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Courtesy of NBC6 South Florida
Undated photo of Father Roland Garcia
New allegations of sexual abuse have prompted the Catholic Archdiocese of Miami to again place Father Rolando Garcia on administrative leave.
The archdiocese said in a statement it had only learned of the most recent allegations against Garcia on Tuesday, when Tony Simmons made them public in a news conference.
Simmons said he was a 16-year-old runaway when he met Garcia at Church of the Little Flower in Hollywood in 1994. A lawsuit filed Tuesday says that Garcia initially gave him assistance and counseling, but began sexually abusing Simmons after they went to a movie one night.
The Archdiocese put Garcia, who is the pastor of St. Agatha Catholic Church, on administrative leave on Wednesday. The Archdiocese also said it will offer counseling to Simmons and investigate the matter following procedures in its "Protecting God’s Children" policy.
View more videos at: http://nbcmiami.com.
Two lawsuits have previously been filed against Garcia by men claiming he sexually abused them, most recently in September. An earlier lawsuit was resolved in 2009.
Garcia has adamantly denied the abuse charges.
The Archdiocese said Wednesday that it previously placed Garcia on administrative leave in August after one alleged victim made allegations against the priest. After investigating the claim, church officials said they found it was "not credible."
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i saw him once too in hollywood-miami, send money to...........
If it was just one accuser - maybe... but when you have several different ones over a period of few years there is likely real dirt there.
It's no longer news that the Catholic Church is a pedophilia cult. I don't see how you can conclude differently with constant incidents of abuse of children for decades and of course a history of cover-ups to protect the Church, NOT children. Repulsive. Disgusting. Outrageous.
The Catholic church is a scourge on America and the sheep that fund this cult need to wake-up and put children before superstition.
What is most appalling is that Catholics will defend the church once again and neglect the kids. It really is an ugly blight on humanity.
it is my deepest wish that Paul Ryan reads this article..perhaps he'll see why we don't want his church in our gov't..
Overlord - compared to the scandals Reformed (deformed?) televangelists dish out all the time the Catholic Church is just your run of the mill scam
i find it hard to beleive anybody is "rocked" by these kind of stories. i was "rocked" when the sun came up today.
Why is all the sexual abuse in the Catholic church against "young boys"?
Why are most of the priest "gay"? and Boy Scouts of America...........again, abuse by.......... "gay men"?
Still proud to be "Gay"?
Rainbow pride? yeah right!!
This isn't about being gay. This is about power and control.
After everything that has happened these last few years, I don't see how these priests can possibly think no one will find out.
Enstrom,
It's a crime of opportunity: priests have alter boys, and the BSA, well, obviously.
In most cases, if these men had girls available, they would have abused them, as well.
This crime is more about age and, as Tiggle mentioned, power and control.
Enstrom,
These people are pedophiles, they are not gay. There is a huge difference. Men who are gay do not prey on children.
Hambone you are inaccurate. Pedophiles have a preference for boys or girls. They are pedophiles who prefer boys or they are a pedophiles who prefer girls.
Of course in was not credible! Who would believe a Catholic Priest would abuse a child?
"If it was a legitimate rape, a boys body has ways of dealing with it" and "this was Gods plan"
Sound Familiar? I wonder what Mr. Akin and Mourdock think of this type of rape?
It is indeed. I renounced Catholicism for a variety of reasons, but this issue being one them.
The actions displayed by the church and the teachings of the church are completely at odds with each other.
Not to be judgmental, but I can't help but wonder why people attend, much less, support an organization that clearly doesn't take itself or its teachings seriously.
What's different between the Catholic Church, Akin and Mourdock???? While priests are raping boys, Akin and Mourdock would be cheerleaders for women being raped, by anybody!!!!
That's right, maxgiver... let Paul Ryan know we don't want a Catholic vice-president. We should just stick with Joe Biden... oh wait, Joe Biden is Catholic, so that means we already have a Catholic vice-president. What do we do now?
@Dog
Look up the word "Pederast"
"Administrative Leave" - Oh, the horror, the shame... How will he hold his head up after that? That should teach him to pick on the defenseless. A couple of months of pushing paper is a fitting punishment.
But, wait a minute... considering my job in an office, I'm always on Administrative Leave and I haven't done anything at all and especially anything near what he was accused of.
