Religious people have an amazing ability to compartmentalize and separate themselves from reality. As bad as the hierarchy of the Catholic Church is, their enablers in the pews are also fully culpable. They make the abuse possible, but are too brainwashed from a lifetime of indoctrination to reach rational conclusions. I've been away from the church far longer than I was ever a part of it. My extended family never took that well, but I had at least expanded my awareness enough to realize their cherished 'faith' did not rise above myth and magical thinking.
How not surprising, the Catholic church relying on the wealthy and powerful, but again it's traditional, right ? A woman dying of an miscarriage can't have an abortion because it would be a murder but protecting pedophiles is good and christian because excuses... I sm definitely glad that DM kept me away from a religious education even before she fully deconverted.
Aren't federal and states judges supposed to follow rules about conflicts of interest ? Or are laws for others ?
Some reforms are needed if judges can't be held accountable for cases like this.
Of course federal, state, and local officials are SUPPOSED to follow rules ... but when palms are greased and the powerful and monied class rub shoulders with those tasked with enforcing the law, rules get bent and those with the influence or associated therewith walk away unscathed.
The two-tiered system of US law strikes yet again.
“No member of the Saints organization condones or wants to cover up the abuse that occurred in the Archdiocese of New Orleans," the team said. "That abuse occurred is a terrible fact."
So they admit the abuse occurred. That’s a good start. But this is very curious wording: “or wants to cover up the abuse”. What, precisely were they doing then? The fact of the abuse was out there. So they couldn’t cover it up. But they are trying to misdirect or redirect attention.
And then there is this: “ Aymond, our shepherd, will continue to lead our Church in the right direction -- helping us to learn and to rebuild from the mistakes of the past." More curious wording. “Mistakes from the past.” These “mistakes” have a 1000 year old history behind them. Although the scandal heated up only during the last 25 years, it has been a known phenomenon in this country for at least 50.
So the very fact that they couldn’t pull a sergeant Schultz is a good indication that what they are accused of doing is precisely what they did do. But the real crime, apart from the abuse itself, as hemant avers, is that they decided the public image of the church is far more important than the abuse their children suffered at the hands of a priest.
Back in the 70s, when I was a radical leftist activist—nah, just kidding!— I attended a rally against the Vietnam war. One of the speakers was Alan Sherman, a then reasonably famous comedian. He responded to a comment by president Nixon about how the country could not withdraw from Vietnam without losing face to the rest of the world. Sherman’s response?
“ the face of this country is not worth the life of my son.”
Apparently, the face of the Catholic Church is indeed worth the lives of the countless children who have been sexually assaulted and abused by catholic priests for at least 1000 years. If they were concerned AT ALL about the abuse itself, they would be encouraging openness.
I truly hope that there are some very hungry leopards out there will be dying on that face.
I've heard the excuse, "protecting the reputation of Holy Mother church" too many times when child abuse and the Catholic church comes up. Starting back around when the Spotlight story hit the news.
Holy Mother Church is a bitch who smilingly takes your money while allowing child abuse to continue. Their blessings are tainted with greed and lust.
Apparently it's because of whoever owns the rights to it. But I read recently that it will come out on DVD we can purchase, and that a sequel is being considered, so that's something at least.
Now, there was an animation called 'Little Demon' that streamed on Hulu. It's about a girl who, upon getting her menses, discovers she's the Antichrist. Danny DeVito played the voice of Satan. It was funny and clever, but for some reason it has vanished from our realm of existence. Some christians must've got their panties in a wad and made noise about it, because it's GONE!
I've forgotten where I originally heard about the cooperation between the RCC and the New Orleans Saints, but I DO remember being utterly disgusted that a football team would deign to give aid and comfort to a bunch of child molesters. This post and particularly the details regarding Gayle Benson and her involvement at least bring some further clarity to this mess.
My question now is: What gets done about this? Can we expect either the New Orleans city police or the Louisiana State Police to do anything about this, or can we expect a bunch of shrugged shoulders and a continuation of business as usual. I would hope that Representative Landry would continue her push to keep this issue (CRIME, really) in the foreground and somehow goad the powers that be to take meaningful action against the parties involved.
