Washington State Catholic Bishops Oppose Religious Freedom for Gays

With all the recent disingenuous blather about religious freedom coming from the child rapist protectors in the Catholic Church hierarchy, one would think they at least pretend to have some tiny shred of respect for the rights of others. But that's not the case in Washington State where a same sex marriage bill has been introduced into the state legislature. All of the Catholic bishops in Washington - who one would might better spend their time weeding out sexual predators from the clergy ranks - have unanimously come out in opposition to the bill. Indeed, the bishops are urging the sheeple among the laity - that continue to act as accessories to the molestation of children and youths via their funding of the Church hierarchy - to take action to stop the granting of CIVIL legal rights to same sex couples. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has coverage and here are highlights:

Washington's four Roman Catholic bishops have taken a foursquare stand against legalization of same-sex marriage, a cause rapidly gaining momentum in the State Legislature.

Catholics should contact their legislators and tell them to "defend the current definition of marriage" against legislation to legalize marriage between same-sex couples, the bishops declared in a strongly worded pastoral letter posted late Friday. . . . . The letter is signed by Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain, Spokane Bishop Blase Cupich, Yakima Bishop Joseph J. Tyson, and Seattle Auxiliary Bishop Eusebio Elizondo. It is published on the Archdiocese of Seattle web site.

"My first reaction, as a practicing Catholic, is that this is very hurtful," said State Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, chief sponsor of marriage equality. Murray is a gay man in a 20-year committed relationship.

Earlier Friday, 23 senators introduced legislation to allow same-sex couples to receive marriage licenses. The marriage equality legislation was requested by Gov. Christine Gregoire, who is also a Catholic.

The reaction is hard to predict. Bishops often refer to their "flock," but American Catholics do not behavie like sheep. An ABC News/Washington Post poll last spring found that 63 percent of Catholics in the U.S. support civil marriage between same-sex couples.

As in New York, the legislation introduced in Olympia Friday would allow churches and clergy full rights in terms of who they choose to marry, and whether to allow marriage on church property. "As the bill is written, the church would never be forced to marry people of the same sex or divorced people," said Murray.

I am happy that 63% of Catholics support civil marriage equality. However, I don't understand how anyone of good conscience can be a Catholic in light of the sex abuse scandal and the documented cover ups that stretch all the way to the Vatican. Likewise, I don't understand why the Catholic laity cannot grasp that they are part of the problem as long as the continue to hand over money to the morally bankrupt bishops and Church hierarchy.

Comment is free Cif America Why the Pope Needs to Face Justice at The Hague

A column in the Guardian by a female victim - yes, there are female victims too, even though the Church would try to depict all predators as gays - of sexual abuse by a Catholic priest that lays out why Benedict XVI and other high members of the Catholic Church hierarchy need to face criminal prosecution. Sadly, I doubt that it will happen because the Church is still afforded too much deference and its wealth and power continues to allow it to avoid the consequences of crimes that would put others in prison for many years. But nonetheless, it should happen if the Church is ever going to be forced to full atone for the horrors it knowingly allowed to be perpetrated against children and youths. Here are some column highlights:

When it comes to holding the Catholic Church accountable for sexual abuse of children by members of the clergy, all roads lead to Rome. That is what my organisation, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (Snap), concluded after years of seeking justice in other venues and being turned away.

On 13 September, we travelled to the Hague to file an 84-page complaint and over 20,000 pages of supporting materials with the International Criminal Court, documenting our charge that the Pope and Vatican officials have tolerated and enabled the systematic and widespread concealing of rape and child sex crimes throughout the world.

Holding childhood photographs that tell a wrenching story of innocence and faith betrayed, and joined by our attorneys from the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, we stood up and demanded the justice that has so long been denied.

We believe the thousands of pages of evidence we filed this week will substantiate our allegations that an operation has been put in place not only to hide the widespread sexual violence by priests in all parts of the world, but also to obstruct investigation, remove suspects out of criminal jurisdictions and do everything possible to silence victims, discredit whistleblowers, intimidate witnesses, stonewall prosecutors and keep a tighter lid than ever on clergy sex crimes and cover-ups. The result of this systematic effort is that, despite a flood of well-publicised cases, many thousands of children remain vulnerable to abuse.

Worse, no one who ignored, concealed or enabled these predators has suffered any consequences. At the head of this hierarchy of denial and secrecy is the Pope, who has served as an enabler of these men.