Enstrom: You really need to do some research into pedophilia. It is a completely different animal from homosexuality. In fact, most pedophiles are heterosexual. Your homophobia is blinding you to reality.
#The Company
Catholics are raised from birth to believe if they attend any other denomination and NOT the Roman catholic church the will go to hell. I'm not kidding. And when a child's parents, relatives, friends, friends parents, teachers, community leaders, and clergy all believe and reinforce the same, it becomes a completely ingrained mental set. It is very, very difficult to break away from catholic brainwashing.
How telling is it that the priest who initiated, developed, and implemented the cover-up for the pedophiles was made pope?
religion is holding back mankind in so many ways. it is certainly a cancer in modern societies.
Kenneth Newman, was that supposed to be a joke? Nice punchline.
Would you find it hard to believe that the parents of this child were rocked by this?
It only matters anymore if it hits close to home, eh?
Because priests don't have altar boys, or the same access to young girls.
Again, if these "men" had access to girl scouts, they'd rape them, too. But they don't, so they rape boys. It's about sex and power, not gender.
Interesting question. All of these child molesters are male. Still proud to be "male"?? They are all believers, too. Still proud to be a believer??
Catholic priest accused of child molestation.
In other obvious news, humans breath oxygen.
More at 11....
mike, there comes a time,after hundreds of stories like this, that parents should seriously be concerned about preist and the safety of their children with them.this molestation seems like an epidemic.and trust should be hard to come by for the sake of their kids. the face of the catholic church has changed and parents should change with it.its a shame that good men are being lumped in with the predetor preist,but until some house cleaning is done and no, not the" musical preist "fix,(shipping them quietly somewhere else to start up again),parents should just keep their kids away from them.
I guess pedophile rape is also considered to be part of God's plan, as well.
Accusations of pedophilia by members of large organizations such as the Catholic Church, or The Boy Scouts of America, should be automatically investigated by the FBI, as these organizations cross state lines. Certainly the District Attorney's Office should be involved with the investigation, but since pedophiles in large organizations can be transferred readily to another jurisdiction, to another state, or to another country, to cover up the crime, the only organization with the resources and authority to pursue a large geographic investigation would be the Federal Government.
The Christ and the Catholic Church conflict in many ways:
1. Women must have equal rights including becoming priests.
2. Priests - bishops, cardinals, popes - & nuns have the choice of being celibate and can marry and have children.
3. Communion & Mass are special things and are to occur only on Sun-day.
4. Jesus was born on April 17, 6 BC (17/4/748 AUC).
5. John the Baptist & Mary Magdalean were married and had a son: John Jr. When the Baptist was killed, in the Hebrew tradtion, Jesus the first cousin married Mary and adopted his son. (Marry Mary?!) This is why Magdalean and John Jr. were allowed to be at the Cross on Friday April 7, 30 AD (7/4/783) - the Romans only permitted immediate family to be present at a crucifixion.
6. A woman has the right to an abortion. Life begins with the 'Holy Breath', not at conception.
7. The Roman Catholic Church must become democratic-republics like the Presbyterian Church. All finances are to be open and every individual parish must display their last annual audited financial report in the lobby of the church.
8. The Catholic Church in the US must follow its laws including the healthcare mandate requiring contraceptive services for employees of some Catholic institutions.
9. Mandatory retirement for the Pope at age 80.
10. To recognize the return of the Christ, he must produce the "book/scroll with the 7 seals" which I have - it's entitled There Are No Coincidences - there is synchronism. There should be a Vatican commision formed to evaluate it and make its report public.
See http://7seals.blogspot.com & http://7seals.yuku.com .
I'm beginning to think that once a priest is ordained, as they are issued their collar, they should just go ahead and get a cell as well. :(
"
"These people are pedophiles, they are not gay. There is a huge difference. Men who are gay do not prey on children."
I've heard this ridiculous assertion SO MANY TIMES. And I guess that's the point...repeat a lie often enough and people will begin to assume it must be true. So, if a priest, scout master, whatever has sex with a boy up till he's 17, then he's not gay, he's just a pedo. However, after the boy turns 18 THEN it's gay? Fact of life: whether butcher, baker of candelstick maker, a person is either gay or straight. That goes for pedophiles TOO. so if a man consistently molests boys, that makes him a pedophile. But guess what KIND of pedophile....a GAY one. Considering that 80% of kids ever molested by priests were males, I don't blame gays for trying to redefine what it menas to be gay (he can't be gay because gays don't have sex with children...HAH!), but facts are facts no matter how you try to redefine or ignore them.
