Posted on 01/18/2014 11:23:29 AM PST by Salvation
January 2, 2011 By TheMediaReport.com
In a stunning ten-page declaration recently submitted to the Los Angeles County Superior Court, veteran attorney Donald H. Steier stated that his investigations into claims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests have uncovered vast fraud and that his probes have revealed that many accusations are completely false.
Counselor Steier has played a role in over one hundred investigations involving Catholic clergy in Los Angeles. In his missive Mr. Steier relayed:
"One retired F.B.I. agent who worked with me to investigate many claims in the Clergy Cases told me, in his opinion, about ONE-HALF of the claims made in the Clergy Cases were either entirely false or so greatly exaggerated that the truth would not have supported a prosecutable claim for childhood sexual abuse."
(Capital letters are Steier's)
Mr. Steier also added, "In several cases my investigation has provided objective information that could not be reconciled with the truthfulness of the subjective allegations. In other words, in many cases objective facts showed that accusations were false."
Mr. Steier's declaration is a stunner. He is as experienced as anyone in studying the claims of abuse against Catholic clergy in the Los Angeles area. Also among Steier's eye-opening statements:
Steier signed and submitted the declaration "under penalty of perjury" November 30, 2010. Los Angeles County Superior Court officially filed it at 11 a.m. on December 15, 2010.
Steier also took aim at the outspoken advocacy group SNAP (Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests):
They maintain an interactive Internet website with a user 'Forum' and 'Message Board,' among other features, where people can share detailed information between alleged victims pertaining to identity of specific alleged perpetrators, their alleged 'modus operandi,' and other details of alleged molestation. In effect, a person who wanted to make a false claim of sexual abuse by a priest could go to that website and find a 'blueprint' of factual allegations to make that would coincide with allegations made by other people. Law enforcement also uses the S.N.A.P. website to attempt to locate new victims and allegations against Catholic priests.
Needless to say, SNAP had a fit at the sight of Steier's declaration. In a frantic press statement dated December 13, 2010, SNAP derided Steier's declaration as a "legal maneuver" that was "among the most outrageous and hurtful ever made by a church defense lawyer." In addition to claiming it will file a complaint with the California Bar Association, it demanded that Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony "denounce Steier's claims and to disclose how much archdiocesan money has been paid to Steier." (Gee, the last time I checked, SNAP steadfastly refused to divulge how much of its income is derived from the number of lawyers with whom it closely collaborates!)
Yet there is a glaring absence from SNAP's statement. The organization does not refute nor deny any of the specific claims made by Steier. It simply labels them as "outrageous" and "hurtful." That is hardly a blow to the explosive declaration aired by the veteran attorney.
Yes, Catholic priests terribly abused minors, and bishops failed to stop the harm. That's an undeniable truth. There are few crimes that revolt more than sexual abuse. The abuse of minors is a dark episode that the Church will forever have to live with.
Yet major media outlets have largely ignored a major element to the entire Catholic abuse scandal narrative.
Here is Wall Street Journal writer Dorothy Rabinowitz:
"People have to come to understand that there is a large scam going on with personal injury attorneys, and what began as a serious effort has now expanded to become a huge money-making proposition."
Surprise: Ms. Rabinowitz made her remark in 2005. Since then, the Church has doled out an additional $1 billion in settlements.
Will 2011 be the year that the media finally begins to take a closer look at many of the claims being made? What about the suspicious relationships between SNAP, lawyers, and many in the media? (Vincent Carroll at the Denver Post is a rare voice of acknowledgement: "[F]raudulent or highly dubious accusations are more common than is acknowledged in coverage of the church scandals — although they should not be surprising, given the monumental settlements various dioceses have paid out over the years" (Oct. 10, 2010).)
Stay tuned.
All those good works don't make up for spreading a false gospel...
So this disaster we have if your religion's fault...I'm not surprised...If God wanted a Western civilization, there would be a Western civilization in spite of the Catholic religion...Besides, maybe God's not too happy with this mess we have created which is called modern civilization...