The problem is very likely that because we are dealing with the rich (Benson) and a class that tends to be exempt from prosecution (police), very little or nothing will be done.
Sadly, I agree. Being a New Orleans native I can assure you that with the rampant political corruption at every level of government nothing will be done. It’ll blow over and what’s worse, most residents will ignore it and turn their heads from it. Status quo for the Big Easy and quite frankly the entire state.
Shining sunlight on it is probably the best thing. Embarrass Benson until he stops or embarrass the NFL so the owners organization makes him stop.
There might be some legal angle about fraudulent use of team resources. The owner directing an NFL team's PR department to provide free uncontracted support for another organization seems a bit shifty. But frankly, I doubt it was illegal.
The NFL couldn't handle the backlash of a black man kneeling (despite the fact that probably 3/4 of the league is black), they certainly aren't going to take on the Catholic church.
Sure, I know how they get when those precious traditions are taken from them. I just have the sense to not care about the precious traditions of a group of people who think they should be allowed to continue raping children, and don't get why some people think it's acceptable to disagree with my view.
Objective morality from the organization who gets to judge us all for eternity.
“That abuse occurred is a terrible fact."
True, but when you become aware of abuse you ought to be appalled by it and find a way to stop it from happening again, not sweep it under the rug for it to continue. The image of the church can be fixed if it is transparent and addresses the abuse right away, making it more difficult to happen again. But when you cover up abuse, pay off victims, hide the perpetrators, make excuses, blame others not involved, make it easier to keep abusing, and lie lie lie, there’s no fixing your image once the truth comes out. The RCC is morally corrupt, always has been, and the tiny concessions they make while upholding their cruelty will never make them the shining light they claim to be.
The football team, on the other hand… well, let’s just say that at least they never claimed to be the arbiters of morality. Professional football, and all the organizations leagues and folks that lead up to the professional level is just as corrupt and abusive as the Catholic Church. CRT is rampant with little league coaches all the way through high school and college ignoring the risks, pressuring players to push through injuries. Fudging grades so star athletes can play the big games. Boosters recruiting victims for athletes to rape. Domestic violence excused, dog fighting, theft from not for profits, the government, cheating, corruption, the whole gambit of terrible human behavior has all been committed and excused because “he play good.” Is it any wonder a football team had advice to give the church on how to get away with abuse, let alone willing to give it? Well, I’m not surprised. Hell, I’m not even disappointed, this is exactly what I know football to be.
So, to be honest, these institutions are acting exactly as they have been for their entire histories. I’m sickened by their actions. We do need to keep exposing both of them though or else it will never change. We need to convince their supporters that this should appall them, this should make them question their loyalty to the institutions, this should give folks pause to give either of these institutions trust, trust with their money and trust with their children. But then, we have Trump as president, again.
My father is both a practicing Catholic (converted for my stepmother) and a *die-hard* football fan. When I go to visit on Sunday afternoons he has NFL Sunday ticket and I get to ignore four games at once.
How disgusting. My family left the Catholic Church years ago because of the sexual abuse scandal. I don’t know how people can belong to an organization, that claims they are good Christians, that have been covering up this horrific behavior, year after year, priest after priest. And YES, I say organization, not religion, because they are nothing more than a business whose main goal is to collect money from their members.
And this happens all over the world, wherever important Catholics gather together. 😇 Someone once said to me when I mentioned abuse – a few priests isn't the church. I agree – it seems to be wider than that.
Yes... Tks. Grumpy as fuck having to try to sleep in one position all night, and every time she raises an eyebrow it hurts. I didn't realise how often she raised an eyebrow at me. Was attended to by an apprentice surgeon while seen you once stood by. Apparently hurt much more than last time. But the silly bugger is even going back to work today. Can't sit still that woman. ☺️ I managed to persuade her to work from home though. That way I can put her to bed if I need to.