I'm surprised that there are no comments yet. Perhaps it reflects that we've been hearing about all the sexual abuse that the Catholic church knowingly allowed for decades.
Now finally the hypocritical Boy Scouts (I used to think the term applied to the boys) is being breached.
How scary it must be for parents to have to scrutinize every person their kids come in contact with.
"Boy Scouts of America" - Group of old men scouting for vulnerable young boys in America.
The catholic "church" is the church of satan worshipping hypocrites.
I would never leave my kid in the proximity of a Catholic, they are too morally corrupt to be trusted around children. Unfortunately, the more religious someone is the more we have to question their morality and clearly they put their faith and church before the safety and well being of kids.
I would trust an atheist or a scientist much more than a preacher or a priest! It's sad that under the banner of superior morality that these cultists abuse our kids.
Revoke tax exempt status for churches and end the rape of our babies!
yes those catholics like Paul Ryan who thinks he should be the USA POPE.. and be able to enact all of his sick policies.. Joe Biden said it best in the VP debate that he is a catholic and practices his religion and does not have a problem with others practicing their religion no matter what it is..
I think Biden's best comment was along the lines of "I'm not going to push my views onto other people".
If you feel good believing in God, then more power to you.
If you feel good believing in Science, then good for you.
Hey Sandy,
Kiss My Harry White A$$! Not all the men are in Scouting for that and you and everyone else know it... That's like saying the Women in the Girl Scouts of America are all Lesbian's, the door on them just hasn't swung open yet, but it will...
Yeah Biden wants all of us to pay for abortion from the company that doesn't do 1 mammogram a year! That's his religion spend your money.
And Obama voted 3 times for the right of the mother to kill the child if a failed abortion survives after birth! 3 Times he voted for this in Chicago, check his record.
Pedophilia, read, learn, judging all by the actions of one or how many there are only shows your ignorance. All college coach assistants are pedophiles, get the point ?.. .
haggisbingo.why the large sign print? Kinda Flamboyant don't you think?
The Religion itself isn't evil,it's the SCUMBAGS IN CHARGE who are evil!They need to Go!
Don't knock the Religion itself, knock the Scumbags in charge of that religion.
There's a BIG DIFFERENCE!
That goes for the Boy Scouts to.
Let's ignore this and get back to talking about how evil women are for using contraception, and how persecuted the bishops are because people don't want them telling employers to regulate their employee's sex lives.
The best contraception for women is no men boob would you like that I wouldn't. My Boss is a woman she could regulate my sex life ;=} Now that's a PIG HOG statement if I ever heard one MOOOOOOO!!!
I think Bob is being facetious...
It's true, the Catholics rape our babies and insist ALL women abide by their corrupt church dogma and be forced to give birth even if the woman is raped! I'm disgusted by the Catholic church and their virulent immoral anti-woman and anti-child agenda.
Ban the church and remove tax exempt status for Christian cults. It is 2012, not 1412!
I'm an atheist and don't believe in the supernatural but if there is such a thing as "evil" it certainly applies to the Roman Catholic Church. Nothing could be more evil than a cult raping babies under the guise of moral superiority.
I think TheOverlord should switch to decaf.
Overlord shouldn't switch to anything...he hit the nail on the head with that one.
I concur. Tax the churches and the businesses owned by the churches.
@ TheOverlord:
In other words, eliminate freedom of religion and force everyone to think like you. Isn't that exactly what you accuse "religion" of doing?
I say give the churches all the freedom that they want, but I should not have to pay a higher tax so they can pay nothing and continue to abuse boys.
These perverts just can't help themselves. If a ring of child molesters were discovered, it would be shut down. Time to shut down the Church. Or at least turn the whole thing over to the nuns, who seem to actually be the only ones doing God's work.
