Posted on 01/21/2014 11:02:18 AM PST by Gamecock
After a 13-year-old boy reported in 1979 that a priest raped and threatened him at gunpoint to keep quiet, the Archdiocese of Chicago assured the boy’s parents that, although the cleric avoided prosecution, he would receive treatment and have no further contact with minors.
But the Rev. William Cloutier, who already had been accused of molesting other children, was returned to ministry a year later and went on to abuse again before he resigned in 1993, two years after the boy’s parents filed a lawsuit.
Officials took no action against Cloutier over his earliest transgressions because he “sounded repentant,” according to internal archdiocese documents released Tuesday.....
(Excerpt) Read more at chicago.cbslocal.com ...
asinine comment.....individuals within the church, just as individuals in every other church, school system, scout program, family, etc were involved....the Catholic Church cannot commit crimes, her members can, but she can't.
All Christians should hold themselves to a better standard than that of the World. For those priests and all of us will be judged by Christ who will cast into utter darkness those who have sinned without repentance.
Were terrible injustices done by Bishops in response to sexual abuse by clergy? Yes. Were those always with ill intent towards victims? I doubt it. But the fact remains by believing worldly counsel when it came to how to deal with this sin the Bishops failed the victims. They also failed Christ, because it is by His standards they should have conducted themselves.
Whether their response was to protect the Diocese from scandal or because they thought clergy could be healed their concern was based on keeping the good opinion of the world by giving it the pride of place rather than yielding to what Jesus told us in Scripture. Millstones.
Those who covered up are as guilty of those who perpetrated.
It’s no different than if they were literally watching down the hallway at the door while the abuse was going on.
So considering the cover up was by the Catholic HIERARCHY, then yes, the CHURCH is responsible for the crimes.
Those in authority are always responsible for the actions of those under their authority. It happens in business. It happens in the military. No church is exempt either.
Still waiting...tap..tap..tap.
Maybe the new Pope will finally do something about it?
Meanwhile, gorgeous old churches are being hit by the wrecking ball in my Diocese, and the land being sold, to pay for the transgressions of homosexual pedophile priests.
Will it ever end?
Oh, yes—we mustn’t forget Bernardin, who would send over to the Seminary for the most beautiful students to accompany him in his afternoon dalliances.
“watching down the hallway”
...and sometimes hearing the screams of 6 year old boys in the shower stall upstairs in the rectory, in Massachusetts.
It’s in the Porter trial transcripts.
(I am not making it up.)
Great find. Thanks for posting.
Bernardin was a very evil man.
Oh, gag.........
Hey, this was Bad, I mean BAD. BAD, BAD.
But, how many times must we see these stories recycled, and then recycled again, and then again, and again, and again, and.......................??????
Of course the Church covered it up—have you not been paying attention?
And yes, it’s primarily been a gay thing.
There are none so blind as those who will not see.
This applies to many brainwashed Catholics, who still believe that priests can do no wrong.
I think some people in the Church were confused, some were naive, and some (such as Bernardin, Weakland, Mahony, etc.) were genuinely evil. Mahony is no longer in LA but he’s still a cardinal of voting age and seems to be in the good graces of Pope Francis (who celebrated mass with him a couple of days ago, ironically, right after issuing a statement lamenting sexual abuse).
Bernardin and his circle were entirely corrupt and evil, and I have always thought that Malachi Martin was right on target in Windswept House. Strangely enough, the very unimportant Charleston, SC was where all these people met and then went on to ruin the Church in the US.
Windswept House—a very important book, which most Catholics have never heard of.
Martin dared to tell the truth.
Failing to remove the threat of abuse to their children is criminal neglect. That’s like saying the parents of an older son who abuses their younger son are innocent, since it is the fault of the older son.
who the hell ever said that??????? Priests are people just like you and me YES, priests did many foul and sinful things...some of them got caught, some didn't..every other crime fills the same bill....some get caught, some don't...the Catholic church did not handle the problem, at the time correctly...no doubt about it....but it was society, not the church, who decided that peadophiles were better treated than prosecuted...they can be treated by psychiatrists, they need to be understood, they need whatever....and it was society which demanded that the scumbags be treated instead of being strung up...
who the hell ever said that??????? Priests are people just like you and me YES, priests did many foul and sinful things...some of them got caught, some didn't..every other crime fills the same bill....some get caught, some don't...the Catholic church did not handle the problem, at the time correctly...no doubt about it....but it was society, not the church, who decided that peadophiles were better treated than prosecuted...they can be treated by psychiatrists, they need to be understood, they need whatever....and it was society which demanded that the scumbags be treated instead of being strung up...
yes and no....society, EVERYONE, determined that peadophiles could be treated and it was wrong to prosecute the poor babies.....in retrospect, it was, of course not a good decision, but ALL of society decided that the gay peadophiles should be given a second chance......and a third,.....and a fourth kind of like today, 2% of the population is dictating the rules.....PATHETIC!!!
Dictating? To whom? The Catholic Church? Since when does the Church follow any 'dictates' but God's?
Organizations can and do commit crimes. While the individuals may carry out the acts which constitute the crime, the criminal activity can be directed (and in some causes, directly carried out by) the organization. The organization is just as culpable in that situation. You aren't going to suggest are you that the crimes of a drug cartel are the crimes of just the individuals who committed the crimes or that the crimes of the party members didn't accrue to the entire Nazi Party who were directing those crimes?
I would agree that Christ's universal (i.e., catholic) Church cannot commit sin (and therefore the crimes associated with those sins) but that is not the case with the organization that we know as the Roman Catholic Church. As we can see with this disgusting situation, that organization is perfectly capable of committing a conspiracy.
If the Roman Catholic Church had dealt with this issue adequately and didn't publicize it, I wouldn't criticize her, provided the problem really was dealt with adequately. I don't think that anyone necessarily has the obligation to reveal all its problems (barring legal requirements for disclosure). However, the reports seem to suggest that the Roman Catholic Church did not deal with these issues adequately and the silence was a shield to conceal that.
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