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PDF versionPolish church faces demands to confront sex abuse
Jan. 13, 2012
The Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. John the Baptist is seen in a view of Przemysl, Poland. The Przemysl archdiocese includes the village of Hludno, the site of a high-profile case of clerical sex abuse. (Wikimedia Commons/Ferdziu)
WARSAW, POLAND -- When Bartek Obloj, a 13-year-old altar boy, hanged himself in his home village of Hludno just before Christmas 2007, he left a letter to his mother complaining of being molested by his parish rector. Police were called and his shocked parents blamed the priest for their son’s death.
A month later, Poland’s Catholic Tygodnik Powszechny weekly reported that Fr. Stanislaw Kaszowski had been moved to a parish 20 miles away after personally saying the boy’s funeral Mass. He’d denied the accusations, the paper added, and defiantly failed to appear at a court hearing.
Hludno’s mayor, Stanislaw Gladysz, testified that locals had long complained of the priest’s “sadistic behavior” and “sexual exploits,” adding that for a decade he’d asked the local ordinary, Archbishop Jozef Michalik of Przemysl, to move the priest. However, Michalik, president of the Polish bishops’ conference, had given Kaszowski his full confidence, the mayor said, and refused to discuss the claims.
When Poland’s Catholic Wiez monthly published a special issue on clerical sex abuse this summer, it was the first time a Catholic publication had dared tackle the subject. “The harm caused by sexual molestation of children is unquestionable — but the evil is much greater when pedophilia occurs in the community of faith, and when, in a falsely conceived defense of the church, the authorities hide the facts, conceal the perpetrators and ignore the suffering victims,” the Warsaw-based journal said in its editorial.
“In Poland, church superiors react in different ways. Sometimes sentences are passed on the quiet against pedophile priests in secular courts, and sometimes everything is consistently denied. Should a church that demands so much from others not be demanding more from itself?”
The journal said it had sought to ascertain how far the Polish church was complying with May 2011 instructions from the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which called for “clear and coordinated procedures” for protecting children, dealing with accused priests and cooperating with civil authorities.
Leading Catholics, including the country’s children’s rights spokesman, have been urging the Polish church to adopt procedures for handling abuse claims since 2002, when Archbishop Juliusz Paetz of Poznan resigned after being accused of molesting seminarians. But media inquiries have been stonewalled and whistleblowers warned off. While millions of words have been devoted to denouncing abortion and defending family values, no Polish church leader has ever spoken up at his own initiative on behalf of victims of abuse.
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Paetz himself has continued to appear at high-profile church events, while priests and lay Catholics who helped expose his abuses have faced censure. In 2006, he was shown on TV chatting at length with Benedict XVI during the pope’s Polish pilgrimage. In 2009, a handwritten telegram from Benedict, praising the disgraced archbishop’s “fruitful service” to the church, was published at Paetz’s request in Poland’s Catholic Przewodnik Katolicki weekly.
The situation may change.
Parliamentary elections in October returned a small lobby of militant members of parliament, who’ve pledged to raise questions about the murkier aspects of church life. But Jakub Spiewak, whose Kidprotect Foundation runs a hotline for abuse victims and seven separate child protection programs, is doubtful.
“People are getting restless here — any criticism of a priest, even by loyal Catholics, is treated as an attack on the church and faith, and the worst church penalty a pedophile priest can expect is to be moved to another parish,” Spiewak told NCR. “If the church doesn’t deal with this problem and stop sheltering its priests from canonical and criminal responsibility, it will sooner or later face the same crisis as the church in other countries. But its leaders have avoided many of the issues faced elsewhere, and seem to think they can do the same with this one.”
Ordinary perpetrators of abuse are treated severely in Poland. Under criminal code amendments in September 2009, the country became Europe’s first to permit the chemical castration of convicted pedophiles; and on Dec. 21, a Catholic parish worker from Tarnow was given a 10-year jail sentence and ordered to undergo treatment for molesting adolescent boys.
When it comes to Catholic priests, however, accusations of inaction and indifference have multiplied.
