Posted on 05/23/2002 6:07:24 AM PDT by NYer
MILWAUKEE (AP) _ Roman Catholic Archbishop Rembert Weakland agreed in 1998 to pay $450,000 to a man who accused him of sexual assault, according to documents cited Thursday by ABC News. ABC said the agreement had required Paul J. Marcoux, 53, to keep silent.
``I was involved in a cover-up. I accepted money to be silent about it, not to speak out against what was going on,'' Marcoux said in an interview broadcast on ``Good Morning America.'' Marcoux (pronounced mar COO) said he was sexually assaulted 20 years ago, when he was a student at Marquette University and had gone to the archbishop seeking advice about entering the priesthood.
Marcoux told the network Weakland ``started to try and kiss me and continued to force himself on me, pull down my trousers and attempted to fondle me.'' ``Think of it in terms of date rape,'' Marcoux told ABC.
ABC said as part of the settlement, the archbishop and the archdiocese denied the claims. It said the church declined to comment until the report was aired. Matthew Flynn, an attorney for the archdiocese, reached after the interview aired on the East Coast but before it appeared in Milwaukee, declined comment to The Associated Press. Jerry Topczewski, the spokesman for the archdiocese, did not immediately return calls from the AP.
The network also quoted from an 11-page handwritten letter that it said was written by Weakland. The letter, dated Aug. 25, 1980, said Weakland could not pay Marcoux more than $14,000 to settle the case.
``I should not put down on paper what I would not want the whole world to read. But here goes anyway,'' the letter said. ``I felt like the world's worst hypocrite. So gradually I came back to the importance of celibacy in my life. ...''
The ABC report said Marcoux sought more money in 1997 and the archbishop paid $450,000 to settle the case on condition of secrecy.
AP-ES-05-23-02 0852EDT
Teenage boys who know little about their own sexuality and who have been taught to deeply respect and trust their priests by the people they trust most (their parents) do not normally have the knowledge and courage to fend off homosexually molesting priests who are telling them that it's OK, it's normal, they should trust, etc. etc. These priests were monsters who raped these boys, physically and spiritually.
I was just pointing out how he could defend what he said, if challenged.
I also never have a problem with rendering to Caesar, as I was commanded.
How does covering for a viewer of child porn (a misdemeanor) comport with the authority Jesus delegated to His Church?
I'm certainly not comparing Weakland to Curtiss. Weakland is a flaming gay who has humiliated himself.
But Curtiss covered up a crime. For eight months. He's being raked over the coals, and properly so.
Further, many of the teenage boys molested pleaded with their tormentors to stop the molestations. Most were then threatened by the monsters.
Not really. Think about it in a heterosexual situation: a broker boss and a (female) junior analyst, for example. Both are adults, but he has the power. When he grabs her, even though she could probably physically kick him in the garbanzos and get away - do you think she's going to?
I think we are all forgetting that Rembert had the power, in this case. And by his own admission, he hadn't been exactly an adherent of celibacy, so he was probably used to getting what he wanted out of younger men - seminarians, priests, etc.
In this case, he picked the wrong one - a true flake, who came back to haunt him. The same thing happens with heterosexuals - they'll just pick the wrong girl at some point, and she sues them, or goes to the press.
The point is that Rembert W. is a pompous ass who has been horrible to people in his diocese who had children who were assaulted by his priests, and he has been posing as the informed liberal voice of charity and decency. All the while, of course, he was carrying on in his own gay way (but probably felt very virtuous because he wasn't chasing children).
And now these people find out that their diocese had to pay out nearly half-million dollars (out of their pockets, essentially) to shut the mouth of the cute little thing Rembert just couldn't resist - who happened to be an unstable and unscrupulous flake, but that's the breaks. Rembert should have kept it zipped.
THE CASE OF ARCHBISHOP WEAKLAND: TIME FOR AN ETHICAL STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS
Responding to reports that Archbishop Rembert Weakland paid $450,000 to a man who accused him of sexual assault two decades ago is Catholic League president William Donohue:
"Any priest who violates his vow of celibacy is guilty of wrongdoing. Married men and women who break their marital vows are also guilty of wrongdoing. But it needs to be asked what social good is served when current disclosures of past indiscretions are made public. The time has come to invoke an ethical statute of limitations.
"Rumors abound everyday about the alleged sexual misconduct that a clergyman once committed. The motives are not pure. Some are interested in making headlines; some are engaged in blackmail; and others are promoting politics. This kind of sexual McCarthyism serves no constructive purpose.
"To be sure, American society is culturally schizophrenic: we sponsor a libertine understanding of sexuality that puts a premium on genital liberation and yet are appalled by the psychological and physical consequences that such a vision entails. We also expect that every person of the cloth will at all times restrain his libido while everyone else is free to throw constraint to the wind. The immaturity that characterizes this response is deep-seated.
"Voyeurism is usually considered an individual property but in the United States it has taken on a collective identity. It is now a society-wide phenomenon and is sustained by an appetite that is apparently insatiable. But that does not justify its perverse indulgence. To make matters worse, those who always harbored an agenda against their most-hated prelate think it's time to rejoice. Count the Catholic League out. It's time everyone-on the left and on the right, straight as well as gay-chilled out. Enough is enough."
That's for sure and thank God.
When I was a kid, the saying was, "I get the ring, you get my thing".
The price has obviously gone down since then.
I hope you will take time to read it.
He's the liberal media's darling and this will sink like a stone. While I saw the name of Bishop Eldon Curtiss all over the place (for his stupid and wrong-headed remarks, combined with his sluggish action in the case of a priest addicted to pornography), I haven't seen a word on the usual Catholic-bashing press websites about the (liberal) Archbishop Weakland, who was revealed to have paid a half-million in hush-money from diocesan funds to his crazy gay cutie. Futhermore, if you've been following the local news about him and his "listening sessions," you'll see that Rembert simply ignored any and all reports of clerical wrongdoing, despite his supposed "policy of openness." And we won't even go into a discussion of his remarks about how it's all the fault of the child-victims of these priests, who "start to squeal" once Father dumps them for fresh, younger meat.
Rembert talks a good game, he's a liberal who loves all the things that the press loves, and he's going to get the Bill Clinton treatment all the way. He'll probably get to be even more of a press darling because of this. In six months, he'll probably be giving interviews on his courageous and compassionate handling of sexual scandals...
Excuse me, I feel an upchuck coming on.
Sorry, Bill. As we speak, I'm nursing one of our cats, Mims, back to health from an abcess on her hip. The vet drained all the pus out (which took two hours), then left the hole open. He says these kinds of sores have to heal from the inside out. Twice a day, I have to insert some Neosporin-like ointment in this open hole, and give her an antibiotic.
The important thing, the vet says, is TO KEEP THE HOLE OPEN. If it scabs over, he will lance it again. All the poison has to drain, from the inside out.
Apologies for the gross analogy, but this is what has to happen in the Church. Keep the sore open until all the infection is gone: pervert priests, covering bishops.
This sore has to heal from the inside.
In our experience, the propaganda directed toward us was meant to make anyone other than "Poor" feel guilty for their condition. "Preferential Option" was a heavy inference that God cared more for poor people than anyone else! I'm not making this up!
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