Ugh. The Archdiocese of Boston keeps a public list of accused and convicted pedophiles for your viewing ‘pleasure’. It’s a l o n g list.
It’s also disturbing that the two most common penalties are “Assigned to a Life of Prayer and Penance” and “Laicized”. If you’re a priest aren’t you expected to do the former anyway, and wouldn’t being kicked out of the priesthood be a reward?
Does it list how much prison time they got or how many were turned in to the secular authorities? How about placing a number on the total number of employees there since the first kid rapist was uncovered, you know so we can get a percentage of how many priests were criminals.
What harsh penalties they enact.
“I’ve been laicised! Oh, the horror! Why couldn’t they be merciful and just hand me and the evidence over to the authorities for criminal prosecution…”
You mean they aren’t even defrocked!?
(Ewwwwww!)
The following is an excerpt from the Archbishop’s Open Letter to Priests:
Here’s a bit from the Open Letter to Survivors:
Notice that nowhere in these two quotes, nor in the rest of the letters, is there any hint of His Archiness or any other members of the Archdiocese dealing with the civil authorities in these cases. The RCC is still more concerned with its prestige and dignity than in the welfare of children.
Some of them were. Laicised is churchspeak for defrocking.
So, if you’re a pedophile and don’t want to go to jail for it, become a Catholic priest! Why do you think we call the parishioners laity?
Sounds like a recruiting slogan for the Church; they’ve been having problems getting enough people to sign up for the priesthood.
Amazing. 50 living members booted for accusations, 50 dead members accused but not considered to be “unsubstantiated cases”, and 25 more current members awaiting outcomes. And roughly 1300 total priests (if we assume that this list is comprehensive: http://www.bostoncatholic.org/Parishes-And-People/Default.aspx?tab=priests). That’s one admitted molester out of every ten priests. And, of course, 1300 people paid to waste their time propagating religious nonsense on behalf of an institution that has protected said child molesting priests. And they’ve paid for a total of 120 million in 850 cases of sexual abuse. Those arbiters of Catholic morality on PZ’s list may have had a bit more than a single lapse of judgment, it seems.
Oh, and amongst all this, the Archdiocese brags about how they serve “46,000 students annually” on their About page. I cannot help but shudder.
The quote from ‘Tis:
Oh yeah, ‘cos the organization that has allowed this abuse to continue and flourish are exactly the people that should be counciling the victims.
*spits*
Fuck this shit. Every last one of them– abusive or not– should be defrocked, the church dismantled, and all assests should be split among the victims.
Nope. Cuts off your easy access to prey.
Of course not! It’s the most horrible punishment of all!
This way they will no longer have easy access to multitudes of kids, brainwashed into obeying them.
Can you imagine a worse fate for a formerly coddled childmolester?
“Nope. Cuts off your easy access to prey.”
As well as easy protection against any legal ramifications from their predation. If they’re going to continue to be a child molester as a regular Joe instead of one of Catholic God’s Own Favorites, then they can’t count on a ready-made, multi-million dollar team to cover up their misdeeds up for them in the name of Moral Relativist Jesus (since, really, is ultimately the “free love” of the 70’s to blame here…). That’s the part that really has to sting for the Holiest of Sex Offenders: Now they have to face secular justice instead of being sentenced to a dozen Hail Mary’s and some time sitting in the corner, waiting for the voice in your said to say it forgives them.
Let’s keep this in perspective. What we are seeing here are the exposed pedophiles in the Archdiocese of Boston. When all the guilty are accounted for, then add those who “lust in their hearts” for altar boys, we will have an approximation of the rot that is in the RCC.
It is no longer safe to assume that priests are innocent until proven guilty. They should all be banned from contact with any humans under the age of consent. Correct that, the age of consent in Italy / Vatican is 14, rising to 16 when the elder is in a position of trust. This is too young, even 21 is too young.
The creepy thing (above and beyond raping kids) is that their church believes that these defrocked priests can still be saved. If they just make a true and contrite confession god and jebus will forgive them and transport them to everlasting paradise. I suppose they get 72 virgin alter boys on arrival.
I think my liberal head is exploding.
Invasion of privacy. Just not right.
Prayer and penance? Is this a joke?
No criminal charges? WTF?
I can’t do this.
And where was Cardinal Law’s name?
Until the pope, or someone, orders Law back to Boston to have a little chat with a grand jury about what he knew, when, and what he did about it (before the statute of limitations runs out), I don’t take protestations of “We have it all under control now” very seriously.
Thanks, Anteprepro.
“That’s one admitted molester out of every ten priests.”
That was the first thing that occurred to me after reading PZ’s article. Now, extrapolating (and making some huge assumptions):
1. According to Wikipedia (and assuming this is accurate), “The Church has over 41,406 diocesan and religious-order priests in the United States”.
2. If the rate of pedophilia in the Boston Diocese is representative of the Catholic Church in America as a whole (another assumption), that makes something over 4,000 pedophile priest in the USA alone.
Cheery thought.
‘Tis himself@ 5: and here I thought “Defrocked” was what they did before abusing little boys.
John D Stackpole @15:
And where was Cardinal Law’s name?
Until the pope, or someone, orders Law back to Boston to have a little chat with a grand jury about what he knew, when, and what he did about it (before the statute of limitations runs out), I don’t take protestations of “We have it all under control now” very seriously.
The statute of limitations clock stopped when he fled the country on a Vatican passport at 5 am. But the Commonwealth isn’t going to bother with a show trial that they can’t win. Alas, the evidence is simply not there anymore, if it was ever written down.
This is a problem going back at least to Cardinal O’Connell (I’ve met two victims now in their 80s); the Archdiocese has been a profoundly rotten culture for a very long time. Putting a former cloistered monk in charge has not quieted things down as the Vatican hoped.
Anyone else noticed how often the gap between being convicted/pleading guilty and being laicized was greater than 0 years?
Hanlon, John R 1955-Convicted on Criminal Charges (1994); Laicized (2005)
Crowley, Jr., Joseph I (Permanent Deacon) 1980-Pled Guilty to Criminal Charges (1999); Laicized (2006)
McMahon, Gerard T 1961-Pled Guilty to Criminal Charges (2006); Laicization Pending
That’s just near the top of the list.
As Robin Williams noted: “Its not just a sin, its a felony! So we have to keep track.”
Eh, who even knows what a Catholic priest’s last name is. This list is useless in that respect.
I know the “father” who called me to sing at a funeral last week is “Father G” (full name retracted because they pay me real hard cash to sing badly at their funerals), but I have no idea what his last name is, or the last name of the other parish priest.
We need parish naming to find out who these people are! Father John, Joseph and Simon, even last names provided, is not good enough! We must demand more.
Father John Anklet?