Click here to Read: “Suspended Chester County priest pleads guilty to child pornography charges,” by Jeremy Roebuck, The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 8, 2015
Excerpt: Mark Haynes, 56, previously of SS. Simon and Jude Parish in Westtown, admitted to trading hundreds of pornographic images of children over Instagram and enticing teenage girls he met online to send him explicit photos of themselves.
He contacted the teens while posing online as a 16-year-old girl named Katie Caponetti between 2010 and 2014.
What is the policy re oversight, management and security of archdiocesan computers and personally-owned computers within parish rectories? Is there an operating manual, including screening, security, prohibited sites/access, etc.?
Is it possible for an archdiocesan employee, lay or clergy, to use personal computers for such child pornography purposes for the extended period as presented in the case of Father Haynes (….He contacted the teens while posing online as a 16-year-old girl named Katie Caponetti between 2010 and 2014….)?
What does archdiocesan management have to say in response to this critical issue and concern?
I asked this very same question two years ago after learning the facility in Childs, Maryland where many abusive priests were sent to live out there life of prayer and penance had access to a computer with no restrictions and no monitoring. I did not expect some great wealth to be spent or high tech monitoring system to be put in place but somebody to at least stand over their shoulders while the computer was being used. My thinking was they lost all rights to privacy once they abused a child.
If anyone else here knows with pre-teens or teenagers in the house who have computers how easy it is to contact your provider and block ANY questionable site.
My wife and I purchased this thing called a Kurio for our daughter. It lets us block anything we would like and has a setting to place a time limit on how long she can use it and how long it must remain off before she can use it again. Best thing is it will send a message to either my wife’s computer or mine if she even attempts to access a site we blocked. Its not that we don’t trust our daughter its we are protecting her from people like this guy.
,
There is NO reason I can think of why a rectory, school or any place else would need access to these sites. They are perverted, sick and illegal not to mention children are being hurt.
But, I don’t expect a priest to understand the children being hurt part since they have no children of their own.
These are amazing comments. Finally the people are waking up to the evil these clerics are easily finding on “open to everything” computers.It just keeps them “fired up” to sexually abuse more vulnerable children.
Talk about irony? With the news in today’s Inquirer of Father Haynes guilty plea to possession of child pornography, what does this life-long Philadelphia Catholic receive in the US mail today? Another round, I believe it is the third, of request for financial support from the management of the World Meeting of Families to be held here in Philadelphia in September signed by Robert J. Ciaruffoli, President.
Despite my direct e-mails to Mr. Ciaruffoli, CPA, the correspondence just keeps on coming. By the way, what’s the deal with those brightly colored donation envelopes included with the correspondence?
I get it…….I’m supposed to give archdiocesan management financial support when all Philadelphia area Catholics will never receive details, information, facts, etc. relating to all of the assignments Father Haynes has had in the Delaware Valley prior to his arrest by federal agents for child pornography and what oversight, scrutiny and review was (???) conducted relative to his use of computers over those many years.
If we can’t trust you (archdiocese leadership, lay and clergy) with our children, then we certainly will not trust you with our money.
Michael Skiendzielewski
Captain (Retired)
Philadelphia Police Dept.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/us-archbishop-resigns-after-archdiocese-charged-with-coverup/ar-BBl9A7E?ocid=ASUDHP
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/pope-approves-tribunal-to-judge-bishops-who-cover-up-sex-abuse/ar-BBkUKtw?ocid=ASUDHP
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/popes-plans-on-abuse-environment-shape-us-bishops-meeting/ar-BBkW6R2?ocid=ASUDHP I think its interesting it said the bishops found out about the tribunal in the news.
BETH ..I too think its amazing the Hierarachy finds out about their church by reading it in the news. But they are so out of touch with the reality of wht’s.really hapening to . Catholic children by the trusted people of authority( priests, nuns, & brothers) I know so much , having been a Catholic for .over 60 years.. most of those years being an apologist for the evils I had heard about as ” anti Catholic” It took a retired priest from Boston ( retired in San Diego) to show us the reality of . what these evil guys were really doing(Fr. Paul Shanley.)So disgusting it’s hard to believe…Nuff said, look him up.
Glorybe…it appears that you are the one out of touch. The Paul Shanleys of the priesthood were an abberation. The majority of the abuse occurred during the 60s and 70s. The tragic behavior of abberant clergy has long been over and no other institution has gone to the lengths to protect minors and vulnerable adults that the Catholic Church has gone. The young priests whom I have met give me great hope for the future .
If you are genuinely concerned about the harm inflicted upon children get vocal about the need for every institution which deals with children to adopt the safety measures put in place by the Catholic Church . I’m very much aware of the tragic pain endured by the many victims of clergy sexual abuse but it so rarely happens today to render it statistically insignificant. No howling please over my use of the term “statistically insignificant.” Yes. One case of sexual abuse is one too many. However, this problem has been around since the beginning of time.