Agreed. Abolish religion, and the world will rapidly be rid of a lot of violence, as well as sexual abuse. Clearly, all religion does is create problems. (Although you never see any of these type of cases when it comes to Judaism, Buddhism, and any other religion for that matter). Perhaps all of these pastors know something that no one else does. Maybe Jesus was gay and had a fetish for little boys and it's a hidden secret from the public by some weird creepy pastor union and they feel like raping little boys is acceptable because Jesus did the same thing. Who knows.
This horrible crime happens with all religions. Pedophilia has no religious, racial, economical, ethnic boundaries.
Ok, so did we miss that the boy in the article was 16? Hardly a 'child' and definitely not pedophilia.
Sell the Vatican feed the world.
You have to watch some of those NUNS. They have been known to like little girls too. What I haven't heard yet is a NUN doing a little boy. Anyone out there have a story???
I'm not Catholic but it seems that people of all denominations and belief systems, including those who claim not to believe in any god have committed atrocities against their fellow man. I don't know why it is not blared all over the news when an agnostic or atheist or naturalist commits a sexual or violent crime. I guess we all have one thing in common, we're all human and we all have the propensity to do great harm if we allow ourselves to. Religion is not the problem. What people do with religion is the problem. The teachings of Jesus speak nothing of harming anyone in any way, shape, or form. That's how you tell the difference between who is a true follower of Jesus and who isn't. Matthew 7:
15" “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them."
Azdrummer89,
Leave Jesus out of this please.
administrative leave...again...release him of his duties...enough is enough with this man
I have a better idea, why not ban this pedophilia cult once and for all and protect our children from being raped in the future? We should designate the Catholic church a terrorist organization that prays/preys on our children and shut down this despicable cult.
Or better yet, relieve him of his penis while on administrative leave. That would justify a leave.
Why is the Catholic Church still allowed to exist? And the Boy Scouts? If a liberal organization had even one accusation of child molestation the conservatives would be screaming for the complete and total destruction of that organization, yet these two bastions of conservative wingnutery have been molesting children for as long as they have been in existence and covering it up with the help of Conservative community "leaders" to spare the "good name" of these organization. I say put every person involved in the molestation and the cover-up in a cold dark cell and leave them there for the rest of their lives. If they are affiliated with these two groups and either had the opportunity to molest children or the ability to cover it up then they need to be put on a lie detector to see if they were involved in anyway. This needs to stop NOW. Take away the Church's tax exempt status and jail everyone involved.
An aside: Actually, in the case of the BSA, the problem isn't the Christians, it's the Mormons, who are not Christian and virulantly anti-gay. About 15% of the boys in BSA are Mormons, so the BSA would never dare allow gay young men to join. Otherwise they would overnight lose 15% of their members.
your stupid. i have friends that are mormon and are very good people. the kids a great kid s and mine play very well with then. and They are very good at Sports. all mormons i know are good people. Who cares what they belive in, its how they act in public and a home. they are good people.
he looks like the guy from "Heaven help us"...LOL
For Christ's sakes buy em a freakin hooker once in awhile. One that will go round the world so they can taste a little of everything.
Is there no end to the arrogance, negligence and out right felonious behavior perpetrated by the Catholic Church?
no and when you start to consider how many catholics have political power, you should be concerned.
As a Catholic woman, mother and voter, you bet I am.
Then again you can look at the case of the kids in Ma. accusing the priest and he lost everything spent time in prison and after 10 years the kids recanted. Look it up!
Real Army wife--AND YET, in his first nomination to the Supreme court, OBAMA nominated YET ANOTHER Catholic.
Justice Sotomayor is more than capable of separating religion from matters of law and government.
Actually the religious makeup of congress is very similar to the makeup of the general public. Protestants outnumber Catholics 2:1
Art: Citations please.
Real Army Wife.....................My question why do people continue "tithing" when the money is going for settlements, pay off and "resolved" deals? The Catholic church is a cash cow and all those taken advantage of by priests - want a piece of the action.
I am amazed that in many Catholic churches a special collection is taken up for the "retirement" fund for priests! Organized religion is the biggest joke in the human race. The money which is generated is phenomenal and we still hear stories about private jets, luxury homes, girl friends in another city, boy friends or male escorts, on and on and on.
Personally, I will not attend nor will I tithe............my taxes pay for the tenets of why churches were founded.