In March 2008, Poland’s Dominican provincial, Fr. Krzysztof Poplawski, publicly rebuked Archbishop Zygmunt Kaminski of Szczecin-Kamien, after Kaminski issued a pastoral letter denouncing an order member for exposing abuse by the priest in charge of local Catholic schools. The Dominican, Fr. Marcin Mogielski, submitted a formal testimony to prosecutors. He was then accused of undermining the church’s authority and forced to leave his monastery.
A month later, Bishop Piotr Libera of Plock, a former bishops’ conference secretary-general, said he had passed the cases of several Catholic priests to the Vatican after they were accused of “reprehensible behavior” with children. However, local clergy told Poland’s Rzeczpospolita daily that other priests implicated in the scandal had not been called to account.
Tadeusz Bartos, a leading Thomist theologian who quit the priesthood in 2007 after criticizing church leaders, says the latest Vatican guidelines have made little difference in Poland. As long as investigations are left to individual bishops, he predicts, most abuse claims will go on being “covered up for the good of the church.” No discussions have taken place at family and school level, and no formal church help has been offered to victims. Although a group of priests’ victims was formed recently with backing from U.S. advocates, its approaches to local dioceses have been left unanswered.
Relatively few abuse claims were made against Polish priests from the 1950s to 1980s, Bartos points out, because the church’s schools and orphanages were confiscated by the communist regime and only returned after 1989. But cases of abuse occurred, even when Pope John Paul II was archbishop of Krakow.
“The strongest mechanism blocking exposure is the wish to settle things discreetly so images don’t suffer,” Bartos, who now teaches at Pultusk Academy of Humanities, said in a 2010 interview. “Victims generally haven’t come forward or considered lawsuits, because the church in Poland has such a strong position and they’re afraid they’ll be ostracized and vilified if they confront it. This is why the church isn’t reacting — it isn’t threatened with loss of face or with having to pay damages.”
In its editorial, Wiez said the Polish church faced a choice between “procedures that one can long hide behind, or a clear, transparent, firm and swift witness.” It remained to be seen, the journal added, whether the church would be “wise before being damaged.”
Fr. Hans Zollner, the Jesuit pro-rector of Rome’s Papal Gregorian University, told the Catholic monthly the situation was comparable to that of Germany before a wave of abuse scandals in 2010. He believes the same crisis will erupt in the Polish church if it fails to “confront the reality” of abuse.
“If the church doesn’t know how to react to such situations because it hasn’t bothered to ascertain the facts,” the Jesuit warned, “its image will suffer much more than if it had said, ‘Yes, we had such cases — they were very painful, but we tackled them.’ ”
Spiewak of KidProtect agrees.
He said the Polish church has shown “extraordinary laxity” in handling abuse cases and hopes for a more up-to-date church with accountable leaders. But he fears “fortress mentalities” will kick in as complaints and accusations spread, fueling a growing anticlerical backlash.
“It’s natural for any great institution, especially a hierarchical one, to want to settle problems silently within its own ranks rather than go public and change its norms of behavior. But I’d prefer the church to draw conclusions from the mistakes of others, rather than waiting to make its own, since people will be hurt when it does,” Spiewak said.
“While the church is a separate institution under the pope, its priests are citizens of this country, and should be subject to the same penalties if they commit offenses. People won’t tolerate a situation in which [priests are] above the law, answering only to their bishops and claiming different rights and duties than other citizens. But it sometimes seems the church is thinking like a child — that if it closes its eyes, the danger will go away.”
The tragic case of Bartek Obloj, the altar boy from Hludno, was covered at length by Poland’s official press agency, PAP, and became the subject of a Polish TV documentary. Four years on, however, Obloj’s grieving parents still await answers.
The parish priest, Kaszowski, appeared in court in July 2008, charged with “psychically and physically torturing” the boy. But his trial was delayed pending a psychologist’s report on the 13-year-old prior to his suicide. Although this was filed last February, it wasn’t made public, and while the trial has now started again, it’s being held in camera, without access for the public. The priest, for his part, is refusing to submit a testimony and still working at the nearby parish.
[Jonathan Luxmoore is freelance writer based in Warsaw, Poland.]
