Quote of the Day: More Sex Abuse Files Relased by Archdiocese of Los Angeles

Not surprisingly, the latest document dump by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has revealed more disgusting evidence of cover ups and serial sexual predators.  It's more or less what one has come to expect of the Roman Catholic Church if one has opened one's eyes and stopped drinking the Kool-Aid dispensed by the Church hierarchy.  The document dump also looks at the way in which the dysfunctional seek refuge in the priesthood and behind the pulpit.  Bob Felton sums it up well:

More files chronicling sexual abuse of children by clergy and nuns have been released in the Los Angeles diocese. It’s depressingly familiar stuff, and not worth belaboring, though this remark from one of the news stories bears repeating.

At more than 500 pages, Martinez’s file is among the most complete, and it paints a devastating picture of a troubled and repressed child who later joined the priesthood to satisfy a domineering and devout father.

There are a lot of troubled men in the clergy; proportionally, there are undoubtedly more basket-cases behind the pulpit than in the pews. They end up there as self-selected therapy for what they suppose to be sinful sexual inclinations, and they end up there because religiosity is the family business and it’s been expected of them from childhood.

 Bob describes the Catholic priesthood - and senior officials at the Vatican - all too well.  It's no wonder the Church fathers are so obsessed with all things sexual.
 

Justly Deserved Criticism of the Catholic Church and Francis I

One blogger is unhappy that this blog has been critical of the election of Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now Pope Francis I, as the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church:

Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now Pope Francis I hadn't been the newly elected Pope an hour when LGBT bloggers, groups and other self-appointed important voices were attacking him.

This continuing attack against the Roman Catholic Church, of which this writer is not a member, is getting almost as old as the Church itself . . . There is a very simple solution for the detractors to follow.  Leave the Church if you can't abide by its rules of Faith.  No one presuming you're an adult forces you to be Roman Catholic. Find another Faith, more progressive to you're liking.

Those not of the Faith, particularly the Atheist faggots just need to stifle.

Easy words for a blogger who lives in a progressive state like Connecticut where it is a different world from Virginia where the Catholic Church teams up with the Christofascists at The Family Foundation almost daily to deny LGBT Virginians such things as basic employment non-discrimination protections.  Easy words for a blogger who perhaps doesn't know victims of sexual abuse at the hands of priests who suffered threats and intimidation in the Church's efforts to keep them silent.   Easy words for a blogger who may not have personally known talented young men who ended their lives because of their inability to deal with the religious based hate and stigma the Catholic Church hierarchy works to perpetuate daily.   And easy words for a blogger who admittedly wasn't raised Catholic and who never experienced the psychological abuse that such an upbringing entailed, especially if one is gay.  And lastly, easy words for a blogger who may not have look at reports on Bergoglio's failings during Argentina's "Dirty War."

Meanwhile, events continue to demonstrate the true face of the Catholic hierarchy and its moral bankruptcy - including one of the electors of Francis I.  Yes, the Los Angeles archdiocese is paying out another $10 million to victims of sexual abuse - on top of the $600 million previously paid out.  Here are highlights from USA Today:

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay four men almost $10 million to settle allegations of sexual abuse by a former priest who more than a quarter century ago had confessed to molesting children, attorneys said Tuesday.  Two brothers will receive $4 million each, and the other two men will get nearly $1 million apiece, said John Manly, a plaintiff's attorney.

The settlement is the first since the Catholic Church released thousands of internal records detailing the actions of the defrocked priest, Michael Baker, and how church officials responded. Baker was convicted in 2007 of child molestation and paroled in 2011.

In January, as the files were about to be made public, a California judge ordered the archdiocese to identify all priests and church officials named in the documents.

Mahony retired as Los Angeles archbishop in 2011. Last month, his successor, Archbishop Jose Gomez, stripped him of his official duties.  Mahony is in Rome participating in the conclave selecting the next pope. He was aware of the settlement, J. Michael Hennigan, an archdiocese attorney, told the Associated Press.

Another plaintiff attorney, Vince Finaldi, told the Los Angeles Times that he believed that the release of the files was a major factor in the settlement.  "Once we got the files it confirmed everything we had argued for years and years," Finaldi said. "Cardinal Mahony's fingerprints were all over the case."

If Francis I cleans house and strips men like Mahony and Cardinal Bernard Law and many others of their titles and plush retirements and stops inciting hatred towards gays now that he's pope, I may reconsider my criticisms.  Frankly, I do not expect any meaningful change to occur, so my criticism will stand.  The days of special rights, deference and respect for the Catholic Church need to end.

