The Philadelphia priests removed from ministry have three options:
1- Live a life of prayer and penance.
2- Laicization.
3- Appeal to the Vatican.
The archdiocese has not updated the public on what each of the priests removed from ministry has chosen. Their choices impact the laity and society in general.
There are no official updates on those choices, according to Kenneth A. Gavin, Director of Communications for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
So where do priests appealing to the Vatican live?
The priests who chose a life in the prayer and penance program are housed at Villa St. Joseph, a retirement home for the clergy in Darby. Click here for info on the program. You’ll find the Q&A info a little spotty. For instance:
Q: How can a victim or the public find out if a priest is in the Prayer and Penance Program?
A: Victims of sexual abuse or the general public can visit the Delegate for Investigation Web Site at: http://archphila.org/delegate.
Good luck. I tried to look up the status of one of the priests Archbishop Chaput removed in July. I couldn’t locate him on any list. Also, there is no specific list for those in the program.
It’s no surprise the archdiocese pays for the food, shelter and healthcare for the priests in the prayer and penance program, but I was a bit taken back by the almost $1000 a month pension they each receive in addition.
Finally, what about those who left the priesthood? They are out there in someone’s community. Since Bevilacqua’s administration, in a very calculated manner, waited out the statute of limitations, you won’t find them on any criminal watch lists. Perhaps the Archdiocese should perform a public service and create their own.
The policy of the rcc for perps is just smoke and mirrors and there are no sanctions for the enablers !
Calculated…every move.
The AD will tell you the reason they cannot (will not) share the location of the priest is because they have never been charged and it would be a violation of their rights. If I called the AD to find out where any retired priest lived that didn’t violate children, they would offer that location. Why the difference? Because they are HIDING them. Not transparent. Not accountable to anyone. Same story since day one.
Front page of the Sunday Chicago Tribune.
http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/588/article/p2p-75244661/
Timely article. Philly AD is not the only diocese that hides and lies. These boys have been schooled in the same way.
Where are they? Child predators needed to be kept in a secure treatment center, and away from children forever.
And where are the others, the ones whom Chaput claims are suitable for ministry? Are they being watched.?
The only for sure way to protect our kids today, is to allow the victims to have their day in court. The statute of limitations needs to be removed for child sex crimes.
Child predators are very cunning and manipulative. They know every trick on how to groom, threaten, lie, and put the fear of god into their victims and sometimes even their family members.
They also appear to do a lot of goods things, they can be very charismatic and you may think they would never harm a child. They have to be this way, in order to not get caught and to continue to abuse
It is extremely rare that a child predator has only one victim and they need to be kept far away from kids forever.
So let’s hope that every person who saw, suspects or may has been harmed by anyone, will find the courage and strength to speak up and contact police, no matter how long ago the abuse happened.
Your silence only hurts, and by speaking up there is a chance for healing, exposing the truth, and therefore protecting others. Child sex abuse thrives in secrecy and secret systems that allow it to continue to this day,
Judy Jones, SNAP “Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests” 636-433-2511, snapjudy@gmail.com
Child predators need to be in a secure place called PRISON!. That,’s where they put the children for their entire lives. Lives that should have been Joyous, were turned into agony,guilt and condemnation by those who sexually abused them. There needs to be no coddling of an adult male or female who has taken religious vows and then throws a love for God and his fellow man out the window, for their pleasures.!They all , from top to bottom need to be in. PRISON!
Is SNAP doing anything to warn children who may be subject to sexual abuse in their homes, to report the abuse to authorities? Is it possible that Clergy abuse is but the “tip of the iceberg” ; only the visible part of CSA? I feel that a large portion of the abuse is now hidden within families and that secrecy and coverup is rampant there as well as in the clergy.
“Is SNAP doing anything to warn children who may be subject to sexual abuse in their homes, to report the abuse to authorities?”(nichols1)
Legally and morally that would be ideal, but such an action could place some children in great danger (including death). A child would essentially have to be placed in “a witness protection program” after filing their report.
I don’t have a lot of faith in Social Services departments when it comes to protecting a child under these circumstances. Such abusive parents can be similar to prisoners and gang members when it comes to dealing with a snitch.
I’m thinking in terms of programs to educate children on what to
be aware of when it comes to sexual abuse so that they will know how to respond and who to confide in if necessary. Certainly we can’t just ignore what goes on at home. I realize the parents are the ones primarily responsible to educate their children on the threat, but it seems it could be a team effort involving schools, church , SNAP etc. as well. SNAP has knowledge and expertise I assume.
