Comments for A Different Priestly Scandal at http://www.thecatholicthing.org , comment 1 to 26 out of 20 comments http://www.thecatholicthing.org Fri, 24 May 2013 04:35:58 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/a-different-priestly-scandal.html#comment-11435 In his best-seller, Pope John Paul states that origional sin is, ABOVE ALL, an attempt to abolish fatherhood. The father-of-lies is unrelenting. This is true for both ministerial fathers and lay fathers. Both are called, in their seperate vocations, to be the spiritual heads of their "families". I commend Mr. Novak for his accurate portrayal of the plight of accused ministerial fathers. I pray that he, or someone else with his insight, will research the corresponding plight of lay fathers in this country. Our bishops support for the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which is currently being reauthorized by Congress, is nothing less than scandalous. The VAWA was, by invitation of then Senator Biden, in large part drafted, supported and implemented by the National Organization for Women or their appointed surrogates. According to Department of Justice annual Reports for Congress and a seperate GAO Report for Congress, over 30,000,000 men have been prosecuted for domestic violence in American criminal or civil courts since the VAWA was enacted in 1994. Please don't forget that ever batterer has a victim, and many batterers and victims have children! The scope of this issue is staggering. Its impact on lay fatherhood has been devastating! Fact check: Why did Cardinal Wuerl chastize Georgetown University in April of 2009? Please google: "Good Jesuit, Bad Jesuit - Confusion at Georgetown - D.C. Archbishop Nips Gerogetown for Biden Event." This article describes an event at Georgetown University at which Legal Momentum, formally known as the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, honored V.P. Biden with their "Hero Award" as " part of an all-day event marking the 15th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act..." In reaction, "Wuerl wrote the school...'expressing concern that it [the event] happened and noting the confusion that happens by having an event by entities that are at odds with Catholic teaching.'" Cardinal Wuerl chastized Georgetown for inviting the messenger (NOW) but completely disregarded the most important point --- their message --- the VAWA! Millions of innocent men are being unjustly prosecuted every year under this abomination. Ask yourself a simple question. Does the Catholic Church find Truth in the spawn of NOW? - Robert Lavretta Wed, 16 May 2012 08:45:30 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/a-different-priestly-scandal.html#comment-11432 Our local paper--the Allentown Morning Call--ran a three-inch headline claiming that our former bishop lied when he said that he didn't remember a list of accused priests. Do the heads of Protestant denominations and public school districts get this treatment? Of course not. - Don Schenk Wed, 16 May 2012 07:18:21 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/a-different-priestly-scandal.html#comment-11430 Kate M. You speak the truth. Why Mr. Novak chooses to conflate the canonical (chruch) and the criminal (civil) justice systems must say something about his motives in writing this piece, as well as about his credibility. - lpmulligan Wed, 16 May 2012 04:22:40 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/a-different-priestly-scandal.html#comment-11426 Do you want to read about a different priestly scandal? Google Fr. John Minkler and read Paul Likoudis' comments. While you are at it, Google Archbishop McCarrick Syndrome. - Manfred Tue, 15 May 2012 17:32:12 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/a-different-priestly-scandal.html#comment-11424 "I do not understand why the Catholic Church has not fought for a civil process that gives these good men, innocent until proven guilty, fair trials." Simple answer: because Church authorities didn't allow for civil process, they preferred a cover-up. It's only logical that the innocent would be thrown under the bus with the guilty when we're not allowed to tell them apart. Shame on us. It is not the media's fault, nor our culture's fault that some priests have been falsely accused, it's the Church's. It's therefore not our nation's or even the ACLU's job to rectify this mess, it's ours - we created it with an astounding disregard for truth and for our youth. There is no justice without truth. It makes me ashamed as a Catholic to hear Novak or anyone else playing the persecution card and blaming the miscarriage of justice on elements outside the Church when we aren't willing to require basic accountability and truth from our prelates. - Kate M. Tue, 15 May 2012 12:10:58 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/a-different-priestly-scandal.html#comment-11419 At the heart of Anglo-American law is the determination of each case, one at a time, based on the facts. The genius of English Common Law is that guiding principles develop from these cases over time. The shame of our law schools --certainly of mine -- is dismissal of this inconvenient heritage in favor of "being creative." Creativity is legal philosophy today. You can hardly call it scholarship or thought. In my case and that of the high school I attended, it was obvious that students, teachers, and administrators knew -- they pretended they didn't. I don't know how these investigations are carried out, but surely some kind confirmation should be part of it. And not merely gossip. Slander is an ugly thing -- and far more common that we want to admit. The priest in my personal situation would not be held accountable until 2002. He now lives out his retirement in diocesan hospitality. There was in the sixties and seventies a subculture in the Church -- I saw it in high school and one other Catholic institution. That subculture will never be held to account. That's the other scandal. - Graham Tue, 15 May 2012 07:56:51 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/a-different-priestly-scandal.html#comment-11414 Just came across this. May I suggest that one of the best ways to take action is to invite people to support the extraordinary work of Opus Bono Sacerdotii - just two dedicated laymen helping accused priests who get too little support. - Magnolia Tue, 15 May 2012 04:15:40 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/a-different-priestly-scandal.html#comment-11413 I am not defending the process the Church uses here, though I think it was understandable after the way it was botched for generations. I would note that this process is a result of personal sins, not social ones, but personal ones. They were personal sins by the Priests who actually abused children, personal sins by the Bishops who rather than setting up canonical trials just moved the Priests, personal sins by police and DA's who chose not to seek justice for those actually abused in an effort to avoid a distorted notion of "scandal", etc. I am not a big fan of the way the heterodox usually talk about sin having social effects, but there are some social effects to personal sins. The current process is one of them, and good Priests are thrown under the bus as a result. What will be thee social effect of the sin of throwing these good Priests under the bus? I would argue a deepening cynicism among those who actually adhere to the faith in an orthodox and orthopraxitic way. - Papabile Tue, 15 May 2012 04:00:43 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/a-different-priestly-scandal.html#comment-11411 Thank God someone is finally getting it! Due process for these priests! These 'men of God' are just protecting themselves, and their ego's are getting in the way. They make me sick of heart. I fear for these priests who have been put into Limbo. Take away ones passionate, spiritual purpose in life and what is there to live for? I applaud Michael Novak for his courage to stand up for what is right. Hopefully, the fire of passion in what he writes doesn't extinguish but becomes fueled so that it can spread to affect change in how the sheperds with the bigger staff lead this church. - HHouser Tue, 15 May 2012 03:31:07 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/a-different-priestly-scandal.html#comment-11402 Just as it's wrong to condemn the innocent, it's equally wrong to condemn the wrongly accused. Sadly, this seems a trial we must all endure together as a community of believers, that will somehow, in God's mercy, result in true justice for all. Many were broken by the sins of a few, and it seems, some innocents, as was Christ, must also share in their brokenness. Let's pray as a community for healing for all. - Mark Mon, 14 May 2012 19:58:35 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/a-different-priestly-scandal.html#comment-11396 #1. There are some bishops whose actions against accused priests were primarily motivated by minimzing the financial liability of the diocese and were all too willing to throw any priest under the bus. Truth and justice as far as priests were concerned was trumped by monetary considerations. #2. While there was a role for the Church in the priest homosexual scandal, all accusations should have been immediately referred to and investigated by civil law enforcement authorities whose business it is to determine whether a crime has been committed or not. Then, ecclesiatical actions, if warranted, would be implemented. #3 I would always recommend that any priest wrongly accused bring a civil suit against their accuser for defamation. - Deacon Ed Peitler Mon, 14 May 2012 13:32:12 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/a-different-priestly-scandal.html#comment-11393 Bravo for writing this!! Is the tide finally turning? David F. Pierre, Jr. has two great books about this present scandal. Also Fr. Gordon MacRae has been suffering in prison for 18 years, falsely accused and wrongly convicted. His case is up for appeal. They have websites if you google their names. - Liz Mon, 14 May 2012 11:11:58 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/a-different-priestly-scandal.html#comment-11391 Be careful. Be very careful. WIthout knowing the facts it is very hard to say. I am told by good authority that it is rare -- much as we'd like to think otherwise -- for someone with an accusation