Posted on 03/09/2017 9:52:39 PM PST by Old Yeller
ROME (RNS) Lurid accusations of priests involved in sex orgies, porn videos and prostitution have emerged from several parishes in Italy recently, sending shock waves all the way to the Vatican and challenging the high standards that Pope Francis has demanded of clergy.
In the southern city of Naples, for example, a priest was recently suspended from the parish of Santa Maria degli Angeli over claims he held gay orgies and used internet sites to recruit potential partners whom he paid for sex.
The allegations concerning the Rev. Mario D’Orlando were brought to the attention of the diocese when an anonymous letter was sent to a Naples bishop. D’Orlando denied the charges when he was summoned by the city’s archbishop, Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, but is now facing a formal inquiry conducted by local church officials.
“He has been removed from his position while the investigation is underway,” a spokesman for the cardinal told Religion News Service. “I have no further comment.”
In the northern city of Padua, a 48-year-old priest, the Rev. Andrea Contin, is facing defrocking as well as judicial proceedings amid accusations he had up to 30 lovers, some of whom he took to a swingers’ resort in France.
Contin was removed from his parish of San Lazzaro after three women came forward with complaints against him last December. Bishop Claudio Cipolla of Padua cut short a visit to Latin America to deal with the scandal.
ROME (RNS) Lurid accusations of priests involved in sex orgies, porn videos and prostitution have emerged from several parishes in Italy recently, sending shock waves all the way to the Vatican and challenging the high standards that Pope Francis has demanded of clergy.
Santa Maria degli Angeli church in Naples, Italy. Photo courtesy of Creative Commons/Armando Mancini In the southern city of Naples, for example, a priest was recently suspended from the parish of Santa Maria degli Angeli over claims he held gay orgies and used internet sites to recruit potential partners whom he paid for sex.
The allegations concerning the Rev. Mario D’Orlando were brought to the attention of the diocese when an anonymous letter was sent to a Naples bishop. D’Orlando denied the charges when he was summoned by the city’s archbishop, Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, but is now facing a formal inquiry conducted by local church officials.
“He has been removed from his position while the investigation is underway,” a spokesman for the cardinal told Religion News Service. “I have no further comment.”
In the northern city of Padua, a 48-year-old priest, the Rev. Andrea Contin, is facing defrocking as well as judicial proceedings amid accusations he had up to 30 lovers, some of whom he took to a swingers’ resort in France.
Contin was removed from his parish of San Lazzaro after three women came forward with complaints against him last December. Bishop Claudio Cipolla of Padua cut short a visit to Latin America to deal with the scandal.
“I am incredulous and pained by the accusations,” Cipolla told a news conference last month. “This is unacceptable behavior for a priest, a Christian and even for a man.”
One woman, who claims to have been Contin’s lover for more than three years, claimed the priest carried sex toys and bondage equipment, prostituted his lovers on wife-swapping websites and also invited other priests from the area to sex parties.
ishop Claudio Cipolla of Padua, Italy. Photo courtesy of Creative Commons/Matteo Danesin “Even if, at the end of this affair, there are no legal consequences, we have a duty by canon law to take disciplinary action,” said Cipolla.
He also revealed Pope Francis had telephoned him personally at the end of January to offer his support and urge him to stay “strong.”
Since his election the pope has taken a tough line on ethical behavior in the church though he has also recognized the reality of human imperfection and personal flaws.
In recent weeks he has spoken out many times against “temptation,” and last week he told a gathering of clergy at the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome that faith could not progress without the challenge of temptation.
“Temptation is always present in our lives. Moreover, without temptation you cannot progress in faith,” he said.
Alberto Melloni, professor of church history at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, said there is nothing unusual about scandals in the priesthood.
“There is no sin that a cleric doesn’t commit. Scandals to me seem quite normal,” he told RNS.
“And I think the illusion of stopping scandals through better selection of personnel is not very promising and has not yielded great results
Francis has frequently called for a more rigorous screening process for seminarians, and he has taken direct action when scandals erupt in Italy.