It has got to be extremely
It has got to be extremely frustrating and difficult for clergy abuse victims in Poland to be heard.
It is only a matter of time, the truth will be exposed, and it will probably look a lot like the Ireland clergy abuse. A country which is mostly catholic will cause a lot of pain, heartbreak, and betrayal.
The church officials are not about to change their way of keeping their power, they only have to answer to one man, and that is the pope.
We are with you Poland victims, and we hope you stay strong and don't give up.
..and keep on speaking your truth.
Judy Jones, SNAP Midwest Associate Director, USA, 636-433-2511
snapjudy@gmail.com
"Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests" and all clergy.
http://www.snapnetwork.org/
Even so-called enlightened
Even so-called enlightened dioceses continue to have a culture of vilification of whistleblowers in matters of general clerical missbehavior. Disloyalty is often the offence a whitleblower is charged with by indignant clerics and that minority of lay insiders at any parish who believe they own the rest of an already iinfantalized parish. And even if we have addressed the more gross facts of sexual abuse we have not begun to consider its breeding grounds of emotional and verbal abuse. Such abusive strategies rev up when an offender is challenged directly by a victim or her advocate. What if we embraced the grace and disgrace of human life in all regards including these and heard concerns as well as clebrations as LOVE of our church and certainly not disloyalty. The silent majority have very little appreciation of the enormous disregard for personal gain that lives in taking on clerical leadership intransigence around these matters, especially in the early phases of shining light on well hidden darkness.
Thank you John for updating
Thank you John for updating us on these terrible events in Poland. It feels like we are now waiting for South America and Africa to reveal their shame too.
Murder by the Catholic
Murder by the Catholic church
Sadly, this is just another story of murder by the Catholic church, and remaining Catholics don't even get outraged.
Fr Robert Larson of St Louis raped at least 17 children, of which 5 committed suicide in their 20s. He went to prison for a couple of years after being well defended by lawyers paid for by parish contributions. He now resides at the St John Vainney center, with a full retirement paid for by your contributions.
In Australia, 26 suicides can be tracked back to Catholic pedophile priest child rapists Robert Best and Gerald Ridsdale, who raped dozens of children at St Alipius primary school.
Any normal human being would want to find the other victims and prevent further suicides, but Bishop Peter Connors says “there’s no need for an investigation. We’ve learned what we needed to learn about what is appropriate behavior and what isn’t appropriate behavior.”
See
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/church-sex-abuse-inquiry-n...
Catholics applaud themselves for forgiving him, mostly because he didn't cause the death of their son.
I am a catholic and I AM
I am a catholic and I AM OUTRAGED and so are many, many other catholics. These
perpetrators have infiltrated our churches, long time ago, in the Bible God tells us that all, holy places will be filled with such EVIL!!!!! and that all lies and secrets will be revealed to us all before JESUS RETURNS!!!!!! We must PROTECT OUR CHILDREN, AT ALL COSTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My heart goes out to all of the children and their families, God Bless You All
How many children’s deaths
How many children’s deaths and destroyed lives must be there be before the world holds the Catholic Church accountable for the crimes against humanity, and the rape of children!
RE USA PUBLIC SCHOOLS[When
RE USA PUBLIC SCHOOLS[When will NCR publish articles on the long drawn out history of abuse of children rampant in public schools or do only catholic children matter??
Below is only a part of a catholic league report
=========================================================================
TEACHERS
The American Medical Association found in 1986 that one in four girls, and one in eight boys, are sexually abused in or out of school before the age of 18. Two years later, a study included in The Handbook on Sexual Abuse of Children, reported that one in four girls, and one in six boys, is sexually abused by age 18.[xxix] It was reported in 1991 that 17.7 percent of males who graduated from high school, and 82.2 percent of females, reported sexual harassment by faculty or staff during their years in school. Fully 13.5 percent said they had sexual intercourse with their teacher.[xxx]
In New York City alone, at least one child is sexually abused by a school employee every day. One study concluded that more than 60 percent of employees accused of sexual abuse in the New York City schools were transferred to desk jobs at district offices located inside the schools. Most of these teachers are tenured and 40 percent of those transferred are repeat offenders. They call it “passing the garbage” in the schools. One reason why this exists is due to efforts by the United Federation of Teachers to protect teachers at the expense of children.[xxxi] Another is the fact that teachers accused of sexual misconduct cannot be fired under New York State law.[xxxii]
One of the nation’s foremost authorities on the subject of the sexual abuse of minors in public schools is Hofstra University professor Charol Shakeshaft. In 1994, Shakeshaft and Audrey Cohan did a study of 225 cases of educator sexual abuse in New York City. Their findings are astounding.