It seems to me the Saints are an organization of thugs to begin with. My husband told me the story of the "bounty scandal" involving the players. It was a while back, don't remember how far back (I tend to tune out when the hubs gets going on football), but the coach or coaches were paying the players up to $5000 for every key member of the opposing team they "accidentally" took out of the game with injuries. I think one coach was banned for life from the NFL when the scandal broke.
"We're not sorry we raped children. We're sorry those nasty journalists uncovered our child rape. We're very moral people with God living in our hearts."
I remember Pell's lawyer saying ages ago that it was "only" vanilla penetration, with the implication that it was nothing too serious. Come to think of it, I think some of his victims have just received compensation – must look that up.
Remember the movie, "Spotlight?" They should make another movie about this particular situation, it's got everything! Child abuse, evil rich people, sportsball, everything!
Here we go again. On hearing of credible accounts of child rape by catholic priests, the first response of the church, it's big bucks donors, the NFL team she runs, a federal judge, and a newspaper editor is to circle the wagons AROUND THE CHUCH. These people don't give a damn about children who were victimized and suffered damage for life.
And when the diocese got caught still paying retirement benefits to pedo priests, the response by the archbishop is 'Satan is alive'? Apparently, hell yeah, and he's paying retirement bennies to pedophiles.
Remember, when the first stories broke in Boston, Cardinal Bernard Law was "allowed" to retire to the Vatican city state with impunity. Never forget that, because it set the tone for future erm, "events" of this nature.
THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT PARISHIONERS OR THEIR CHILDREN'S WELL-BEING. Power and money are what they chase. Not god or Heaven. I'd bet they don't even believe in that nonsense but, it's a good job and they are provided with children to sacrifice to their lust.
Law ended up with cushy job in the Vatican instead spending the rest of his life behind bars as he should have done. You're absolutely right that the handling of the Law case set the standard for every case that was to come, in their thousands. Their first and deepest impulse was always to protect themselves (A) and the church (B). None of them ever gave anything but lip service to the victims. In fact, in most cases they treated their own victims as the enemy.
Regarding the Spotlight reportage, even the movie acknowledges that it took an outsider – Marty Baron – to get the Boston Globe to dig into the stories of priest sexual abuse and finally bring them to the forefront. Despite that, Cardinal Law managed to escape to the Vatican, where he would never be held accountable.
I have to say again: the financial penalties the Church has paid over the years since may have been substantial, but there has yet to be any serious PERSONAL PENALTY paid by the RCC in terms of monsignors, bishops, archbishops and, yes, cardinals being arrested, tried, convicted and imprisoned for their crimes against children. I think that such action has the potential to have a serious impact on the offenders and those who support them.
I'm just waiting for that to happen, and I suspect I'll be waiting a while.
Perhaps not, but there are several dioceses in the US that have undergone bankruptcy, owing to civil penalties levied against them for their individual culpability. Even with that, though, I can't think of a single person of the church who has actually GONE TO JAIL for his actions.
And I still think that needs to happen ... and happen a lot.
Well why should they? Their indoctrinated flock supply them with victims, sacrificing their children so the parents can ? (Go to heaven?) /s
I don't know why the stupid buggers sacrifice their kids, its fucked up because its not like they don't know about the abuse, why the hell would you take the chance?
Sounds familiar. Remember how Ratzinger said the priest child abuse scandal should be handled? Stephen Fry cited his words in the 2009 Intelligence Squared debate:
"... in the most secretive way, restrained by perpetual silence."
And this is WAY downstream from 2002 and the Boston Globe's reportage on the Archdiocese of Boston and its perfidy.
And I have to ask again: WHEN will law enforcement take this enormous insult to our children seriously???
I think it was in that same Intelligence Squared debate that Christopher Hitchens landed this punch quoting Ratzinger on the rape of children by catholic priests in which Ratzinger said this involves the church "In the need for applying to these victims the most loving pastoral care." Hitch slapped that down by responding, "They've already had THAT!!"
