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Subscribe to RSSThere still isn't a frontrunner to succeed Pope Benedict, and some are asking that California Cardinal Roger Mahony – who was criticized for his role in shielding abusive priests -- skip the conclave. New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who is also attending the conclave, was recently deposed regarding his role in dealing with abusive priests in Wisconsin. NBC's Anne Thompson reports.
Los Angeles' retired Cardinal Roger Mahony, who was rebuked last month for his handling of the sex-abuse crisis, suggests he was "scapegoated" in a blog post ahead of two important dates: his Saturday deposition in a lawsuit alleging that the church hierarchy protected a priest accused of molesting children and his trip to Rome to help pick the next pope.
The high-profile "prince of the church" is at the center of an outcry over several scandal-tainted cardinals being allowed to help choose who will succeed Pope Benedict XVI at next month's conclave at the Vatican.
Ireland's Sean Brady, Belgium's Godfried Danneels and Philadelphia's Justin Rigali have all been pilloried in the Italian press over allegations they failed to protect children from pedophiles -- but it's Mahony who has drawn the most ire.
A group called Catholics United started a petition against his attendance at the conclave. And an Italian consumer group requested Rome prosecutors open a criminal investigation into Mahony if he travels to the Vatican, the news agency ANSA reported Friday.
Improbable as that is, it underscores the outrage in some quarters that cardinals whose reputations have been battered by cover-up allegations will have an equal say in who will next lead the world's 1.3 billion Catholics.
NBC News' Vatican expert, George Weigel, said he could not recall similar calls for abstention at other conclaves, but he noted that voting is an obligation under church law and that other "less-than-admirable" figures have attended for more than a millennium.
"If people are looking for a perfect, sinless electorate to choose religious leadership, they should look somewhere else," Weigel said.
Mahony, who retired as head of the L.A. Archdiocese last year, was stripped of his remaining diocesan duties last month over his handling of priest sex abuse cases. He has repeatedly apologized for past mistakes but isn't bowing to pressure to skip the historic moment. No criminal charges have been filed against him.
He's raising eyebrows and hackles, however, with a series of blog posts about the rebuke.
In one this week, Mahony said he had tried to live out "the acceptance of being scapegoated, pointing out the necessary connection between humiliation and redemption."
Vincenzo Pinto / AFP - Getty Images
After Pope Benedict XVI steps down next week, the cardinals will pick his successor. Some say not everyone deserves a vote.
"This scandal is putting us, the clergy and the church, where we belong -- with the excluded ones," he added. "Jesus was painted with the same brush as the two thieves crucified with him."
The Surviviors Network of those Abused by Priests slammed the language.
"It's hurtful and disingenuous for Mahony to claim he's been scapegoated," said director David Clohessy. "He's been a bishop for almost 40 years and the sole head of America's largest archdiocese for more than a quarter century. Few, if any, U.S. Catholic prelates have been more powerful than Mahony. So for him to somehow pretend to be a powerless pawn is pathetic."
Fueling the latest round of criticism of Mahony is last month's release of reams of confidential personnel files that, according to Reuters, showed Mahony and an aide, Thomas Curry, worked to send priests accused of abuse out of California to shield them from law enforcement scrutiny in the 1980s.
In a letter to the archdiocese about the documents and his dismissal, Mahony said that he had worked hard since 1989 to toughen guidelines for handling abuse and apologized for missteps before that.
"I have stated time and time again that I made mistakes, especially in the mid-1980s," he wrote. "I apologized for those mistakes, and committed myself to make certain that the Archdiocese was safe for everyone."
The document release -- part of a $660 million settlement with abuse victims struck in 2007-- has set the stage for this weekend's deposition by Mahony in a lawsuit by a 35-year-old man who says he was molested by a priest in the late 1980s.
The suit alleges that church officials effectively let the Rev. Nicholas Aguilar Rivera escape to Mexico after child sex-abuse complaints were made, the Associated Press reported. He remains a fugitive.
One 1988 memo made public last month revealed a top Mahony lieutenant confided that he told Rivera “it was likely the accusations would be reported to the police and that he was in a good deal of danger."
