Run out of boys to touch? Feel free to oppress women.
The Vatican has ordered an overhaul of the most important group of nuns in the United States after an investigation found what Roman Catholic Church officials called "radical feminist themes" that questioned official positions on homosexuality and the ordination of women.
In a bluntly worded report, the Vatican's watchdog of orthodoxy, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, found what it called "serious doctrinal problems" with some of the comments and actions by the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, based in Silver Spring, Md. The Vatican on Wednesday named Archbishop Peter Sartain of Seattle to oversee changes in the group, a process that could take up to five years.
The Leadership Conference, which says it has more than 1,500 members representing more than 80% of the 57,000 women religious in the United States, stated it was "stunned" by the official assessment.
"This is a moment of great import for religious life and the wider church," the group said in a statement posted on its website. "We ask your prayers as we meet with the LCWR National Board within the coming month to review the mandate and prepare a response."
The Vatican’s actions come at a time when Rome appears to be reasserting its conservative vision over some elements of the church, particularly in the United States.
Nuns have questioned a variety of church positions, including the ban on ordaining women. In 2010, American bishops opposed the Obama administration’s healthcare insurance overhaul, but some nuns were very visible in supporting the plan, whose constitutionality is now being considered by the Supreme Court.
In its assessment of the Leadership Conference, the Vatican cited letters from some in the group "protesting the Holy See's actions regarding the question of women's ordination and of a correct pastoral approach to ministry to homosexual persons."
"The terms of the letters suggest that these sisters collectively take a position not in agreement with the Church’s teaching on human sexuality. It is a serious matter when these Leadership Teams are not providing effective leadership and example to their communities, but place themselves outside the Church’s teaching," the report said.
The Vatican also "noted a prevalence of certain radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith in some of the programs and presentations sponsored by the LCWR, including theological interpretations that risk distorting faith in Jesus and his loving Father who sent his Son for the salvation of the world. Moreover, some commentaries on 'patriarchy' distort the way in which Jesus has structured sacramental life in the Church; others even undermine the revealed doctrines of the Holy Trinity, the divinity of Christ, and the inspiration of Sacred Scripture."
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is now led by an American, Cardinal William Levada, formerly the archbishop of San Francisco. He follows in the footsteps of Pope Benedict XVI, who headed the office before he assumed the papal triple tiara in 2005.
The investigation of the American women religious began in 2008; when it was announced, some nuns and their backers complained that it was an attempt to rein in their communities, which often provide key social services in schools and hospitals -- often at salaries below what the non-religious earn.
Despite its strong language questioning the nuns on doctrine, the report praised their work.
"The Holy See acknowledges with gratitude the great contribution of women Religious to the Church in the United States as seen particularly in the many schools, hospitals, and institutions of support for the poor which have been founded and staffed by Religious over the years," the report said.
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - A monsignor who oversaw hundreds of priests in the Philadelphia Archdiocese was found guilty on Friday of one count of endangering the welfare of a child, making him the first senior U.S. Roman Catholic Church official to be convicted for covering up child sex abuse.
The jury acquitted Monsignor William Lynn on two other counts - conspiracy and another charge of child endangerment.
Lynn was accused of what prosecutors said was an effort to cover up child sex abuse allegations, often by transferring priests to unsuspecting parishes.
Removing his black clerical jacket but leaving on his collar, a stoic Lynn, 61, was led out of the courtroom and into custody by deputy sheriffs as his family members wept.
"Every juror there wanted to do justice... we wanted to do what was right," jury foreman Isa Logan, 35, a customer service representative at a local bank told reporters outside the courtroom.
Sentencing for Lynn, who faces up to seven years in prison, was set for August 13 by Judge M. Teresa Sarmina.
While prosecutors argued that Lynn should immediately be jailed, the judge said she would consider house arrest if the defense asked for it.
The jury deliberated 13 days before reaching the mixed decision in the trial of Lynn, who for 12 years served as secretary of the clergy.
"This is a strong message, and we're grateful for that message that kids' safety has to come first," said Barbara Dorris, outreach director for Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
It puts the church on notice that it can no longer "shield and protect" abusive priests and expect to get away with it, Dorris said.