Nazi Pope to Resign By Month End

In a surprising but most welcomed move from this blog's perspective the villainous Pope Benedict XVI, a/k/a Pope Palpatine, a/k/a the Nazi Pope will resign effective February 28, 2013.  No Pope has resigned from the papacy in over 600 years.  While citing health and age issues, one cannot help but wonder whether Benedict worries that some new bombshell might be forthcoming from the massive document dump in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles or elsewhere that could seriously damage the Vatican.  For over twenty years as head of the Inquisition, Benedict had his finger prints all over files involving predator priests and may well have ordered their protection and the obstruction of justice.  Obviously, should some possible new explosive expose be forthcoming, it would be a wonderful development in exposing the utter filth that is the Church hierarchy.  Here are details from the Washington Post:

Pope Benedict XVI announced Monday that he would resign Feb. 28 — the first pontiff to do so in nearly 600 years. The decision sets the stage for a conclave to elect a new pope before the end of March.  The 85-year-old pope announced his decision in Latin during a meeting of Vatican cardinals on Monday morning.

He emphasized that carrying out the duties of being pope — the leader of more than a billion Roman Catholics worldwide — requires “both strength of mind and body.”

The last pope to resign was Pope Gregory XII, who stepped down in 1415 in a deal to end the Great Western Schism among competing papal claimants.

Benedict called his choice “a decision of great importance for the life of the church.”

The move sets the stage for the Vatican to hold a conclave to elect a new pope by mid-March, since the traditional mourning time that would follow the death of a pope doesn’t have to be observed.

There are several papal contenders in the wings, but no obvious front-runner — the same situation when Benedict was elected pontiff in 2005 after the death of Pope John Paul II.

Sadly, Benedict and his predecessor, the less than saintly John Paul II worked to stack the college of cardinals with reactionary hacks, so the likelihood of a modernizing Pope being selected is probably remote.

Rampant Sexual Abuse: What Went Wrong in the Catholic Church?

This blog looks at the true filthy story of the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church for several reasons, not the least of which is a desire to expose the rank hypocrisy and moral bankruptcy that permeate most of the Church leadership from the Pope on down.  Then, of course, there is the harm that the leadership continues to inflict on LGBT individuals around the globe as it opposes our civil rights and strives to depict us as "inherently disordered" and "inclined toward evil."  As the recent news stories out of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles underscore, if anyone is inherently disordered and outright evil, it is the members of the Church hierarchy who have placed the protection of child rapists and obstruction of justice above almost all else.  The common question that one hears is how did such horrors come to be not only allowed to occur but protected.  Michael D'Antonio who has authored a book, "Mortal Sins: Sex, Crime and the Era of Catholic Scandal," which will be released in April has a column in the Los Angeles Times that seeks to answer these questions.  Here are column excerpts:

The files released last week by America's largest Catholic archdiocese revealed new and disturbing details about how church officials schemed to protect priests accused of molesting children. But was the scandal in Los Angeles really so much worse than in other places?

Sadly, no. The details emerging from the documents mirror what happened in archdioceses across the country, as church officials time and again put their own concerns above the needs of victims.

For the last three years I have investigated the Catholic sex abuse scandal in the United States and abroad. I have seen only a few cases in which the church willingly came clean about its actions. Instead, victims have had to use the courts and the news media to pressure the church for the truth. .  .  .  .  . a recent investigation by police in Australia, have made it clear that it wasn't just in North America that church officials tried to evade authorities, deflect scandal and conceal facts.

Los Angeles is an exceptional case because of the volume of documents made public (thanks to this newspaper, other media and legal pressure from victims), but what those documents reveal is consistent with behavior seen around the world. Time and again church leaders have responded to complaints against priests with cover-ups and deflections, and they have been unable to deal with scandal in an honest and convincing way.

But why? It clearly would have been better for the church, both morally and practically, to react aggressively and report molesters immediately, while at the same time doing everything possible for the victims. So why didn't it?   I've done a lot of thinking about that question.

One part of the answer, I believe, has to do with the nature of the priesthood. To be ordained is to be elevated, to be taken into a special and higher relationship with God. That's something Catholic officials had a hard time letting go of when it came time to see molesting priests in their ranks for what they were: criminals.

