"Church shielded abusers, prosecutor says" Associated Press, March 27, 2012
PHILADELPHIA - The Archdiocese of Philadelphia protected sexual predators in its ranks for more than 70 years, putting the reputation of the church over the safety of children, a prosecutor said Monday at the start of a landmark priest abuse case that has shaken the Roman Catholic establishment.
The church kept secret files dating back to 1948 that show a long-standing conspiracy to doubt sex abuse victims, protect priests, and avoid scandal, Assistant District Attorney Jacqueline Coelho said in opening statements....
Well, there are conspiracies and then there are conspiracies.
The church’s sex abuse scandal exploded in Boston in 2002.
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"Witness says she felt trapped at rectory" associated press, March 30, 2012
PHILADELPHIA - A witness in a landmark priest-abuse trial in Philadelphia described feeling “helpless and trapped’’ as a 13-year-old because a priest was fondling her when she worked weekends at the rectory, she told a jury Thursday.
The woman says she didn’t tell anyone for years and later learned the same priest had fondled two younger sisters.
I'm not trying to make light of the abuse, but thank God the victims were women for once.
Her testimony came in the fourth day of the child-endangerment trial of Monsignor William Lynn, the longtime secretary for clergy in Philadelphia. Lynn is the first Roman Catholic church official in the United States charged with child endangerment for allegedly leaving predators in jobs around children.
The priest who allegedly fondled the woman at a suburban Montgomery County parish around 1970 was removed from ministry after the church sex-abuse scandal broke in 2004. By then, he had admitted to an archdiocesan review board his “longstanding habit’’ of fondling girls’ breasts, according to a 2005 grand jury report. The Associated Press is not naming him because he was never charged....
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"Jurors in a landmark clergy abuse trial heard Monday about a priest-turned-camp prowler and another who allegedly bragged about having sex with three boys in one week....
There are times when you get to a "let Go sort 'em out" situation, but why not just make 'em all eunuchs instead?
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"Complaining about priest led to her firing, nun testifies" Associated Press April 10, 2012
PHILADELPHIA - 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.
Whistleblowers are never welcome.
Sister Joan Scary said she lost her job as director of education at St. Gabriel’s in the rural Montgomery County town of Stowe 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....
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.
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.’’
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"Convicted Pa. priest remained in ministry" Associated Press, April 11, 2012
PHILADELPHIA - Jurors in a landmark church sex-abuse trial were presented with evidence Tuesday outlining the troubled clerical career of a priest who was convicted of child pornography charges yet remained in ministry for years despite similar complaints.
Prosecutors introduced decades of correspondence from mental health facilities, therapists, and church officials regarding then-priest Edward DePaoli. The documents from the archdiocese’s secret archives outlined how DePaoli, after being convicted in federal court of child pornography charges in 1986, went through psychological treatment, rounds of therapy, and a half-dozen church assignments over two decades. He was dismissed in 2005.
DePaoli 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 with investigating complaints against priests. Lynn is the first Roman Catholic official in the nation charged with endangering children for allegedly keeping pedophile priests in parish work around children to protect the church’s reputation and avoid scandal.
His lawyers contend Lynn tried to address the abuse allegations but was thwarted by his superiors, including the late Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua.
The paper trail presented by prosecutors Tuesday began with DePaoli’s 1986 conviction, when he was assistant pastor at Holy Martyrs parish in Oreland just outside Philadelphia. He was found to have magazines, films, and videotapes of underage boys. He received a one-year suspended sentence and was sent to counseling.
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"Mother of alleged priest abuse victim testifies at trial" Associated Press, April 12, 2012
PHILADELPHIA - A woman whose son gave emotional testimony about his alleged abuse at the hands of a Roman Catholic priest took the stand herself Wednesday at a landmark trial in the priest abuse scandal and said she regrets maintaining contact with the priest for years afterward.