deemed "credible" by the Ordinary to actually be innocent. Not impossible -- just rare. - Dominic Pedulla Mon, 14 May 2012 09:10:16 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/a-different-priestly-scandal.html#comment-11388 And we wonder why good young men are not becoming priests. No one accused of any sort of abuse or even plain harassment, a businessman, a Congressman, a mailman, a teacher, is subjected to the instantaneous and complete destruction of his vocation, reputation and ministry as a priest. One word from some disgruntled liar, and the priest's life is usually over. Who would become a priest with this atmosphere, and the complete lack of support from bishops? - Joan Mon, 14 May 2012 08:42:43 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/a-different-priestly-scandal.html#comment-11372 I too know a priest who was falsely accused, and it's all the more egregious because the "sexual touching" he allegedly committed he did in front of a group of parents. Almost a year later, the mother of the boy involved sued. EVERY PARENT present at the incident testified that the action was innocent, but the DA wasn't going to include their testimony into the planned trial until they threatened to go the press. Then all of a sudden everything was okay, but the priest had developed serious health troubles and depression and has never been the same. - Therese Z Mon, 14 May 2012 05:08:41 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/a-different-priestly-scandal.html#comment-11368 Why doesn't the priest appeal to Rome? That is his right. - JBeq Mon, 14 May 2012 04:16:43 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/a-different-priestly-scandal.html#comment-11366 As to the Bishiops in the United States, they can only be accounted for one-at-a-time, by what they do and fail to do in their own jurisdictions. The USCCB should be dissolved - it serves no purpose for the Gospel and Christ's Church. To echo Mr. Esolen, the Supreme Court has a judge on it, Justice Ginsberg, who has openly asserted that the age of 'consent' to sexual relations ought to be age 12. That's right. Age 12. This is what lies behind the 'benign' mask of 'progressivism.' In Progressivism, what is now held as a crime by civilized people will be held as a civil right. - Chris in Maryland Mon, 14 May 2012 04:03:51 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/a-different-priestly-scandal.html#comment-11357 When the haters have done to the Church all the damage they can do, they will then "discover," as they were doing thirty years ago, that "intergenerational sex" is not so harmful a thing after all. You heard it here first, folks. Wait and see. - Tony Esolen Sun, 13 May 2012 16:40:54 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/a-different-priestly-scandal.html#comment-11356 Every bishop or other leader who looked the other way or failed to act to protect the children first has created the worst of this problem. If it could be said that "back then we tried to treat these abusing priests because that was the state of the medicine then but now we know better" and that is what happened then this might pass less painfully. But as appears with Bishop Flynn they blink when it comes time to act they fail the victims, children and Christ's church. Today I read that Bishop Amos has reversed himself with a wheeze and will allow an organization that is pro-homosexuality to present a scholarship at a Catholic HS graduation as long as someone else reads their script. That is noise and is the same behavior that lead to this crisis. There are lines of right and wrong. Feelings may be hurt when someone is told no your behavior is not acceptable and stop it but hopefully their soul will be saved. Every falsely accused priest who suffers needs to look to the bishops who fail to do their job and ask why they must suffer? - Steve M Sun, 13 May 2012 15:29:45 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/a-different-priestly-scandal.html#comment-11355 Thank you for writing this column, Mr. Novak. I, too, know a good, holy priest who was falsely accused of sex abuse 10 years ago and who still has not been returned to ministry even though he was cleared by the Dept. of Children and Family Services, was cleared by the county grand jury, and even though the civil suit brought against him was withdrawn before it was dismissed with prejudice. This priest is now in his eighties and I believe that the bishop is just waiting for him to die rather than placing him back into ministry and being criticized by the press and SNAP for doing so. And this is the reason that too many bishops are not returning innocent priests to ministry. They don't want to be accused of being "soft" on "perpetrators" or indifferent to victims. It's just easier to treat all accused priests as though they are guilty and keep them out of ministry whether or not they are guilty. This is truly shameful. We need to pray that God will give the bishops the courage that they need to deal justly with priests who have been accused of sex abuse--to punish those who are proved to be guilty but to restore to ministry those who are innocent. - Mary S. Sun, 13 May 2012 10:43:35 +0100