Sash Terrorists and kicking them the hell out of our churches, we fail. The homosexual perverts have declared war on the Roman Catholic Church, and by saying nothing, and doing nothing, and being uncomfortable but taking it, we are letting them win.