The way Chaput is handling things is systemic to the entire institution. Its history is long and set. The Philly AD is not an anomaly. Offending priests (and enablers) get the same treatment throughout the world Why call upon Chaput to change the modus operandi of a top-down institution? He’s the wrong person. Are we to hope Chaput will react according to his conscience? He won’t. He reacts according to the prevailing papal mindset and orders.
Francis is the boss.
Who knows if he’ll change anything…
Who knows?
We’re talking about the protection of our children but who knows if our Church will protect them?
Verges on an oxymoron.
Okay, Kate, let’s not have any name-calling here. Who are you calling a moron?
Susan,
Please consider opening a Catholics4Change franchise in the Pittsburgh Diocese.
http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/3797604-74/diocese-letter-pittsburgh#axzz2PqHOOlyp
Mike Ference
How about one in every city in the USA? I ‘m not speaking facitiously.(spelling? )
We need to get all people involved in their area.
My intention is not to be contrary Susan, but we need more questions too. We need parishioners and political leaders to ask the tougher questions that the church always avoids, and somebody must hold them accountable and demand they respond with accurate and honest information. It is likely that many more predators still exist within the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. When Delaware and California opened windows to allow for civil suits against anyone who abused children, more than 350, previously unidentified, child predators were exposed in those two states alone. The numbers of child predators in Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey would probably be much greater considering the populations of these three states, and as I’ve said so many times in the past, enacting a civil window for past victims like myself to file civil charges does and will continue to expose child predators, and we can get our justice while protecting future generations as well. In my opinion, it is justice all the way around.
The Catholic Church is currently suing the United States government. Damn, these people have such nerve. Our government has been protecting the church for decades, and even when so many of us have evidence to prove we were abused by Catholic priests, our government still won’t protect us. Now it seems the government can’t even protect itself against an institution that condones and covers-up childhood sexual abuse, which too often hides and covers-up for predator priests, and continues to lie about valuable information that leads to trails of abuse victims, while spending hundreds-of-millions of dollars lobbying in our legislatures to prevent laws that would protect children and expose predators. The Catholic Church contributes not one penny to our nation’s deficit, because they are tax exempt, but yet somehow they can still sue our government. I am astonished by the arrogance of the unashamed Catholic Church to even think for you second about suing a government that has supported them instead of America’s own child citizens. Will the Catholic Church sponsor the NRA next?
Personally, I believe a woman has the right to do whatever the hell she wants with her own body. Who the hell am I? What gives anyone the justification to impose their beliefs on any woman and the ownership of her body?! Yes, I am pro-choice, but I am completely and 100% against partial-birth abortion. The Catholic Church is pro-choice also, did you know that? Once secret documents have been uncovered in many lawsuits against Catholic entities in this country and around the world that proves Catholic priests have impregnated women (sometimes teen girls) and forced them to have abortions. Catholic nuns have been known to become pregnant also and have abortions. The awful, cruel, evil, and crude things a Catholic priest did to me as a young boy and to so many other young boys, young girls, and vulnerable adults, is a form of abortion in my mind. They took away our souls and our entire lives. They just left us empty bodies, and for some victims, it’s better to be dead. For those like me, often we feel like we’re dead inside.
With the installation of a new Pope, the Catholic Church should be allocating its resources to fighting for a different cause. I respect anyone’s pro-life belief, and I’m unwilling to debate it, because it’s always a never-ending argument. I’m unwilling to debate child sexual abuse as well, because I don’t even think such a topic can be debated intelligently and rationally, because the subject is so black and white. I know where I stand on the subject and it baffles me that anybody could stand against me. There is nothing right about raping a child, but yet when the Catholic Church lobbies in our courts, and constantly preaches to those in the pews, and spends several million dollars to defend its own “obviously guilty” clergy, apparently there are some who believe there is in fact nothing wrong with child rape. Even Catholic League’s President “bill donohue” (whose name I refuse to capitalize) once said, “the relationship between a 10-year-old male child and the criminally charged 43-year-old priest was a homosexual love affair with a young “man” who wasn’t raped because he enjoyed it.” Apparently donohue believed the child enjoyed it because, like most of us who were raped as children and hated it, we involuntarily had erections during the abuse. This scumbag actually believes a 10-year-old is a young man and not a child, and that he actually considered this disgusting old man having sex with him as “love.” It is sickening and my stomach is in knots and I am enraged that after I gave away so much of my story, like some many other victims have also, somehow there are those misguided fools who still find such an institution credible. Hell, there was even a few comments posted here recently by a commenter I had never seen before and he was advertising that the Catholic Church is doing whatever they can to inform the public and our courts about child sexual abuse. My conclusion is that still many people are ill-informed and uneducated and they still take their priest’s word over the factual evidence. That is both a blind and dangerous thought process, especially if this commenter has children who spend any unsupervised time with clergy.
