Washing away responsibility is as easy as ignoring crimes
No member of the Roman Catholic hierarchy fought longer and more energetically than Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles to conceal the decades-long scandal involving the rape and intimidation of children by rogue priests. For years, the cardinal withheld seamy church records from parents, victims and the public, brandishing endless litigation and fatuous claims of confidentiality.
The breadth of Cardinal Mahony’s cover-up became shockingly clear last week with the release in court of archdiocese records detailing how he and a top aide concocted cynical strategies to keep police authorities in the dark and habitual offenders beyond the reach of criminal prosecution.
“Sounds good — please proceed!” the cardinal, now retired, instructed in 1987 after the aide, Msgr. Thomas Curry, cautioned against therapy for one confessed predator — lest the therapist feel obliged to tell authorities and scandalize the archdiocese. The two discussed another priest, Msgr. Peter Garcia, who admitted specializing in the rape of Latino immigrant children and threatened at least one boy with deportation if he complained. Cardinal Mahony ordered that he stay out of California after his release from a New Mexico treatment center out of fear that “we might very well have some type of legal action filed in both the criminal and civil sectors.” Monsignor Curry worried that there might be 20 young people able to identify the priest in “first-degree felony” cases.
It was the cardinal’s obligation under the primacy of secular law to instantly notify authorities of any priest’s criminal behavior. Instead, he invoked a nonexistent church privilege to hide miscreant clergy and shield the church and his own reputation. Cardinal Mahony has repeatedly apologized in recent years and insisted that the archdiocese was mending its ways. A lawyer for the archdiocese insisted that the scandal and the cardinal’s cover-up were “part of the past.” Not really. While statutes of limitations on possible criminal charges may have run out, Cardinal Mahony and his former aide could be deposed in civil suits. Monsignor Curry also managed to advance up the hierarchical ladder and would seem to merit instant removal from his current post as auxiliary bishop for Santa Barbara.
Religions that reward corruption and collusion deserve investigation and special watchdogs. We do it to corporations which persistently operate outside the laws of state and civil decency. There’s no reason to exempt the Roman Catholic church from the same sort of scrutiny.
This looks very similar to the cases with the Philadelphia Diocese where the Clergy that obstructed justice were prosecuted and convicted.
The RCC and their Christian Taliban leadership is not only corrupt as a pyramid scheme for profit entity, it is also one of the major corrupting forces on out government and educational institutions.
Always find it funny when obamabot dallas uses the term “sheeple” without the faintest sense of irony. Dallas and eidards paranoid hatred of Jews, blacks and Catholics is parroted straight out of political propaganda blogs and “philosophical” pamphlets like dawkins.
These clowns have even found scapegoats for the trillions in deficit so they don’t have to blame dear leader obama
so dallas and deidard, we’re all aware of how obamas handlers and their cronies are looting trillions from the public store, how exactly do you think a church is managing it??
More from the religious ed of DU.
Here is one missed.
“‘Monsignor Meth’ dealt drug, bought sex shop – FederalNewsRadio.com”
Should of been religion editor of DU. What slip up that was.
At one point, the LA police chief stated that the catholic diocese of Los Angeles was like an organized crime cartel for how they hid and continued to hide the crimes they committed against their parishioners from scrutiny and prosecution.
The last I heard several years ago, they were STILL dragging their feet on coughing up the child raping priest info like they were quadriplegics who had to drag themselves everywhere with nothing more than their (forked) tongues.
Was the good cardinal protecting the church or himself?
Both.
Cardinal Bernie Law should be in jail. He fled from from Boston to the Vatican to avoid it. So the Vatican is harboring fugitives from justice.
I guess it’s a good thing that the priests generally went after boys. Otherwise, they would have had to be in a position of being against abortion while making use of the procedure.
As for Mahony? Well, he did some good things, but like Hitler running the trains on time and building the autobahns, it just doesn’t equal out. He should get the chair.
Since it won’t come up here.
Did anyone watch Obomba and Hillary go down on each other during 60 Minutes? I thought blacks didn’t like going down like that.
I saw some of it and it was awesome but I didn’t see them going down on each other. You sure that wasn’t some other show you tuned into?
Holy crap. You are one racist POS. And I don’t even like Obama or Hillary .
Your comment is disgustingly absurd. Little boys being raped by Jesus pushers pales in comparison to a fuckin interview on shitty minutes. I say drone the Vatican with the hellfire deserved.
That was Steve Kroft. And to think 21 years ago he actually gave a tough interview of Bill and Hillary Clinton to ask about Jennifer Flowers.