It's too easy to dismiss the children's allegations as greed motivated. The church shuffled offending priests from parish to parish over the years after many children have fallen victim to offenders time and time again. The church should pay for their sins and pay dearly. The church was negligent and down right complicit in allowing these priest to abuse children. Not only should the priests go to jail but so should the Bishops who turned a blind eye, allowing children to be raped and molested to protect the church from scandal. If I had my way they'd be selling off the works of the great masters in the Vatican Museums to pay for their crimes.
One thing that concerns me is why any parent in their right mind would still want to be associated with the Catholic Chruch or the "Boy Scouts" (I agree with the other posters, that name has taken on a whole new meaning)
Agreed, unfortunately. Both organizations could have taken a strong stand against this a long time ago and actually could have concentrated on doing good instead of hiding child predators and spending donation money on lawsuits!!!
Why do we associate with the Catholic Church, because we believe in God and don't leave out six year old alone with anyone, especially strangers/priests or people in 'Authority'. I believe the church is mostly good, and the bad apples are ruining it. They also help millions of people per year with good works. The problem is caused by the fact that grown men used to not be allowed to have wives. Now that has changed with priests who get married prior to taking their vows, but priests should be allowed to have wives, remember no matter how good they are, they are still men.
Why do we associate with the Catholic Church, because we believe in God and don't leave out six year old alone with anyone, especially strangers/priests or people in 'Authority'. I believe the church is mostly good, and the bad apples are ruining it. They also help millions of people per year with good works. The problem is caused by the fact that grown men used to not be allowed to have wives. Now that has changed with priests who get married prior to taking their vows, but priests should be allowed to have wives, remember no matter how good they are, they are still men.
so a priest who gets married won't be a pedophile......good grief hank, educate yourself!
HANK, how can the church be "mostly good" when the cover-up of child molestation goes all the way to the top? And as far as their good works, the Catholic Church has hundreds of billions of dollars yet a large percentage of their "faithful" are poor and starving, the pope eats off solid gold plates (the gold stolen from South America) while the people of South America who have been conned into believing in this den of con artists live in tin shacks and have nothing to eat at all.
Boy Scout leaders are allowed to have wives and yet.......
Telling a pedophile he can marry and have children of his own is like giving a bank robber his own bank, or giving a traitor like Mitt Romney control of the very country he has been selling out to the Chinese.
It would seem that the BSA organization is too busy chastizing and excluding homosexuals. IMO better to be a homosexual than a child molester.
surprise surprise another priest raping kids...
Don't be too hard on the Church....there's only been 20 or 30 thousands allegations! This could another one of those "isolated cases"!
Allowing your child to be alone with a Catholic Priest is like letting Charles Manson out of prison and giving him a sharp butcher knife.
Dave, LOL - well said!
Or putting your daughter in a room with BIl Clinton.
And on and on it goes. How many cases of abuse do people need to hear about before they escape this organization? Only could a church with its built in mind control mechanism and fear of etrnal damnation still have adherents who ignore this horrific crime time after time. Wake up people. You don't have to stay. I escaped the clutches of organized religion and so can you. It might be hard to do this at first but it feels so good when you finally accomplish your escape
Christ said, "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."
You don't need the church. The church needs you. Abandoning some churches in particular is the Christian thing to do.
Maybe NAMBLA and the Catholic Church need to part ways.
I am a Catholic Democrat that believes in the Apostles Creed...NOT all the teachings and rules. I have the FREEDOM to believe what I feel is right.
Molly--not according to the POPE you don't!
Thankfully I don't answer to the Pope. I answer to God.
I am a Catholic Democrat that believes in the Apostles Creed...NOT all the teachings and rules. I have the FREEDOM to believe what I feel is right.
I see that the Catholic Church has been spending millions of
dollars to Ban Gay Marrage…
What if instead of attempts by churches to “Ban Gay Marriage”
What say that we pass laws that “Strip Tax Exempt status” from churches who are
found to have not done anything to prevent child sexual abuse?
Do you think that if their tax exempt status was on the line
that they would look more closely at preventing this? Or do you think they
would spend more money trying to cover it up?
One other thought, when is the last time you read about a
case of child sexual abuse in a “Gay Family”?
I know I see a lot of reports of
such behavior in heterosexual families. What does this say about family values?
Just wondering?
Vote NO on “Marriage Amendment”
Vote YES for a democratic majority!