The parents are so caught up in religion that they pay little attention to those their children are spending time around. Nobody should ever trust anyone to have unsupervised contact with their children, whether they are a priest or a police officer. If I am aware that someone, other than family members wants to spend time alone with children, that gives me pause and my hyper-vigilance shifts into overdrive and red flags start standing up in my mind. Most children are abused within the family by other family members, or by a close friend of the family. Of course you should feel comfortable with another parent, or uncle, or sibling caring for your child, and perhaps even a very close friend. I can’t blame parents whose child is abused within their family or by a friend they’ve known for 100 years, but hopefully nobody here will ever have to know what that’s like, and I certainly wish children could be educated more to recognize the signals that they might be in danger. All I can do is hope and keep fighting to change laws.
Please ask tougher questions of your church leaders. Background checks should be known to every parent, but even then still keep a close eye on your children. We all know by now that most child sexual abuse too often goes unreported and many predators are never exposed. Out of any single institution or organization in the world, the Catholic Church has been known to employ more child rapists than any other. (The Boy Scouts are a close second.)
So… Chuckie Chaput,
Why do you condemn child victims from reporting to law enforcement their abuse and the priest who abused them?
Why do you lobby in Harrisburg to prevent laws from passing that would protect children and punish predators not just inside your Archdiocese, but within the entire community as well?
Why do you continue to lie to the press about the support you give to victims like me?
Why is it, that in the beginning, you disbelieved me before you even heard my story? Why were you and your cohorts so dishonest when I asked if Rev. John M. McDevitt had abused any other children and those in the Archdiocese and the Oblates swore to me he hadn’t?
Why does the Catholic Church continue to assure parishioners and parents that clergy sexual predators are no longer known to church hierarchy when one predator priest is exposed on the average of once per week?
Why do you continue to allow defenseless and innocent children to be abused? What does that say about you? Maybe you’ve got something to hide.
I don’t want answers if I don’t see them followed by action!
Peace out!
Rich
How sweet. Life of paid prayer and penance. Free retirement for child rape, Part of the Catholic religion.
Jerry Sandusky got 30-60 years in prison.
Catholic priests get a paid retirement, paid for by all of the Catholics that still remain, therefore endorsing the idea.
What gets me even more “exercised” over this is that No One can make someone pray, and “penance ” has No place in biblical Christianity unless one is talking about “repentance” which is Not the same thing. And while I am “exercised” — all this about a new pope?
The only way lasting good could ever come from a new pope would be for him to REPENT of his POSITION. The very fact of his claiming to represent Christ on earth is an abomination and needs to be repented of if he wants to have any relationship with Christ and miss eternal hell. So don’t spend time wishing and waiting for “change” unless the above miracle occurs, i.e., REPENTANCE towards Christ.
Repentance = Change of mind.
Guess what? I don ‘ t consider Francis Boss! I believe that GOD ALMIGHTY IS BOSS OVER THE UNIVERSE! As soon as the people in the RCC are able to realize that NO MAN CREATED THEM OR THIS WORLD WE LIVE IN, then & only then will they be in touch with the REALITY OF WHAT CHRIST DID TO SET THEM FREE FROM THE. CHAINS THAT HAVE BOUND THEM FOR MILLENNIAL GENERATIONS!
I too was in chains..by the rcc. I made a choice to eliminate “all the garbage that man was throwing at us. ” by leaving a “place “!. GOD ALMIGHTY LIVES WITHIN ME..HE GOES WHERE I GO! HE WILL NEVER LEAVE ME OR FORSAKE ME! Man will always ! NOT GOD!
Susan, I don’t see any of us getting more answers as long as hierarchs maintain their insistence on resolving the sexual abuse crisis in-house. The in-house approach is marred and skewed by the hierarchy’s long history of maintaining, at all costs, priestly loyalty and the appearance of Mother Church. Another, incalculable force that will impede a suitable, in-house resolution is the fact that all of the hierarchical “fixers” have histories intersecting at one time or another with the cover-up. After all, the cover-up was not episodic, it was cultural.
