I haven’t finished reading this long-awaited article yet and had to post link. So much rings true from the years I spent at the Archdiocese in the 90s under Bevilacqua’s “reign.” I remember accidentally receiving a faxed invoice for a vase for the shore house. It cost more than my year’s salary. I had just been denied a raise due to economic issues. More on the money later, back to the sex abuse….
“Catholics In Crisis: Sex and Deception In the Archdiocese of Philadelphia,” by Robert Huber, Philadelphia Magazine, July 2011
Catholics4Change 
Just finished and reposted the link so others can see it.
It describes what I refer to as “more of the same old same old”.
And nothing will change with a new cardinal.
Nothing will change until the failed management system becomes transparent and accountable.
And there is little chance of that happening as long as the pew people remain co-dependent.
Sad. Isn’t it?
The final words in the article sum up any hope of change within the Catholic Church.
Great article.
Sickening, really. Sounds just like our dealings with the Bishop and Cardinal in our area.
Hey, I have an idea…why don’t we have a mass in Latin? That would be nice, wouldn’t it? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
In the article it says that Rigal asks Archdiocesan attorneys and officials if it was true that 37 priests remained in ministry despite allegations. He is asking them? Obviously it is one of two things. He was playing dumb so to not have any liability himself or was clueless because the attorneys are running the Archdiocese.
When he rejects the request from the victim to have an apology from the abusive priest,all I could think of was how many times we have heard Rigali speak of healing in the past few months. What kind of healing is this? What planet are these people from? It is all going to fall like a house of cards and the irony is that all of their lies and cover up was to protect the image of the Church.
I think Rigali absolutely knew about the 37 priests, and his response was wordplay that was very calculated.
I think they all discussed it, including the lawyers, and tried to use the same technique the John Jay report used, which was to define a “minor” as someone under 10 years old. The lawyers would say that it was legally defensible, but the congregation would assume they meant 18 years old. Perfectly evil.
There’s a reason God is letting this come out. He wasn’t to see if the congregation is strong enough to remove evil and return confidence and credibility to His church.
Patrick, if you are open to it, I would like to have a discussion with you why I believe your last paragraph is wrong and misleading to readers who are searching for the truth.
You wrote:
“There’s a reason God is letting this come out. He wasn’t to see if the congregation is strong enough to remove evil and return confidence and credibility to His church.”
We could let the difference pass and keep “peace”; however, I think the matter is of import enough to meet the challenge, though some “eggs may be broken to make the omelettel.”
Right now I can add nothing, except that the stories I used to think were anti-Catholic venom are all true.
I am bereft. Is it going to fall like a house of cards, or is it going to continue with a small group of conservative, unquestioning sheep?
Baaa…hhh.
Right now I can add nothing, except that the stories I used to think were anti-Catholic venom are all true.
I am bereft. Is it going to fall like a house of cards, or is it going to continue with a small group of conservative, unquestioning sheep?
No, with a large group of “faithful” [in their own minds]unquestioning members of what they have been told [lied] is an organization founded by Jesus.
I know I’m getting visceral– sometimes it just comes out.
Elizabeth
I think it is going to fall like a house of cards when this present generation of children leave the Church in a mass exodus as adults. We had no idea about the sex abuse as kids,we revered priests and now our eyes are open. These present day kids are seeing the truth exposed for what it is. How does anyone expect them to stay?
Amen, KK.
I think you have two options
– overthrow it and clean it out, and thank God that the church has no army
– let it die a slow death by paper cuts, and let future generations look back at this and say, “Really? People followed a church that raped children and lied about it? Really?”
Archdiocesan Counsel – “INNOCENCE PROTECTOR”
Posted by skiendzielewski | Jun. 24, 2011 at 7:24 AM
COMMENT:
But senior counsel to the archdiocese, William Sasso, is designated as an “Innocence Protector” on the website of “Mission Kids”, a Montco children’s agency that supports victims of sexual abuse. Coincidence? Irony? Hypocrisy?
See for yourself: http://missionkidscac.org/content/2011-sponsors
By doing so, he learns the processes and weaknesses of the abused children.
That sounds cold, but hear me out. The Catholic church has learned that victims are unlikely to come forward if they think that they will be accused of lying and accused of money-grabbing. The church tries to discredit the victims, and never tells the congregation not to discredit the victims. This is calculated. And it has worked so far.
Absolutely true. Every move and word is a calculated, thought-out maneuver to manipulate the sheep and discredit victims. It’s worked so far.
Huber’s piece in Philadelphia Magazine provoked in me a repugnance so paralyzing that I’m still trying to resurface from it.
On this website, there is a response from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
Where is the response from the priests?
Which priests? The ones who perpetrated the abuse or the priests of the AD who aren’t speaking against their diocese/Donna/bishop?
If you mean a response from the priests who are sickened by their bishop/diocese’s handling of this…you’ll be waiting a long time, since they vow their obedience to them and the culture is the EXACT same dynamic that allowed abusive priests to continue. NO ONE from within will speak out for the victims because it means they will be standing on the outside with them and basically be ostracized.
Welcome to the outside.
survivor’s wife,
Which priests?
The “good” priests.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, the thing that I will never come to understand is why we refer to silent priests as “good” priests.