To: AZDrummer89 === As far as Judaism is concerned, just asks the people of Lakewood, New Jersey. That community was rocked by a scandal within the Jewish faith. It appeared that for years sexual violence against children was covered up by having the local rabbi adjudicate the problem. Of course just as in the Catholic church this was a meaningless exercise. The corrupt sexual practices continued. Finally, the problem was brought to the attention of the county prosecutor. Then things began to happen. Some Jewish citizens suddenly disappeared (some apparently with help from the leadership). No I sincerely doubt that any religious denomination is immune from this problem. The difference seem to lie in the skill of the coverup. Also the dimension of the leadership in dealing with the victims. In some cases the victims were blamed publicly. In other cases they were threatened with eternal damnation. Still in other situations, they were offered monetary recompense. But above all, the denominations, whether at the local level or further up the food chain, attempted to cover it up. Two things need to be done. First total taxation of all, repeat all religious institutions. Second, vigirous prosecution of all of these criminals regardless of age and level of authority within the system. Perhaps also a much closer supervision of the private school systems. For you Florida residents you might want to start with voting "NO" on Amendment 8 in the coming election.
I actually go to this church, and continue doing so. abolishing all religion would be like living in North korea AZdrummer89 -.- also, EVERY SINGLE religion, even buddhists and jews, christians, they have all had allegations. YES, the catholic church has had ALOT. i agree. and many bad people have tried to cover this disgusting action. but that doesn't mean the entire church is bad. I go because of hat they actually teach in the church, and what I believe and the amazing people in the church that I've met... people that have dedicated their lives to good and are some of the most amazing and inspiring people.
P.S. the catholic church continues to be THE largest non-profit charity/organization and give more charity per year than any other.
Andrea,
The charity is an investment.
1. Tell the needy that bible = food, medicine, etc...
2. Receive hungry or sick converts
3. Brainwash/scare converts (only salvation), along with as many friends/family of converts as possible
4. Receive tithes from the converts and future generations of the converts
5. Profit/power
It's all so geniously evil.
The Archdiocese said Wednesday that it previously placed Garcia on administrative leave in August after one alleged victim made allegations against the priest. After investigating the claim, church officials said they found it was "not credible."
Leave the investigation to the church and you can almost predict what the outcome is going to be.
Not to worry, kumana. The Church does not do any legal investigation. But believe it - this priest is finished. In this day and age, he will not be serving as a priest ever again, should it be shown that he actually did these crimes. As for legal prosecution, that is up to the DA's as per the laws of the State of Florida. Hopefully statutes have not run out.
It only gets prosecuted if the alleged crime is reported. If the initial investigation of the church resulted to as to the allegations "not being credible", they will not report it. How can there be any prosecution?
In our current time, they are to be reported to the civil authorities as well. Remember, this should be obvious, but apparently it did not occur to anyone until these last few years (not just in the Catholic Church, but in many other organizations - such as public schools - as well). Failure to do so - well, we have already seen the consequences of this with the Bishop Finn case. But in my diocese, I've seen my bishop do exactly what needs to be done, and as a result four priests have been rightly removed (though their cases could not be prosecuted due to statutes). In my own case, my abuser likewise could not be prosecuted, but at least the priest was defrocked by Pope Benedict. Some justice there, at least.
Or they just get transferred somewhere else. Getting reported after the statute of limitation expired is suspect also.
This molestation of children is god's will.
It's time to ban the Catholic Religion. Yes, it does sound harsh, but if the leaders of that religion cannot, or willnot clean up their house, then ban them from the USA. We don't need more child victims. It's time we start thinking about the victims, and helping them.
Unrealistic, SallyAnn. Otherwise, you'd have to ban universities, civic organizations, and even the entire public school system, for these things take place in them, too. Better to keep working on reforms, and as one who advocates for such in the Catholic Church, I am seeing results. Oh, and don't forget the Constitution, too - freedom of religion, separation of church and state, and so on. You remember that, right?
Sally, I agree with your assertion that it's time to help the victims but we cannot ban any church in the U.S. The athiest side of me would love to see everyone grow out of the footy pajamas we call religion but whether I agree with a religion or not is not the point. In the U.S. we must protect EVERY person's right to believe how they wish. Of course, that doesn't mean we can't tax the @!$%# out of them as well as stop allowing the church to hide these pedophiles by punishing them to the fullest extent of the law. Banning, though...not in America.