The case against Lynn was part of a broader indictment against clergy in the Philadelphia Archdiocese. One of the priests, Reverend William Brennan, was tried along with Lynn and faced charges of attempted rape and child endangerment. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on the counts against Brennan.
A third priest who was scheduled to go on trial with Lynn and Brennan pleaded guilty at the last minute to sexually assaulting a 10-year-old altar boy at church in 1999.
The jury began deliberating earlier this month after hearing 10 weeks of testimony in a trial that re-focused attention on the broader sex abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church, costing billions in settlements, driving prominent U.S. dioceses into bankruptcy and testing the faith of Roman Catholics.
In this case, Lynn's job was supervising 800 priests, including investigating sex abuse claims from 1992 to 2004, in the nation's sixth largest archdiocese, with 1.5 million members.
At the trial, prosecutors argued that Lynn chose to protect the church at the expense of children, in an effort to avoid scandal and potential loss of financial support for the church.
The defense said Lynn tried to address cases of pedophile priests, compiling a list in 1994 of 35 accused predators and writing memos to suggest treatment and suspensions.
He was hampered because he could merely make recommendations to his boss, the head of the archdiocese, Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, the defense said. Bevilacqua died in January at age 88.
LYNN'S TESTIMONY KEY TO VERDICT
According to Lynn's testimony, which the jury foreman said was key to reaching a verdict, the cardinal said any mention of an accused priest's move from a parish should cite health reasons, never the accusations. Testimony also showed Bevilacqua ordered the list of accused priests be destroyed, although a lone copy was found in an Archdiocese safe.
Prosecutors used that list to show the church was well aware of predatory priests and covered up their existence, while the defense used the same list to argue it showed Lynn attempting to stop the problem.
The U.S. scandal erupted in 1992 with a series of sex abuse cases uncovered in the Archdiocese of Boston that helped encourage other victims of abuse to come forward.
Some 3,000 civil lawsuits alleging abuse were filed in the United States between 1984 and 2009. An unknown number of complaints - believed to be vastly more - were settled privately, often with confidentiality agreements, experts say.
The church has paid out some $2 billion in settlements to victims, bankrupting a handful of dioceses. Hefty multi-million sums were paid out by Catholic Archdiocese in Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles. The Diocese of Wilmington, Delaware, declared bankruptcy in 2009, and the Diocese of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, did so in 2011.
Lynn's trial was noteworthy because of its focus on the role of a church official accused not of molestation but of covering it up. It raises questions of personal responsibility and how far someone such as Lynn could or should have stepped outside the rigors of the church hierarchy and whether strict obedience to church elders is defensible, experts said.
Glad there was a conviction. Frustrating that it wasn't on all counts and that there's a mistrial for Brennan. The sentence for Avery seems ridiculously short considering the victim is serving a lifetime sentence of trauma. It's sickening enough that adults sexually abuse children, but there really are no words for the willingness of bystanders to turn away and actively cover it up. I don't really know if there can ever be justice for that. And yet it will continue to happen.
"I need your strength for me to be strong...I need your love to feel loved"
(Reuters) - New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, a leading candidate to become pope, was questioned on Wednesday in a legal deposition about cases of alleged sexual abuse by priests while he was the head of the archdiocese of Milwaukee, a church lawyer said.
Dolan was deposed in New York for three hours by attorneys representing more than 500 people who claim they were sexually abused by clergy at the Milwaukee archdiocese, which Dolan headed from 2002 to 2009, said Frank LoCoco, an archdiocese attorney.
In 2011, the Milwaukee archdiocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing the financial drain of settling sexual-abuse claims and acknowledging missteps by the church in dealing with pedophile priests.
Milwaukee was the eighth U.S. Roman Catholic diocese to declare bankruptcy in fallout from a sexual-abuse scandal that surfaced in 2002 and has prompted the Church to pay out more than $2 billion in settlements.
LoCoco said Dolan was asked about his efforts to respond to the claims of sexual abuse in the Milwaukee archdiocese.
"More specifically, the questioning was intended to deal with his decision early in his tenure to publicize the list of known abusers in the church for the public," LoCoco said.
Dolan is one of two American cardinals scheduled to be deposed this week, according to The New York Times, which first reported their involvement. The second, Cardinal Roger Mahony, the retired archbishop of Los Angeles, will be questioned on Saturday, the Times said.