All of the accused admitted sexual abuse of a student, but none of the abusers was reported to the authorities, and only 1 percent lost their license to teach. Only 35 percent suffered negative consequences of any kind, and 39 percent chose to leave their school district, most with positive recommendations. Some were even given an early retirement package.[xxxiii]
Moving molesting teachers from school district to school district is a common phenomenon. And in only 1 percent of the cases do superintendents notify the new school district.[xxxiv] According to Diana Jean Schemo, the term “passing the trash” is the preferred jargon among educators.[xxxv]
Shakeshaft has also determined that 15 percent of all students have experienced some kind of sexual misconduct by a teacher between kindergarten and 12th grade; the behaviors range from touching to forced penetration.[xxxvi] She and Cohan also found that up to 5 percent of teachers sexually abuse children.[xxxvii] Shakeshaft will soon be ready to release the findings of a vast study undertaken for the Planning and Evaluation Service Office of the Undersecretary, U.S. Department of Education, titled, “Educator Sexual Misconduct with Students: A Synthesis of Existing Literature on Prevalence in Connection with the Design of a National Analysis.”[xxxviii]
CONCLUSION
The issue of child sexual molestation is deserving of serious scholarship. Too often, assumptions have been made that this problem is worse in the Catholic clergy than in other sectors of society. This report does not support this conclusion. Indeed, it shows that family members are the most likely to sexually molest a child. It also shows that the incidence of the sexual abuse of a minor is slightly higher among the Protestant clergy than among the Catholic clergy, and that it is significantly higher among public school teachers than among ministers and priests.
In a survey for the Wall Street Journal-NBC News, it was found that 64 percent of the public thought that Catholic priests frequently abused children.[xxxix] This is outrageously unfair, but it is not surprising given the media fixation on this issue. While it would be unfair to blame the media for the scandal in the Catholic Church, the constant drumbeat of negative reporting surely accounts for these remarkably skewed results.[xl]
Without comparative data, little can be learned. Numbers are not without meaning, but they don’t count for much unless a baseline has been established. Moreover, sexual misconduct is difficult to measure given its mostly private nature. While crime statistics are helpful, we know from social science research that most crimes go unreported. This is especially true of sexual abuse crimes. At the end of the day, estimates culled from survey research are the best we can do.
By putting the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church in perspective, it is hoped that this report will make for a more fair and educated public response.
[xxx] Daniel Wishnietsky, “Reported and Unreported Teacher-Student Sexual Harassment,”
Journal of Ed Research, Vol. 3, 1991, pp. 164-69.
[xxxi] Douglas Montero, “Secret Shame of Our Schools: Sexual Abuse of Students Runs Rampant,” New York Post, July 30, 2001, p. 1.
[xxxii] “Schools Chancellor: Four Teachers Barred from Classroom,” Associated Press, June 12, 2003.
[xxxiii] Charol Shakeshaft and Audrey Cohan, In loco parentis: Sexual abuse of students in schools, (What administrators should know). Report to the U.S. Department of Education, Field Initiated Grants
[xxxiv] Ibid.
[xxxv]Diana Jean Schemo, “Silently Shifting Teachers in Sex Abuse Cases,” New York Times, June 18, 2002, p. A19.
[xxxvi] Elizabeth Cohen, “Sex Abuse of Students Common; Research Suggests 15% of All Children Harassed,” Press & Sun-Bulletin, February 10, 2002, p. 1A.
[xxxvii] Berta Delgado and Sarah Talalay, “Sex Cases Increase in Schools; Many Acts of Teacher Misconduct Not Being Reported,” Sun-Sentinel, June 4, 1995, p. 1A.