The catholic church is a disgrace to religion.They have lied & covered up the molestations committed by these evil individuals. The pope is the very worst. Imagine all the people who confessed their sins to these so called priests when the priests listening to the confessions were committing unforgiveable acts against children. The church retired these losers when it became too risky to allow them to continue to have contact with children--and now the parishioners are financially supporting the creeps. What a waste of money. I believe all catholics that continue to support them, are at the least very morally challenged & definitely fools.
The entire Catholic Church, or certain parts of it and individuals? What about us who work for reform and are seeing results? Nice broad brush you paint with there, Jonsey.
The catholic church should have been abolished years ago. The abuse has been going on for centuries & the evil continues--there is nothing redeeemable about the catholic church & if you think your little efforts to clean it up are worth risking more kids, then you rank right up there with the pope.
There has been too much cover up, lying & mistreatment of the victims who tried to report the animals that were hurting them. Time to pull the plug on the church, child molesting priests & all their supporters.
Does that answer your silly questions?
It answers them, but poorly. A lot hyperbole and exaggeration on your part, as well as your own frustrations. Hmm, I wonder why.
Anyway, if you would eventually be more realistic and calm, you will see things are improving. Most of the Church is not like this, anyway, though one would perceive it as such if you were to believe the way the media makes it out to be. We hear of bad, and it is all bad. A common fallacy.
I guess we have to ban the Olympic Program also they have a higher percentage of molestation than any religion!
Well, there are many of us Christians who honestly believe tha the Roman Catholic Church and the true Christian Church are quite distinct entities, for all the obvious reasons!!!!!
Ah yes, the true Christian Church - in other words, whatever your Protestant pastor or you as a Protestant say it is. Nope, no thank you, Torqunada.
This case does not surprise me in the least. The Archdiocese of Miami has been well-known for this for decades, and only in the last couple of years since Archbishop Thomas Wenski took over is the filth of this place finally getting cleaned up.
So we will still be hearing of cases like this for some time. Under the previous leadership of the notoriously gay Archbishop Favalora (if you don't believe me, google the Gawker article "Miami Vice" from last year), many gay priests who targeted young men like this 16-year old ran rampant through the church. These cases are not pedophilia (most are not) but rather ephebophilia, the attraction toward adolescents. This is a gay phenomenon (though most gay men are NOT this) and after being victimized myself by a priest during my teen years and later seeing it in the seminary, I know from experience how rampant this is in certain parts of the Catholic Church. Since the reforms of Pope Benedict in 2001, and new bishops that are finally taking this seriously (unlike previous bishops like Favalora, and also Weakland in Milwaukee who used church funds to pay off his young lovers), this is now FINALLY being handled correctly. They are being turned over to the police for investigation if possible (many cases cannot be due to statutes of limitations, as was in my case) and the church is immediately removing these priests from the parishes and even defrocking them (as was my abuser defrocked in 2005 by Pope Benedict).
Is it perfect? Of course not - as we saw recently with the case of Bishop Finn in Kansas City. Yet it is getting much better (witness the case of Bishop Lahey in Canada). Archbishop Wenski in Miami is handling this one correctly and hopefully justice will be done if the DA's can do their job correctly (unlike the ones back in the 1970s with the Wisconsin Deaf School case, who completely lost their case due to their incompetence).
Too bad the pope recently told the Italian bishops that they had no actual civil obligation to report pedophilia to the police.
Too bad the pope was himself at the center of the pedophilia cover up when he ran the office of the Inquisition, and also when he was archbishop in Germany.
Too bad for you, skrekk. "popebenedictandclergyabuse(dot)blogspot(dot)com" will refute your allegations. as for the Italian bishops statement, be sure it is not being misquoted. From reading your sentence, I can see your source was wrong. He did not say this.
Do some homework and be better informed, not what the NY Times or ill-informed critics tell you what to think.
To clarify, skrekk, the fact that Italian law has no legal obligation to report this was pointed out at the Italian bishop's conference. This was what was so noted at the conference. Naturally, atheists and haters of the church jumped on this, implying the pope was trying cover things up. Not true. This was not the pope alone, but the conference itself. Remember, the pope (being Bishop of the Rome diocese) does serve in the conference, too.