Both are expected to travel to Rome soon to attend the Vatican conclave that will elect a successor to Pope Benedict XVI, who surprised the world last week by announcing he would resign at the end of February.
Dolan, 62, is among the 10 or so front-runners from around the world to succeed Benedict. The voice of U.S. Catholicism after being named archbishop of New York in 2009, Dolan's humor and dynamism have impressed the Vatican.
Mahony has faced criticism after the Los Angeles archdiocese released more than 12,000 pages of files earlier this month showing he and a top adviser sent priests accused of abuse out of California to shield them from law-enforcement scrutiny during the 1980s.
The archdiocese of Los Angeles, the largest in the United States with 4 million Catholics, reached a $660 million settlement in 2007 with more than 500 victims of sexual molestation. It was the biggest U.S. settlement of its kind.
A spokesman for the archdiocese of New York did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
Internal church records released Tuesday show that Chicago Jesuits consciously concealed the crimes of convicted sex offender Donald McGuire for more than 40 years as the prominent Roman Catholic priest continued to sexually abuse dozens of children around the globe.
One letter written in 1970 by the Rev. John H. Reinke, then president of Loyola Academy in Wilmette, described McGuire's presence at the school as "positively destructive and corrosive." Instead of insisting he be removed from ministry or sent to treatment, Reinke suggested a transfer to Loyola University.
"This whole situation has been so muddy and troublesome I just wanted to get it out of my mind from time to time," wrote Reinke, who died in 2003. "Anyway, here it is, for the files and the record. … There is little hope of affecting any change. … He cannot be corrected."
The documents contributed to a $19.6 million settlement between the Jesuits and six men from four states announced Tuesday. With an average payout of $3 million per person, the amount per individual is the largest in the history of the U.S. Catholic sexual abuse crisis, the victims' lawyers said. The settlement and the documents add one more chapter to the still unfolding story of sexual abuse in the church.
While the settlement of the lawsuit against the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus doesn't name any priests accused of abusing minors who have not been previously disclosed to the public, it does name a number of Jesuit superiors who for four decades kept McGuire's crimes a secret and, the victims' attorneys said, enabled him to abuse more young men.
To date, lawyers have identified 28 men who have alleged abuse by McGuire from the 1960s until 2004. Eight have filed lawsuits.
"Jesuits made choices time and time again that demonstrated willful indifference," said Jeff Anderson, the plaintiffs' attorney. "Not one Jesuit official has yet to be prosecuted for their complicity in these crimes."
The Rev. Timothy Kesicki, who as Chicago provincial leads the area's Jesuits, said in a statement that the order is "painfully aware" that it made mistakes and failed to protect children. Many steps have been implemented since 2007 to go above and beyond the policies to protect children passed by the U.S. Catholic bishops, said Jeremy Langford, a spokesman for the Chicago Jesuit province.
"More important, we failed to listen to those who came forward and to meet their courage in dealing with Donald McGuire as we should have," said Kesicki, who has been promoted to lead the Jesuits' national office next year. Lawyers for the victims commended Kesicki for understanding the failure of the order's leadership in protecting children.
As former spiritual director for Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity, McGuire offered Roman Catholic retreats around the globe.
The first allegation of sexual abuse against McGuire or any Jesuit priest in Chicago came in the form of a lawsuit filed in 2003 by a former student at Loyola Academy. The lawsuit alleged that McGuire molested and beat the student more than 100 times in 1968 and 1969. At the time it was filed, the lawsuit also named and accused the Jesuits of failing to inform law enforcement of the boy's complaints.
The Rev. Richard McGurn, assistant to the provincial for the Chicago Jesuits at the time, said the order did not know of allegations of abuse until it received a letter from Anderson 10 days before his client filed the lawsuit. Only then did the order suspend McGuire's priestly functions, prohibiting him from doing public ministry or administering sacraments pending an investigation.
But as McGuire and the allegations against him made their way through various court systems, evidence began to mount that the Jesuits knew all along.