FRED…..What rock did you crawl out from under?Fr Paul Shanley came to the attention of the SDPD IN the school yard volunteering to be a retired priest willing to give his time watching the children..( the year 2001) He got the 8 yr. old as a recruit for his ” boy man club. Which was an old motel in Palm Springs he and a few buddies from the Hillcrest. area purchased for this”BMC”…
Of course evil has been around since the beginning …what’s that supposed t o mean ? You just allow it to perpetuate itself.???. How pathetic your rationalization of this evil to our children of faith!
We’re you unable to comprehend my point, Glorybe….that Shanley was an abberation and not the norm? I did not deny Shanley’s wickedness nor do I excuse it . The 2001 date which you cite in his case is significant. The charter for the protection of young people went into effect in 2002. There simply isn’t anyway that someone like Shanley could ever get near a kid in a Catholic setting with the present structures in place.
Please reread my last post in a dispassionate way. I hope that you will be better able to understand that I was not excusing evil but readily acknowledging that given human nature such horrors, like all evil, will continue to occur until time is no more.
That fact is neither a rationalization nor pathetic. It simply is reality. The other reality is that given the present structures in place in the church, the safest place for children is in the Catholic Church.
Given the tone of all your postings, it seems to me that you would prefer not to believe that truth. I can only conclude that this inconvenient truth simply does not square with your ideology as well as the ideology of a sigificant number of this site’s posters.
“7 Priests Who Served in Minn. Accused of Child Sexual Abuse to be Named”
http://kstp.com/news/stories/s3844558.shtml
Fred, you stated, “…that given the present structures in place in the church, the safest place for children is in the Catholic Church. Then why did it take a law suit to get these names released?
Fred, have you ever applied for a a job as a RC lobbyist for SOL? Your comments indicate to me that you are well qualified.
Fred……..Why on BA.org do we see everyday more and more atrocities by CATHOLIC clergy all over the world. ???? Who’s ” OUT OF TOUCH??
I can’t be concerned about the whole world. I am concerned about my own country in general and my archdiocese in particular. What I posted holds true for the church in the USA. Unlike you, I am a Philadelphian who has kept abreast of these issues as they developed in Philadelphia. I think that the Archdiocese has done an excellent job in cleaning their house. As I said before, I have great hope because of the young and zealous priests whom I have encountered.
I am a proud graduate of the Philadelphia Catholic school system, grateful for all the Church has done and continues to do for me and my family. I am a realist: my heart broke when I discovered the magnitude of abuse but I know it is over…at least in this country. My wife, kids and I remain committed Catholics. I am very sorry that people like you can’t feel comfortable in the church anymore. I am also sorry that your anger, justifiable or not, does not allow you to see the great goodness of so many people, lay and clergy, who make up the contemporary church.
Nuff said by me to FRED..he’s got the Agenda of a lobbiest. for predators. I think Fr.Jack Spaulding from my old church ( St. MARIA Goretti) (still in a collar) has his own orphanage, in another country with Loren Riebe( defrocked in Mexico, is ok to continue raping the little ones. … As long as it’s not your child it’s ok?
Glorybe, you can’t engage my argument so instead you attack me as a lobbyist for predators. That is insulting and has no basis in truth. I am an ordinary 50 year old Catholic family man who happened on this site because of what occurred to my parish priest.
This site has opened my eyes to the truth of what one priest said to me but which I never comprehended fully until now: there is no one more bitter than an ex Catholic.
You can call me any name you wish. However, I am satisfied knowing that I spoke the truth in this forum . I am only sorry that folks like you can’t see it.
Fred – I want to speak as a victim. First – the Archdiocese has improved greatly in the areas of investigation and victims assistance. Everyone I have encountered has been professional. That being said, the hurt that I feel – the betrayal – the distrust – runs very deep. I was taught in my 12 years of Catholic school to trust the church – go to a priest if you needed help. And that is exactly what I did – and that trust was betrayed and used against me, and others, by my abuser. Yes – I know there are good priests out there. I have family members that are priests and religious. But, the distrust is still there.
Am I bitter – no! I am hurt. I feel cheated – that one person took away my belief in a religion that is part of the very fabric of my being. I’m mad that I have to work so hard to try and get back to a place that was so easy for me to be every Sunday – that was home – that was comfort. I will no longer look at a priest, no matter how holy, how devoted, how committed, as someone in a higher position as me. That is gone.
And, while the current day Archdiocese is on the road to doing things right, there are still questions of the past? Why can’t they admit that there were mistakes made? Why do they still defend their own – keeping secrets? How do you think I feel when I hear that Msgr. Lynn’s legal defense is paid by the Archdiocese or that priests living a life of prayer and penance at the Villa in Upper Darby are subsidized by collection dollars from parishes?
I want the comfort of my religion – my church. I am working hard to get it back.
Can’t seem to find information on the sentencing…. Anyone have any info?