In the over 30 years since the Globe published that Spotlight investigation, we've learned it wasn't just a Boston archdiocese problem, it was a worldwide church problem. We learned about the Magdalene laundries in Ireland, sex abuse scandals have been uncovered in the mormon church, the southern baptists, the Boy Scouts of America, you name it. Wherever religious organizations intersect with children, we have had pedophilia scandals.
I'm happy to see a couple of states now attempting to pass laws requiring clergy to report child sexual abuse to law enforcement, no matter how they learn of it.
It's also surprising that people still entrust these people with their kids, because gawwwd. If I had kids, after the movie 'Spotlight,' no dog collared "man of gawd" would be allowed within 200 yards of them.
All I can guess is that the level of indoctrination and fear of authority runs so strongly in the Catholic Church that the bulk of its membership could hardly sustain the thought of acting against it. The reality of priest child sexual abuse has been OUT for over two decades, and to date, I have yet to see any serious systemic action taken against the RCC.
This isn't just social inertia. It's social turpitude.
My kid sister not only ignores it, she actively scoffs at me when I bring it up. If I ever find myself in a room with her kids and any priests, the priest is going to be nervous when he sees the way I watch his every move. She may choose to be stupid but I'm not.
This goes right along with my comment regarding how Ratzinger wanted this issue treated. And yet now it has at least a chance of being exposed publicly. The question becomes whether New Orleans and/or Louisiana law enforcement will actually DO anything about it.
"Citizens, we absolutely did not help in the cover up! And those emails should not be looked at!" is right up there with "Your honor, my client was nowhere near the scene of the murder! And besides, he shot in self-defense!"
Religious people have an amazing ability to compartmentalize and separate themselves from reality. As bad as the hierarchy of the Catholic Church is, their enablers in the pews are also fully culpable. They make the abuse possible, but are too brainwashed from a lifetime of indoctrination to reach rational conclusions. I've been away from the church far longer than I was ever a part of it. My extended family never took that well, but I had at least expanded my awareness enough to realize their cherished 'faith' did not rise above myth and magical thinking.
How not surprising, the Catholic church relying on the wealthy and powerful, but again it's traditional, right ? A woman dying of an miscarriage can't have an abortion because it would be a murder but protecting pedophiles is good and christian because excuses... I sm definitely glad that DM kept me away from a religious education even before she fully deconverted.
Aren't federal and states judges supposed to follow rules about conflicts of interest ? Or are laws for others ?
Some reforms are needed if judges can't be held accountable for cases like this.
Of course federal, state, and local officials are SUPPOSED to follow rules ... but when palms are greased and the powerful and monied class rub shoulders with those tasked with enforcing the law, rules get bent and those with the influence or associated therewith walk away unscathed.
The two-tiered system of US law strikes yet again.
DM?
Dear Mother.
TY
Doe.
A deer? A female deer?
The temporary (hopefully) name of an unidentified dead body.
(Sorry, binging CSI)
It's New Orleans, Louisiana is famous for its corruption.
Trump appointed something like 400-500 judges during his first term in office. Rules about conflicts of interest apparently don't apply to them.
Prime example, see Aileen Cannon.
Talk about committing a blatant personal foul.
A pox on both the RCC and the New Orleans Taints.
Offensive sides.
Encroachment on morality.
Too many men in the huddle.
Judicial interference.
It's really sad because I bet some of the players are victims.
I just woke up, so I may not be entirely cogent.
“No member of the Saints organization condones or wants to cover up the abuse that occurred in the Archdiocese of New Orleans," the team said. "That abuse occurred is a terrible fact."
So they admit the abuse occurred. That’s a good start. But this is very curious wording: “or wants to cover up the abuse”. What, precisely were they doing then? The fact of the abuse was out there. So they couldn’t cover it up. But they are trying to misdirect or redirect attention.
