30 years too late.
“In one instance, a draft of a plan with Mahony’s name on it calls for sending a molester priest to his native Spain for a minimum of seven years, paying him $400 a month and offering health insurance. In return, the cardinal would agree to write the Vatican and ask them to cancel his excommunication.”
In return?!? Why would you be bargaining with molesters in the first place? Besides, both the compensation package and the letter are for the benefit of the molester, meaning there is no quid pro quo, so what is this “in return” for?
[Faithful Departed author Philip] Lawler points out that while less than five percent of American priests have been accused of sexual abuse, some two-thirds of our bishops were apparently complicit in cover-ups. The real scandal isn't the sick excesses of a few dozen pedophiles, or even the hundreds of priests who had affairs with teenage boys -- the bulk of abuse cases. No, according to Lawler, it is the malfeasance of wealthy, powerful, and evidently worldly men who fill the thrones -- but not the shoes -- of the apostles. In case after case, we read in their correspondence, in the records of their soulless, bureaucratic responses to victims of psychic torture and spiritual betrayal, these bishops' prime concern was to save the infrastructure, the bricks and mortar and mortgages. Ironically, their lack of a supernatural concern for souls is precisely what cost them so much money in the end.
-- from the thread Kneeling Before the World"The Dublin Archdiocese's preoccupations in dealing with cases of child sexual abuse, at least until the mid-1990s, were the maintenance of secrecy, the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the reputation of the church and the preservation of its assets," said the report. "All other considerations, including the welfare of children and justice for victims, were subordinated to these priorities. The archdiocese did not implement its own canon law rules and did its best to avoid any application of the law of the state"....
-- from the thread Pope calls Irish church leaders to Vatican to discuss abuse report
If the InsideCatholic.com blog can be believed, two-thirds of all American bishops were complicit in covering up the immoral and illegal actions of 4% or fewer Catholic clergymen. All we can say with certainty is that 96+% - 105,302 Catholic clergymen - were never accused, yet 95 percent of all Catholic dioceses in the United States were impacted negatively. The numbers are more damning for the bishops then they are for the priests.
.... Alex Murphy, Sept. 29, 2009
You’ve got to love Archbishop Gomez. Slowly and surely he will clean up the mess in LA. He’s a quiet, yet thorough, person. I bet a lot of cleaning house has been going on — this just got the media’s attention.
That's a rhetorical question.
**Some church critics said Gomez’s actions, particularly against Mahony, amounted to a slap on the wrist as long as he remained a cardinal and a member of the powerful Vatican body that elects the Pope.**
I was wondering he Mahony would still be a member of the College of Cardinals.
Wow! Over a thousand comments at the site!
Mahony was also a big supporter of Illegal Alien Amnesty....so wonder how many illegal alien youths were pedophiled? Probably never know....but probably a big reason why Mahony supported Illegal Alienism
He should be in jail.
At least there is no Catholic bashing going on this thread unlike other threads.
thanks for posting this. Godspeed to Archbishop Gomez.
ping
Consequences for sex abuse is extraordinary within the Catholic church.
Consequences..... What a novel concept.
What an indictment of the Catholic church.