The plaintiff’s lawyer, Anthony De Marco, will have four hours to question Mahony about Rivera and 25 other priests, attempting to show a pattern of cover-up so he can try to collect punitive damages on behalf of his client.
Then, within days, Mahony will fly to Rome to join 116 other cardinals under the age of 80 who will meet twice a day in the Sistine Chapel to elect the next pontiff.
"Mahony’s bad luck is all of these documents were released right before the pope resigned and this is why people are going after him instead of other people," said Father Thomas Reese, author of "Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church."
He said there was virtually no chance Mahony would be pressured to stay away.
"The last one turned away from a conclave was in the time of the Napoleon," he said.
"If Mahony can't go, then there's a whole list of other cardinals who maybe can't go, and if you say these guys can't attend for this reason, then what about other reasons."
Even after sidelining him, the L.A. Archdiocese backed Mahony's voyage to Rome. In a statement, it portrayed Catholics United as a fringe group and its petition as pointless.
"Cardinal Mahony will travel to Rome to fulfill his sacred duty under church law to vote for the next pope,” it said.
Cardinal Roger Mahony was stripped of duties last month. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
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Maybe some people still pay attention to the actions of the Church in Rome.
I do not.
To me it is just a bloated, tradition bound institution, living off the superstitions of this world's Catholics.
So let this Cardinal travel to Rome to choose who next wears the ridiculous paraphernalia of "the Pope", or let him stay home. It makes no difference.
Cardinal Mahony did more to expose and stop child sex abusers than any other church official in the history of the Catholic Church! And this current attack on him is a false and dishonest attack planned by the right wing faction of the Catholic Church in order to try to prevent the liberals (like Cardinal Mahony) in the Catholic Church from making any changes (and advances) to the Catholic Church
You're not a scapegoat, you and the people like you who helped sweep this stuff under the carpet are part of the problem. I certainly hope you enjoy carving up the Catholic churches assets in the US in an attempt to pay off all the lawsuits you're losing. Hope it was worth it. Interesting that homosexuality is a sin, outside the Church. But when Priests are raping little kids...nothing to see here. Right?
Total hypocrite, I almost wish there was a God, because that'd mean there's also a Hell, which is where you'd be going.
I guess the fat, old, ignorant cardinals of Rome have to lay the blame for letting this pope and all others before him greasted sin out of the bag. They still live in their non existent world of 2000 years ago where they and the pope were treated like a gods. They are nothing more than nothing.
Every pope including the one leaving has had a pitchfork waiting for them when they died. God commanded them to protect the children and instead they protected themselves.
ALL religion is nothing more than very bad fairy tales to control the masses.
Most powerful, despicable, perverted cult in the world which is founded on the idea that an invisible rapist impregnated a lady so his "son" could come here to get slaughtered. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, just a tad on the kooky side?
The boss is always responsible for his employees' actions...apparently the Catholic Church doesn't believe this. They need to get into the 19th century - and quit wearing dresses! Spend some of your money on the poor instead of pomp and circumstance! Wake up! And my sister was a nun!
That would make their "god" responsible for this behavior, right? In the word of Rick Perry, "oops."
I left the Catholic Church fifty-years ago when I was assaulted by two priests from my parish. When I told my mother about the assaults, she told me never to make-up a story like that again. My mother was one of the millions of "brain-washed" followers of a church that is filled with pedophiles. After several years, with my refusal to attend church or have anything to do with the Catholic Church, my mother asked me "Did that really happen to you when you were an altar boy?" I do not want money from the perverted Catholic Church, but if there ever is a call for a conclave of those assaulted by a parish priest, I will attend the gathering. I offer that the numbers could fill St. Peter's Square, and all the streets of Rome.
"I left the Catholic Church fifty-years ago when I was assaulted by two priests from my parish."
Good post. It wasn't just sexual abuse. I spent 12 years in Catholic schools from the early 50s to the mid 60s. I saw massive amounts of both physical abuse and psychological abuse. I saw the parish pastor beat the crap out of kids for not memorizing The Baltimore Catechism quickly enough. I witnessed nuns making fun of two kids who stuttered day after day after day telling them God was punishing them for being evil. It was a constant badgering, berating, and humiliation directed at anyone who showed the slightest sign of individuality. None of this happened to me personally but I saw it every day, over and over.
