Pope and Catholic Bishops Knew of Predator Priest Problem

The Dallas Morning News - which did a great story in 2002 showing that 2/3's of the Catholic Bishops in the USA were involved in sexual abuse cover ups - has a new story out that further proves that the bishops were well aware of the magnitude of the problem and the lack of "cures" for priests sexually abusing minors. The most damning part of the story is that the bishops had been put on notice as far back as the 1950's yet lied about their lack of knowledge about the problem. As more and more information like this comes out, the more disgusting it is that no one in the Church hierarchy has been criminally prosecuted. And note, the Vatican knew about the situation too, yet we still see simpering ass kissers within the Catholic laity acting as if the bishops, cardinals and Popes are somehow worthy of respect. Many of them ought to be in jail rather than parading around and lecturing others on morality. Note how a spokeswoman for the Church continues to tell the same lies. The Church hierarchy is simply morally bankrupt - a fact I hope more Catholics will start to grasp and then vote with their feet. Here are some story highlights:

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The leader of a Catholic order that operated one of the biggest U.S. treatment centers for sexually abusive priests told bishops and the Vatican in the 1950s that the predators were "devils" and "vipers" who should be confined to an island and kicked out of the clergy. The leader's views were expressed in letters previously placed under seal by a New Mexico court as part of litigation involving a notorious Dallas priest. They undercut the bishops' longstanding claim that they didn't understand the scope and seriousness of the abuse problem until recent years.

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Fitzgerald's correspondence, first reported Monday by the independent weekly National Catholic Reporter, represents a historic benchmark in the U.S. church's embarrassing scandal, which has led to the removal of hundreds of priests who had been kept in the ministry despite credible evidence, criminal prosecution and billions in legal settlements to victims.

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The Rev. Thomas Doyle, who in 1985 helped write the first detailed abuse report to bishops while working at the Vatican's Washington embassy, said Monday that Fitzgerald's letters were especially powerful because he was a confidante to church administrators. At one point, the records show, Fitzgerald in 1964 recounted meeting personally with Pope Paul VI to discuss the problem.

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A spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Sister Mary Ann Walsh, stood by bishops' past statements that they had received bad advice on how to handle the troubled priests and didn't understand until the mid-1980s that pedophilia was incurable.

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Fitzgerald's letters, only now receiving public attention, were unsealed in 2007 as part of a massive court case waged by hundreds of sex-abuse victims against the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.The case ended in an out-of-court settlement exceeding $600 million.

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One of the lawyers representing Kos' victims, Sylvia Demarest, said she did not have prior access to the letters by Fitzgerald, who died in 1969. But in reading them now, she believes Fitzgerald provided Catholic leaders with extensive, sophisticated analyses of abusive priests. "The fact that bishops had this insight and had this responsibility and power, and covered it up rather than act, is shocking," Demarest said.

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He [Fitzgerald] also expressed skepticism that the priests could ever change their ways. "Their repentance and amendment is superficial," he wrote to the Manchester bishop, "and, if not formally at least subconsciously is motivated by a desire to be again in a position where they can continue their wonted activity. A new diocese means only green pastures."

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I have always mainntained that a non-celibate hierarchy with children of their own would have acted far differently. What is equally sad as the damage done to youths in the past is that the Church is still disseminating the same posionous message to LGBT youths today that they are sinful, evil, and unworthy of God's love. This knowledge makes me almost physically sick. How many more lives will be ruined?