Click here to read: “Police: Lansdale priest admitted touching man’s genitals in YMCA locker room,” by Michael Goldberg, The Lansdale Reporter, Jan. 23, 2014.
Click here to read: “Police: Lansdale priest admitted touching man’s genitals in YMCA locker room,” by Michael Goldberg, The Lansdale Reporter, Jan. 23, 2014.
“Roebuck shook the man’s hand and again pulled the alleged victim close to him, this time reportedly grabbing the man’s genitals with his other hand and asking, “Do you want to?””
These are the same hands that give you the Body of Christ. No thanks I’ll pass!.
This is so disturbing. When the parish he served learns of this…it’s a betrayal like no other.
How would you like to have received Communion from him and then learn of this?
The ultimate sacrilege.
No one could blame you.
That’s why I cant understand when clergymen with no intention of leaving the priesthood after spending their nights with women and the very nakedness of the sexual act, front up for business as usual either for Mass or at the Confessional.
It certainly makes you wonder about their superiors…..
So many crazed sex addicts, pedophiles and porn addicts in the priesthood. And they are the ones preaching to our children about remaining virtuous and making good choices. It would be laughable if it wasn’t so tragic!
Stilldisillusioned,
As I read this…I heard my Mom and Dad saying something like this recently. It was funny the way they said it…but oh, so tragic.
Stilldisillusioned,
I am laughing, but its not because I think its funny, its a very concerned laugh because the only thing else to do is cry. I was shocked at the boldness of this individual. You have to think of other outcomes this priest could have brought down upon himself. Excuse my words but if this individual done it to someone else like a abuse survivor he could have brought his arm back looking at a bloody stump.
Then we read about the lies of another priest up in Scranton Pa. who was caught with a minor in his car with no pants on. His first excuse was he was at the location because he was preparing his homily when he was approached by this child who was in emotional distress. BUT WHY WAS HIS PANTS OFF ? He too later admitted to the police detectives he was there because of some Craigslist ad.
It is so tragic. The real sadness is I see NO improvement.
I know, Dennis, honestly I am so horrified by the whole state of affairs. Our children are still not safe and people still don’t realize it. So many of my children’s friends are and have been altar servers and some even work in the rectory. I just don’t understand how parents can feel comfortable letting their children do these things in light of what has happened and keeps happening. I don’t like to judge others’ parenting decisions as I don’t want to be judged. Maybe some of them are watching their kids like hawks as they altar serve, but why put your child in any situation that you know has been dangerous to other children? I don’t get it. They might think that they “know” the priests their children are serving, but others thought they “knew” the priests too. Then, they were abused.
All humans from the time they are born crave physical contact with other humans. Babies who are denied this contact end up with serious emotional problems. as they enter childhood and on to adulthood. We are told by the Catholic Church that priests do not need this contact and they take a vow of celibacy.So what happens when a priest needs physical contact? He goes to the local YMCA.Is this a new occurrence? Hardly. I get such a kick out of all the fans at the Phillies games who sing and make all the moves when the song YMCA comes over the speaker system. Have you ever listened to the words to that song? What this incident points out to me is how sick and convoluted the catholic church’s teaching on human sexuality is for human beings. Instead of encouraging Father Roebuck to form a healthy physical relationship with another person,male or female, he has to go to the Y to get those needs met.I once had a conversation with a bartender who worked at a center city gay bar. He told me that Wednesday night was Priests night out. They would fill the tables at the end of the bar. They socialized with each other and sometimes with other patrons .There will be no end to the sexual abuse of children until the Church gets its house in order when it comes to human sexuality.
I am not surprised that even though the groper/priest admitted to assault ( I doubt this was his first encounter) there are those that give thumbs down on this. The rcc is going to crash and burn because the ‘faithful’ have been inculcated to blindly believe and follow what ever the hierarchy commands, this is going to backfire and the rcc as it is known will cease to exist.
Jim expresses, “There will be no end to the sexual abuse of children until the Church gets its house in order when it comes to human sexuality.” Building on his words it seems there are those in the Church who are immature because the Church goes to any length to uphold traditional values. I even feel the Church is fighting against outsiders and even members of its own group who are not completely on their side. The Church feels like everyone is reduced to bare dichotomies of them, outsiders, and those for us, insiders. The Churches attitude is this is my church, my authority, my leadership, and my beliefs. If anyone challenges this it is attack on their authority and belief system, even their way of life.
This authority and belief system is a scapegoat and people will feel justify to satisfying their emotional needs in the wrong way. This attitude also embodies weakness and insecurity. Massive insecurity also creates intense feeling of inferiority and worthlessness. And when there are feelings of hopelessness sexuality expresses itself because the person wants to feel satisfied, then normal. These feelings are usually immature feelings and will deviate from the very rules that have been taught.
We then get into what is called the ego saint. The ego saint believes the rules created for others do not necessarily apply to them. It creates this identity I am better than those people. The ego saints believe its ability to deceive people. The ego saint is the Catholic Church. And within the Church are those who act out immaturely expressing their sexuality wrongly because they are suffering from hopelessness. So we are dealing with lots of people feeling hopeless and we are dealing with a Church who believes its act is together as a saint.
