After child abuse accusations, Catholic priests often simply vanish

Washington Post ^ | 12/2/2010 | Michelle Boorstein and William Wan

[RnMomof7]

The Church doesn't run any jails. They want the priests laicized (part of which means lifting the oath of obedience priests take)...but then they want the Church to keep tabs on them afterwards. There is literally no way that can happen and any sane person should be able to see that.

Mark, these guys need REFERENCES, they are leaving a job after , say 20 years ...any new employer will want some evidence of previous employment, and skill they may have.. the ex priests should be in jail. but because it was so well covered by the church usually the statue of limitations has expired.. the least the diocese could do is notify the future employer of the reason for them leaving and any accusations that were "taken care of" by the church

Or would you be fine with a good reference leading to them being your 2nd graders teacher or boy scout leader?

[terycarl]

actually the incidence of CHILD molestation is much highrer among 2nd grade teachers and scout leaders than among Catholic clergy. MOST of the abuse accusations toward priests were for contact with post-pubescent boys, actually what should be clasified as homosexual advances. Now, if I am a 16 year old boy, and someone, priest or not, makes an advance toward having a relationship with me......he had better be very fast on his feet or able to protect himself from a very violent answer to his advance. However, if I am inclined toward that lifestyle, I’d certainly welcome his advances and I wouldn’t, 30 years later, claim that I was an innocent victim.......I don’t think so

[RnMomof7]

actually the incidence of CHILD molestation is much highrer among 2nd grade teachers and scout leaders than among Catholic clergy.

Ohh ok..it is fine then that Rome has allowed it Seminaries to become gay bathhouses and ordained the graduate perverts ..here I thought 100% of sexual predators were catholic priests that Rome covered up for and paid for the silence of their victims .

We should have just ignored that and complained to the school board ... How silly of us

[terycarl]

Ohh ok..it is fine then that Rome has allowed it Seminaries to become gay bathhouses and ordained the graduate perverts ..here I thought 100% of sexual predators were catholic priests that Rome covered up for and paid for the silence of their victims .

that is a pretty pathetic respones to my post.....of course every incident of child molestation should be followed up on and treated as the horrors that they are. That having been said, the Catholic church is being pictured as a haven for these criminals while , in reality, they are only brought to the forefront because their priests are being sued within the framework of the archdiocese ( which has a lot of money) no sense sueing a methodist minister nor a lutheran minister, they have no money and they are employees of a small, localized congregation, which also doesn’t have a lot of money. Just wait 30 years, accuse Father Joe of having a sexual relationship with you, and sue the archdiocese of New York......never mind that you couldn’t possibly prove that the encounter took place, the accusation is quite enough to get you a few bucks.....give me a break.....pathetic

[Trailerpark Badass]

You are sick.

[narses]

‘Passing the trash’

Too often, problem teachers are allowed to leave quietly. That can mean future abuse for another student and another school district.

“They might deal with it internally, suspending the person or having the person move on. So their license is never investigated,” says Charol Shakeshaft, a leading expert in teacher sex abuse who heads the educational leadership department at Virginia Commonwealth University.

It’s a dynamic so common it has its own nicknames—“passing the trash” or the “mobile molester.”

Laws in several states require that even an allegation of sexual misconduct be reported to the state departments that oversee teacher licenses. But there’s no consistent enforcement, so such laws are easy to ignore.

School officials fear public embarrassment as much as the perpetrators do, Shakeshaft says. They want to avoid the fallout from going up against a popular teacher. They also don’t want to get sued by teachers or victims, and they don’t want to face a challenge from a strong union.

[narses]

Despicable is the word that comes to mind.

[narses]

See mine at 26.

[narses]

Amazing how the screachers shut up once facts got linked here, no?

[RnMomof7]

You are sick.

Interesting , your church ordains and supports perverts and then spends years covering for them , paying cover up money then sending them to new hunting grounds to cover their tracts and I AM SICK .....

Only in the catholic mind my friend

[Cicero]

The Church is responsible for the behavior of its priests as long as they are working in the Church.

If they leave, they have no obligation, and in fact NO LEGAL RIGHT, to do anything further. Once they have reported any criminal offenses to the authorities, their legal obligations and rights end right there.

The lawyers involved with these accusations are nothing but ambulance chasers, hoping to make still more money off the Church. Money that otherwise would have been put to better purposes, such as maintaining schools and hospitals or feeding the poor. And, of course, the left wing media never loses a chance to bash the Church.

I am sorry that some Protestant Catholic-haters get sucked into this. How does it feel to ally yourselves with Communist liars who are busy attacking the Church on one front while defending and spreading sexual perversion on all other fronts?

[Alex Murphy]

I am sorry that some Protestant Catholic-haters get sucked into this. How does it feel to ally yourselves with Communist liars who are busy attacking the Church on one front on all other fronts?

Who are you talking to, Cicero?

[Cicero]

Not to you for posting this article, but to the author of it and some of the Protestants who weigh in on these threads.

[narses]

The rabid haters of Truth are few, but they exist. They ignore Truth, they deny Truth, they RUN from Truth. For example:

‘Passing the trash’

Too often, problem teachers are allowed to leave quietly. That can mean future abuse for another student and another school district.

“They might deal with it internally, suspending the person or having the person move on. So their license is never investigated,” says Charol Shakeshaft, a leading expert in teacher sex abuse who heads the educational leadership department at Virginia Commonwealth University.

It’s a dynamic so common it has its own nicknames—“passing the trash” or the “mobile molester.”

Laws in several states require that even an allegation of sexual misconduct be reported to the state departments that oversee teacher licenses. But there’s no consistent enforcement, so such laws are easy to ignore.

School officials fear public embarrassment as much as the perpetrators do, Shakeshaft says. They want to avoid the fallout from going up against a popular teacher. They also don’t want to get sued by teachers or victims, and they don’t want to face a challenge from a strong union.

[narses]

Hey Alex, how about posting stories about public servants and child abuse? Like the one here about government paid teachers and the coverups they engage in?