An Obvious Question [Church Blackmailed by Pedophilic Priest?]

The Boston Globe via Boston.com ^ | 04/10/2002 | Eileen McNamara

[SlickWillard]

Was the Rev. Paul R. Shanley blackmailing the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston?

It is not a frivolous question; it's the most obvious one to arise from the personnel file that Cardinal Bernard F. Law and his high-priced legal team tried so hard to suppress.

[SlickWillard]

Makes sense to me.

[07055]

Law's insistence on adherence to convention, after all, is so strict that he had a nun fired two years ago because she had the temerity to wear a clerical stole at a baptismal rite.

''The discipline of the church is clear and has to be followed,'' Law said then in support of the dismissal of Sister Jeannette T. Normandin from the Jesuit Urban Center. ''A trust is violated when that is not followed.''

So much for those who said that Law covered up for these monsters because of "Christian compassion."

The dress code violators are tossed overboard while the homosexual rapists are shielded, allowed to rape more boys, and given extra spending money.

May this man burn in Hell for all time.

[madprof98]

Despite the two little digs here to promote feminist nuns and marriage for priests, she seems to have it right. In fact, I think Law's behavior may be just an extreme example of a larger pattern evident among the rather decadent American Catholic hierarchy. For years they have demonstrated the worst sort of cowardice in the face of prominent Catholics who trample on Church teachings about sexual matters. When challenged to excommunicate these shameful renegades, the bishops invariably cite "pastoral" concerns, using language much like Law chose in support of this rapist priest. I wonder if many of them have not been afraid the government had the goods on them--and that speaking up might prove more than a tad embarrassing.

[07055]

I think this new story will hurt Cardinal Law almost as much as yesterday's story about how he protected the founder of NAMBLA.

Because now we have proof of a double standard:

Gay male priests? Go ahead and rape to your hearts content.

Heterosexual male priests? If you leave to get married, you forfeit all pension rights and are considered an outcast.

Nuns? If you violate the dress code, you get fired.

Which one of these three categories does Cardinal Law personally fit in? Its pretty obvious, isn't it?

[xm177e2]

''I have abided by my promise not to mention to anyone the fact that I too had been sexually abused as a teenager, and, later, as a seminarian by a priest, a faculty member, a pastor, and, ironically, by the predecessor of one of two cardinals who now debate my fate,'' Shanley wrote

Pathetic... horrifying... something needs to be done. Heads need to roll.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

Buried in Shanley's personnel file might be a hint. ''I have abided by my promise not to mention to anyone the fact that I too had been sexually abused as a teenager, and, later, as a seminarian by a priest, a faculty member, a pastor, and, ironically, by the predecessor of one of two cardinals who now debate my fate,'' Shanley wrote to the Rev. Brian M. Flatley in an appeal for Law's support for his efforts to be appointed director of a church-sponsored youth hostel in New York City.

A lot of dirt yet to be uncovered...

[jwalsh07]

Ehis is Northeastern America where homosexuality, abortion and political correctness are revered. It has infested the church, period. That is the root of the problem

[uncbob]

Ehis is Northeastern America where homosexuality, abortion and political correctness are revered.

And Teddy Kennedy , Barney Franks and Gary Studds stomping grounds

[jwalsh07]

I heard on the local radio station in Mass tonight that Tedy was ministering to Cardinal Law. My immediate reaction was to wonder if he had brought Gary Studds with him.

[eno_]

No kidding, doc. Blackmail and the propagation of homosexuality through the seduction of young boys - all in a single sentence! It will be fun to see this get some airplay on talk radio. The news will not touch it: too radioactive!

[NYCVirago]

Nuns? If you violate the dress code, you get fired.

How ridiculous. What exactly did the nun do in violating the dress code? What is a "clerical stole"?

[NYCVirago]

Ping...

[Cu Roi]

Gay male priests? Go ahead and rape to your hearts content.

Heterosexual male priests? If you leave to get married, you forfeit all pension rights and are considered an outcast.

That sums it up in a nutshell. I wonder if there are any cases of Law dealing with priests who had affairs with adult women but didn't leave the priesthood to get married. I would really like to see if there is any differential treatment there.

Which one of these three categories does Cardinal Law personally fit in?

It's pretty much obvious to me that there is blackmail involved. However in all fairness, there are a lot of things that could bring a Cardinal down. Even a liason with a single adult women could do it. On the other hand, the gravity of such an affair pales in comparison with allowing oneself to be blackmailed by sick predators like Shanley.

[Palladin]

The latest news/conjecture is that Law will step down today or tomorrow. The Globe is reporting on a third priest Paquin, who was allowed to rape boys continuously for 20 years in the Boston archdiocese, despite the best efforts of a Father Sweeney and his brother, a judge, to have Paquin removed. In the olden days, in Ireland and Scotland and other places, perverts like Paquin would have been lynched by the angry parents, and no one would be prosecuted for it either.

[Cu Roi]

In the olden days, in Ireland and Scotland and other places, perverts like Paquin would have been lynched by the angry parents, and no one would be prosecuted for it either.

If the heirarchy feels so strongly that these matters should best be handled outside the law, then perhaps they should be and I'll just leave it at that.

I suppose it's too much to ask that these sickos refrain from calling the cops when that guy they molested twenty years ago is going through his third divorce and is finally coming for them.

[Palladin]

And who is blackmailing Berbie Law? And getting enough dough out of him to open up a Safe House for pedo-priests in that NAMBLA Disneyland known as Thailand?

Shouldn't the FBI and CIA be in on this investigation, as the criminals cross state and national borders and oceans to places where they can carry on their business of pimping young boys and selling the pictures they take on the internet?

[Henk]

A thousand years of abused altar boys becoming priests. The problem is endemic to the entire Catholic church.