After a second victim from Loyola Academy came forward, Cook County authorities directed the two men to Wisconsin, where they said McGuire molested them during trips to the resort area near Lake Geneva between 1966 and 1968. Unlike Illinois' statute of limitations, Wisconsin's didn't preclude criminal prosecution.
McGuire was convicted in 2006 and sentenced to seven years behind bars and 20 years of probation. Though the prison sentence was postponed pending his appeal, McGuire was jailed three times for violating his probation. Before Wisconsin authorities could have his probation revoked, federal authorities charged McGuire in 2007 with traveling internationally to engage in sexual misconduct with a minor.
That same year, more accusers — six in total — began to report that McGuire had abused them on spiritual retreats. In 2011, documents that Wisconsin prosecutors were told never existed began to surface that showed consecutive Jesuit provincials in Chicago had known the truth about McGuire for a while.
A memo in February 1991 expressed concern about a boy from Anchorage, Alaska, who traveled with McGuire and slept in the same room during a retreat in California. "This travel business is at least very imprudent, perhaps much more serious," wrote the Rev. Robert Wild. He could not be reached for comment.
Another memo, dated April 1993, documented a call from the Rev. Joe Fessio, reporting that McGuire had been accompanied by several young men in Russia, "one of whom he was taking showers with and reading hard pornography." Fessio reportedly contacted the boy's father and "asked him to keep this quiet until he could represent this to McGuire's provincial."
Fessio could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
In 1995, the Rev. Francis Daly, then acting provincial, wrote to McGuire after a mother copied his superiors on a memo telling him to stay away from her son. Daly could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
"Let us hope that no more alleged incidents come to light," Daly wrote. "You must understand the complaints raised in these situations are serious. There must be no more. I am calling you to a prudence greater than that which you have shown in recent years."
In 1998, the Chicago Archdiocese granted McGuire permission to serve in the archdiocese based on a glowing endorsement from his superior, the Rev. Richard Baumann. "Specifically there is nothing to our knowledge in his background which would restrict any ministry with minors," Baumann wrote.
And in a letter to McGurn in October 2000, a parent reported her son's anxiety over how McGuire had treated him during a yearlong mission. McGurn could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
"He cried as he told us 'he couldn't take it anymore!' He stated that Father was overwhelming him with pornographic pictures and talking to him about sexual matters at every waking moment."
With all of this in mind, lawyers amended the complaint to seek punitive damages against the order. The Jesuits and six men reached a $19.6 million settlement in January.
The Roman Catholic religious order that runs Brother Rice High School in Chicago and St. Laurence High School in Burbank didn't want Brother Edward Chrysostom Courtney in Chicago any longer. So in the early 1970s, the Irish Christian Brothers shipped him to the West Coast and kept the troubling reasons to themselves.
When he was finally ousted from the parochial system 10 years later, landed in a public school in rural Washington and sexually abused a boy there, those reasons came to light. Law enforcement finally got involved. The Christian Brothers dismissed Courtney from the order shortly before he pleaded guilty to indecent liberties with a child in Washington and became a convicted sex offender.
On Thursday, more than 80 alumni of both schools plus Leo High School, also once run by the order, learned they would receive compensation from a lawsuit against the order for allowing Courtney and 11 other men to teach despite allegations that those men had sexually abused children.
The $16.5 million payout to 400 accusers nationwide will come out of a Chapter 11 reorganization settlement between creditors and the Edmund Rice Christian Brothers North American Province, known as Irish Christian Brothers. In addition, the order agreed to enforce a zero-tolerance policy for brothers accused of abuse.
Rising legal costs prompted the Christian Brothers to file for bankruptcy in April 2011. At that time, the religious order notified alumni that they could file claims through U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
"Intense negotiations during the past three months have led to painful concessions in bringing about this mutually agreed upon settlement," Brother Kevin Griffith, deputy province leader said in a statement. "This settlement will allow an opportunity to recommit ourselves to bringing the Gospel of Jesus and the charism of our Founder, Blessed Edmund Rice, to those we serve. The protection of children must remain the highest of priorities in creating safe environments at our ministry sites and in our communities. Let us continue to pray for all those affected by child sexual abuse and ask the Lord for healing and reconciliation."
Unable to get restitution in federal bankruptcy court until Thursday, more than 30 Chicago-area men filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court earlier this month. More than half of the plaintiffs in that lawsuit said they were sexually abused by Courtney at all three Chicago-area schools.
