When right wing Catholic priests go bad...

[beagledave]

http://online.wsj.com/article/AP8eaf45f8...a43f0.html

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/08/31/new...e-comment/

"The friars said Groeschel had been in a car accident years ago, and his cognitive ability has been failing."

Good thing he doesn't have a prominent voice on that right wing blowtorch, EWTN.

Oh wait...

I love how the editor of the National Catholic Register (owned by EWTN...and rescued financially by that group of sexual abusers, the Legion of Christ) says "Editor in Chief Jeanette De Melo posted a note apologizing for "publishing without clarification or challenge Father Benedict Groeschel's comments that seem to suggest that the child is somehow responsible for abuse. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our publication of that comment was an editorial mistake, for which we sincerely apologize."

Really? You accidentally published this crock of excrement? And how exactly were you planning on "clarifying" Groeschel's garbage?

[beagledave]

NCR pulled the interview from its website..but this is the text of the above mentioned section.


[Interviewer]: Part of your work here at Trinity has been working with priests involved in abuse, no?

[Father Groeschel]: A little bit, yes; but you know, in those cases, they have to leave. And some of them profoundly — profoundly — penitential, horrified. People have this picture in their minds of a person planning to — a psychopath. But that's not the case. Suppose you have a man having a nervous breakdown, and a youngster comes after him. A lot of the cases, the youngster — 14, 16, 18 — is the seducer.

[Interviewer]: Why would that be?

[Father Greoschel]: Well, it's not so hard to see — a kid looking for a father and didn't have his own — and they won't be planning to get into heavy-duty sex, but almost romantic, embracing, kissing, perhaps sleeping but not having intercourse or anything like that.

It's an understandable thing, and you know where you find it, among other clergy or important people; you look at teachers, attorneys, judges, social workers. Generally, if they get involved, it's heterosexually, and if it's a priest, he leaves and gets married — that's the usual thing — and gets a dispensation. A lot of priests leave quickly, get civilly married and then apply for the dispensation, which takes about three years.

But there are the relatively rare cases where a priest is involved in a homosexual way with a minor. I think the statistic I read recently in a secular psychology review was about 2%. Would that be true of other clergy? Would it be true of doctors, lawyers, coaches?

Here's this poor guy — [Penn State football coach Jerry] Sandusky — it went on for years. Interesting: Why didn't anyone say anything? Apparently, a number of kids knew about it and didn't break the ice. Well, you know, until recent years, people did not register in their minds that it was a crime. It was a moral failure, scandalous; but they didn't think of it in terms of legal things.

If you go back 10 or 15 years ago with different sexual difficulties — except for rape or violence — it was very rarely brought as a civil crime. Nobody thought of it that way. Sometimes statutory rape would be — but only if the girl pushed her case. Parents wouldn't touch it. People backed off, for years, on sexual cases. I'm not sure why.

I think perhaps part of the reason would be an embarrassment, that it brings the case out into the open, and the girl's name is there, or people will figure out what's there, or the youngster involved — you know, it's not put in the paper, but everybody knows; they're talking about it.

At this point, (when) any priest, any clergyman, any social worker, any teacher, any responsible person in society would become involved in a single sexual act — not necessarily intercourse — they're done. And I'm inclined to think, on their first offense, they should not go to jail because their intention was not committing a crime.

[cbelt3]

:barf:

And as a catholic. doubly so.

And as the brother of a sister whose family was taken in by those Legionaires of Christ and their cult, and wanted to send my daughter to their "Nun Boot Camp" in NJ (I politely declined, and then showed my daughter the brochure. She was properly horrified.)..

Triply so.

Obviously another freak who didn't get ANY of the memos or training materials that have swamped anyone working with children within the Catholic Church for the last 10 years. The training is actually quite impressive and well done. The continuing surveillance and interlocking protections are pretty good as well.

I am pleased, however, that this idiot continues to be properly chastised.

I will make a horrible, vengeful comment though.

If short eyed bastards are raped in prison, do their colons become spastic and 'protect them' ?

[RgrF]

I will make a horrible, vengeful comment though.

If short eyed bastards are raped in prison, do their colons become spastic and 'protect them' ? - rustbelt

Are you conflating the doddering priest with the Senate candidate from Missouri?

[cbelt3]

Yep.

[Gutenberg]

Editor-in-chief Jeanette De Melo says printing the interview was an "editorial mistake?" Where the hell was she? Why isn't she taking responsibility for this, if indeed the interview should not have seen print?

Ohhh, I get it! It never occurred to them that right-minded people everywhere would be horrified by Groeschel's comments! And now they're sorry!

I think it's time for another Martin Luther Moment. The church hierarchy is sick and corrupt.

[$tevie]

I become more horrified all the time by this topic. I have come to realize the RC Church really had accepted this behavior as normal among their priests and it sickens me.

[beagledave]

Gutenberg wrote:
Editor-in-chief Jeanette De Melo says printing the interview was an "editorial mistake?" Where the hell was she? Why isn't she taking responsibility for this, if indeed the interview should not have seen print?

Ohhh, I get it! It never occurred to them that right-minded people everywhere would be horrified by Groeschel's comments! And now they're sorry!

It CERTAINLY never occurred to them to actually question this conservative icon's comments.

And they can't have it both ways. His community (Friars) is saying that his cognitive ability is lessened since his accident and yet he is doing an interview for this rag?

Like cbelt, I am a church attending Catholic....so my post is not generic Catholic bashing.