And then there is this: “ Aymond, our shepherd, will continue to lead our Church in the right direction -- helping us to learn and to rebuild from the mistakes of the past." More curious wording. “Mistakes from the past.” These “mistakes” have a 1000 year old history behind them. Although the scandal heated up only during the last 25 years, it has been a known phenomenon in this country for at least 50.
So the very fact that they couldn’t pull a sergeant Schultz is a good indication that what they are accused of doing is precisely what they did do. But the real crime, apart from the abuse itself, as hemant avers, is that they decided the public image of the church is far more important than the abuse their children suffered at the hands of a priest.
Back in the 70s, when I was a radical leftist activist—nah, just kidding!— I attended a rally against the Vietnam war. One of the speakers was Alan Sherman, a then reasonably famous comedian. He responded to a comment by president Nixon about how the country could not withdraw from Vietnam without losing face to the rest of the world. Sherman’s response?
“ the face of this country is not worth the life of my son.”
Apparently, the face of the Catholic Church is indeed worth the lives of the countless children who have been sexually assaulted and abused by catholic priests for at least 1000 years. If they were concerned AT ALL about the abuse itself, they would be encouraging openness.
I truly hope that there are some very hungry leopards out there will be dying on that face.
I've heard the excuse, "protecting the reputation of Holy Mother church" too many times when child abuse and the Catholic church comes up. Starting back around when the Spotlight story hit the news.
Holy Mother Church is a bitch who smilingly takes your money while allowing child abuse to continue. Their blessings are tainted with greed and lust.
And that’s the good part.
Remember George Carlin's character in "Dogma" Cardinal Glick, he argued "the church doesn't make mistakes."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=919Q1eEgbf4
One of the funniest, best movies ever!
And not available for streaming. I wonder why?
Apparently it's because of whoever owns the rights to it. But I read recently that it will come out on DVD we can purchase, and that a sequel is being considered, so that's something at least.
Now, there was an animation called 'Little Demon' that streamed on Hulu. It's about a girl who, upon getting her menses, discovers she's the Antichrist. Danny DeVito played the voice of Satan. It was funny and clever, but for some reason it has vanished from our realm of existence. Some christians must've got their panties in a wad and made noise about it, because it's GONE!
I don't know. I bought it on dvd and kept a player for it.
Not just streaming. You can’t even buy it.
Do a search engine with the words “why isn’t dogma streaming”. All will be revealed (mostly it has to do with Harvey Weinstein).
I have it on disc, possibly twice. (I think I have it both on DVD and Blu-ray)
Their response amounts to: "Yes, something terrible happened. We accept none of the blame and we will do nothing further about it."
Once again, the question is: Will someone else do something about it?
Burn the church to the ground. Then piss on the ashes.
Be sure to first secure all the RCCs obscene wealth to compensate the victims of Holy Mother Church’s monsters.
Thank you I was going to suggest the same.
I'd say they said "don't worry we'll cover it up for you."
Once again
Gay men X
Trans women X
Drag Queens X
Priests /
Bigots /
It has been clear for years about Catholic Church coverups, but thanks for shedding light on the organizations that are guilty of assisting.
I've forgotten where I originally heard about the cooperation between the RCC and the New Orleans Saints, but I DO remember being utterly disgusted that a football team would deign to give aid and comfort to a bunch of child molesters. This post and particularly the details regarding Gayle Benson and her involvement at least bring some further clarity to this mess.
My question now is: What gets done about this? Can we expect either the New Orleans city police or the Louisiana State Police to do anything about this, or can we expect a bunch of shrugged shoulders and a continuation of business as usual. I would hope that Representative Landry would continue her push to keep this issue (CRIME, really) in the foreground and somehow goad the powers that be to take meaningful action against the parties involved.
The problem is very likely that because we are dealing with the rich (Benson) and a class that tends to be exempt from prosecution (police), very little or nothing will be done.
Sadly, I agree. Being a New Orleans native I can assure you that with the rampant political corruption at every level of government nothing will be done. It’ll blow over and what’s worse, most residents will ignore it and turn their heads from it. Status quo for the Big Easy and quite frankly the entire state.