Another factor, I believe, was Catholicism's attitudes toward sex. On the one hand, it is something sacred when part of marriage. But church teachings forbid virtually all sexual expression outside of marriage and condemn homosexual sex without exception. Moreover, priests are expected to be celibate, which puts them at an even greater distance from the realities of ordinary life. All of this undoubtedly complicated things when church officials were confronted with extreme sexual deviance in their own ranks.

Sex and power. These are two factors that Catholic leaders have failed to confront, even as the church falls down around them. Any recovery from the great scandal will require change in both areas. Thirty years on, even under the threat of criminal prosecution, they seem incapable of the kind of self-examination that would allow such change. Instead they fight against truth-telling and suffer further ignominy. No wonder this is a scandal without end.

The scandal will only end when decent moral people walk away from Catholicism.  Keeping one's eyes closed to the horrible reality of what the institutional Church is in fact does not solve the problem.  As long as sheep like cretins fill the pews and worse yet financially support the Vatican's worldwide criminal conspiracy, the hierarchy feels no need to clean house, starting with the abdication of the current Pope. 

Retired LA Cardinal Symbolically Stripped of Duties

Apparently, the increasing amount of dirt coming to light in the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles has finally hit the tipping point where even the child rapist protectors at the Vatican believed that some sort of symbolic gesture had to be taken against Cardinal Roger Mahony who has been shown to have deliberately protected molesters and kept information from authorities.  And the volume of dirty is only likely to get worse as more files are released under court order.  While I welcome any kind of action that will humiliate the pompous and arrogant Mahony, the sad reality is that what he did is likely the norm across diocese after diocese around the world.  Protecting children simply did not matter to these horrible men who prance around in dress demanding deference from the gullible.  A piece in the Virginian Pilot looks at this latest development out of Los Angeles.  I don't for a moment believe Archbishop Gomez's feigned disgust - he's only upset the world is seeing the extent of the hierarchy's moral bankruptcy.  Moreover, it is telling that Mahony has not losthis title as cardinal.  Here are story excerpts:

Cardinal Roger Mahony, who retired with a tainted career after dodging criminal charges over how he handled pedophile priests, was stripped of duties by his successor as a judge ordered confidential church personnel files released.

The unprecedented move by Archbishop Jose Gomez came less than two weeks after other long-secret priest personnel records showed how Mahony worked with top aides to protect the Roman Catholic church from the engulfing scandal.

One of those aides, Monsignor Thomas Curry stepped down Thursday as auxiliary bishop in the Los Angeles archdiocese's Santa Barbara region. Gomez said Mahony, 76, would no longer have administrative or public duties in the diocese.

"I find these files to be brutal and painful reading," Gomez said in a statement, referring to 12,000 pages of files posted online by the church Thursday night just hours after a judge's order. "The behavior described in these files is terribly sad and evil. There is no excuse, no explaining away what happened to these children."

The fallout was highly unusual and marks a dramatic shift from the days when members of the church hierarchy emerged largely unscathed despite the roles they played in covering up clergy sex abuse.

"It's quite extraordinary. I don't think anything like this has happened before," Reese said. "It's showing that there are consequences now to mismanaging the sex abuse crisis."

Several of the documents released late Thursday echo recurring themes that emerged over the past decade in dioceses nationwide, where church leaders moved problem priests between parishes and didn't call the police.

In one instance, a draft of a plan with Mahony's name on it calls for sending a molester priest to his native Spain for a minimum of seven years, paying him $400 a month and offering health insurance. In return, the cardinal would agree to write the Vatican and ask them to cancel his excommunication.

It was unclear whether the proposed agreement was enacted with the Rev. Jose Ugarte, who had been reported to the archdiocese 20 years earlier by a physician for drugging and raping a boy in a hotel in Ensenada, his file shows.   "He has been sexually involved with three young men in addition to the original allegations," Curry, then Mahony's point person for dealing with suspected priests, wrote in 1993.

In another case, Mahony resisted turning over a list of altar boys to police who were investigating claims against a visiting Mexican priest who was later determined to have molested 26 boys during a 10-month stint in Los Angeles

Prosecutors, who have been stymied for years in their attempts to see the internal church files, have said they will search for new evidence of criminal wrongdoing by church leaders. Most of the material, however, now falls well outside the statute of limitations.

Some church critics said Gomez's actions, particularly against Mahony, amounted to a slap on the wrist as long as he remained a cardinal and a member of the powerful Vatican body that elects the Pope.

The reprimand is a "purely symbolic punishment that they hope will satisfy at least some people in the archdiocese," said Terry McKiernan, founder of BishopAccountability.org, which tracks the release of priest files nationally. "I don't think that many savvy observers of this will be deceived."