Religion is a scam and nobody knows it better than the church.
Say you're driving down the highway and you notice a police cruiser in your rear view mirror. Would you speed? Change lanes, wildly? Of course not. Nobody would ever break the law, knowing they're being watched. It simply violates human nature.
So, how could a priest abuse a child, knowing that god almighty is watching over their shoulder? Simple: they couldn't. There is no god and nobody knows that better than the church.
Amen. I've been saying this for years too. Why don't they listen?
All pedophiles lie...
Yeah,, I read in the Bible,, where Jesus was on the cross and his last words was, " I was a scapegoat for your sins"
Oh yeah,, Get off the cross Mary, we need the wood,, Be thankful your not in prison,
Heard the latest on those most vile of persons of the "church" ? They sent money to offshore banks soon after all this became public years ago. So when the courts decided how much the plantiff should get in monatary settlements the judge/jury take into account how much the diocese has. Screwed again by your "church(s). What amazes me is how people still believe in all that vodoo stuff anyway.
If you are still a member of the Catholic Church after all these scandals. pay offs ,and outright lies starting from the Pope down, then you need a reality check. The church has been corrputed and will continue to be until there is a public apology issued by the Pope himself on television , newspapers and internet, acknowledging the despicable acts of child molestation condoned and hidden by his church. Then there has to be a complete cleaning house of anyone even thought to have committed acts of molestation. Churches are supposedly designed for one to worship and draw faith from, but this church has breached it vows to epidemic proportions and broken any and all trust that a rational person would bestow. To crush the trust of children in adults whom they have been taught to respect and honor thru parents and bible study is the worst from of rape (physical and emotional).
bill-765872, the Catholic Church has been the destroyer of humanity since its inception. They have issued papal bulls to destroy entire civilizations in the name of the Church and the taking of land or possessions. Pedophilia has been in the Church since Roman times as it was thought to pass on wisdom and knowledge to young men from the fluids of the Church leaders. Actually all of this has its beginnings from the Roman statesmen and philosophers. It amazes me that the Catholic Church has chosen to continue this absurd practice of pedophilia. I would suspect these molesters have cited the beginnings of the Church and this tradition of passing on wisdom and knowledge. These people are sick puppies at best. Time to take down this institution of superstitions and pedophilia. Bottom line.
The Catholic Church has evolved into a big business electing a president of sorts to run their country just as Israel has done with citizens of dual citizenship over the entire world. The only difference is the Catholic Church is a tax free organization as a state but their followers have total allegiance to the Pope.
Why is everyone so exercised about this guy attending the conclave? Ratzinger supervised EVERYONE who was covering up, and he got ELEVATED to the papacy.
Ratzinger was the enforcer for John Paul. This goes hand in hand with his rise to power - - he surely had the goods on virtually everyone that counted.
The only mystery now is why did Ratzinger really quit? Ill health is not the answer because suffering, like Jesus on the cross, is the mark of a true Pope is it not?
Where there's smoke there's fire.
Here’s a list of 228 accused clerics, nuns and staff - [updated]
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--- Added: --- Bro. Stephen Baker, TOR, --- Fr. Martin A. Brady, TOR (Franciscan friar);
He is right, he is a scapegoat. Along with the Pope and the whole Catholic Church so get in line Cardinal.
The problem is not any single priest or cardinal. The problem is the Church. The problem is Christianity. Despite having some good elements, Christianity has been a blight on humanity. Its teachings inevitably corrupt the mind and the heart, and so those whose lives revolve around it are more prone to these kinds of behavioral perversions. The Catholics are just the tip of the iceberg. The protestant denominations are no better, just less visible.
I am not saying that every Christian is a pervert. I am saying that adopting and living any variation of a Christian philosophy causes intellectual and emotional decay, which at times can lead to perversion. I am saying that Christianity is immoral, and so it is no surprise that it fosters immoral compulsions, even those that are contrary to the faith itself. Christians are victims of a 2000 year-old falsehood, just as Moslems are victims of a 1300 year-old falsehood.
I am assuming that you are neither Christian or Moslem (Muslim) so I pose the question: What are you a victim of?