It is also the same with Massachusetts law back when Cardinal Bernard Law was running the Boston Archdiocese. "Why is he not in jail???" many asked. Why indeed! Ideally, he should have. Yet the DA's in Massachusetts could not charge Law with anything due to the fact that, by the actual law on the books, he had done nothing illegal. Morally wrong - absolutely. Legally wrong? Surprisingly, no. Same in the case of Italian law.
The facts prove otherwise:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/munich-abuse-case-archbishop-ratzinger-failed-to-deal-with-suspected-pedophile-priest-a-731683.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/09/pope-benedict-xvi-stalled_n_532099.html
Somehow I doubt that saying "but you're under no legal obligation to report these crimes" was the right advice to give the bishops, given the history of how the church has failed to do just that.
Der Spiegel? Huffies? Biased, Anti-Catholic sources. And advice? No advice, just stating a certain fact.
You need better facts, skrekk. Stop using sources with Anti-Catholic agendas, and start finding out the actual facts.
Much better to get your info from Catholic apologists like you cited, eh?
And much more convenient to shoot the messenger rather than addressing the facts in the articles. No wonder you Catholic ostriches continue to have such a huge pedophilia scandal.
www.catholicarrogance.org
www.bishopaccountability.org
"Catholic Ostrich"? Really skrekk???
Considering that I am definitely one of the most vocal critics of the Catholic Church and how poorly they've handled these scandals, I find that laughable. Yet, the difference between you and me is that I make sure I criticize what is actually true. You, however, do not, relying on inaccurate and false sources.
You can only answer a fool for so long, so skrekk, I cannot answer you further. God bless you :-)
The Catholic church needs to do a complete overhaul, and get rid of all the sexual deviants within their ranks.
They are working on it, Bruce. As a Church watcher and advocate for reform I am seeing a complete turn around from previous years and decades, with very lax bishops and deviant men becoming priests for the purpose of exploiting the innocent. It is not perfect (nothing is), but it is getting better.
They could do a whole lot more and a whole lot sooner if they so choose.
You can only go so fast, kumanakanaman. Remember also that many of these cases are decades old, so proving anything at this point in time is next to impossible. Still, progress is made.
You know, recently the BBC has been brought up on allegations that they covered up the activities of Jimmy Savile, the UK's equivalent of Mr. Rogers and Captain Kangaroo. Imagine that - the BBC which has criticized Pope Benedict so severely over his "slow response" and alleged that he covered things up (he has not) is now part of their own cover-up. Pot, meet kettle, eh.
Exactly my point. Why are these cases decades old? I think its safe for me to assume decades of cover ups perhaps?
I believe the most logical explanation is the failure of a child to tell on an adult. It looks like it takes years to muster up the nerve. I think that it also can be the parents not stressing how important it is to not let anyone else touch you there. I'm not blaming the parents as this should never happen to a child or anyone for that matter to anyone. Or the child is just not believed.
Art - exactly.
Art & Benedictine,
Blame the victim.....never a good defense. Art states I'm not blaming the parents, but he does blame the children, ...... is the failure of a child to tell on an adult. So we have a situation where a world-wide religious organization that protects child abusers habitually for centuries.......and you say it comes down to the the child failing to tell on an adult. That is sick and you two defending this practice is equally disturbing.
Child molestation is about power and control. That is why the children don't tell. The child is selected, groomed, threatened, intimidated, and all manner of "used" by the perpetrator.
Any parent who puts their child in the hands of an organization rife with moletsers and enablers should bear some responsibility for the poor parenting choice.
I think its more of the church no telling anyone than the child not telling an adult. How many of these cases that are now public was initiated by the church? How many times did they volunteer information to the outside authorities when these things happen?
corona - as a survivor myself (for I will not call myself a "victim") I have often wondered if we had just spoken up sooner, could we have stopped our abuser? Even then, back in those days we would not have been believed, for priests (and teachers, and coaches, and neighbors, etc.) were held up to a very high standing and we would have completely disregarded and certainly even blamed, if not punished, for daring to say such a thing about one of "God's holy priests".
The times were what they were, corona. I am glad to see that the real stories are being believed in this day and age. We come forward in many ways, have we not.