Posted on 08/08/2002 5:38:18 AM PDT by vance
Catholic orders plan to keep abusive priests in the clergy, but away from children
By RACHEL ZOLL The Associated Press 8/8/02 1:27 AM
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Leaders of the thousands of American priests who belong to religious orders said the Roman Catholic belief in compassion and forgiveness will guide how they discipline clergy members who molest children.
The Conference of Major Superiors of Men, an association of the heads of orders including the Jesuits and Franciscans, said during their annual meeting Wednesday that they would keep sex abusers away from children but in the priesthood, fulfilling a pledge to support their members for life.
Religious orders will bar guilty priests from ministries involving face-to-face contact with parishioners, but they plan to find a role for the men in administrative jobs far from young people, said the Rev. Ted Keating, a Marist priest and the conference's executive director.
"We have a family dimension. If a man is sick, he's still one of us, and often, these men are very sick," Keating said.
The approach differs from that of the nation's bishops, who agreed in June to remove abusers from all church work -- anything from teaching in parochial schools to serving in a Catholic soup kitchen. The prelates also said they would seek to oust some offenders from the priesthood.
Priests take vows of poverty when they join religious communities.
"It's in a sense like a marriage," said the Rev. Dan Ward, a Benedictine who serves as a civil and church lawyer for the conference. "The marriage vow is for better or for worse."
Mark Serrano, of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, fears that allowing the men to continue working for the church, even in administrative jobs, could put minors at risk. He accused religious communities of protecting abusers at the expense of children.
"They have an even more secret culture than diocese priests," Serrano said.
Serrano's group asked to address the meeting, but Keating said the conference had denied the request. He said two therapists who work with victims will instead speak at the meeting, which runs through Saturday.
About 15,000 of the 46,000 priests in the United States belong to religious orders. One-third work in parishes, with the rest serving in hospitals, schools and other ministries.
Under church law, bishops have authority over religious-order clergy serving within a diocese, and the orders agreed several years ago to notify bishops if a problem priest was being sent to work in their area. Dozens of the estimated 300 clergymen taken off duty this year because of abuse claims are members of religious communities.
The hundreds of religious communities in the United States are autonomous and answer to headquarters in Rome. Unlike dioceses, they have no geographic boundaries, spanning states and several countries. Victim groups complain that some offenders have been sent overseas to avoid punishment in the United States.
Also, the Conference of Major Superiors does not have the same authority as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to set policies meant to be binding nationwide.
On Wednesday, participants in the national meeting spent much of the day listening to presentations on the legal and church issues surrounding abusive priests.
Later in the gathering, they will discuss creating a national review board, similar to the one the bishops formed, to evaluate how the orders have handled molesters. They will also discuss establishing local lay advisory boards and expanding outreach to victims.
What will these predators do now?? Take off their collars and go out into the general public for their prey.
Sac
"It's in a sense like a marriage," said the Rev. Dan Ward, a Benedictine who serves as a civil and church lawyer for the conference. "The marriage vow is for better or for worse."
I would like to believe that most priests couldn't be gay, but when men of the cloth protect each other this way, it really makes you wonder.
Anyone know if there are some conservative/orthodox cousins of the Catholic Church (such as something like Polish Catholic Church) who, while still being allied and under Rome, nevertheless are bedrock conservative/maintain the sacraments, but whom have an absolute no-tolerance policy for child molesters (even single offenders) and homosexuality in the priesthood?
Sad to say, it might make sense for some to start shopping around for an alternative to 'the Church that Christ Founded--Lite".
UFB
I hate teachers' unions but I don't recall any union support for the teachers who have gone to the pen for having sex with their students.
...Ostructing Church Leaders protecting them remain...
...and so does, therefore,
...the THREAT TO OUR CHILDREN.
...While saying on Southern California TV's that he is fully cooperating with LAPD and L.A. County Sheriff Investigators looking into over 120 Cases of SeXual Abuse by over 60 priests in that Archdiocese alone...
...L.A. Cardinal ROGER MAHONY has managed to tie up L.A. Grand Jury-Subpoened documents in Court till AFTER the September 2002 opening of his new downtown Cathedral of the Angels...
...just for the TV of it.
...And who said the Impeachment of BILL CLINTON didn't matter...????
...Listen to BOB DORNAN's...
'Faith, Family, Freedom with BOB DORNAN'
...Talk Radio Show on the Talk Radio Network from 6-9AM Pacific / 9AM-12PM Eastern Time on...
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..for MICHALE ROSE's outstanding Book:
..'GOODBYE GOOD MEN: How Liberals Brought Corruption into the Catholic Church'..!!
...MICHAEL ROSE gave a copy of this Book nailing HomoseXualilty in the Church Clergy as THE Problem in this Scandal to each and EVERY U.S. Catholic Cardinal meeting in Dallas, Texas over this Issue recently and was ignored.
...The U.S. Cardinals punted instead, protecting their own while appointing 2 of former President BILL CLINTON's own White House SeXual Abuse Impeachment Defenders, Attorney ROBERT BENNENT and CLINTON White House Chief of Staff LEON PANETTA, to a newly formed oversight board that will be monitoring how the Bishops handle SeXual Abuse by Catholic Clergy.
...And WHO said CLINTON's Impeachment didn't matter...???
.."That's why I am no longer a Catholic."
'bout says it all...?
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