Shining sunlight on it is probably the best thing. Embarrass Benson until he stops or embarrass the NFL so the owners organization makes him stop.
There might be some legal angle about fraudulent use of team resources. The owner directing an NFL team's PR department to provide free uncontracted support for another organization seems a bit shifty. But frankly, I doubt it was illegal.
Benson should meet the Boondock Saints. Sadly, they're fictional and sadly, Luigi is locked up.
The corruption that flourishes there will go on, same as always.
" Can we expect either the New Orleans city police or the Louisiana State Police to do anything about this"
Or the NFL?
The NFL couldn't handle the backlash of a black man kneeling (despite the fact that probably 3/4 of the league is black), they certainly aren't going to take on the Catholic church.
If the RCC is so concerned about its public image, there's one dead easy thing they could do to improve it: 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯.
I know... 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘻𝘺, right?
Raping kids is a long-cherished tradition in the RCC. You know how they get when you try to take away their traditions.
Sure, I know how they get when those precious traditions are taken from them. I just have the sense to not care about the precious traditions of a group of people who think they should be allowed to continue raping children, and don't get why some people think it's acceptable to disagree with my view.
🎯
Objective morality from the organization who gets to judge us all for eternity.
“That abuse occurred is a terrible fact."
True, but when you become aware of abuse you ought to be appalled by it and find a way to stop it from happening again, not sweep it under the rug for it to continue. The image of the church can be fixed if it is transparent and addresses the abuse right away, making it more difficult to happen again. But when you cover up abuse, pay off victims, hide the perpetrators, make excuses, blame others not involved, make it easier to keep abusing, and lie lie lie, there’s no fixing your image once the truth comes out. The RCC is morally corrupt, always has been, and the tiny concessions they make while upholding their cruelty will never make them the shining light they claim to be.
The football team, on the other hand… well, let’s just say that at least they never claimed to be the arbiters of morality. Professional football, and all the organizations leagues and folks that lead up to the professional level is just as corrupt and abusive as the Catholic Church. CRT is rampant with little league coaches all the way through high school and college ignoring the risks, pressuring players to push through injuries. Fudging grades so star athletes can play the big games. Boosters recruiting victims for athletes to rape. Domestic violence excused, dog fighting, theft from not for profits, the government, cheating, corruption, the whole gambit of terrible human behavior has all been committed and excused because “he play good.” Is it any wonder a football team had advice to give the church on how to get away with abuse, let alone willing to give it? Well, I’m not surprised. Hell, I’m not even disappointed, this is exactly what I know football to be.
So, to be honest, these institutions are acting exactly as they have been for their entire histories. I’m sickened by their actions. We do need to keep exposing both of them though or else it will never change. We need to convince their supporters that this should appall them, this should make them question their loyalty to the institutions, this should give folks pause to give either of these institutions trust, trust with their money and trust with their children. But then, we have Trump as president, again.
Got Damn! people are stupid.
My father is both a practicing Catholic (converted for my stepmother) and a *die-hard* football fan. When I go to visit on Sunday afternoons he has NFL Sunday ticket and I get to ignore four games at once.
How disgusting. My family left the Catholic Church years ago because of the sexual abuse scandal. I don’t know how people can belong to an organization, that claims they are good Christians, that have been covering up this horrific behavior, year after year, priest after priest. And YES, I say organization, not religion, because they are nothing more than a business whose main goal is to collect money from their members.
The world's oldest criminal organization.
I doubt it. Longest-lived, maybe.
And this happens all over the world, wherever important Catholics gather together. 😇 Someone once said to me when I mentioned abuse – a few priests isn't the church. I agree – it seems to be wider than that.
"Six percent is 90."
And in the final analysis, it was a LOT more than that in Boston. And it's still going on.
Is your wife better ?
Yes... Tks. Grumpy as fuck having to try to sleep in one position all night, and every time she raises an eyebrow it hurts. I didn't realise how often she raised an eyebrow at me. Was attended to by an apprentice surgeon while seen you once stood by. Apparently hurt much more than last time. But the silly bugger is even going back to work today. Can't sit still that woman. ☺️ I managed to persuade her to work from home though. That way I can put her to bed if I need to.
