Posted on 03/31/2010 6:26:01 PM PDT by Cardhu
LOS ANGELES – The head of a Roman Catholic order that specialized in the treatment of pedophile priests visited with the then-pope nearly 50 years ago and followed up with a letter recommending the removal of pedophile priests from ministry, according to a copy of the letter released Wednesday.
In the Aug. 27, 1963 letter, the head of the New Mexico-based Servants of the Holy Paraclete tells the pope he recommends removing pedophile priests from active ministry and strongly urges defrocking repeat offenders. The letter, written by the Rev. Gerald M.C. Fitzgerald, appears to have been drafted at the request of the pope and summarizes Fitzgerald's thoughts on problem priests after his Vatican visit.
A message left with the Paraclete order at one of their two existing facilities in Missouri was not returned. A number for the second facility was disconnected.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
He tells Paul VI that treatment for priests who have succumbed to “abnormal, homosexual tendencies” should include psychiatric, as well as spiritual, counseling — but goes on to warn about the dangers of leaving those individuals in ministry..
I guess know one agreed with him?
One letter from 1963. My gracious you and all the other anti Catholics are getting desperate. And I will say again this vendetta by the press is about shutting the Church up so she never opens her mouth on any moral issue ever again.
Do you know how many psychiatrists at the time believed that sexual patholgies could be cured with therapy. Or how many believed that pedophiles focused on one or at most only a few victims making removing them from the source of their obsession a legitimate means of dealing with the abuse? No one truly had yet grasped the number of victims one pedophile could have.
Keep trying to make like the Church is the embodiment of evil. You will keep failing.
Every year, right before Easter, the liberals and anti-Catholics trot out something to assault the Church. They whip themselves into a frenzy about it.
Hmmm ... it’s all quiet and civil toward Islam right before Rammadan. Wonder why?
Yet the media never addresses the far greater problem of pedophiles in the public schools.
It is not just the press here in the US but the entire world and independent reports in Ireland are all saying the same things and condtradicting the lies of the Vatican
...but goes on to warn about the dangers of leaving those individuals in ministry...
You forgot that sentence in you defense of the church - they tell you it is a vendetta by the MSM and as one of the flock you believe. Whereas the rest of the world is more concerned about the abuse of Catholic children you seemed to believe that it is the Pope who is the victim.
What is it that causes gay pedophiles to become involved in the ministry?
What a pathetic excuse- Who covers it up in the Public school?
When a teacher is outed as a pedophile, that teacher is rightly chastised, but the school is usually held blameless.
If you want to find pedophiles go to anywhere there are children: parks, churches, schools, youth organizations, etc.
The Catholic Church definitely made some mistakes with regard to the problem of pedophiles, but no more than all of the other organizations that are plagued by these scumbags.
The Vatican has not told any lies. Your defamation shames you. Interesting how impeccable a source the NYT and their lot becomes when it shows the same anti Catholic rabid foaming at the mouth that you do.
And you know nothing about how I feel about actual victims of abuse. So shut your pie hole.
This letter is not newly discovered information. It’s been available for a number of years. So the Catholic bashers aren’t questioning the timing of its release, just jumping on the bandwagon to bash the Church. One of the other things that Fitzgerald recommends is the priests in question be sent to an isolated island and basically left to fend for themselves. While punishment is definitely in order, I suspect of the media reported that it would make Fr. Fitzgerald look somewhat less than sane.
Also, with all of the attacks on Pope Benedict, the media is failing to recognize what he is doing to clean things up. He’s been quietly going about reforming the process of how priests enter seminary, requiring much more stringent psychological testing before acceptance as well as much more oversight in the seminaries themselves. Anyone of you Catholic-bashers want to guess why that’s not being reported??
I never said that. You have put words in my mouth before I suggest you stop doing it.
And by the way the incidents of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy is a lot lower than that in public schools. Which does not make it right by any means but it does show the MSM is selecting its targets.
Oh and most cases of abuse were from about 1960-1980. It is no coincidence that this is when relaxation of adhering to the teachings of sexual morals became prevalent in seminaries. This is the time when the Lavender Mafia started becoming more and more powerful.
The lie that sex is all about self fullfillment and other propoganda of the sexual revolution was also given voice in the seminaries Why do you think so many priests dissented on Humanae Vitae? It was because it went against the popular view of sexuality that was becoming the predominant voice of the culture.
Sexual abuse is wrong no matter who the abuser. And I have never said otherwise.
Pedophiles look for cover. Opportunites to be alone with kids, and trusted.
Ministry, school and day care teachers, babysitters. . .
Most of the comments attached to that story read like something the Nazis would write about Jews.
Can you tell us how accusations of sexual abuse were handled by schools say 40 years ago.
If a teacher is accused of sexual misconduct or abuse does the teacher have any right under rules for that profession (I am not talking about the civil authorities) to challenge that accusation? Does the teacher get to have representation before any proceedings against him? Will her union try to make a settlement with the school board. Have any settlements ever been reached that required non disclosure by any of the parties involved?
Let me know what you find out.
The topic and thread is about Catholic abuse not school or teacher abuse. I know it is probably easier to change the subject than to have to deal with the icky truth.
I’ve been a FReeper for a while and have seen many different viewpoints on many different subjects but one I could never understand was that of those who defend pedophiles.
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