Any poster on this blog would have asked tougher questions than 60 Minutes last week, except maybe Dallas.
Legal pursuit and prosecution of The Establishment’s pedophiles has only recently become possible.
Sandusky can be used as a verb. That’s some progress.
If the church thinks it might have a problem person who has harmed others, they can’t clear it up either way, they need to send them to an isolated monastery/nunnery and keep them there. There are most likely things that they can do there that are a positive.
If they know they have a problem person who has harmed others defrock them and turn their data over to the local cops. Once it’s criminal the church needs to let due process take its course. Sure forgive them of their sins but if they are obsessive compulsive about harming others yah got ta deal with it.
I think the isolated place is called Prison Monastery
Thanks to Eidard, the open minded gets the info needed so maybe one day this sort of barbaric behavior can be stopped for good.
Yah know, on second thought this was news a decade or so back and to the best of my knowledge the C. Church cleaned up its act so now this is pretty much somebody who hates the C. Church rehashing old news because they enjoy saying bad things about the C. Church.
If John doesn’t mind your using the web site to share your pathological disorders it isn’t my problem. Have fun hating to your little hearts content.
Do you really think or believe much has changed in the C.C., every chance we have to expose this to the disinfecting effect of light the better.
The Vatican is one of the most corrupt and secretive orginazation on the planet. Um, besides Pedro. Who, for all we know is the leader of Chaos.
Fucken grammer is your concern, we’re talking about children. I could care less what you think is proper English.
you mean “I couldn’t care less”.
Thanks for the correction. English was not my best subject in school. Actually I couldn’t stand the subject.
I do wish I had paid more attention in class.
http://pajiba.com/miscellaneous/can-we-settle-this-once-and-for-all-a-grammar-rant.php
As the expression is not idiomatic, there is no issue of grammar involved. Just read the words as they are written.
2-3 times a week on the tube I see “experts” preface their answer with “Absolutely….” as they then condition and qualify their answers.
bugs me.
So does saying “No Problem” instead of “Thank You.”
So does saying “Thank you for calling Comcast….” or whomever as if I would call the local hardware store to resolve a cable issue.
So does……
From the OP: “Religions that reward corruption and collusion deserve investigation and special watchdogs. We do it to corporations which persistently operate outside the laws of state and civil decency…..” //// We do? More Bishops have gone to jail than the ZERO of Bank Exec’s that have not even been charged.
I’m with the wishing and hoping but still have reality as my guide.
There are just too many wide open gaping holes in our criminal justice system. Large special interests play it like the lottery. Ha!….making God another too big to fail over concentrated locus of power….We need a good atheist to wipe the slate clean with the butts of hypocrites and criminals.
Hmmm….have financed elections and all campaign contributions become……FRAUD…..same as now, just no covering excuse.
Yea, verily!
You Anglos are still under the impression that a church* is any damn good.
I come from Québec where we went through “La Révolution Tranquille” (The Quiet Revolution) in the late ’50s, early ’60s, having just won “La Guerre des Berceaux” (The War of the Cradles), where and when we threw off the influence of the Anglo world and the catholic priesthood … and never went back.
We turned rural churches into titty bars and the city ones into entertainment venues.
Oh they still own 1/7th of all of the land in the province, but they stopped owning us.
*) Baptist, Catholic, Dianetic, Episcopalian, Jewish, Mormon, Zoroastrian it doesn’t matter. You have some serious credibility issues if you start from a position saying “You have to believe in some guy, who’s invisible, who lives in the sky, and he need your help (money) to continue to fight the infidels/do good works … ’cause if you don’t he’ll see you writhe in eternal agony in the flames of hell, because he loves you…
How come the states can’t have a “quiet revolution”. If not, how about getting rid of that money grubbing 700 club, I was flipping thru the channels and somehow ended up watching some preacher asking for 74,000 dollars in the next ten minutes, praise Jesus.
I had no idea this was still going on, claiming to have a connection to Jesus, and that money is needed for your salvation.
Liberals want to put government in control of religious institutions because they are a check on the powers of government, challenging its inherent authority. They are constantly looking for reasons to implement this agenda.
Actually, I am jealous of Eideard. I assume he is fluent in more than just English. I only have a very weak smattering of 3or 4 more. Sad since I had the exposure as a youth, but languages just didn’t take. I coulda been a (international) contender.
the thing with fluency though is that if you have any desire to that goal, all you have to do is read.
Just read.
The government is more likely to carry pedophiles than the church. We saw Mark Foley. The guy who replaced Jesse Jackson. Sen Menedez likes the girls younger and newer, but apparently only in countries that border Haiti. Bill Clinton going after the interns.