Funny, it reminds me of someone.
Too bad the Saints (hierarchy) won’t be marching in to prison for aiding and abetting.
It seems to me the Saints are an organization of thugs to begin with. My husband told me the story of the "bounty scandal" involving the players. It was a while back, don't remember how far back (I tend to tune out when the hubs gets going on football), but the coach or coaches were paying the players up to $5000 for every key member of the opposing team they "accidentally" took out of the game with injuries. I think one coach was banned for life from the NFL when the scandal broke.
"We're not sorry we raped children. We're sorry those nasty journalists uncovered our child rape. We're very moral people with God living in our hearts."
"We're very moral people with God living in our hearts."
Uh-huh ... and the Boston Globe was just telling bedtime stories about the Archdiocese of Boston and Bernard Cardinal Law, back in January of 2002.
I view those words with the same disdain as when Israel calls itself “the most moral army in the world”.
The problem with the IDF is that they have a horse's ass for a leader, which is to say, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Which wouldn’t be much of an issue, if a huge majority of the IDF weren’t so gleefully eager in carrying out his mandate.
sadly far too many are fanatics and true believers in Nuttyyahoo.
What do you have against Ile-de-France ? 🤣
Nothing ... but the way the Israeli Defense Force has been used against the Palestinians has been, shall we say, a touch ham-handed?
And we all know that ham ain't kosher! 😁
Moral? Religious, maybe. The two are not synonymous, in fact, any correlation between the two may simply be coincidence.
I remember Pell's lawyer saying ages ago that it was "only" vanilla penetration, with the implication that it was nothing too serious. Come to think of it, I think some of his victims have just received compensation – must look that up.
https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/victims-of-sexual-abuse-by-george-pell-receive-compensation-under-redress-scheme/ar-AA1y9QUm
Ah... here it is.
Tone trolling on steroids.
👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆🎯
Remember the movie, "Spotlight?" They should make another movie about this particular situation, it's got everything! Child abuse, evil rich people, sportsball, everything!
And just watch Roger Goodell try to suppress its release!
Ooh, and in the sequel, 'Boondock Saints 3.0!'
Here we go again. On hearing of credible accounts of child rape by catholic priests, the first response of the church, it's big bucks donors, the NFL team she runs, a federal judge, and a newspaper editor is to circle the wagons AROUND THE CHUCH. These people don't give a damn about children who were victimized and suffered damage for life.
And when the diocese got caught still paying retirement benefits to pedo priests, the response by the archbishop is 'Satan is alive'? Apparently, hell yeah, and he's paying retirement bennies to pedophiles.
Remember, when the first stories broke in Boston, Cardinal Bernard Law was "allowed" to retire to the Vatican city state with impunity. Never forget that, because it set the tone for future erm, "events" of this nature.
THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT PARISHIONERS OR THEIR CHILDREN'S WELL-BEING. Power and money are what they chase. Not god or Heaven. I'd bet they don't even believe in that nonsense but, it's a good job and they are provided with children to sacrifice to their lust.
Law ended up with cushy job in the Vatican instead spending the rest of his life behind bars as he should have done. You're absolutely right that the handling of the Law case set the standard for every case that was to come, in their thousands. Their first and deepest impulse was always to protect themselves (A) and the church (B). None of them ever gave anything but lip service to the victims. In fact, in most cases they treated their own victims as the enemy.
Regarding the Spotlight reportage, even the movie acknowledges that it took an outsider – Marty Baron – to get the Boston Globe to dig into the stories of priest sexual abuse and finally bring them to the forefront. Despite that, Cardinal Law managed to escape to the Vatican, where he would never be held accountable.
I have to say again: the financial penalties the Church has paid over the years since may have been substantial, but there has yet to be any serious PERSONAL PENALTY paid by the RCC in terms of monsignors, bishops, archbishops and, yes, cardinals being arrested, tried, convicted and imprisoned for their crimes against children. I think that such action has the potential to have a serious impact on the offenders and those who support them.