A case in point: When reports of “playboy priests” surfaced in the Italian diocese of Albenga-Imperia in the northern region of Liguria in late 2014, the pope sent a special envoy to investigate claims that clerics had posted nude photos of themselves on gay websites, sexually harassed the faithful and stolen church funds.
Two years later the pope replaced the leader of the diocese, Bishop Mario Oliveri.
Austen Ivereigh, commentator and author of “The Great Reformer: Francis and the Making of a Radical Pope,” said the pope distinguished between sinfulness and corruption and was intent on “rooting out” corruption inside the church.
“The remedy for those who succumb to temptation is forgiveness and a fresh start,” Ivereigh told RNS. “The problem is when priests turn their backs on the people, lead hidden lives and end up justifying their conduct. That’s corruption.
“And it’s only possible in the priesthood because of clericalism. That’s why the pope is so intent on rooting it out.”
From the article:
“The remedy for those who succumb to temptation is forgiveness and a fresh start,” Ivereigh told RNS. “The problem is when priests turn their backs on the people, lead hidden lives and end up justifying their conduct. That’s corruption.
“And it’s only possible in the priesthood because of clericalism. That’s why the pope is so intent on rooting it out.”
I’m not buying it. I think corruption is part and parcel of concupiscence. The idea that it only exists because of clericalism is ridiculous. Also, how can you have a clergy but not clericalism in some sense? How would he explain the “corruption” (according to his definition of “corruption”) among the laity? Certainly there is corruption among lay people. Yet there is no “clericalism” among lay people. There is, however, concupiscence.
WHA DA YA expect?
We MUST love Catholics enough to say the truth: we cannot stand by and see them lost!
Penance, and good deeds WILL NOT SAVE YOU!
Going to Mass WILL NOT SAVE YOU.
Mary will NOT SAVE YOU!
Baptism will NOT SAVE YOU: look at the thief on the cross- did he say a rosary? Was he baptized?
The ONLY thing that will save you is repentance of your sins, and calling upon the Son of God, Jesus the Christ.
Remember on Calvary, when Christ said, “It is finished!”, the veil of the temple was torn from TOP to BOTTOM. This means that YOU, yes you and me, have Direct Access to God, thru His Son, Jesus the Christ. You DO NOT need a priest to find eternal life!
Call upon Him right now. Test Him; He will speak to your heart...
“Dear Lord Jesus, help me. Show me Your truth. Help me to know You as Savior. Thank You, Holy Lord. I ask this in Your name; Jesus Lord and King. Amen”
http://www.pro-gospel.org/default.asp?sec_id=180014816
Amen to that. However, it’s up to the Holy Spirit to do the actual changing. But we must still be messengers.
Who are we to judge? We must accompany and allow for discernment by these individuals... No need to mention anything as outdated as sin.
Romans 10:9 - That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Rom 10:13 - For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
I don’t see repentance here as a stipulation for Salvation.
The flesh is too weak. Only the Holy Ghost can modify behavior consistently to where it is pleasing to God.
To avoid confusion we must always rightly divide the Word, as directed in 2 Timothy 2:15.
Oh, puhleeze! Living in the South, among Protestants of every stripe, I can attest that sexual misbehavior is no less prevalent among non-Catholics, the ministry included. Thank you for your concern and prayers for the good of my soul, but I am concerned for yours as well, separated from the true Church and lacking the graces imparted by the sacraments.
I cannot find outside of man's traditions that a priest is the only one that can serve the 'sacraments'... At the death of Christ on the cross that veil in the holy of holies was rent from top to bottom... each individual has direct access to the Heavenly Father from that point forward in Christ. These preacher boys prostituting and playing porn videos, sure do not have 'the' sacraments on their minds... You think their activity is hidden from the Creator, calling themselves 'holy father'... The 'sacraments' they are serving come straight from the devil.
I would remind you what God said would come to pass... Amos 8: 11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: "
Preachers of all stripes are starving the sheep, while setting up soup kitchens.. for the illegals they get government funding to house.
Message to Protestants: Catholics don't care what you think about the Catholic Church, its beliefs, or its practices.
ROFLMHO!!! Seriously??? The Heretic? The Pope who has lowered the punishment for molesters?
Francis has frequently called for a more rigorous screening process for seminarians...
