Time to shut this cess pool down

81

How many more cases do we need? It's time to shut this cess pool down once and for all.

A Roman Catholic priest was arrested on charges he viewed child pornography in the rectory of his Pittsburgh-area church, the diocese said on Sunday.

The Rev. Bartley Sorensen, 62, pastor of St. John Fisher Church in Churchill, Pennsylvania, was arraigned on charges of possession of child pornography, a third-degree felony, according to the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

He was being held on Sunday in the Allegheny County Jail in lieu of a $100,000 bond, jail officials said.

Sorensen was arrested after a church employee walked into the rectory on Friday and saw Sorensen viewing a computer image of a young boy naked from the waist down, with the words "Hottie Boys" on the screen, police said. She alerted diocesan officials, who immediately contacted police.

Allegheny County detectives found pornographic images of young boys on his computer, police said. During an interview, Sorensen admitted to possessing at least 100 pornographic pictures of children, police said. He has not been charged with abusing children.

Accusations of child abuse and sexual impropriety against Catholic clergy in the United States have rocked the Catholic Church since 2002, and the church has paid out some $2 billion in settlements to abuse victims.

The pornography arrest also comes amid a series of separate scandals that have seen a steady march of men make abuse accusations in recent weeks against coaches at Penn State University, Syracuse University and most recently against a top official at the Amateur Athletic Union.

The Pittsburgh diocese said in a statement that Sorensen had been placed on administrative leave.

"The viewing of pornographic images involving children is a disturbing and criminal act," the statement said. "The Diocese of Pittsburgh is cooperating to the fullest extent in the investigation of this incident."

A priest for 35 years, Sorensen had been a pastor at St. John Fisher only for several weeks, having been previously assigned for nine months to St. Anne Church in Castle Shannon, Pennsylvania. His past includes an assignment as chaplain at West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh.

The Rev. Ronald Lengwin, diocese spokesman, said the diocese had provided Sorensen with the names of several possible attorneys after his arrest but it was unclear who he had retained for the criminal case.

Loulou

What the f@*k is wrong with these people???????

CAVSTARR313

I am with ya..

What is up with the priesthood? Does the job produce a pedophile? or do pedophiles just long to be priests?
Or is the number of pedophiles equally proportionate to every job and we just don't hear about it??

I was raised Catholic, and the priest of our church was arrest for molesting members of the church basketball team.. The shit makes me sick!!!

BM42909

You want to shut down the whole city of Pittsburgh? Can we at least wait until after the NFL playoffs, because the Curtain looks strong?

DAMON

Went to catholic school for 12 years and the best idea I ever heard to try prevent this or at least slow them down was to allow priest to marry? But may end up making it worst? What do you do, chemical castration, even then they would have to be caught first!

Who Princess

Cavstarr313 wrote:

I am with ya..

What is up with the priesthood? Does the job produce a pedophile? or do pedophiles just long to be priests?
Or is the number of pedophiles equally proportionate to every job and we just don't hear about it??

I was raised Catholic, and the priest of our church was arrest for molesting members of the church basketball team.. The shit makes me sick!!!

I was also raised Catholic. I read something several years ago that made sense to me. Pedophiles are people who are sexually immature. It's very difficult for them to function in an adult sexual relationship. Pedophiles would be attracted to a profession like the priesthood, where they would not have to marry and maintain an adult relationship and no one would question the fact that they were unmarried. An easy place for them to hide.

norm

damn! i thought this was about the porch

DS1119

norm wrote:

damn! i thought this was about the porch

mickeyrat

norm wrote:

damn! i thought this was about the porch

so what do u call your hangin gout over there? Slumming?

CAVSTARR313

mickeyrat wrote:

norm wrote:

damn! i thought this was about the porch

so what do u call your hangin gout over there? Slumming?

hangin' gout.. mmmmm...

mickeyrat

Cavstarr313 wrote:

mickeyrat wrote:

norm wrote:

damn! i thought this was about the porch

so what do u call your hanging out over there? Slumming?

hanging out.. mmmmm...

fixed.

I'm like 81 that way. I swear that dude doesn't know how to spell THE correctly. For me, I cant seem to put the space in the right place.