This is hopelessness and the ego saint is denial. The Church expresses this denial by its authority. Those people who feel hopeless are in denial of their faith. So to me the Church needs to drop this authority, even traditional values, because merely obeying the rules will not override feelings of hopelessness. The authority needs to come from within and faith needs to come from within, which takes away hopelessness. The ego saint needs to learn it cannot accomplish anything other than recognizing the real value of breaking this hopelessness is faith.
The Catholic Church needs to move to courage as faith. Courage is beyond beliefs, tradition and learned procedures. Courage takes guts and it is only in this hopelessness is broken. When hopelessness is broken there is no need for traditional values and then deviant sexual feelings have a chance to mature. The Catholic Church needs to be courageous to break this world wide hopelessness and move people to faithfulness. Then we will have a saint of authenticity, hope.
Syd Sometimes when I read your posts, I feel that you are talking on a higher plane than I am capable of reaching. I don’t know if that is because of your intellect or your spiritual awareness. Perhaps both. But in your last post, you talk about faith needing to come from within. When I got sober twenty five years ago, one of my major stumbling blocks with the twelve steps was this concept of a higher power. I always thought this power needed to come from without. What I have learned about myself in the intervening years is that this power is within me. It is not God or nature or some external entity, but an internal strength that I cannot name. I love reading your posts. Keep them coming.
Jim, you got the whole point of my post, faith from within. I also write from intuition which is difficult to express because it is irrational and from unconscious roots. My intuition comes and goes like a ghost, so it is hard to identify and understand my intuition. From my experience intuition is the richest part of our consciousness and could be a higher plane. Yet realistic faith from within, without reference to anyone, is even a higher plane. This faith is inner springs of courage and this spring water is experienced in your spirit. God calls it good!
Thinking about the case of the priest from St. Stans. and how it has been handled. Sometimes as a victim who chooses to speak out about the violations committed against children by Catholic priests, I get discouraged. Not too long ago, this case would have been handled in a completely different way. The victim in this case had the courage to let those at the YMCA know what had happened to him. Many lesser men would have been too embarrassed to do so . He deserves much praise. Next we have those at the YMCA, who confronted Father Roebuck and then contacted police. In cases in the past, if those at the desk knew that the accused was a priest they would not have reported this to police Next the Lansdale police department followed up on this case and pressed charges against Father Roebuck. Believe me when I tell you that this case represents major progress. Not too many years ago this case would have been swept under the rug because of who the accused was and the institution that he represented. .
Jim, I agree and another situation that makes me hopeful is the news yesterday about the teacher who was charged with sex with a 17 year old..it seems that an older sibling of a student at the school is the one who placed a call to ChildLine when he/she heard about the teacher sexting a student. There is progress in all areas. Education/awareness will bring this issue out of the shadows.
Jim you are right. This guy did the right thing. Sometimes when something like this happens its shocking and you don’t react right away. I am glad he did and the people at the desk did also.
Today, in reading some of the documents produced by the Archdiocese of Chicago, I read about Rev. Joseph Bennett, accused of raping a girl with the handle of a paten, the plate used to hold Eucharistic bread and sometimes used as a cover for the chalice. It made me think about an incident in high school, when I was attending a Catholic, all-girls, boarding, prep school near NYC. One of the day-student girls brought me a container of French Onion dip. In the evening, I wanted to consume it but I had nothing to dip with. No chips, no crackers, nothing. So I snuck down to the chapel in my dorm. I found the huge box containing long cylinders of hosts and I stole one. The cylinder of hosts was around a yard long. We’re talking a lot of hosts. I dipped hosts into the dip until there was no longer any dip. Early the next morning, a nun entered my room with the “wake up bell” because (unfortunately) it was my turn to ring it. She noticed the cylinder packaging on my nightstand and freaked out. HOSTS! Eee gads! HOSTS! Relentlessly, she went at me about HOSTS! Nothing about stealing. ONLY about HOSTS! I was “restricted” for the longest time of any girl in the entire history of my school!
In my case, the hosts were unblessed. In the case of Rev. Bennett, the paten was a metal plate, period. But you and I have been trained and indoctrinated to impose all kinds of Catholic “spirits” upon them. The “spirits” trigger our imaginations, tug at our religious sensibilities, and act to lend greater severity to our sins. My sin was theft. Rev. Bennett’s sin was rape. Is it wrong that I resent people imposing Catholic notions on our sins and turning them into something they were not?
Tonite I went to church and the priest was saying how with all the darkness in the Vatican and the church etc we become more sensitive to the light the light actually hurts our eyes and he also was talking about Saint Pauls time. I believe in many ways the people on this blog are seeking the light in all this darkness……..just gave me a lot to think about
What happened to Fr. Roebuck? The St. Stan’s website no longer has him listed as staff, even though they have another priest, Fr. Logrip, listed and noted as on administrative leave. The AOP website has Fr. Roebuck on the list of priests with full faculties, but has his address noted as c/o vicar for clergy at 222. Is this just until he is sentenced? This story seemed to disappear, but assume more to come once he is sentenced and/or Chaput makes a decision about him?