Ron46, no matter if one has a blind faith to a religion or not we are all victims when this occurs to our posterity which in turn affects our society. This is why we are all victims from this evil religion and its misgivings to those who do or don't believe or subscribe to a religion. Are you a sheep too? Blind faith in whatever is spoken to you by someone at a pulpit, television or radio broadcast?
I would venture to posit this is why the Pope is stepping down. All of this protectionism of pedophiles is coming to a head and he is getting out of dodge and passing on this to the next fool to take the sceptre. Down with this institution of nut jobs. Let Italy take back the Vatican land, properties and wealth the Church has amassed over the centuries and donate it all to charity.
The basis of ANY religion, no matter which one, is extortion and coercion.
No, I am not agnostic but am a Christian - not Catholic - but a Christian.
"What are you a victim of?"
A fair question. We all are victims of the delusions of our ancestors which they pass down to us thru culture, custom, and law. So it is nearly impossible for an individual brought up within our society to have a truly unbiased and clear view of anything. I recognize that my personal view of things is not 100% correct. But what I try to do is gradually weed out the falsehoods in my beliefs by questioning everything that I think and by forming all the arguments both for and against it within my mind. I hold an internal trial of my belief, arguing both for it and against it, and also acting as an impartial judge observing all the arguments. Then, after a period of reflection, I decide whether my belief is worth keeping or if it should be changed. Logic rules all of these operations.
But all of this is contrary to a religious orientation. In a religious mindset, you learn the beliefs you are supposed to echo and then spend all your time convincing yourself that it really is true, regardless of any and all evidence to the contrary. That is called faith, and that is why religious faith is evil. It shuts down all of your native critical thinking skills and supplants them with mindless parotting of what others have told you to believe, and this process is so pervasive that it actually rewrites the believer's personality because of all the requisite self-delusion.
"The basis of ANY religion, no matter which one, is extortion and coercion."
What a remarkably thoughtful and encouraging comment from a Christian. I disagree about your beliefs, but I have total respect for your ability to see all sides of the situation. If most Christians were like you, I would have little argument with Christianity. I would still oppose it in an abstract sense, but in practical life there would be little need if Christians were as thoughtful and non-fanatical as you.
I thinks this just goes to illustrate how far and how deep this scandal goes back churchwide, not just here in our country but its coming out worldwide
HBO's documentary "Maxima Mea Culpa" reported on milwaukee's archdioceses and the abuse that started in the 60's at a school for the deaf and was covered up and swept under the holy carpet that led to the office of the inquisitation ( benedict's position before pope )was released and a week later we hear that the world court wants to deposistion him on many crimes. co incidence...No, Clearly this is just another case of hiding the nut in the shell, he's not going to retire out of the vatican at a cloister, but will reside the rest of his days at the vatican , where he will maintain a certain amount of immunity from prosecution so long as he is on soverign land ( I still don't know why, or how the world recognizes this , as it was set up by mussolini and the pope at the time during the rise of facism of Italy, ( so again we see the church turning a blind eye, anyone else see a pattern yet ? )
And the sex isnt the only scandal the Church is facing, hiding money to avoid paying off that hush money is one thing but , theres money laundering, government intimidation. and lets not forget all the other crimes the church themselves perpurtrated or allowed to happen and them staying silent, ...I believe there may be a god, but I cant believe that the church is truly an extention of him anymore . The church has become a beauracracy that is only concerned with their own survival at any cost !
Everyone who attends a catholic church should be required to see the HBO documentary. I saw it but that was like preaching to the choir. Still, I'm glad I saw it because I know more now than I did about just how deep the corruption in the church is, was and ever shall be.
Montana, That wouldn't matter to them. I knew a wonderful, elderly Catholic lady who ran a night shelter for homeless women. She ran herself ragged for them. But when it came to the Church, well, the only paper she read was the one put out by the diocese. To her, Cardinal Law never did anything wrong--he just took bad advice from the psychologists who apparently said pedophilia is curable. When people have an emotional need to believe in something, whether it be a person, an idea, or an institution, it's difficult, if not impossible, for them to see any flaws in their security blanket.