Hangin Gout. Might be a cool band name. or not.

norm

if anyone offers you a hangin gout, turn them down...no good comes from it

81

please stay on teh topic.

thanks,
mgmt

JK_Livin

I can't see how letting them marry could hurt the situation. Everyone needs to bang.

81

I find it amusing that one issue at a prominent university has people calling for heads to roll and doors to be shuttered, yet at an institution that has paid out over $2,000,000,000 in settlements (yes, that's 2 BILLION), there is barely a bad word to be found.

EmBleve

norm wrote:

damn! i thought this was about the porch

so did i.

norm

81 wrote:

I find it amusing that one issue at a prominent university has people calling for heads to roll and doors to be shuttered, yet at an institution that has paid out over $2,000,000,000 in settlements (yes, that's 2 BILLION), there is barely a bad word to be found.

over a billion catholics


over 100,000 psu graduates


nothing will ever happen with the church in our lifetime

81

norm wrote:

81 wrote:

I find it amusing that one issue at a prominent university has people calling for heads to roll and doors to be shuttered, yet at an institution that has paid out over $2,000,000,000 in settlements (yes, that's 2 BILLION), there is barely a bad word to be found.

over a billion catholics


over 100,000 psu graduates


nothing will ever happen with the church in our lifetime

no, but you have people here clamoring for PSU's head, but when the church is involved, those same people go radio silent.

davidtrios

SHUT IT DOWN!!!!

BinauralJam

I was raised catholic, went to church until i was 13. At No point in time was i ever alone with a preist or any adult, why would you be? Sooo Weird to me.

norm

81 wrote:

no, but you have people here clamoring for PSU's head, but when the church is involved, those same people go radio silent.

yes but those people are being overly dramatic about psu

EmBleve

BinauralJam wrote:

I was raised catholic, went to church until i was 13. At No point in time was i ever alone with a preist or any adult, why would you be? Sooo Weird to me.

I agree. Also, my brother was an altar boy and neither he nor any of his friends were ever alone with the priest or any adult. It's a terrible injustice to say the least that some priests or clergy would abuse their position in such a way.

davidtrios

norm wrote:

81 wrote:

no, but you have people here clamoring for PSU's head, but when the church is involved, those same people go radio silent.

yes but those people are being overly dramatic about psu

they allowed an environment for child rape.

DS1119

BinauralJam wrote:

I was raised catholic, went to church until i was 13. At No point in time was i ever alone with a preist or any adult, why would you be? Sooo Weird to me.

I was. He told me my family and I were going to go to hell because we didn't go to church every weekend. I was eight. My mom ripped him a new one. I think that was the beginning of the end with the church for me. I have my beliefs and I don't need any organization to take my money and tell me what to doand how to show my faith.

81

Davidtrios wrote:

norm wrote:

81 wrote:

no, but you have people here clamoring for PSU's head, but when the church is involved, those same people go radio silent.

yes but those people are being overly dramatic about psu

they allowed an environment for child rape.

and the church hasn't????

2 BILLION dollars says they have.

EmBleve

DS1119 wrote:

BinauralJam wrote:

I was raised catholic, went to church until i was 13. At No point in time was i ever alone with a preist or any adult, why would you be? Sooo Weird to me.

I was. He told me my family and I were going to go to hell because we didn't go to church every weekend. I was eight. My mom ripped him a new one. I think that was the beginning of the end with the church for me. I have my beliefs and I don't need any organization to take my money and tell me what to doand how to show my faith.

good for your mom! That's ridiculous. Some of your reasoning is also why I got away from it. The hypocrisy and tragic outcomes regarding the op is just staggering on so many levels.

81

A 77-year-old priest assigned to the chapel at Midway Airport was charged Saturday with sexual abuse after he allegedly tried to grab the crotch of a man who had attended services before boarding a flight to Kansas.

Father Bede R. Jagoe allegedly spoke to the 54-year-old victim after services on Dec. 11, Cook County prosecutors said.

As they boarded an elevator in the C Concourse, Jagoe allegedly told the man he was attracted to him and tried to kiss him on the mouth, then “grabbed (the victim’s) testicles,” prosecutors said.

Surveillance cameras near the elevator show Jagoe moving toward the victim as the elevator doors closed, prosecutors said.

The victim boarded his flight, and reported the incident to Chicago Police after he returned to his home in Kansas. He returned to Chicago on business last week and made a formal report Wednesday.