That's not what we or the rest of the world sees...Besides, God can stand on his own...he doesn't need you guys to protect him...
1) He is a great fundraiser.
2) Those who could discipline him the last few Popes) are too cowardly.
Of course that has happened.
Does that amount to condonation of sexual abuse?
Are you saying that, because Protestant ministers don’t hear confessions, their acts of sexual abuse are less of a problem?
2) Those who could discipline him (the last few Popes) are too cowardly.
Perhaps the last few Popes were not doing the job expected of a head of a major religion? Whose job is it to select these Popes? Was Cardinal Wuerl part of those selection groups? Who excommunicates them???
Ping to post 238 for a name of a homosexual Catholic clergy as requested.
It was meant for one persons eyes only and she know who she is. this person has made a habit of bearing false witness. I am hoping she gets the message, but I doubt she will.
Thank you. Your post should be linked to every single thread on this beaten to death topic.
LOL! Tell that to the Catholics who keep on posting these threads!
As for the woefully naive blame game on those "psychiatrists" who convinced the hierarchy to "treat" the criminals instead of turning them into law enforcement for prosecution, read up on the sad truth that Catholic clerical sex abuse was nothing new - it was an ongoing problem that went back over a thousand years ago. Read St. Peter Damian's: Book of Gomorrah if you dare. It is NOT a new phenomenon.
Now look who appears to be bearing false witness. If it was a "private" message, why didn't you use Free Republic's Private Reply feature?
Who said it was private, I said it was for one person’s eyes. Those can be mutually exclusive. I think it is interesting who you crossed pinged to. Do you know something you should be sharing?
I would say that Popes, bishops, and Cardinals are mired in a culture of clericalism that places them farther above priests than clericalism places priests above the laity.
In other words, there is almost no degree or kind of corruption that will get a Cardinal in any kind of trouble. Wuerl has attained what he spent decades seeking: the ability to live as he pleases with complete impunity.
The only people who can bring Wuerl to justice are Nancy Pelosi and her crowd. With one well-placed word to the Washington press corps, she could have Wuerl’s notorious homosexual life all over the front pages and the evening news. She doesn’t do it because Wuerl is completely cooperative, allowing her and all other pro-abortion politicians to continue their charade of being “Catholics.”
**LOL! Tell that to the Catholics who keep on posting these threads!**
Did you have something to say to me? Then please ping me.
Subtract the percentage of Catholics in name only that voted for Obama, and you are left with the Mass attending Catholics that voted for Romney.......which still dwarfs the number of any protestant faith that voted for him.
Apparently you have never heard of the Episcopal Church of America. They ordain women as clergy and openly homosexual men. And they perform homosexual “marriage”. The Presbyterian Church ordains practicing homosexuals.
“All those good works don’t make up for spreading a false gospel”
Spreading a “false gospel” for the last 2,000 years and still going strong. So did you know all your ancestors that lived for the first 1500 years after Christ were living a “false gospel”, and you know they are in hell for that very reason.
Without the Catholic Church there is real good chance there would have never been a United States. Ever heard of guy named Christopher Columbus, you know the one who discovered the American continent. Guess what, he was a Catholic. He was acting under the direction of Catholic monarchs. And that “false gospel” that the early Spanish priests spread all over the New World was the reason the country we now call the United States of America exists today.
Thanks for the honest assessment padre.
Do you have stats to support your assertion. No doubt conservative Catholics are voting for conservatives, but that is a minority.
Let’s look at macro political election results. Just look at the red states which go for GOP candidates and pro life candidates. With the exception of maybe parts of Florida and Texas, and New Orleans those red states are deep chicken fried Baptist and Evangelical populations.
Now look at the blue states which bring us leftist demoncrats who are pro death. Those states with their urban centers is where we see the bulk of the Roman Catholic populations.
So assert away, but the red state/blue state map shows the story. If your assertion was accurate Oklahoma would have to be heavily Catholic and we both know that is not so.
Sure I have. As I stated when churches move away from Scripture as the authority, they follow the ways of the fallen world.
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