Yesterday in a post I indicated that I had boycotted sitting through a Catholic mass with my Mother (she had my sister attending with her) because of my disgust with the Knights of Columbus and their continued ass kissing of those who were deeply implicated in covering up the sexual abuse of children. Now another story of Church cover up and turning a blind eye has hit the press. This New York Times story (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/03/us/03jesuit.html) is sadly all too typical of the institution that brands gays as "inherently disordered" and suggests we have an evil element to us. My response is that the Church (at least under its current hierarchy) - not gays - is inherently disordered, not to mention, corrupt, greedy, and a force for hate and discord in the world in general. Here are some highlights of the Church's dirty linen (note that the Church was on notice of the problem as far back as 1969):A prominent Jesuit priest accused of sexually victimizing teenage boys who were his valets as he traveled the world leading Roman Catholic spiritual retreats was taken into federal custody yesterday in Chicago. The priest, the Rev. Donald J. McGuire, was charged by the federal authorities with traveling to Switzerland and Austria to engage in sexual conduct with a minor. Father McGuire was convicted last year of sexually abusing two high school students on trips to Wisconsin.
If convicted on the new federal charge, he could face up to 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Father McGuire, 77, has spent much of his career directing retreats for laypeople and members of Mother Teresa’s religious order. Victims’ lawyers released documents this week that showed that as far back as 1969 parents had contacted Jesuit officials to report that Father McGuire was behaving in sexually incorrect ways with their sons.
The order also received complaint letters from parents in 1993, 1994, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003. In that time, Father McGuire traveled alone with teenagers as young as 13, usually sharing a room and often a bed, according to the affidavit unsealed yesterday.
Investigators in the United States attorney’s office in Chicago interviewed three men who said that as teenagers they traveled with Father McGuire to dozens of states and overseas, often cleaning his laundry, cooking, helping him shower and giving him massages and shots for diabetes.
They said Father McGuire repeatedly showed them pornographic magazines and movies, sexually abused them and intimidated them into remaining silent. Sometimes after the abuse, he would perform the rite of absolution. One of the reported victims said the first time Father McGuire molested him was at confession, when he was 9. The parents had considered it an honor when the prominent priest mentored their sons.
The boy who reportedly traveled with Father McGuire to Switzerland and Austria roomed with him in a Jesuit residence in Evanston, Ill., in 1999, starting at age 13, and stayed until 2003. That was one year after the Catholic bishops of the United States declared that all priests credibly accused of abuse should be removed from ministry service.
Perhaps it is because I am a parent that I find the Church's utter disregard for children and youths so abhorrent. How the Nazi Pope can carry on with his pomp and self-importance with this garbage rampant in the Church is amazing. Yet, no one in high office EVER is punished or removed from office. Ruin lives, cover up the molestation of children, and there are no consequences. Disgusting. This story makes me feel all the better for having refused to attend mass. The hypocrisy of the Catholic Church sickens me.
2 comments:
It's just too bad you don't have more information, Michael. As awful as this situation was and is-- and I've watched most of the boys (now young men)grow up who were were with Fr. McGuire grow up, and, indeed, know Fr. McGuire himself-- you are painting the whole church with entirely too broad a brush, quite unjustly. We had absolutely no idea McGuire was doing this kind of stuff to our boys, and if you knew him you would understand how hard it was to believe such reports. But we knew our boys even better.
Until one finds out what really is going on in such a situation, it's not prudent or responsible to vomit out one's suspicions publically. While some church leaders clearly protected predators and hindered the process of protecting children, their number is so few as to not even register except by the impact of their obstruction and omissions. To suggest otherwise, as you do so vehemently, is to mislead and even slander/libel.
Bishop Boland did exactly what he should have done, in exactly the right order. As gratifying as it might have been for you and so many others who hate what has happened or who merely hate the Church, going first to the media with his information and suspicions before contacting McGuire's superiors would not have been the appropriate way to handle my friends' pleas for help.
I posted Ecce Quam Bonam's comment because - in my view - it typifies the mindset of the Catholic laity that in part has enabled the Catholic hierarchy to avoid punishing the host of bishops and cardinals that engaged in cover ups.
Ecce Quam Bonam makes the remark that "While some church leaders clearly protected predators and hindered the process of protecting children, their number is so few as to not even register." I am not sure by what definition she defines "so few." The Daillas Morning News had a special report on the cover up by U. S. Bishops and found as follows:
"Roughly two-thirds of top U.S. Catholic leaders have allowed priests accused of sexual abuse to keep working, a systematic practice that spans decades and continues today, a three-month Dallas Morning News review shows. The study - the first of its kind - looked at the records of the top leaders of the nation�s 178 mainstream Roman Catholic dioceses, including acting administrators in cases where the top job is vacant.
Excluded from the study were auxiliary bishops who, in larger dioceses, serve in subordinate roles but still can vote on many matters before the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the 17 bishops who lead eparchies, which are diocese-like entities that worship according to the Eastern rite."
The full story can be found here: http://www.dallasnews.com/cgi-bin/bi/dallas/2002/priests.cgi Of course, this story only looks at the U. S. Bishops and equates to 117 bishops. When one looks at the picture world wide, the total number becomes huge.
Ecce Quam Bonam needs to do her homework better before she tries to reprimand me for not knowing my facts. I'd say it is the other way around.
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