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(Editor's Note: Contains information some readers may find objectionable.) (CNSNews.com) - There's something for everyone on the Internet - even for pedophiles who seek support and acceptance for their fixation on children. Some of the websites that "celebrate" adults' love for minor children are very careful to monitor their content so they don't break any laws. Pornographic images, erotic literature and other sexually explicit content are nowhere to be found on these sites, but advocates for children find them very troubling nevertheless. At the website Girl Love Garden, pedophiles claim to be on a quest for social acceptance of their...

Former Cardinal Law says he relied on others in handling allegations against priest whose case sparked national scandal By DENISE LAVOIE The Associated Press 1/15/03 12:09 AM BOSTON (AP) -- Deposition transcripts released Tuesday support Cardinal Bernard Law's repeated assertions that he relied on subordinates and the opinions of doctors in dealing with abuse complaints, including those against a priest whose case sparked the clergy sex scandal.The transcripts released Tuesday describe a letter that claimed the Rev. John J. Geoghan molested boys and which arrived on Law's desk in September 1984, six months after he became leader of the Archdiocese...

Hang tough... by Greg Swann To my shame, I actually do have an opinion about what Senate-Majority-Leader-to-be Trent Lott ought to do in his current predicament. My advice to Lott would be the same counsel I would give to Pope John Paul II, to Bernard Law, now the former Cardinal of the Archdiocese of Boston and to Thomas O'Brien, Bishop of the Diocese of Phoenix. I would offer to all of them the same guidance, and all for the same reason.My advice, for whatever it's worth:Hang tough.The news we know, of course, is the same old blah, blah, blah:...

Part 1: The Real Issue Behind the Scandals in U.S. According to Gladys Sweeney of Institute for the Psychological Sciences ARLINGTON, Virginia, JUNE 6, 2002 (Zenit.org).- The key problem involving scandals with priests in the United States isn't what the media generally lead us to believe, says a Catholic psychologist. Dr. Gladys Sweeney, president and dean of the Institute for the Psychological Sciences, gave her insights into what lies behind the scandals that have rocked the Church in America. Sweeney formerly held a faculty appointment at the Division of Child Psychiatry and Department of Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins Medical School....

ENTANGLED ON THE WEBby James HitchcockLast year there was a brief sensation over the revelation of the existence of a website called St. Sebastian’s Angels, where homosexual priests throughout the English-speaking world regularly exchanged messages. Official reaction to this revelation (more accurately, non-reaction) leads to the inescapable conclusion that activities of this kind are not taken very seriously in hierarchical circles. Of the public reaction, far more outrage was directed at the group called Roman Catholic Faithful, which discovered the site, than to its contents. Charges of “sexual McCarthyism,” “prurience,” “invasion of privacy,” and other things were immediately hurled at...

The text of the statement released after the extraordinary two-day meeting held at the Vatican:        On April 23-24, 2002, an extraordinary meeting was held in the Vatican between the Cardinals of the United States and the leadership of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops and the heads of several offices of the Holy See on the subject of the sexual abuse of minors.         The meeting was called with three goals in mind: on the part of the American Bishops, to inform the Holy See about the difficulties which they have faced in...

The Church's scandal a godsend to some George Jonas National Post Thirteen American cardinals have answered what the press has described as a summons to Rome. The church fathers are there to receive guidance from Pope John Paul II on the reasons and remedies for the sex scandals besetting the Catholic Church in America. Voices in the media cite priestly celibacy as one reason for the scandals, but I cannot conceive of a person simple-minded enough to believe that letting priests marry would reduce the incidence of choir boys molested. The very notion is reminiscent of the naive Prussian queen...

he first thing to understand about the Catholic Church's pedophilia scandal is that it is not technically a pedophilia scandal. Despite the gruesome example of defrocked Boston priest John Geoghan, whose case started the current tidal wave of revelations, the overwhelming majority of priests who have molested minors are not pedophiles — that is, like Geoghan, among the rare adults sexually attracted to pre-pubescent children. They are, rather, "ephebophiles" — adults who are sexually attracted to post-pubescent youths, generally aged 12 to 17. And their victims have been almost exclusively boys.Stephen Rubino, a New Jersey lawyer, says that of the...

Thursday, April 18, 2002Cardinal Law Digging InBernard Cardinal Law has no intention of resigning in the face of increasingly harsh demands that he give up his post as archbishop of Boston. During a meeting with Pope John Paul II, the cardinal said Tuesday night that the subject of his possible resignation was discussed, but neither he nor his Holiness concluded that a resignation was in the cards at this time. In a statement issued after his secret trip to the Holy See, Law vowed that "as a result of my stay in Rome, I return home encouraged in my efforts...

Media Myths Fuel the Clergy Abuse Scandalby John Burger and Kathryn Jean Lopez The Register interviews Philip Jenkins, professor of history and religious studies at Pennsylvania State University, who wrote Pedophiles and Priests: Anatomy of a Contemporary Crisis. April 10, 2002 / BOSTON — The way some of the media report it, one would believe the Church is overrun with pedophile priests, and bishops are protecting the abusers rather than the victims. No priest is to be trusted alone with children. It’s not safe for a kid to go to confession or to become an altar boy. Several assumptions...