[xxxviii] The study is in draft form and is not yet available for quotation.
[xxxix] The dates of the study were April 5-7, 2002. It was reported in Roper Center at University of Connecticut Public Opinion Online, Accession Number 0402247. Hart and Teeter Research Companies did the survey.
[xl] The Catholic League took pains to credit the media with fair coverage of the scandal. See the “Executive Summary” of the Catholic League’s 2002 Report on Anti-Catholicism. It is available online at www.catholicleague.org.
George, only Catholic priests
George, only Catholic priests have the power of the church and it's laws to protect them.
Last week, Australian support group Brokenrites updating their site, has included that Fr Brian Lucas, now secretary to the Bishops Conference, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Sydney and Catholic Leader, was one of three church officials, who harboured a clergyman, knowing full well he was a danger to children.
You need to face the demons within your own the ranks instead of trying to minimise the destruction by deflecting from it if I may say so.
I suppose promotions bring immunity, so too with past Vicar General and secretary {now bishop and past secretary of the same conference} of the notorious diocese of Ballarat, where dozens of abuse victims committed suicide.
Forget about the Catholic League Report, they have their own problems.
I don't believe he is trying
I don't believe he is trying to minimize the destruction. I think he is trying to point out that such destruction is occurring all around us, but the only entity being taken to task (and it certainly should be taken to task) is the Catholic Church. I fully support the investigation of the Church officials and those found guilty should receive maximum sentences. But reading through the comments on this page and it is apparent that the same anger directed towards the Church does not show up anywhere else where this crime is taking place.
Some comments question why parents still allow their children to attend the Catholic Church, yet everystudy that I have read shows (sadly) that children are much safer in the Church than in their schools and in many cases with their extended families.
The problem sir, is that
The problem sir, is that Churches, and particularly the rigid and very strict RCC, are seen as guardians of the faith, the well beeing and of the moral of the world to not talk on Churches, especially our RCC, beeing the sign of hope to the humanity... All said it's tragic that some of the guardians of the moral engage in so disturbing immoral behaviours and their superiors seem to see it as a minor fault...
If a priest (e.g. as a
If a priest (e.g. as a professor) puts into question any of the dogmatic teachings of the Roman church (cf. Küng et. al.) or if a priest admits non catholic christians to take part in the Eucharist, the system reacts swiftly and repressive.
Doctrin is more important than humanity in the Vatican.
It is a question of
It is a question of expectation. Who did the apostles hold more accountable for the death of Jesus: Pilate, Herod, Caiphas or Judas? All four had a direct hand in it. But it is Judas who is the greater villain in the Gospels because his betrayal is greater.
Catholics see their offending clerics as Judas because they counted themselves as 'apostles'. We see other secular offenders as Caiphas, Herod or Pilate because our expectations are less -- though the crime is no less despicable.
A teacher or a cop or a coach does not hold the Eucharist in his hand, hear my confession, baptize my children. They do not claim to stand in the place of Christ, they are not ordained in a holy and sacred ceremony.
And yet it is all partly our own fault. Putting anyone on a pedestal as high as we had put our priests and bishops is folly. And while the Western world has reacted for the better, I fear the church in the South may be hiding worse secrets yet. I know of three priests who were shipped off to mission territories to avoid scandal at home. What deeds did they commit there?
Complacency is not something the universal church can afford.
"Putting anyone on a pedestal
"Putting anyone on a pedestal as high as we had put our priests and bishops is folly."
Perhaps we should cease addressing them as "Fathers", "Reverend" and with all the other plentitude of clerical titles - as a first step.