The woman said the Rev. James Brennan was like a brother to her, a confidant and spiritual adviser at a vulnerable time when she was caring for her terminally ill mother and raising three young children, so she remained friendly with him even after her son told her “something weird’’ happened on an overnight trip with the priest.
“Regrettably, I did not,’’ she replied Wednesday when asked if she cut ties with Brennan after the alleged 1996 molestation, “and I’ll never forgive myself for it.’’
Brennan is on trial with Monsignor William Lynn, the first Roman Catholic official in the United States charged with endangering children for allegedly shifting priests suspected of molestation from parish to parish without warning anyone of prior sex-abuse complaints. Both men have pleaded not guilty.
The woman said she remained friendly with Brennan after he left their parish, St. Andrew in the Philadelphia suburb of Newtown, and last spoke with him in 2005.
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Brennan is on trial with Monsignor William Lynn, the first Roman Catholic official in the United States charged with endangering children for allegedly shifting priests suspected of molestation from parish to parish without warning anyone of prior sex-abuse complaints. Both men have pleaded not guilty.
The woman said she remained friendly with Brennan after he left their parish, St. Andrew in the Philadelphia suburb of Newtown, and last spoke with him in 2005.
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Also see:
Witness says cardinal obstructed justice
Jurors hear church files on a priest's abuse
For the Jesuits, a long road to accountability
Years later, school may alert parents to abuse
"New York cardinal says religion has role in politics" Associated Press, April 09, 2012
NEW YORK - Cardinal Timothy Dolan said religion has a role to play in politics and public life, and John F. Kennedy’s 1960 speech on the separation of church and state had been misinterpreted.
At this point I'd rather it stay out.
Of course, it already does: AIPAC has bought off the US government, and any type of "Islamic" government is bad.
In a taped interview that aired Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation,’’ the head of New York’s Roman Catholic archdiocese said it is a benefit to politics when people are “inspired by their deepest-held convictions.’’
Politics “only benefits when religion, when morals, when faith has a place there,’’ Dolan said.
Really the wrong messenger there.
He said he agreed with Kennedy’s stance that there should be a separation of church and state to avoid situations like priests telling congregants which candidates to pick, but said people had mistakenly taken that to mean that people should separate their faith from their political choices.
The cardinal reiterated his stance that the US government is engaged in a “dramatic, radical intrusion of a government bureaucracy into the internal life of the church’’ with recent decisions on contraceptive coverage.
Fucking the church, huh? How ironic.
Now you know how the rest of us feel.
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"Bishops call for ‘religious liberty’ campaign; Say effort not only for birth control" by Laurie Goodstein | New York Times, April 13, 2012
NEW YORK - For more than six months, the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops have put the religious liberty issue front and center, but it has not galvanized the Catholic laity and has further polarized the church’s liberal and conservative flanks.
That's me!
In an election year, liberal Catholics have accused the bishops of making the church an arm of the Republican Party in the drive to defeat President Obama - an accusation the bishops reject.
“This ought not to be a partisan issue,’’ the bishops said in their statement in a section addressed to political leaders. “The Constitution is not for Democrats or Republicans or independents. It is for all of us, and a great nonpartisan effort should be led by our elected representatives to ensure that it remains so.’’
Somehow this post has devolved into a prayer service.
In the document, the bishops seek to explain that their alarm is not only about the mandate in the health reform act that requires Catholic colleges and hospitals to have insurance plans that cover birth control. They cite seven examples of what they say are violations of religious freedom, including immigration laws in several states that they say make it illegal to minister to illegal immigrants.
Not exactly acting like an arm of the Republican Party there, are they?
The bishops also assert that the government has violated the religious freedom of Catholics by cutting off contracts to Catholic agencies. Several states have denied financing to Catholic agencies that refused to place foster children with gay parents. And the US government refused to reauthorize a grant to a Catholic immigration organization that served victims of sex trafficking because as a Catholic group, it would not provide or refer women to services for birth control.
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Also see: Pope calls on Syria to end bloodshed
