Warned About The Sexual Abuse Of 200 Deaf Boys, Vatican Failed to Defrock Priest

[moobu2]

This is an incredible story from The New York Times. I know people are a little tired of hearing about these priest-child rapists but this story is different and worth reading.

Top Vatican officials — including the future Pope Benedict XVI — did not defrock a priest who molested as many as 200 deaf boys, even though several American bishops repeatedly warned them that failure to act on the matter could embarrass the church, according to church files newly unearthed as part of a lawsuit.

The Rev. Lawrence C. Murphy, with hands together, at St. John’s School for the Deaf in Wisconsin in 1960.

The internal correspondence from bishops in Wisconsin directly to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future pope, shows that while church officials tussled over whether the priest should be dismissed, their highest priority was protecting the church from scandal.

The documents emerge as Pope Benedict is facing other accusations that he and direct subordinates often did not alert civilian authorities or discipline priests involved in sexual abuse when he served as an archbishop in Germany and as the Vatican’s chief doctrinal enforcer.

The Wisconsin case involved an American priest, the Rev. Lawrence C. Murphy, who worked at a renowned school for deaf children from 1950 to 1974. But it is only one of thousands of cases forwarded over decades by bishops to the Vatican office called the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, led from 1981 to 2005 by Cardinal Ratzinger. It is still the office that decides whether accused priests should be given full canonical trials and defrocked.

In 1996, Cardinal Ratzinger failed to respond to two letters about the case from Rembert G. Weakland, Milwaukee’s archbishop at the time. After eight months, the second in command at the doctrinal office, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, now the Vatican’s secretary of state, instructed the Wisconsin bishops to begin a secret canonical trial that could lead to Father Murphy’s dismissal.

NEW YORK TIMES

[Angry Dragon]

1. Where are the morals of these people??

It is my understanding the catholic church says they are the one and only church chosen by god. If this is true in their eyes why do they feel the need to hide and lie?? If their god is as powerful as they believe then god will protect his church without intervention on the priests' part. They do not practice what they say they believe. And then they wonder why the common man does not believe them.

[AlecBGreen]

2. ugh

this is the worst part

"The internal correspondence from bishops in Wisconsin directly to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future pope, shows that while church officials tussled over whether the priest should be dismissed, their highest priority was protecting the church from scandal"

By their actions it seems they love a manmade instituion more than the commandments of their God. Very sad.

[AlecBGreen]

3. some verses

1st John 1:8-10 "If we say, "We are without sin," we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing. If we say, "We have not sinned," we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Matthew 19:14 "Jesus said, 'Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.'" What are the hallmark traits of children? Their unabashed wonder and curiosity, their great capacity for trust and obedience, their unfailing love for their parents. We are to emulate them, not use them to satisfy our sexual desires.

1st Cornithians 6:15, 17-18 "Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? ... But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit. Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body." I guess not much needs to be said about this one.

[moobu2]

4. I just flipped the channel to CNN and Rick Sanchez is getting ready to talk about this

after the break. He mentioned the direct link to the Pope etc...

[moobu2]

5. Well, basically Rick Sanchez let Bill Donahue cover for the Catholic Church

that was disappointing. I don't watch CNN but I kind of liked Rick S. (until today)

NEW YORK TIMES AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

March 25, 2010



Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments today on the front-page article in today's New York Times about priestly sexual abuse:

Media requests to deal with this subject make it difficult to provide an adequate response to today's article by Laurie Goodstein. But the time has come to ask some serious questions about why the Times is working overtime with wholly discredited lawyers to uncover dirt in the Catholic Church that occurred a half-century ago. Those questions will be raised in an ad I am writing that will be published in next Tuesday's New York Times; a rejoinder to the article will also be made. All I can say now is that this is the last straw.

Notice how Bill mentions the NYT's articles author who's obviously Jewish? What scum.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

6. No!!!! Leave the frock on! I don't wanna see what's underneath

Seriously, it's about time to start charging the enablers and people who are covering this up with serious felonies. These pieces of shit need to explain their actions to a jury of their peers.

[AlecBGreen]

7. amen

"...it's about time to start charging the enablers and people who are covering this up with serious felonies."