The order still runs Brother Rice and St. Laurence, but it severed ties with Leo in 1992. The order is not the same as the De La Salle Christian Brothers who run Chicago's De La Salle Institute.
Nine other brothers and two laymen also are named in the suit: Dennis Bonebreak, Robert Brouillette, Edmund Corrigan, Thomas Duffin, C.B. Irwin, Daniel McDonough, Paul Reycraft, Michael Trujillo and Phillip Vorlick. The suit also named football coach Joe Johnston and wrestling coach Robert Cachor. Johnston died in 1987. Cachor retired in 1998. He denied the allegations on Thursday.
It's unclear if the order has substantiated any of the allegations against the accused brothers. Unlike many dioceses, the Christian Brothers don't publicize the names of credibly accused clergy.
In addition to Courtney, Brouillette was convicted in December 1999 of exchanging child pornography with a New Hampshire police officer posing as a trader in an online chat room. Those images were among the roughly 400 images on computer disks seized by police at the Joliet home Brouillette shared with three other Christian Brothers.
The plaintiffs' lawyers said it took 10 years of litigation against the Christian Brothers to unearth proof that the order and other church officials quietly shuttled Courtney around the country knowing he was a danger to children but not telling law enforcement. After documents surfaced that the order previously said didn't exist, lawyers sued for fraud.
In minutes from a 1974 meeting, one brother wrote that "Chris is to have no contact with Rice, Leo or Laurence in any way, shape or form." He went on to become the principal of the elementary school at St. Alphonsus' Parish in Seattle.
Six years later, the Rev. Jeffrey Sarkies, then pastor of St. Alphonsus, "reluctantly" accepted his resignation.
"Ed, it is important that you understand the reason we were able to keep the matter that led to your submitting a letter of resignation quiet was because the parents concerned, who also admired your abilities, were assured … that you would then terminate," Sarkies wrote.
"To alter the course would be to run the very real risk of turning this situation into a cause celebre thereby doing damage to your name and reputation and that of the school."
Disgusting. I want to know why the law isn't more involved. There should be a huge taskforce dedicated to finding and convicting the pedophiles and everyone in the Catholic church that has anything at all to do with cover ups (and then we could hope that Benedict himself lives long enough to go to prison!). God knows there are enough cases to warrant one.
Fuck the Catholic church.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy. ~ Desiderata
Disgusting. I want to know why the law isn't more involved. There should be a huge taskforce dedicated to finding and convicting the pedophiles and everyone in the Catholic church that has anything at all to do with cover ups (and then we could hope that Benedict himself lives long enough to go to prison!). God knows there are enough cases to warrant one.
Fuck the Catholic church.
I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty sure it would be considered discrimination if the authorities targeted the Catholic Church's officials. As in, if the FBI or whatever opened an investigation to every single Catholic Church's clergy, this would be seen as religious persecution or something.
I think for any meaningful change to happen there would have to be a huge movement by the church-goers, and sadly that is unlikely to happen.
Disgusting. I want to know why the law isn't more involved. There should be a huge taskforce dedicated to finding and convicting the pedophiles and everyone in the Catholic church that has anything at all to do with cover ups (and then we could hope that Benedict himself lives long enough to go to prison!). God knows there are enough cases to warrant one.
Fuck the Catholic church.
I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty sure it would be considered discrimination if the authorities targeted the Catholic Church's officials. As in, if the FBI or whatever opened an investigation to every single Catholic Church's clergy, this would be seen as religious persecution or something.
I think for any meaningful change to happen there would have to be a huge movement by the church-goers, and sadly that is unlikely to happen.
good plan. if decent folks had any courage or morals at all they would quickly quit going to catholic church or any religious gathering where pedophiles gather. shut the fuckers down if you don't like them. makes perfect sense to me. stop feeding them.
next thing you know they'll have another crusade torturing us all until we declare we are catholic
Disgusting. I want to know why the law isn't more involved. There should be a huge taskforce dedicated to finding and convicting the pedophiles and everyone in the Catholic church that has anything at all to do with cover ups (and then we could hope that Benedict himself lives long enough to go to prison!). God knows there are enough cases to warrant one.
