CBS news story distorts 1962 Vatican document (Analysis)

Catholic World News ^ | Aug 7, 2003 | staff

[philosofy123]

Not only Catholic bishops fell from their old position of power, the same treatment is given to most religious leaders in our increasingly secular system. The Catholic Church is hurting itself to continue to insist that priest should not get married. This requirement, by itself invites excessive number of young guys who are not interested in girls to become priests. At the end, they fail to connect the dots as of why there are excessive number of homosexual priests in the Catholic Church.

[nmh]

"but how do you reconcile what you said above with the FACT that the RCC was NOT interested in a "trial" of the accused pedophile priests...they shuttled them from Parish to Parish and NEVER let the new Parish know what they were getting!

Nah, there's no cover up! Can't be. Why it's the Catholic church (rolling my eyes). And if you say ANYTHING against the Catholic church you're a bigot, hatemonger, Catholic basher or worse. Pssssst - Catholics can't tolerate criticism. It makes em feel bad. So truth must NOT be acknowledged under ANY circumstances.

Seriously, of course this despicable act is a cover up that went on for YEARS. Any clear thinking person can see that. Those that can't, don't think.

[SoothingDave]

Your position, then, is that it's OK if CBS and the other media tell whopping lies as long as it's about the Catholic Church? Does that sum it up?

Otherwise, you would have seen that the Catholics here are not defending the actions the Church has taken in the past, but are defending the mis-use and deliberate mis-understanding of completely rational documents for the express purpose of castign aspersions.

The truth is bad enough. There is no reason to support lies.

SD

[Polycarp]

Clout?

[Bluntpoint]

Good comeback.

[Barnacle]

Ring

[Barnacle]

And if you say ANYTHING against the Catholic church you're a bigot, hatemonger, Catholic basher or worse. Pssssst - Catholics can't tolerate criticism. It makes em feel bad. So truth must NOT be acknowledged under ANY circumstances.

That's a crock - not worthy of a further response.

[RobbyS]

Ending celibacy--or ordaining women-- is not necessary to ending the priest shortage or getting rid of gays. It certainly hasn't worked in the Episcopal Church--you MAY have noticed!!! As in the Episcopal Church gays have worked themselves into the system, and only with the pederasty crisis have Catholics generally become aware, as the bishops must have earlier, of the extent of the influence of the "Lavender Mafia." What needs to be done, and this has been done successfully in some dioceses, is better recruitment.

The pool of potential priests has shrunk because the number of young Catholic men has shrunk. But there are enough young men out there who might answer the call, and we are not talking about teen-agers, but men of college age or older. The scandal--and the Robinson incident--should have told us that openly homosexual men are grossly unqualified for the priesthood.

There have always been homosexuals in the priesthood but because the Church sought to weed them out, fae fewer than the number we have now. The Church has yet to address the question: what do we do about the ones we have now. One thing we must not do is to give them positions of authority. We may assume that there are already many of them in such positions, so this will make it very hard to purge the Church of them or even to minimize the damage they are capable of. The culture war continues and, as so often in the past, the enemy is within the walls.

[ninenot]

The "report" reeked, even when read on the CBS website. But who in their right mind gets "news" from CBS in the first place?

[Aquinasfan]

Cardinal Ottaviani stresses that any confessor who solicits sexual favors from his penitents should be suspended from ministry and stripped of all priestly privileges. ...

The CBS report claimed:

The confidential Vatican document, obtained by CBS News, lays out a church policy that calls for absolute secrecy when it comes to sexual abuse by priests-- anyone who speaks out could be thrown out of the church.

That is inaccurate.

That is a charitable understatement.

But the smear is out there. Mission accomplished.

[ninenot]

Actually, Aliska, you should hope that BOTH the Church's legal system AND the civil legal system hold out, intact.

[Aquinasfan]

Given these FACTS, can you please reconcile these things for me?

It certainly was never the Vatican policy to coverup priestly crimes. In practice, some bishops covered up crimes, Cardinal Law being the most famous.

[Tribune7]

Never rely on (CBS) to report the facts.

More concise. Just as accurate.

[Barnacle]

Bump that.

I’m sending this article to my friends and family, Catholics and non-Catholics alike. Many people have no idea to what extent the “secular media” will go to bash Catholicism. That includes out right lies. People have to know the truth.

Our church is being relentlessly attacked. Why? Could it be that now, more than ever, we stand in stark contrast to other denominations in our opposition to the homosexual agenda and our protection of babies?

[cpforlife.org]

Your number 40 was awesome.

[american colleen]

Just found this in the Boston Herald and thought it a pretty good article. This reporter has done a fair job on his reporting of the "scandal" and he does a good job here as well. Looks like Fr. Doyle, who supposedly originally translated and circulated the documents in question is backing off somewhat. But sadly, the damage has probably been done and we won't find CBS addressing the truth of this matter. Maybe I should have posted this story on a thread of its own? If someone thinks so, feel free to do it.

Canon lawyers: Vatican paper didn't order cover-up

by Eric Convey
Friday, August 8, 2003

A Vatican document heralded recently as a blueprint for shrouding clergy sexual abuse in secrecy was in fact a narrow set of instructions for disciplining priests who used the confessional to solicit sex, canon lawyers said yesterday.

As such, several experts in church law said, the document will provide little fodder for plaintiffs' attorneys seeking to use it as proof that the Vatican ran a broad cover-up scheme to protect priests who molested children.

``I don't think it has anything to do with the sexual misconduct scandal,'' said Edward O'Flaherty, a Jesuit priest and canon lawyer based in Boston.

The 1962 document, reports of which surfaced in Massachusetts newspapers last week, prescribes stiff penalties for priests who misuse the confessional and for lay Catholics who fail to report such abuse.

Under church law, a priest who uses the confessional to seek sex from anyone - child or adult - is excommunicated.

``It's a question of sacramental practice,'' O'Flaherty said. ``Any person is free to go to the police or anyone else they want. It's a question of how the church handles the abuse of a sacrament.''

The document was presented to Massachusetts law enforcement officials late last month by civil lawyers Daniel Shea and Carmen Durso.

Shea also gave copies to media, including the Boston Herald.

An influential canonist speaking on condition of anonymity said the document ``is not the smoking gun that some civil lawyers want to make it.''

Several others noted that it never mentions dealing with civil authorities - either bringing abuse to their attention or hiding it from them.

Durso said he disagrees with canonists who consider the document a narrow description of solicitation in the confessional.

But even if they're right, he said, ``it doesn't make any difference. The pedophile priests regularly used all of the tools available to them, which included the rites of the church, the sacraments, all of the things that kids are taught to respect.'' The Rev. Thomas Doyle, a canon lawyer with extensive archives of church documents who provided the 1962 letter to Shea, also questioned yesterday whether it would prove to be useful in civil cases.

``Basically that document is about solicitation in the confessional,'' said Doyle, who has publicly criticized the church hierarchy for secrecy. ``(But) I think it's a good historical document and it illustrates the mindset of the Vatican in dealing with these problems.

``I still think that it's unfair to characterize that document as it has been,'' he said.

[american colleen]

Sorry, the above article is from the Boston Herald... I was not clear on that.

[ninenot]

Sinky--isn't this the Father Doyle who was USCC employee in the early 1980's and raised the alarm?

And if so, how come he's sort of waffling on this?