I just had to share this comment from Father John S. Wintermyer. I hope more clergy step forward and speak out.
“I totally support your attempt to bring justice to this issue. As catholic Priest from WDC ( diocesan), I am appalled and ashamed that Philadelphia has been so corrupted by this power game as to allow so many abusers to get away with these crimes and harm so many people even up to today, 2011 April.
Thank you for taking on this challenge and let us hope that the people in the pews really get the message and stand up to support victims and stop supporting the power system which has abused so many. Thank you.”
Father John S. Wintermyer and other like him should start an alternate Catholic church that people could trust. It would be much, much easier than wrestling to fix the old one.
Worship in garages and gymnasiums and anywhere else you can find, because God doesn’t care.
God does care about child rape and lying, and there’s no apparent way to stop the current church from doing that unless you orchestrate marches to tell them the basic, correct, moral things to do.
To Father Wintermyer and Others Affected By the Pedophilia by Catholic Priests
I am Catholic from every aspect and extremeley
ashamed of the conduct of this degenerate priest. I am a graduate of 12 years of Catholic Education in blue collar Philadelphia.
I went to St. Matts and Father Jodge. In grade school I was an altar boy as were most of my friends. Myself or any of my friends were NEVER
approached by a priest looking for pedophilia sex. We were a rough bunch. Most of us were atheletes and would of kicked the crap out of
anyone who crossed us or degraded our Chorch,School or Religion. The priest in question are nothing but criminals , who used the Church to get into a position to harm young boys and men. The Philadelphia Diosecan Hierarchy that protected them, are a disgrace to the cloth and to the people of the Christian World. Yes, not just Roman Catholic
their insidious behavior made all Christians look like Sh-t. They, including the ones who protected them , should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Because4 of THEM, I
am embarresed to be part of the Catholic Church. Being celibent doesn’t mean being Gay or a Pedophile.
John, I could not agree with you more, and am sickened by the actions of the Diocese to protect these pedophiles. Like you I had 12 years of Catholic Education – and never was there an issue,,,but pedophiles are bullies,,,, they pick on those they know the can “Pick on” –
My concern now is that instead of calling them what they are, SICK PEDOPHILE BILLIES, the message is sullied by those equating celibacy to Homosexuality – and then blaming Homosexuality not pedophelie as the root cause.
These priests didn’t abuse because they weren’t married, or because they were gay,,,because they could,,,,, they abused because they are sick bully pedophiles who were protected by a hierachy that was afraid to make waves.
Now a self-appointed group has taken it upon themselves to defend the church by blaming these actions on Liberal Gay Activists angry with the Church’s stance on Marriage, etc. —- Let’s be honest,,, before the words Pro-Gay or Pro-Choice were even coined, this was happening,,,stop making excuses and clean up the church once and for all.
Oh, what a tangled web we weave…..
There is an alternative Catholic Church right outside of Philadelphia. It is in Blue Bell, it is not affliated with the Roman Catholic Church. We are looking into it since I cannot take going back to my Roman Catholic Church at this point.
I also had 12 years of Catholic Education and I also know 4 of the named Priests in this mess and I have to say, I do believe that they are guilty. I did not think that of them when I was growing up, that they were doing these kinds of terrible things but as an adult I can see how these things happened and were covered up by a huge system. Anyone who knew about these abuses should be tried and going to jail too for their crimes.
Jen, Close friends of mine have chosen to attend that church. They were practicing Roman Catholics until this cover up. And they still have children in Catholic School. As you can imagine, it was a difficult decision. It is called St. Miriam’s and is part of the Old Apostolic Catholic Church, which was established in the 1800s and is not recognized by the Vatican. There is a Web site. I can tell you that they are happy there. That is one of the reasons I founded Catholics4Change. Practicing Catholic families ARE LEAVING THE CHURCH OVER THIS ISSUE! Our Church Leaders need to wake up to this fact.
The Gospel of this 4th Sunday of Lent is a powerful reading for this site challenging the religious authorities over the issue of sexual abuse. In the gospel of John (9:1-41) a dramatic story which touches our lives today unfolds with powerful insight. The blind man represents the tragedy of sexual abused victims, sinless, trusting. He is an innocent person yet he is accused by authorities of lying, deception and false witness. Because he is so innocent, he is rejected from the synagogue by its leadership. They refuse to hear him or to accept his story. These leaders are the blind ones and John concludes this story as Jesus says, “they remain in sin”. Can any story be more powerful, more dramatic, more focused for us today. These bishops and chancery people will be reading this Gospel today. Do you think they will make any connection with this story??
I just want to thank Rev. Wintermyer so very much for speaking up. We have been hoping for someone just like you to do so. I hope that your comments here will spur on other “true” priests to do the same. You all have so much power. I have to believe that there are many of you out there who entered the priesthood for the right reasons and are still trying to do what you came to do. I also know how difficult it must be for some to speak their opinions because they may feel threatened by their leadership. I believe many lay people actually feel the same way. But I pray that these priests will find the courage and conviction to do so.The impact would be immeasurable. Again, thank you Rev. Wintermyer.
Good for him. There is so much distrust of clergy right now, I beleive those with nothing to hide, or be ashamed of, will be in support of those of us who are doubting or questioning fellow members of the clergy. We need more clergy to speak out against these unspeakable acts.