Fuck the Catholic church.
I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty sure it would be considered discrimination if the authorities targeted the Catholic Church's officials. As in, if the FBI or whatever opened an investigation to every single Catholic Church's clergy, this would be seen as religious persecution or something.
I think for any meaningful change to happen there would have to be a huge movement by the church-goers, and sadly that is unlikely to happen.
good plan. if decent folks had any courage or morals at all they would quickly quit going to catholic church or any religious gathering where pedophiles gather. shut the fuckers down if you don't like them. makes perfect sense to me. stop feeding them.
next thing you know they'll have another crusade torturing us all until we declare we are catholic
grew up catholic, pretty much non-practicing now and it completely baffles me that people still send their children to catholic schools and church. there is no other institution or business than these same people would send their kids to if there were any abuse allegations, let alone the unbelievable amount that we know of in the catholic church. no way these people would send their children into a store that had abuse allegations against it, yet many so willingly still send their kids to church and schools (and pay for it).
Disgusting. I want to know why the law isn't more involved. There should be a huge taskforce dedicated to finding and convicting the pedophiles and everyone in the Catholic church that has anything at all to do with cover ups (and then we could hope that Benedict himself lives long enough to go to prison!). God knows there are enough cases to warrant one.
Fuck the Catholic church.
I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty sure it would be considered discrimination if the authorities targeted the Catholic Church's officials. As in, if the FBI or whatever opened an investigation to every single Catholic Church's clergy, this would be seen as religious persecution or something.
I think for any meaningful change to happen there would have to be a huge movement by the church-goers, and sadly that is unlikely to happen.
Wouldn't it be legal to investigate the church leaders though, if suspected of organized cover up of crimes (which would technically make it a criminal organization)? I'm no lawyer either, but I'm pretty sure companies can be investigated for such things, so why not the business of the Catholic church?
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy. ~ Desiderata
“This is a ah another request fulfillment. If none of the other of you like it at least one guy does. Actually it’s a girl, she’s right back there.”
SMILE Eddie Vedder Cleveland 06.....
I start to wonder how I made it through my youth without being molested with Some CCD, Some Catholic school and some Alter boy stuff throughout my youth. When I was a young teen and in normal trouble my father had me meet with a friend he grew up with who became a Catholic priest. I guess it was to get me going in the right direction. This is probably about 25-30 years ago. Any way, this priest, a friend of my fathers wound up doing horrible things. I'll post the links.
Unfortunately my father passed away 22 years ago because I'd love to ask him a few questions. My Dad's sister won't even talk to about it. She's very religious.
Alright, alright, alright!
Tom O. "I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?"
-The Writer
Comments
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/la-n ... 8009.story
"I need your strength for me to be strong...I need your love to feel loved"
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns- ... 3530.story
Just WOW
"Hear me, my chiefs!
I am tired; my heart is
sick and sad. From where
the sun stands I will fight
no more forever."
Chief Joseph - Nez Perce
Tom O.
"I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?"
-The Writer
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/reli ... 6692.story
Fuck the Catholic church.
I think for any meaningful change to happen there would have to be a huge movement by the church-goers, and sadly that is unlikely to happen.
LIVEFOOTSTEPS.ORG/USER/?USR=435
next thing you know they'll have another crusade torturing us all until we declare we are catholic
"Hear me, my chiefs!
I am tired; my heart is
sick and sad. From where
the sun stands I will fight
no more forever."
Chief Joseph - Nez Perce
grew up catholic, pretty much non-practicing now and it completely baffles me that people still send their children to catholic schools and church. there is no other institution or business than these same people would send their kids to if there were any abuse allegations, let alone the unbelievable amount that we know of in the catholic church. no way these people would send their children into a store that had abuse allegations against it, yet many so willingly still send their kids to church and schools (and pay for it).
If you have not seen....
SMILE Eddie Vedder Cleveland 06.....
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/re ... Cudemo.pdf
http://www.priestabusetrial.com/2012/05 ... duals.html
Unfortunately my father passed away 22 years ago because I'd love to ask him a few questions. My Dad's sister won't even talk to about it. She's very religious.
Tom O.
"I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?"
-The Writer