Jagoe was arrested Friday. On Saturday, he walked into Cook County Central Bond Court with the support of a cane. Jagoe was charged with criminal sexual abuse.

His attorney said Jagoe had been a priest for 51 years. Court records state Jagoe is a member of the Dominican Order and lives in River Forest.

A representative for the Dominican order’s Chicago province was traveling and not immediately available for comment.

81

sexual offense of minors....inside a catholic facility.....let me put on my shocked faced

..SOMERVILLE, N.J. (AP) — An educator using a secretly installed camera videotaped teenage boys in the shower at a Catholic high school for nearly three years, authorities said.

Patrick J. Lott, who was arrested last week, was arraigned Wednesday on charges he videotaped students in a communal shower area at Immaculata High School in Somerville starting in January 2008. He did not enter a plea.

The prosecutor's office said that there were at least 22 victims and that nine boys identified in the videos are currently under the age of 16. To protect the boys' identities, they were referred to only by their initials in court filings.

Lott, 54, is an assistant principal at a public middle school who volunteered at the Catholic high school. Authorities declined to provide further details about his volunteer position.

Immaculata officials alerted prosecutors when they received allegations of inappropriate conduct by Lott and later removed him from any involvement at the school, diocesan officials said.

Videos of boys showering together were recovered as a result of searches of Lott's home on Dec. 13 and 16, Somerset County prosecutor Geoffrey Soriano said. Detectives later located an area at the school where a camera had been installed surreptitiously, his office said.

Lott said little during his court appearance. His attorney, James Wronko, did not attend the hearing and did not return a telephone call seeking comment.

Lott is a longtime area educator who was active in local and county politics, and he served as chairman of the Somerville Republican Committee.

Bail for Lott was set at $500,000, with the condition he have no contact with any child under the age of 16, any of the boys in the videos or any member of the staff or faculty at Immaculata.

Lott was charged with 22 counts of invasion of privacy, one for each victim, and more than two dozen counts of various degrees of endangering the welfare of a child, prosecutor's office spokesman Jack Bennett said.

..

81

..PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A nun testified Monday in a landmark church sex-abuse trial that she was fired from a southeastern Pennsylvania parish for reporting concerns to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia about explicit mail that a priest had received.

Sister Joan Scary said she lost her job as director of education at St. Gabriel's in the rural Montgomery County town of Stowe, near Pottstown, after she complained to then-Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua about the Rev. Edward DePaoli shortly after his arrival in 1995. She said she was concerned about mail DePaoli began to receive, including computer disks from Denmark and magazines containing "deplorable" content, none of which included DePaoli's clerical title or indicated that his address was a rectory.

DePaoli, who was defrocked in 2005, is not a defendant in the trial but prosecutors are using the testimony about him and others to build a case against Monsignor William Lynn, who was the Archdiocese of Philadelphia's secretary of clergy from 1992 to 2004 and entrusted within investigating complaints against priests.

Lynn is the first Roman Catholic official in the U.S. charged with endangering children for allegedly moving priests suspected of molestation from parish to parish without warning anyone of previous sex-abuse complaints. He is on trial with the Rev. James Brennan, who is charged with the attempted rape of a 14-year-old boy in 1996. Both have pleaded not guilty.

Scary said Monday she was unaware when he came to St. Gabriel's that DePaoli was convicted in federal court in 1986 of possessing child pornography and sentenced to probation. The conviction was not announced in the parish but Scary said she did think it odd that "he didn't really have duties."

"During Mass he would sit in the sanctuary and wouldn't do anything, other than just be there," she said. "Most priests would either read the gospel, give a homily, help out with communion ... it just seemed strange."

She testified she was warned by the church's pastor to keep any concerns about DePaoli to herself "or I could pack my bags and leave."

That's exactly what happened after she anonymously mailed one of DePaoli's magazines to Bevilacqua, she testified, with a handwritten note asking whether the cardinal thought that it was appropriate material for a priest. She was fired by the Rev. James Gormley, the pastor, in May 1996 after seven years at St. Gabriel's.

A detective went on the stand Monday to read a series of memos regarding the case of the Rev. Thomas Shea, who was removed from active ministry in 1994, a week after the archdiocese was contacted by an attorney who said his client was sexually abused as an altar boy by Shea in the 1970s at Saint Helena parish in Philadelphia. In one memo, Lynn suggests the priest might have been "seduced into it" by the then-altar boy.