@NERiNO: It makes sense, for those of belief, however, for those of us who live in reality, these Priests have been doing this for countless years, destroying the lives of countless children. While her precious institution does everything in it's considerable power to help them avoid prosecution. Her deeds are great, and a wonderful sign that not all people of faith, are weak. However, her continued blind obedience to a system that clearly isn't working for the betterment of the populace (and I only mean this in the pedophile realm...obviously there's tons they do that IS good...but one does not cancel out the other), is part of the problem. Children > Beliefs.
So, if she wants to be vilified right alongside the rest of the Church hierarchy, that's her choice. But, hopefully, she isn't mystified at the kind of reaction this situations is receiving. Because any parent...any parent, would be more than justified (in my mind) to going vigilante, against someone who harmed or sexually abused their child. Will her beliefs protect her from parents out for blood? Probably not.
The Catholic Church has also tried to blame this all on gays, who, they're quick to insinuate, are naturally pedophiles. Aside from the falseness of that contention, the Church's hypocritical nomination of their own scapegoats for these crimes has been used to shift blame from the hierarchy's own complicity in child sex abuse.
But let's wrongly assume for a minute that the core problem is gay priests, who are unable control their sexual urges due to their orientation (a charge false on both counts). It then actually makes it harder to understand why the Church leadership did nothing, or worse than nothing through cover-ups and reassignments, all of which are documented in courts cases.
If the Church opposes gays so much, to spend its parishioners money on anti-gay election issues, and preach from the pulpit to vote anti-gay on specific ballot measures (both things likely illegal under US tax-exemption laws), how come they were busy playing a shell game with these gay criminals in their own ranks, to hide them from law enforcement? And to deny their young victims justice and compensation, treatment, protection from further harm, and saved them from the continuing added injury of being told for years they were lying, or fantasizing.
No, the issue here isn't gay priests. It's corrupt Cardinals, Bishops and other Church official who were enablers for these pedophiles, whatever their sexual orientation. If they really believe that gays cannot be trusted with public ministry (a position which I would dispute), then isn't it the fault the Church's, for keeping them in those ministries, long after their sexual perversions were discovered? It's called being an accessory to a crime, and a direct crime when evidence is withheld from the police.
Suppose you were a manager of a department store, and found one of your salespeople was stealing merchandise. And upon investigating learned he was a kleptomaniac, who couldn't resist stealing. Would you fire him, or reassign him from menswear to kitchen appliances? And when he began stealing mixers would you reassign him yet again, to luggage?
If the store owner found out about this, would you try to exonerate yourself by saying the problem is the kleptomaniac, not your reassigning him and covering it up? Claim that you were being made the scapegoat for these thefts? Think the store owner would buy that explanation? Nor should we buy the scapegoat plea of Cardinal Mahony, or the other lame excuses of any of these criminal Church leaders.
It is not scapegoating to hold someone responsible for the things he is...responsible for.
poor mahoney. he's obviously the real victim here... not the little boys that cunningly seduced the unsuspecting priests.
My parents tried to bring me up catlick but it did not stick. They did send me to camp Malloy in NY. I read years ago that it was really a priest pedophile vacation spot. When my mother asked me as "an adult" if any of the priest "touch me" I asked her if any priest where murdered when I was attending camp. I was lucky.
The next Pope is pointless unless they pick someone who is going to protect children rather than their priests. Just a bunch of men in robes waving smoke around in the air and handing out bread and wine to people to keep them trapped in their ancient and outdated rituals and beliefs. Pope is irrelevant until you find someone who wants to practice Christianity the way it was meant to be...with compassion for the least of these...not your own stupid hierarchy.
You really should spend some time reading the Bible and you'd know that they ARE practicing Christianity the way it was meant to be. The book is not pretty unless you only read Psalms and the Song of Solomon.
Just one small example:
"Every one that is found shall be
thrust through; and every one that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword.
Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses
shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished." (Isaiah 13:15-16)
Put those sicko priests in prison. Then put them in general population in prison. This REDBIRD cardinal is just aiding these pedophiles.
Now, now, people. Let's not blame Mahony. Clearly, it's all part of God's plan that priests routinely rape children. We're just too blind to see His greater purpose.
Reminds me of Rush L. when he said" boho boho the children want to live, boho bohoo in relation to Sandy Hook