The two most insular institutions on the face of the Earth– the Catholic Church and its priesthood– would have to be willing to hand themselves over to an external, independent commission of experts formed to resolve the crisis. Hierarchs would have to avoid attempts to exploit and manipulate the members of the commission. They would have to open their files, secret safes, and mouths. They would have to tell the truth. They would have to accept the mandates put forth by the commission. Perps, enablers, and colluders would have to accept the consequences of their crimes and sins.
Never in the history of the Church have hierarchs even remotely subjected themselves to such rational, external scrutiny.
“…resolving the sexual abuse crisis in-house” give me a break!
Of course they want to keep it in-house, keeps them out of prison. The hierarchs have no interest in you, or your children. Those that still believe that the bishops’ want to help are as far removed from reality as those that believe that the earth is 6,000 years old. You can’t fix stupid!
It’s the same old nonsense, telling the laity to go blow smoke elsewhere. Getting civil lawmakers and law enforcers to take action is our only hope.
Today, one month into his papacy, Pope Francis named eight cardinals who will advise him regarding reform in the Curia/Vatican. The two cardinals having extensive experience regarding the sexual abuse crisis are O’Malley of Boston and Marx, a German prelate. Pell of Australia was also named. Pell was on SNAP’s “dirty list” during the conclave. I’m interested in what C4C’s Australian blogger (and others) has to say about Pell.
You can read about this development at http://www.ncronline.org.
Because I believe advances regarding the issues we advocate for on C4C depend on how Francis goes about reform (as well as on secular efforts in terms of SOL reform and bringing clerical criminals to justice in U.S, courts), we need to focus on O’Malley, Marx, and Francis as opposed to the Chaputs, Dolans, etc. The USCCB and our local bishops are really a dead-end vacuum for us. It’s all happening in Rome (and in the secular world of law). Even the Chaputs and Dolans are presently at a loss in terms of what’s around the corner for them, personally, and in terms of reform and the sexual abuse crisis. Must be tough falling from the domain of favoritism into the abyss of hand wringing. Do you guys even have a clue as to how you destroyed our Church in the name of God, loyalty, and obedience?
Praying for you.
It is only through civil and criminal laws and its law-enforcers that this monster can ever be brought down. It is pure evil and I can understand Jesus’ anger over the evil of His time … a gentle soul who began over-turning tables in the temple. And when we display courage, when we are risk-takers speaking-out against injustice, we are manipulated by the oldest tribal-tricks in the books:
we are ostracized by our religious communities for not being humble and obedient enough to our superiors. We have to endure character-assassination … of being falsely accused of acts against ‘chastity, powerty, and obedience.’ If all else fails, we are accused of being insane as was Sister Jasme and many others like her. Her book called ‘Amen’ is an autobiography of a nun in India. People who speak-out against ‘God’s Reps’ die in isolation as did Maria Monk and others like her. They are excommunicated, set adrift on a painful journey as social outcasts, while the Church throws stones at them and the
pew-sheep do likewise. Some brave-souls may shed their indocrinations for a freer, happier, spiritual self; others, however, succumb to social pressures. The punishments meted out to Adam and Eve and Cain are uncanningly similar to those inflicted on us i.e. financial, social, spiritually. The biblical stories have been twisted into doctrines and traditions that support the church-hierarchy and keeps us ignorant, cowardly, compliant, disempowered, insecure, passively aggressive, self-righteous, controlling, and intolerant, along with all the other cardinal vices. We, on the other hand, are brain-washed into believing
that we are following the virtues of chastity, powerty, obedience, humility, and self-abasement, along with all the other cardinal virtues. People can find the truth under these devious, double-binded messages if they are able to overcome their fear of eternal damnation when doubting God’s Reps on Earth. I recently asked a church-goer if she was concerned that her money was being used to defend sex-offenders and her response was that she was fulfilling her christian-duty and that she was not to question if her money was being put to good use. Neither was she to question sexual-abuse or social injustice within the Church even though the beatitudes speak on this. It seems that church-rules take precedence over the Bible or their conscience … their comfort-zone is to live in this bubble of obedience and not taking personal ownership for one’s actions. When the bubble bursts over betrayals or when they are set-adrift as outcasts or if the titanic sinks, life will become hellish without a reserve of personal strengths to rely on. God Help Us.
Amen!