The dictates of a priest’s conscience are to supersede the priesthood’s vow of obedience and culture of blind loyalty. Intellectually and spiritually, priests know and understand that. When people cannot implement what they know is right, there are psycho-emotional reasons why. Our priests present themselves to us as psycho-emotionally shackled. The image acts to set the faithful adrift because it shatters our view of them as moral and spiritual anchors. The longer they continue to be silent, yet purport to be our moral and spiritual anchors, the more the faithful will alienate themselves because, with clarity, they perceive the priestly disconnect as glaringly dysfunctional and wrong.
There are many reasons why the priesthood is imploding. If and when it reinvents itself, its greatest hurdle will be in re-establishing its moral authority because, at a time when the faithful needed to hear and see it most, they were abandoned… left shaking their heads and asking, “Who are you”?
This article has helped to reinforce my decision to leave the church after being a faithful member for 64 years. I sometimes thought I was doing the wrong thing by leaving but this has made me see that it was the right decision, really the only possible decision to show my disgust for the organization. This article is all I’ve talked about today with my husband who is a non-Catholic and who at one point said, “wow, you’re really wound up today.” Yes, I am. This is all so shameful and horrible. The poor suffering victims. To bear all this all your life. Very very sad. If only we could rise up, and force all the hierarchy to resign and start fresh. That’s the only thing to me that would help at this point.
We are uprising. It’s frustratingly slow, but it’s happening here and in Kansas City. Most Catholics are sheep, and will just go along with everyone else. That’s in their upbringing. However, it will hit a “tipping point” where they will see that a bunch of others are revolting against the church, and they will join in.
A thousand people read this blog everyday. They will tell others. More evidence and more articles will come. The pedophile priests and pedophile protectors will weaken, and the tide will turn quickly.
Keep the pressure up, and keep pushing the truth to people.
I just read the posts by all of you and my heart breaks for you. You, as Catholics, are suffering along with the victims of the Roman hierarchy and priests involved in the tragedy.
At almost 79 years of age now I have learned a few things. I see what is happening here as being allowed by Almighty God, and the Lord Jesus Christ to form a crisis point in the lives of those He would draw into Himself, that is into the Body of Christ. I pray that many will respond to the scriptural offer of free salvation by grace, through faith,plus nothing, that is offered by the merits of the Cross of Christ. I pray there will be few who just abandon membership in the Roman church and either go their own way, according to what “seems right in their own eyes” or try to somehow form a “new church” that is no more than a continueation of the blunders and unbiblical folly we have had through many centuries. To be continued when technical problems overcome here.
A common theme I find in Catholics who question the denomination they have found themselves in since they were placed in it by no doubt “well meaning” parents, is where to go if they leave the Church? Unfortunatlely, there is no answer for that question, because organized, institutional,or cultic, non-denominational etc. etc. all fall short in some or many ways when compared with the actual Word of God. The way [scripturally] was lost many, many centuries ago, even back as far as when the apostles were still living. I have decided to prepare the rest of this separately and then post it later. Thanks.
Joyce,
As a victim, I never wanted to take your church from you. I never wanted to steal your faith in what you believe in. I am surprised to see someone from the “baby boomer” generation who is walking away from this institution, that has been responsible for the destruction of so many lives, so many of us when we were just children. I thank you for you support. I hope you can find pleasure in your own home or someone else that still provides what you believe in. For me, it’s never made much sense why you have to frequent a building to prove you believe in God. I never understand why you have to throw money in the collection plate to confirm your religion.
Many older people are the people who call me a whole bunch of insults when I stand outside of a Catholic church, or school, or the Archdiocese alerting the public and parishioners about an abusive priest. They say good Catholic things to me, like “Go F#ck yourself, liar, scumbag, leech.” I now change my opinion that NOT ALL parishioners are like those people. Thanks for supporting us victims and protecting children!
Rich
There are many people like Joyce out there.The problem is that many leave silently. I admire Joyce for sharing her thoughts and still wanting things to change although she longer practices her faith.
There are also many people still in the pews who are not willing to give up practicing their faith but can no longer feel anything but complicit with all that has gone wrong . I know many people who attend mass with anger,disgust etc… but do not want to make the break from practicing their religion. I don’t judge anyone-the people who left or the people who stayed.That is easy for me to say because I am not a victim-I realize that. We need all the support from everyone -whether they have left,are on the fence or devout.One thing that Susan has said which cemented our relationship is “if I am leaving,I am not going quietly”
Victims4Justice and Kathy: I want you to understand and I think you do, that my leaving “the church” has nothing to do with what I believe in. My God is still my God in every way. Every Sunday at the time I would usually be at Mass, I sit in a quiet place in my home and say my prayers and the rosary. But I felt that showing up at weekly Mass and contributing to the collections was like giving my seal of approval to all the evil that has been done. I just couldn’t in good conscience continue to do it. I would go back in a minute if I saw some real progress being made to atone for all the harm that has been done, as in heartfelt apologies being given to the victims, and most of all – the removal of all the members of the hierarchy who have been complicit in this horror. Until then, here I am.
Joyce, I totally understand. A young Mom who is active in some advocacy work that Susan and I are involved has taken a similar route. She is now doing service projects with her kids on Sunday mornings-taking food to shelters etc…Just finding an alternative way to ‘practice her faith”
I think there are many people who would return to attending Mass if they saw the change that you also seek.