I'm just waiting for that to happen, and I suspect I'll be waiting a while.
I don't see the financial penalties as being truly substantial. The pope hasn't had to pawn his gold throne yet.
Perhaps not, but there are several dioceses in the US that have undergone bankruptcy, owing to civil penalties levied against them for their individual culpability. Even with that, though, I can't think of a single person of the church who has actually GONE TO JAIL for his actions.
And I still think that needs to happen ... and happen a lot.
How many went through bankruptcy due to asset shifting to other dioceses, or even straight to the Vatican?
There is one, in Australia, then a judge exonerated or freed him 🙄
He still has his fabulous little red shoes, too! And all the riches of the Vatican surround him. It's like a dragon resting on its hoard.
Well why should they? Their indoctrinated flock supply them with victims, sacrificing their children so the parents can ? (Go to heaven?) /s
I don't know why the stupid buggers sacrifice their kids, its fucked up because its not like they don't know about the abuse, why the hell would you take the chance?
𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑓𝑢𝑟𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑠, 𝑒𝑥𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 2018 𝑎𝑛𝑑 2019, 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑐.
"Fodder for the public" is a strange way to say "incriminating for multiple felonies."
Why is it unsurprising that a powerful organization gets some help from another powerful organization to cover up multiple crimes?
Sounds familiar. Remember how Ratzinger said the priest child abuse scandal should be handled? Stephen Fry cited his words in the 2009 Intelligence Squared debate:
"... in the most secretive way, restrained by perpetual silence."
And this is WAY downstream from 2002 and the Boston Globe's reportage on the Archdiocese of Boston and its perfidy.
And I have to ask again: WHEN will law enforcement take this enormous insult to our children seriously???
I think it was in that same Intelligence Squared debate that Christopher Hitchens landed this punch quoting Ratzinger on the rape of children by catholic priests in which Ratzinger said this involves the church "In the need for applying to these victims the most loving pastoral care." Hitch slapped that down by responding, "They've already had THAT!!"
In the over 30 years since the Globe published that Spotlight investigation, we've learned it wasn't just a Boston archdiocese problem, it was a worldwide church problem. We learned about the Magdalene laundries in Ireland, sex abuse scandals have been uncovered in the mormon church, the southern baptists, the Boy Scouts of America, you name it. Wherever religious organizations intersect with children, we have had pedophilia scandals.
I'm happy to see a couple of states now attempting to pass laws requiring clergy to report child sexual abuse to law enforcement, no matter how they learn of it.
When Christian Fucking Privelege ends.
Ba-da-bing. [sigh]
It's also surprising that people still entrust these people with their kids, because gawwwd. If I had kids, after the movie 'Spotlight,' no dog collared "man of gawd" would be allowed within 200 yards of them.
All I can guess is that the level of indoctrination and fear of authority runs so strongly in the Catholic Church that the bulk of its membership could hardly sustain the thought of acting against it. The reality of priest child sexual abuse has been OUT for over two decades, and to date, I have yet to see any serious systemic action taken against the RCC.
This isn't just social inertia. It's social turpitude.
My kid sister not only ignores it, she actively scoffs at me when I bring it up. If I ever find myself in a room with her kids and any priests, the priest is going to be nervous when he sees the way I watch his every move. She may choose to be stupid but I'm not.
'Private', 'not fodder for the public' = consciousness of guilt. They KNEW they were covering up crimes and didn't give a shit about the victims.
This goes right along with my comment regarding how Ratzinger wanted this issue treated. And yet now it has at least a chance of being exposed publicly. The question becomes whether New Orleans and/or Louisiana law enforcement will actually DO anything about it.
The sad answer is: probably not.
"Citizens, we absolutely did not help in the cover up! And those emails should not be looked at!" is right up there with "Your honor, my client was nowhere near the scene of the murder! And besides, he shot in self-defense!"