Posted on 04/08/2010 11:36:45 PM PDT by Dr. Eckleburg
A West Texas teen filed a lawsuit Thursday against the Archdiocese of San Antonio and Archbishop Jose Gomez alleging repeated sexual assaults by a parish priest, who he says the church's leadership should have known was abusive.
The allegations came just days after Gomez was named to a high-profile post leading the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, where he is scheduled to be formally introduced to parishioners in May.
The lawsuit accuses the Rev. John M. Fiala of repeatedly sexually assaulting the teen, including twice forcing him to have sex at gunpoint when Fiala was the pastor at Sacred Heart of Mary Parish in the remote community of Rocksprings. The lawsuit alleges the incidents occurred in 2007 and 2008, during Gomez's tenure overseeing a swath of south and west Texas.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
If the poster wants to keep the discussion among members of a particular confession, he can post it as a "caucus" - e.g. a "Catholic Caucus." In that case, non-members are not allowed to comment at all.
If the poster wants an academic, polite, arms-length discussion, he can post it as an "ecumenical" thread. In that case, no antagonism will be allowed.
However, if the poster wants a town square, "open" debate, then he can post the article with no additional label. Such threads often become contentious.
If you are not comfortable with "open" religious debate, IGNORE the "open" threads on the Religion Forum and instead read and post to the "devotional" "prayer" "ecumenical" or "caucus" threads.
Everyone has a niche on the Religion Forum.
Click on my profile page for more information concerning the Religion Forum guidelines.
Make a citation or admit it is a lie.
Only that it presents another opportunity to repeat lies refuted in other posts. It borders on obsession. Simply check the content of some posters last 1000 posts and you will find the topic almost exclusively focused on a religion they don't belong to. Reading the posts you will find the same lies repeated over and over again. One would believe with that much attention paid to a subject they would have made an effort to actually read the Catechism instead of simply repeating the same tired old insults and falsehoods.
Where is your compassion for the victims of abuse by all other denominations. Your concentration on the Catholic Church and tacit dismissal of the abuse, committed at a 5 to 10 times greater rate by the clergy of other denominations makes you an opportunist. You are simply using the victims of abuse by Catholic clergy to advance your own agenda.
Repeating a lie, even it it was posted on the internet, does not make it true. Excerpting of a single phrase or paragraph out of context does not communicate the entire message of the letter. (Neither does quoting single lines and versus of scripture communicate the Word of God).
The anti-Catholic bigots on FR bear a remarkable resemblance to the religion writers in the NY Times.
Who in turn bear a remarkable resemblance to the KKK, the Nazi's, the Communists, and a host of other evil doers. Coincidence? I think not. They all serve the same master.
You can get some interesting insight if you google “Dr. Eckleburg’s Eyes.”
Same place. The difference, of course, is that abuse victims of other denominations are not sworn to secrecy upon threat of excommunication. Other victims are encouraged to go to the police and find retribution in the court system. Other victims are not forced into silence "for the good of the universal church."
Your concentration on the Catholic Church and tacit dismissal of the abuse, committed at a 5 to 10 times greater rate by the clergy of other denominations makes you an opportunist.
lolol. Talk about "repeating a lie." Sexual abuse of children by clergy is four times greater in the RCC than in other denominations, according to every reliable survey published. Those surveys, along with our own lying eyes, reveal the truth, the truth which the Vatican sits on and squelches at a terrible cost of lives and faith.
And as for your snarky name-calling ("makes you an opportunist") I've found that is the natural course for some Roman Catholics to follow in these discussions -- to lambaste anyone who mentions these pedophile priests and Rome's collusion. Your vitriol is misplaced. The "opportunity" is here and now for Roman Catholics to stand up and rid the papacy of this cancer rather than to deny it exists and slander the victims and everyone else who encourages Rome to wake up and repent. Now.
"And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea." -- Mark 9:42
Neither are Catholic victims, but that still doesn't justify your silence regarding other victims. Were you a true crusader FOR the victims you would endeavor on behalf of ALL victims. That your efforts are only concentrated AGAINST the Catholic Church completely reveals your true motives. It is reprehensible that you too would seek to use the victims for your own purpose.
That is mind-reading and against the rules of the FR RF.
Roman Catholic apologists continue to deny the written word of their own leaders. Crimen Sollicitationis clearly stipulates that absolute secrecy is to be enforced regarding any sexual abuse complaint made by anyone against a priest.
That vile stipulation does not exist in other churches. Other churches dismiss the offending pastor until the courts have adjudicated his innocence or guilt.
Unlike in the papacy where Ratzinger has told one billion Roman Catholics that "for the good of the global church" pedophiles are to be kept on the job and their crimes hidden.
Clean house, Rome. You're destroying children.
Roman Catholics should do their own homework. It could only help them.
From the RCC catechism via CARM...
1. "Holy Mary, Mother of God...we can entrust all our cares and petitions to her: she prays for us as she prayed for herself: 'Let it be to me according to your word.' [Lk 1:38] By entrusting ourselves to her prayer, we abandon ourselves to the will of God together with her: 'Thy will be done,' (CCC 2677). 2. "By asking Mary to pray for us, we acknowledge ourselves to be poor sinners and we address ourselves to the 'Mother of Mercy,' the All-Holy One. We give ourselves over to her now, in the Today of our lives. And our trust broadens further, already at the present moment, to surrender 'the hour of our death' wholly to her care." (CCC 2677). 3. [Mary] "Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation .... Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix.'" (CCC, par. 969) 4. Mary is "The mother of the members of Christ," (CCC par. 963). She was "Preserved free from all stain of original sin," (CCC, par. 966). She is "Queen over all things" (par. 966). By Mary's prayers, she delivers souls from death (CCC par. 966). Mary, "...by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation.... (CCC par. 969) 5. "The Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix" (CCC par. 969). "The liturgical feasts dedicated to the Mother of God and Marian prayer, such as the rosary, are an epitome of the whole Gospel," (par. 971). 6. Mary, "...when the course of her earthly life was completed, was taken up body and soul into the glory of heaven..." (par. 974). "...when she [Mary] is the subject of preaching and worship she prompts the faithful to come to her Son..." (Vatican Council II, p. 420). See quote in Context 7. "Mary has by grace been exalted above all angels and men to a place second only to her Son" (Vatican Council II, p. 421). "This mother...is waiting and preparing your home for you," (Handbook for Todays Catholic, p.31). Mary per Catholicism
Every one of those instances from the RCC catechism is an offense to God. Repent, Rome, if God so wills.
“But do you really think justice can be obtained when a school child was victimized by a teacher twenty years ago?”
Maybe I’m just too much of an idealist but yes I do.
Don’t need to throw stones. The court system hopefully will take of this mess.
The Word of God that I read tells me that God, only God, can judge a person’s heart.
I don't need to read your mind, only your posts.
It happens here all the time-—very often by those who have an axe to grind against the Catholic Church.
Thanks for your clarification.
I do have to apologize. I do believe that the NYT by not identifying an attorney representing victims of the Catholic Church writing articles for them was disingenuous.
Aside from that though my only desire is for the truth to bear out and prosecutor offenders of child abuse no matter who they are.
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