I see a clear parallel between the people of North Korea and many Catholics. We have both been brained washed to the point that no matter how badly we are treated, we still revere our Dear Leaders as gods, lest we be tossed out of the kingdom.
“They are excommunicated, set adrift on a painful journey as social outcasts, while the Church throws stones at them and the
pew-sheep do likewise.” Well said “Speaking Up” WELL SAID!
There was a time when I was so taken-up by the personal relationship between God and Man in Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam and in the Last Supper when “God and Man Supped Together.” Now I think: Does this mean that God and God’s Reps Supped Together and the rest of us did not factor in, especially the women? I think I’ve done a 360 over these last two years and there’s no turning back.
I’m of the opinion that whenever one places any given individual (often one claiming to have mystical powers) between themselves and God they are set up to be scammed. This can be seen with the Rev Jim Jones, David Koresh, a Houngan (male vodou priest), or a Catholic cleric. When one blindly accepts these people as intermediaries they forfeit a certain degree of their God given ability to reason. As we all know this forfeiture has resulted in many disasters.
Speaking Up and Drwho13: You are touching on an area I have long thought about since my
own family is split now between Catholic and non-Catholic. The Catholics look down on the Jim Jones/David Koresh/ Jimmy Swaggart etc. etc.s and somehow don’t get it that they are following the same frauds in the Roman Church— there is no difference! The “roots” of the Roman church are traceable to the opponents Apostle Paul wrote about in his letters that the bible itself deems as SCRIPTURE (II Peter 3:16). Paul’s gospel he received from Christ in heaven was all but completely ABANDONED while Paul still lived and wrote. We can only speculate whether there were any true believers during the intervening centuries before a few began the restoration of Pauline truth in the 19th century. Google or Bing:
J.S. Darby
Scofield
Sir … Anderson
C.R. Stam et al
Or search on my site “Paul, Our Apostle” http://xcatholic.yuku.com
The bible and good, truthful church history can help answer many questions.
Sir Robert Anderson
J.N. Darby. Sorry sirs.
Thanks drwho13 and nichols1. What a fool I’ve been to trust Intermediaries to help me develop a personal relationship with God. Maybe I can now rethink Michelangelo’s ‘Creation of Adam’ in this new context minus the clerics.
Don’t feel too badly. Most of us have embraced that way of thinking at some point. I know I have! It takes time to understand that these people aren’t mystics. They’re just “ordinary Joes” but they derive their power by indoctrinating us into believing otherwise.
1 Corinthians 13:11 (New International Version)
11 “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.”
http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/13/world/europe/vatican-pope-cardinals/ Glad they are realizing there needs to be a reform………finally…………we will see,,,,,,,
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/14/us-pope-idUSBRE93D09A20130414
(Reuters) – Pope Francis on Sunday said clergy and Christians must not betray the word of God with their actions or they undermine the credibility of the Catholic Church.
“Inconsistency on the part of pastors and the faithful between what they say and what they do, between word and manner of life, is undermining the Church’s credibility,” the pontiff said in his homily.
Who were the role-modelers of the double-life? I wish they just clean up their act first and not try to spread the blame by putting the spot-light on us as well. I’m hoping but for me “seeing is believing.”
“Inconsistency on the part of pastors and the faithful between what they say and what they do, between word and manner of life, is undermining the Church’s credibility,” the pontiff said in his homily.
“Those who listen to us and observe us must be able to see in our actions what they hear from our lips, and so give glory to God!”
Will someone please ensure that this message is delivered to the leadership and management at 222 N. 17th St.?
And please send it to every bishop my husband and I met. Inauthentic. Deceptive. Abusive. This is what they have shown us. Pope Francis has his work cut out for him if that’s his message to his brothers.
I’m not sure if it’s still lip service though.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/13/opinion/dantonio-pope-francis-first-month This article was alittle surprising……..
I just found out that prostitution is legal in Argentina… No wonder the Pope feels the way he does about the nuns. There seem to be no respect for. women or maybe it ‘s ok just like Mexico, .plus sex with children is not frowned upon. as is it is in most places in this world.
I find the rcc to be an institutio of mainly ‘LIPSERVICE’ of the highest order. They have RELIGIOUS orders in all their canons, except the .. The “real orders” that GOD ALMIGHTY GAVE TO HIS PEOPLE, IN THE SCRIPTURES.. But the orders were only if you wished to obey them. Your ‘”freewil was always there” for you to use or not. .They chose a way that GOD said was a way of PERDITION…Not “HIS WAY”.