Oh, and do check out the letters found here which show that the current Pope was involved in the protection of predator priests as well.  The Church hierarchy continues to be an utter cesspool that ought to shock the conscience of decent moral people.  It deserves no repect and certainly no deference by politicans or anyone else.

More on the Archdiocese of Los Angeles' Protection of Child Rapists

Recently this blog looked at the incredible filth the Los Angeles Times exposed to have been a matter of routine policy within the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles where covering up crimes against children and protecting sexual predators was the norm.   The absolute disregard for the victims of abuse underscores a blood chilling amorality of those who strut around seeking deference and pontificating to others about morality.  It is hard to describe Archbishop Mahony (pictured above) and his minions as anything other than monsters.  And it makes one ask again, what is wrong with the Catholic laity that they continue to financially support such a criminal organization and kiss the asses of men who ought to be behind bars.  As noted in the prior post, if one is looking for decency and true morality, the last place to look is within the Catholic Church and conservative Christianity in general.  A piece in Salon takes a further look at the cesspool which is the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles.  Here are excerpts:

It’s been a good 10 or so days since the last time the Catholic Church revealed itself to be somewhat less than forthcoming about the decades of sexual abuse perpetrated by trusted members of its own ranks. So it should come as a demoralizingly thorough non-surprise that it’s time again for another revelation of harrowing behavior – and systematic deceit. 

The memos, which the L.A. Times notes “the Archdiocese fought for years to keep secret,” show, in sickening detail, how the local church authorities endeavored to make sure to attract as little legal and public attention for three men they knew to be abusers. In a June 1987 memo, for example, Curry writes of Rev. Michael Baker, who admitted his sex abuse to Mahony in 1986. In it, he suggests Baker avoid meeting with a psychologist or psychiatrist, because “if he were to mention his problem with child abuse it would put the therapist in the position of having to report him,” and adds, “he cannot mention his past problem.” Mahony replies with a handwritten “Sounds good – please proceed!”

In another document, Mahony writes to a New Mexico treatment center about Msgr. Peter Garcia, who was known to have had “perhaps 15 to 17 relationships with youngsters in the age range of 12 to perhaps 17 or 18.” He tells the staff there, “I feel strongly that it would not be possible for Monsignor Garcia to return to California … The two young men who were involved with him and their parents have switched attorneys on several occasions, and I believe that if Monsignor Garcia were to reappear here within the Archdiocese we might very well have some type of legal action filed in both the criminal and civil sectors.”

There’s also a memo from Curry that describes the actions of Father Michael Wempe, and of how “we discussed the possibility of his consulting a lawyer who would refer him to therapy, thus putting the reports under the protection of privilege.” Man, these guys were slick. As the L.A. Times notes, “Two decades would pass before authorities gathered enough information to convict Baker and Wempe of abusing boys.”

What’s astonishing now, in light of a continuing deluge of new information, isn’t that the local Catholic Church administration would put protecting its own ahead of considering the nightmare it was perpetuating for the victims — that’s pretty much a given.  .  .  .  .  It’s the apparent total lack of empathy that had to exist to describe a relationship between a priest and a 12-year-old child in terms of “surrogate father but also sex partner.”

In the coming weeks, more church files will be made public. They involve “at least 75 more accused abusers” — and over 500 victims.

I for one will never set foot in a Catholic Church again for any reason - to do so would leave me feeling literally dirty and morally deficient.  I simply cannot understand those who continue to support such a morally bankrupt institution.  Are they indifferent to the crimes committed and covered up or are they too lazy to bestir themselves to walk away and find a less disgusting denomination?

Diocese of Los Angeles Ordered to Turn Over Secret Sex Abuse Files

Coat of Arms of Los Angeles Diocese

Americans may be about to learn more about the total moral bankruptcy of some in the Catholic hierarchy who knowingly and deliberately the aid sexual predator priests and then sought to cover up their crimes thereby allowing them prey on more innocent victims.  It's a pattern seen world wide from Ireland to Australia and all across America in at least 2/3's of American dioceses.   What was disclosed in Philadelphia is likely the norm for how the bishops and cardinals - with the full knowledge and direction - engaged in criminal conspiracies to obstruct law enforcement and obstruct justice.   The Los Angeles diocese may have paid out a huge settlement sum roughly five years ago, but the true filth within the hierarchy was never fully brought to light.  And until this filth is fully disclosed, the malignancy within the institutional Church will not be excised.  A story here looks at the effort to hold the hierarchy accountable.  Here are highlights:

 

A judge on Monday ordered the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles to turn over to the court the top-secret files it has kept for decades on dozens of priests accused of sex abuse, bringing the documents closer to public scrutiny.

