A Bishop’s Words - the documents to the lawsuit against the Diocese of Bridgeport, Conn

[groovedaddy]

In the end it was not the power of repentance or compassion that compelled the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport, Conn., to release more than 12,000 pages of documents relating to lawsuits alleging decades of sexual abuse of children by its priests.

It was a court order. The diocese had spent seven years fighting a lawsuit brought by The New York Times and three other newspapers to unseal the records in 23 lawsuits involving accusations against seven priests. The diocese, which settled those cases in 2002, was ready to battle all the way to the United States Supreme Court to keep the archive secret. It lost in October, when the justices declined to hear its appeal.

Much about those cases was known, and the documents do not greatly revise our knowledge about the scandal that engulfed the entire church after erupting in Boston in 2002. The accounts of priests preying on children, being moved among parishes and shielded by their bishops while their accusers were ignored or bullied into silence, are a familiar, awful story.

But still it is hard not to feel a chill reading the testimony from two depositions given in 1997 and 1999 by Edward Egan, who was then bishop of Bridgeport and later named a cardinal and archbishop of New York. As he skirmishes with lawyers, he betrays a distressing tendency to disbelieve accusers and to shuck off blame.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/07/opinion/07mon2.html?th&emc=th

[MountainLaurel]

1. Scum

:puke:

[DeSwiss]

2. Agreed.

Scum of the earth.

K&R

[Raster]

3. And how many times has this story, or one nauseating similar, been hidden from view?

The accounts of priests preying on children, being moved among parishes and shielded by their bishops while their accusers were ignored or bullied into silence, are a familiar, awful story.

But still it is hard not to feel a chill reading the testimony from two depositions given in 1997 and 1999 by Edward Egan, who was then bishop of Bridgeport and later named a cardinal and archbishop of New York. As he skirmishes with lawyers, he betrays a distressing tendency to disbelieve accusers and to shuck off blame.

And now the church tries to place their hate and transgressions on the backs of Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transgenders. But the truth remains: the face of evil, the face of pedophile priests preying on children is catholic.

[BridgeTheGap]

4. The % of priests who are pedophiles is fairly close to what it is in the

general population. Bad enough with just that. But this story once again reveals the depths the catholic church would sink to FACILITATING these crimes. This bishop denies, denies, casts doubts and then gets promoted to cardinal! We have seen the face of evil!

[BridgeTheGap]

5. And one more thing, I've seen posts on other subjects here from catholics. Where are you now?

How can you let this stand or belong to a church where the leadership facilitates criminal activity?