Shea, who was sent to a Catholic treatment facility and diagnosed as a pedophile with the emotional maturity level of a 12- or 13-year-old boy, was permitted to retire in 1995 and said he had only two victims — the boy whose lawyer contacted the archdiocese and a boy who had since died.

In 2002, however, the archdiocese received an anonymous letter from someone who said his or her family member was one of several boys molested by Shea in the 1970s at Saint Joseph parish in Collingdale and "cannot to this day stop running away from his life."

A detective on the witness stand told Assistant District Attorney Patrick Blessington that investigators found no evidence that the archdiocese tried to locate the letter writer or any other potential victims.

..

http://news.yahoo.com/nun-fired-reporti ... 56748.html

DinghyDog

-

81

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns- ... 5130.story

The number of credible allegations of sexual abuse of minors committed by Roman Catholic priests or deacons in the United States rose 15 percent last year, and the church spent $144 million to deal with the ongoing scandal, according to a church-sponsored audit released on Tuesday.

A total of 489 people reported credible allegations of abuse by priests or deacons in 2011, the bulk of them involving adults victimized when they were children decades ago by now-deceased clerics, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said in a report on its ninth annual audit of the issue.

Twenty-one of the victims were younger than 19 and victimized more recently. Attorneys for victims say there are likely tens of thousands more victims who have never come forward since the scandal erupted in Boston in 2002.

"We renew our promise to strive to the fullest to end the societal scourge of child sexual abuse," Cardinal Timothy Dolan, president of the conference, said in an introductory letter to the report.

Critics of the church's handling of the sex abuse crisis scoffed at the audit, saying it minimized the extent of the abuse and the culpability of the church hierarchy.

The yearly audit for the bishops identified credible allegations against 406 priests or deacons. In 2010, there were 428 credible allegations against 345 offenders. More than one-third of the alleged perpetrators had never been charged before.

The figures for victims and offenders were twice as high earlier in the decade, then dropped off beginning in 2008.

Twelve accused clerics remained active in ministry pending the outcome of investigations. Eleven percent of new allegations were deemed false.

Altogether, U.S. dioceses and religious institutes spent $144 million on abuse settlement-related costs, which included $50 million for settlements, $37 million in attorneys' fees, $6 million on therapy for victims and $10 million on support for offenders. About a quarter of the settlement amount was covered by church insurance policies.

The church spent another $33 million on child protection efforts last year. Nearly all church employees have undergone training on the issue, the bishops' audit said, and a majority of children in parishes have been instructed how identify when they are being "groomed" for abuse and what to do.

"The church must continue to be vigilant. The church must do all she can never to let abuse happen again. And we must all continue to work with full resolve toward the healing and reconciliation of the victims/survivors," Dolan said.

The yearly audit was conducted for the first time by StoneBridge Business Partners, which visited one-third of the 195 dioceses. Data was also provided by the Georgetown University-based Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate.

Critics such as the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and BishopAccountability.org have said the church cannot police itself, and that the crime of church higher-ups hiding and transferring offending priests is a persistent problem.

SNAP's outreach director Barbara Dorris called the audits "nearly meaningless." BishopAccountability.org president Terence McKiernan called it a "serious disservice to the public by pretending that all is well."

A trial is under way for a member of the church hierarchy in Philadelphia, Monsignor William Lynn, who is accused of transferring offending priests to unsuspecting parishes.

Lynn, 61, is the highest-ranking member of the U.S. church to go on trial in an abuse-related case, though Kansas City, Missouri, Bishop Robert Finn is to go on trial in September on a charge he failed to report to authorities about a priest found with pornographic pictures of young girls.

"Those horrific cases prove that, when it comes to kids' safety, little in church hierarchy has changed," Dorris said.

McKiernan of BishopAccountability.org said the number of priests credibly accused of molesting children since 1950 has now increased to more than 6,100.

Altogether, U.S. dioceses have spent $2.1 billion on settlement-related costs for the abuse scandal between 2004 through last year, according to the report. Eight dioceses, a Jesuit province, and the Irish Christian Brotherhood, a Catholic brotherhood that runs schools and orphanages, have declared bankruptcy since 2004, claiming overwhelming debts from the costs of the scandal.