I know this story well, because I was sexually abused by a parish priest, from my time in junior high school until graduation. Because of the shame and trauma, several years passed before I was able to tell anyone. By that time, it was too late to file criminal charges. Church officials refused to restrict that priest's access to children or take action against him for several more years, despite other victims coming forward.

Indeed, powerful factors prevent all but the most assertive, healthy and lucky victims from seeking justice. Many others succumb to drugs, anorexia, depression or suicide when the pain of innocence betrayed becomes too much to bear. A recent investigation in Australia revealed a case in which 26 among the numerous victims of a particular priest had committed suicide.

For the safety of children and the prevention of yet more heinous wrongdoing, the International Criminal Court may be the only real hope.

My only fault with the column is when the author states "No doubt, many people of faith are shocked that we would accuse a world church leader of crimes against humanity." These are not people of faith. No, they are those who knowingly and deliberately continue to close their eyes to the truth because they are too lazy, dim witted, and/or self-centered to admit the truth - including their role as accessories to these terrible crimes.

Ted Haggard and the Man Behind “Families With a Mission”

I have long thought that most of the prominent Christian Right leaders are little better than con-artists hiding behind the religion label to avoid regulation by authorities. In CNN's recent series that included the Christian Right, it definitely looked as if these pastors were living well - Falwell, et al, clearly did not look like they had not missed a meal, donuts, Twinkies, or high calorie dessert. Now, the supposedly "de-gayed" Ted Haggard is certainly helping to further prove this view. This story from the Seattle Stranger (http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/families_with_a_mission) ought to raise some serious questions in the minds of even the most delusional fundies. Pam Spaulding's term "sheeple" definitely applies to anyone foolish enough to give money in response to Haggard's request:

Ted Haggard, as we learned today on Colorado Confidential, wants you to pay for his and his wife’s living expenses while they go to college—they’re destitute, you see. (Colorado Confidential reports that the Haggards currently own a house in Colorado Springs valued at close to a three quarters of a million dollars.) In an open letter sent to Haggard’s gullible “supporters,” the disgraced preacher gives two addresses where money can be sent. Checks can be sent to Haggard’s mailing address in Phoenix or, if a supporter needs a tax deduction, checks can be sent to Families With a Mission, a charity based in Colorado Springs. “[Write] their check to ‘Families With A Mission’ and put a separate note on it that it is for the Haggard family,” Haggard writes in the letter posted on Colorado Confidential, “then Families With a Mission will mail us 90% of the funds for support and use 10% for administrative costs.”

As posted earlier, local attorney and Slog reader Dave Coffman located documents on file with the Colorado Secretary of State that showed Families With a Mission “voluntarily dissolved” on February 23, 2007. Hm. Weird—who knew you could get a tax deduction from dissolved charity? And it gets weirder: There’s only one name on file with the Colorado Secretary of State in connection with Families With a Mission: Paul Huberty.

And here’s what Coffman learned when he started searching through public records: A man named Paul G. Huberty was convicted of having sex with his 17 year-old ward while he was in the military and stationed in Germany. Paul G. Huberty eventually moved to Hawaii, where he was on that state’s sex offender registry—you can download a PDF here. Hawaii’s sex offender registry mentions a conviction for a sex offense in 2004. Court records in Hawaii show that Paul G. Huberty was found guilty of attempted sexual assault in January of 2004 (download ‘em here, here, and here), and sentenced a year in jail with all but six months suspended. Huberty was also put on probation for five years, ordered to take polygraphs, not allowed to possess pornography, “not allowed on the property of Kona Christian Academy” and other schools, not allowed to posses firearms, forbidden from foster parenting or being the guardian of a minor, and ordered to pay restitution to a crime victims fund.

When Paul G. Huberty’s moved out of the state of Hawaii he was required to register his new address, which he did: 855 Pebble Creek Ct., Monument, CO 80132, the “principal mailing address” for the charity Families With a Mission, which also happens to be a home owned by Paul Huberty, the registered charity’s agent.

So the man who heads up the defunct charity Families With a Mission—the charity that’s going to take a 10% cut from all “tax deductible” donations to the Haggard family—would appear to be a registered sex offender. Well, in Hawaii at any rate. Paul Huberty has not, according to publicly available records, registered as a sex offender in Colorado, something he is required to do by state law. Coffman put in a call to officials in Colorado to see if Huberty has registered too recently to appear on the sex offenders website, and he’s waiting to hear back.