(Not to mention the Holy Father)
I should have thought the
I should have thought the answer to the differential treatment that the faithful give to child abuse in the Church and outside of it would be obvious. We (bona fide, dyed-in-the-wool Catholics) are not part of "the mystic body of Christ" with Protestant churches or public schools or juvenile detention centers, nor are these the "bride of Christ" or our "Mother" as the Church is. For many of us being Catholic is part of who we are to a greater extent even than our nationality. When we read the history of the Church we root for our side, which we hold to be the side of righteousness. When we hear nastiness about the Church in the context of the Dark Ages, relics and pilgrimages, crusades, indulgences and the reformation, the Inquisition(s), European conquest, Galileo, the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, Pius XII and the jews, etc., we take the part of the Church and defend her as best we can. The child abuses in the Church, and worse than the abuses, their cover-up and the callousness towards the victims and the ghetto mentality shown by many bishops and Vatican officials are like slaps in the faces of the faithful. Many of us have deferred our views about sin, even in very harmless matters to the same Church that was sheltering such iniquity. Many quotes would be apposite here, but I make just two:Mt 18, 6 and Mt 23, 1-12. Bad priests have done the Church a greater harm than the Huns, the French revolutionaries or the Bolsheviks.
yes, there are problems in
yes, there are problems in the public schools; big problems. So does that mean we should ignore the problems in the Church? A very clumsy attempt to deflect blame there, George.
Public school personnel do
Public school personnel do not hold themselves out to be the personal representative of Jesus the Christ on Earth.
That's right, Mr. George,
That's right, Mr. George, point the fickle finger of blame toward others not caught up in the clergy sex abuse scandals of the Church of Rome.
I continue to find this sort
I continue to find this sort of 'defense' reprehensible. My cynical reaction is 'so what?" In politics, law, church and other institutions, saying that somewhat else has done the same thing and even worse is totally, completely and absolutely irrelevant. Such statements have nothing to do with the case in point. We, including the Catholic League, are the Catholic Church. We are not the Public School System. We are not the Protestant Churches. Our realm of influence should be our church. It is reminiscent of the parental admonition: "if everyone else jumped off of a cliff, would that mean that you would have to do it too?"
What a shame the Catholic League (whatever that is) put its energy into such arguments rather than calling all Catholics, including bishops and priests, to repentance and conversion.
So much for the claim that
So much for the claim that child abuse in the United States is the fault of liberals entering seminary during the hippie era.
For any church official to promote that idea, now that the very same problem is found in Ireland, Poland and the Good Lord knows where else, is simply a lie. And it's probably evidence that the Vatican has been corrupted and no longer in the line of Peter - whatever it may claim.
The John Jay report made it
The John Jay report made it clear that the lion's share of abuse in the U.S. was by clergy who entered the seminary in the 50's and early 60's. So much for the Church so many conservatives get nostalgic for and work so feverishly to recreate. I fear they will unwittingly recreate the abuse problem as well.
Wow.I've seen and experienced
Wow.I've seen and experienced much in my 57 years on this earth,and it takes a lot to render me speechless,but this story...it's literally like something out of a horror novel.There is no longer any doubt in my mind:there is something horribly wrong with the Roman Catholic Church,and all who keep offering up their children to it are either child-murderers themselves or masochists who have a deep-seated need to inflict pain on themselves.I mean really,which is it?I cannot imagine what that poor child's parents went through,and to have this souless,depraved monster have the temerity,the gall to give a Mass at his victim's funeral???I don't know if I've said this before,but In case I have'nt,let me repeat it with emphasis:I heartily thank Almighty God in the Name of Jesus Christ my Blessed Saviour I and not a catholic!!!There is no way I would just meekly allow someone,or a group of someones grind my life or my loved ones' lives(especially my children,whom Almighty God entrusted to my care) up like dirt and blithely murder their souls so callously and viciously.Seriously?What is wrong with you people????
The way to go Ringo, is stand
The way to go Ringo, is stand firm as a sign of their own contradictions, why should one leave.
Imagine meeting their Maker, with such yokes around their necks that even the confessional can't remove, it's too late once the horse has bolted, the wrongs need to be made right long before and not through Obedience.
Get right with God, is an old saying a part of my non Catholic formation, imagine all those cover-ups.
All those enjoying bashing
All those enjoying bashing SNAP at the moment should read this. This is how it is when there is no SNAP. Be careful what you wish for.
I'm sorry but this is the
I'm sorry but this is the most respectful way to ask this: Why are these parents still taking their kids to these churches? They know the Catholic church has hundreds of years worth of abuse stories throughout the globe. The molestation is LITERALLY generational. If ONE child in my church was molested I would hope EVERYONE in my church would should their disapproval by keeping their kids home too.