The order by Superior Court Judge Emilie Elias came five years after more than 550 alleged victims reached a record-breaking, $660 million settlement with the archdiocese that also called for the public unsealing of the confidential files.

Individual priests have been fighting to keep the records closed, but the California Supreme Court declined to intervene earlier this year after a lower court decision in a related case cleared the way for the release of the documents.

Elias gave the archdiocese until Dec. 27 to give her the files on 69 priests to review and then set a hearing for early January to consider arguments from priests who want to keep their files private.
The judge will also hear objections to a previous order that allows the archdiocese to black out the names of some clerics and the church officials who handled the priests. The Los Angeles Times has filed court papers objecting to the order and had an attorney in court Monday.

Boucher estimates the archdiocese has files on 80 more priests that it is not turning over to the judge. He also said documents on priests who belonged to Roman Catholic religious orders are also missing.  The church says it has no records on another 105 priests who were included in the 2007 global settlement.  The settlement covered more than 245 priests and 550 plaintiffs.

Some plaintiffs' attorneys believe the full contents of the files could expose some top church leaders to criminal charges, although many documents related to the most notorious abusive priests have already been disclosed through civil litigation and earlier criminal prosecutions.

Holding those officials, including the recently retired Cardinal Roger Mahony, accountable is critical, Ray Boucher, lead plaintiff's attorney, said outside court. He has reviewed the files under seal and called some of the never-before seen documents "explosive."

For far too long church denominations and their clergy have been allowed to literally act as if they are above the law.   All the foul crimes need to be exposed to public view and the deference given to Christianity and conservative Christians in general needs to end.

U.S. Investigates Los Angeles Archdiocese Officials

As the Wall Street Journal is reporting, a federal grand jury has issued subpoenas and begun calling witnesses in a probe of whether top officials of the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles tried to cover up the sexual abuse of minors by priests. Hopefully, the grand jury will ultimately issue indictments against Cardinal Mahoney and others in the Los Angeles Diocese if the findings show a conspiracy to cover up the abuse of minors - which I believe DID occur. But it is important to remember that abuse occurred not only in the Los Angeles Diocese but rather world wide. Having followed the sexual abuse scandal closely for years - I did a guest editorial piece in the Virginian Pilot on the topic back in February, 2002 - the sad reality is that cover up has been the secret official policy of the Church all the way back into the 1960's when John XXIII was Pope. Since the Vatican refuses to do a complete house cleaning of bishops and cardinals who engaged in the cover up of the vile abuse of children and youths, we can only hope that the civil authorities will do what the Church leadership will not do. Here are highlights from the Journal story:

*

Federal authorities are investigating the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles to see whether top church officials tried to cover up the sexual abuse of minors by priests, said a person familiar with the matter. A federal grand jury has issued subpoenas and begun calling witnesses in the probe, which began late last year, said this person. The investigation is still in its early, fact-gathering stage, and it isn't known whether any criminal charges will result.

*

Cardinal Roger Mahony, who heads the archdiocese, the largest in the U.S., has been criticized by victims' groups for his past handling of sexual-abuse allegations against priests. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's office has been investigating allegations of such abuses for several years. District Attorney Steve Cooley criticized the archdiocese in 2007 for its "institutional moral failure" to "supervise predatory priests." A spokeswoman for the district attorney's office said their investigation is still open.

*

The district attorney's investigation began in 2002, around the same time that internal archdiocese emails about priests accused of abuse surfaced in the media. Over the following two years, dozens of alleged victims stepped forward, with many filing lawsuits. They claimed the archdiocese shielded priests accused of molestation by keeping the allegations secret and allowing them to keep working, sometimes moving them from one parish to another.

*

No senior Catholic Church officials have been criminally charged in the national scandal. But representatives of abuse victims alleged that senior officials helped perpetuate the crimes by ignoring or covering up evidence of misdeeds. They have argued that prosecuting senior church officials would help stop future abuse. "Everything else has been tried with minimal impact except charging an individual bishop. That would have to an impact," says David Clohessy, national director for the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, a nonprofit victims-advocacy group based in Chicago.

*

The federal investigation in Los Angeles is the latest chapter in government's efforts to grapple with the priest-abuse scandals in the Catholic Church that have struck in waves over the past three decades.