Only to weed out the orthodox.
Austen Ivereigh...
One of Francis' biggest sycophants -- the last person to take seriously.
Or the Creator either, as made apparent in this revelation!!!! Thankfully, The Creator keeps the only record that counts for the eternity... Just keep your paws out of my wallet.
LOL, what does that have to do with the topic of this thread or my reply? ROFL!
Catholic Church collects $1.6 billion in U.S. contracts, grants since 2012
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/sep/24/catholic-church-collects-16-billion-in-us-contract/
By ‘law’ I am a member of your religion... and I can by law speak freely about what goes on in your religion... whether you care what I say or think is beside the point.
Please read John 6, and then read it again, and again.
Perhaps you mean well. Perhaps you’re ignorant of Catholic teaching. We, as Catholics, believe we are saved ONLY BY GRACE. We believe that we receive grace through
- Penance
- Going to Mass
- the intercession of Mary
- Baptism
And the other sacraments, and through prayer, and in co-operating with God’s will with in us.
“The ONLY thing that will save you is repentance of your sins, and calling upon the Son of God, Jesus the Christ.”
Actually, the ONLY thing that will save anyone is grace. Repentance of sin is a way to receive grace - we do that in the sacrament of Confession and in the Mass and in our personal prayers.
NO ONE WILL EVER BE SAVED EXCEPT BY GRACE. Someone can call upon the Lord and still not be saved (Matthew 7:21) but only those who DO the will of the Father.
It helps to actually know what you’re talking about.
“I cannot find outside of man’s traditions that a priest is the only one that can serve the ‘sacraments’...”
Sure you can. Christ only chose 12 men, for instance. Acts and St. Paul’s letters make it clear that only some men possessed authority to perform certain functions.
“At the death of Christ on the cross that veil in the holy of holies was rent from top to bottom... each individual has direct access to the Heavenly Father from that point forward in Christ.”
Access, yes. All authority, no. https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/is-there-a-new-covenant-ministerial-priesthood
“These preacher boys prostituting and playing porn videos, sure do not have ‘the’ sacraments on their minds...”
No, they don’t, but that just means they are sinners - like so many other people. It doesn’t mean they are NOT priests.
“You think their activity is hidden from the Creator, calling themselves ‘holy father’...”
That comment is an ignorant one. Who is “You” in that sentence? There’s not a single Catholic anywhere who thinks what these priests have done is somehow missed by God.
“The ‘sacraments’ they are serving come straight from the devil.”
No, they come straight from Jesus. Jesus founded the Sacraments, not the human priest. That’s why the sacraments of even a sinful priest (and who among human beings isn’t sinful these days?) are still effective for those disposed towards God’s grace. The sacraments are dependent upon God for their power - not sinful men.
“I would remind you what God said would come to pass... Amos 8: 11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: “”
Which probably already happened in ancient times since that’s connected to verse 14 by the way. One should be careful about assuming Old Testament prophecies are about modern times since most Old Testament prophecies are about Old Testament or about Christ’s time on earth.
“Preachers of all stripes are starving the sheep, while setting up soup kitchens.. for the illegals they get government funding to house.”
That is true. And your post is akin to what they do. You offer up personal interpretations, and even personal exegesis about things you apparently don’t understand. You’re not much better than one of those “starving the sheep, while setting up soup kitchens”.
While all churches have some level of clergy giving in to concupiscence, it does seem that the Roman Catholic Church with its mandatory celibate unmarried clergy has a higher rate than any other churches. Shouldn’t the Roman Catholic people rise up and demand a church-wide review of the policy of a strictly celibate unmarried clergy?
Celibacy was not always the policy of the Roman Catholic Church. The Church was a thousand years old before it definitively took a stand in favor of celibacy in the twelfth century at the Second Lateran Council held in 1139, when a rule was approved forbidding priests to marry. I think whatever societal issues led to that decision should be reconsidered against the church and social structures in society today.
Do I think there is some connection between the institution of a supposedly celibate unmarried clergy and the rate of sexual abuses by that clergy? Yes. Why? They are human beings 1st and primarily, and you could say “in spite of their vows”.
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