Posted on 05/02/2002 7:48:10 AM PDT by history_matters
ATLANTIC CITY - Three years before his death in 2001, a priest said he wanted to end "the silence of the decades" regarding alleged sexual abuse by his colleagues in the Camden Diocese.
So Monsignor Salvatore J. Adamo, then 78, went to the office of an attorney who had filed a class-action suit on behalf of victims and gave an affidavit in which he said the diocese promoted homosexual priests and ignored allegations of abuse to avoid moral responsibility and financial liability.
He said the late Bishop George Guilfoyle - who he said was known as "the Queen of the Fairies" - put his lovers in high positions in the diocese.
"As the years of my earthly journey are ebbing, I am compelled to speak the truth as to the germination of tragic incidents of pedophilia and sexual abuse that is known to have become incessantly rampant within the Diocese of Camden throughout the decades," Adamo said.
"I share years of personal knowledge and observations as a priest of the Diocese of Camden and servant of the Lord in rendering my opinion. I do so not to disgrace anyone or anyone's memory. I do so in the interests of disclosing the truth, to the extent that I know it, and in the interests of vindicating the victims of abuse," Adamo said.
The suit, which is being litigated in Superior Court, was filed in 1994 by 18 people who say they were molested by priests. It accused the diocese of covering up the abuse and in at least one case, transferring an accused priest to a new parish as a show of faith in his innocence.
Among the defendant priests is retired Monsignor Philip Rigney, 85, who allegedly molested two altar boy brothers for years.
Adamo's 1998 affidavit contains no details of firsthand knowledge of the alleged abuse and was barred from being admitted as testimony in the case.
It does appear in court documents.
"It is full of unsubstantiated claims and untruths," said Andrew Walton, a diocesan spokesman. Adamo was an "angry, bitter man" who had lingering resentment over having been passed up for promotions, Walton said.
Adamo served as executive editor of the diocese's weekly newspaper - the Catholic Star Herald - before being fired by Guilfoyle in 1977. He left the priesthood in 1991. He died in January 2001 of pneumonia.
According to his affidavit:
* Once Guilfoyle became bishop, there was a noticeable change in regard to "sexual expression in the Diocese. ... Guilfoyle's sexual preference was apparent. [He] came to be referred to as the 'Queen of the Fairies.' He was ... prone to promote his alleged male 'lovers.'"
* His "spiritual adviser" was the Rev. Patrick Weaver, an alleged pedophile who Adamo said was protected by the diocese "to avoid scandal and to cover up the record in Rome."
* Rigney served as Guilfoyle's "pimp," using his position as director of vocations for the diocese to fill vacancies with "priests having a homosexual propensity."
* Guilfoyle's successor, Bishop James T. McHugh, coerced Adamo into remaining silent on the topic, threatening to remove him as pastor of St. Vincent Palloti parish in Haddon Township and withhold pension money.
Walton would not comment Tuesday on the Adamo affidavit's allegations specifically, but disputed the assertion that McHugh tried to silence Adamo.
"Bishop McHugh wrote to him to insist that he stop writing about some of these issues because he so consistently and repeatedly misrepresented and mischaracterized the church's position on a whole range of issues," he said.
Walton noted that after Guilfoyle died in 1991, Adamo praised him as a gentleman and a model Christian in a newspaper column.
"Bishop Guilfoyle goes into eternity with the sign of the cross etched on his soul. He deserved to be loved more than he was," Adamo wrote in the column.
Rigney could not be reached for comment. A woman who answered the telephone at his home in Palm Beach County, Fla., hung up.
However, some few insist on hijacking a news thread and changing the topic to some theological or denominational argument. In those cases, the thread should be shifted to Religion.
How prophetic.
Or else they are involved or subject to Blackmail by the Homosexual Perverted Priests,the problem is Systemic and pervades the Hierarchy throughout the U.S.A.
Luke 20:
45 While all the people were listening, Jesus said to his disciples, 46 "Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. 47 They devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely."
If this section of the Bible doesn't address the current Hierarchy ,I don't know what does.
Every day it gets worse and worse and it doesn't seem we have reached the bottom of the problem yet.
I knew Bishop McHugh and this is not true.He was a good man with a great devotion to Our Lady and a great prolifer.Once he took my parking spot for a large gathering.I had a TV crew with me and we had to walk 3 blocks with all the equipment to the church.We tried to go in the side door and set up quietly but as I opened the door of the church I could hear on the microphone,to a packed chuch,with the Bishop getting ready to process,"She's here Bishop,please wait a few minutes.He smiled and we set up and then he processed.
At first it mattered to me, now I don't care. Apparently, if the item is Catholic it gets moved to the religion forum no matter what it is about. Jim Robinson posted to me that he regards what the press is doing as dumping on the Catholic Church and that FR doesn't exist to dump on any religion. He also said he believed some of us were dumping on the Cathoilc Church. I got the impression he didn't realize I was Roman Catholic, but never mind.
But ... there again. Just as I wish bashing would stand as a rule, I do wish "News/Activism" got its fair share of the Catholic Bashing ongoing at present. It's not like the Catholics have asked for protection.
Perhaps the whole storyline serves as an unpleasant reminder of how biased and deceitful is the press on which folks around here increasingly rely on and whose stories they're cheering as long as the media's coverage tells them what they want to hear.
Who knows.
I am glad to read that you feel this way. I am Roman Catholic. I am interested in discussing what is in the news and analyzing what is going on. If the media are dumping on the Catholic Church, I would rather see it posted and Freepers expose what is going on by discussion and analysis. Underneath the Catholic bashing is an agenda that is as dangerous to the Republic as it is devastating to people of faith
When I have posted one of these articles dealing with the crisis in the Catholic Church in America it has been for the purpose of awareness and discussion which is what I thought FR was about. I have in no way sought to dump on the Church I love, but rather to keep FReepers informed and aware of the tenor of information as well as the agenda behind it. Perhaps I have not achieved my goals in that regard.
I do thank you for the time I have had on this forum. I have enjoyed it and getting to know the very able and bright minds and good souls here, but now I bid you and all adieu and God's peace.
The mission of Free Republic does not include dumping on the Catholic Church (or any other church or religion). And dumping is what the press is doing and what some of you on Free Republic are doing.
24 posted on 5/2/02 3:03 PM Eastern by Jim Robinson
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Honestly, you cannot have a serious discussion regarding the crisis in the church when fundies invade a thread and begin to bash all things catholic. You've been here long enough to realize that you can neither reason with them or regain control and get a thread back on topic once that "the Catholic Church is an evil, satanic cult" crap starts.
I don't think it's worth leaving FR over.
Jim Rob knows full well that it is the Religion Forum ghetto where the fundies hang out, circling for fresh meat like so many wolves in sheeps clothing.
The place the "other side" needs to be heard is among the general readership.
The ONLY thing that is allowed to remain any more on the News Forum are the most secular critical reports, that present all things Catholic in a negative light.
That is the only thing these so-called conservatives here, who do not frequest the Religion Forumghetto, are permitted to see.
Thus we all are simply wasting our time preaching to the choir here in the Religion Forumghetto.
The way this patronizing censorship is going, there is no equal time to defend the Church. And thus a very real, even if unintentional, anti-Catholic bias is being cemented right into the very structure of this new FR Format.
And that is why Catholic FReepers are leaving.
I think you are very fair in how you deal with people. You have a lot more patience than myself. Regards.
May I ask where you are all going? And can I come too?
Jim makes mistakes in judgement just like we all have at one time or another. He has to deal with so much on this forum from, bigots, people who have agendas, and disruptors, so the error was understandable. I hope you'll give your decision a second thought.
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