When I was a kid a charismatic leader came to our church and asked for the kids to go on a weekend "retreat". My Mom said absolutely not. I was never allowed to be left with adult strangers no matter who they were.
These parents KEEP supporting these churches with their money, efforts, and attendance.
If people want to give charity and support for people in need find they can find other organizations to serve with.
RELIGION - ONE OF THE MOST
RELIGION - ONE OF THE MOST DEADLY WEAPONS AND ONE OF THE MOST EFFICIENT BRAINWASHING WEAPONS. ANY OTHER COMMENT IS USELESS.
In the main, we have rotten
In the main, we have rotten leadership and had it all through. Only those get promotted who have prostituted themselves in training and after been complient to those with power.
The faithfullly practicing in the pews and in the world are the church, and follow the teachings and example of Jesus. Look at the hierarchs! Their showy, pompous, expensive attire, reveals their actual character and true goal. How can anybody see the image of Christ in that?
Even when Pope John Paul
Even when Pope John Paul II... "But cases of abuse occurred, even when Pope John Paul II was archbishop of Krakow." This sentence is perhaps the most telling of all. What did Wojtyla know and when, before he became cardinal and then pope? What is the Polish hierarchy really hiding? joe yankech
The acts and omissions of the
The acts and omissions of the Vatican, including the popes, are responsible for the whole pedophile priest scandal. STOP GIVING THEM MONEY! There are many more worthy charities.
On that note I recommend:
On that note I recommend: FOOD FOR THE POOR, CHRISTTAIN APPLACHIAN MOUNTAIN PROJECT, Mother Teresa's MISIONARIES OF CHARITY.
All these are frugally run, amazing organizatins, wasting no donations on themselves.
What about supporting SNAP, NSAC, REFORM NETWORK.NET, and keep the NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER? All these are working to eliminate the horrific crimes within the church, by calling it to the attention of the public. All these and many such need our backing.
John Michael George - you
John Michael George - you failed to fill in the real details of that study. Public school abuse reporting includes reporting as "sexual abuse" such things as minor verbal public comments or gestures. Over 40% of sexual abuse by priests is full anal penetration or forced oral sex. Until an analysis is published comparing the two populations point for point, Dolan has no business saying abuse in public schools is greater.
I invite all the Polish
I invite all the Polish bishops and clergy trying to "protect Holy Mother Church" in this egregious situation to go to hell.
I mean, Really!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dolan is wrong, in dostorting
Dolan is wrong, in dostorting the facts. How inmature to try to deflect to others to deflect and find more fault.
He is wrong in claiming abuse in public school to be greater. Not one single case of abuse from where I come form,(after 60 years) has come up from the public school, in contrast of gret number of girls molested by one single priest in one community alonw. Up in age, they now start revealig it all, and not one abuse form the public schools there, elementary or high school.
Gonna be real hard for the
Gonna be real hard for the "reformers of the reform" to pin this on the (alleged) horrors in the US RC church unleashed by Vatican II. Poland was/is hardly a "liberal" Catholic community. In the second half of the last century the people of Poland had to live under two oppressive regimes...the Catholic church and the Communists. It will be intersting to see how the "faithful few" try to spin this mess!
about Bartek Obloj from
about Bartek Obloj from Hludno. According to the judge he was not molested by the priest. He wrote this because the priester accused him for stealing.
First of all, the boy hanged
First of all, the boy hanged himself. This was his last act on earth, in his entire life, the last thing he wanted to be remembered for all eternity. This statement is not to be taken lightly.
Secondly, the facts do not change merely because they are uncomfortable. They are still the facts.
Third, just like with the Catholic Church in Ireland, the Catholic Church in Poland has had an evil, insidious power over society that I hope will pass into history one day.
Fourth, this along with all the evidence makes me so glad that I was not brought up a Catholic.
Sixth, any Roman Catholic who has not done so should ask their priest to ask their bishop to ask their cardinal to ask the pope when he is going to purge this vile cancer from the organisation.
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