Sex abuse lawsuit names San Antonio archdiocese

Associated Press ^ | 4-8-10 | Michelle Roberts

[Dr. Eckleburg]

A West Texas teen filed a lawsuit Thursday against the Archdiocese of San Antonio and Archbishop Jose Gomez alleging repeated sexual assaults by a parish priest, who he says the church's leadership should have known was abusive.

The allegations came just days after Gomez was named to a high-profile post leading the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, where he is scheduled to be formally introduced to parishioners in May.

The lawsuit accuses the Rev. John M. Fiala of repeatedly sexually assaulting the teen, including twice forcing him to have sex at gunpoint when Fiala was the pastor at Sacred Heart of Mary Parish in the remote community of Rocksprings. The lawsuit alleges the incidents occurred in 2007 and 2008, during Gomez's tenure overseeing a swath of south and west Texas.

[narses]

More attacks on the Church - and from FReepers. Very sad.

[RobbyS]

What I complain about is that attention is basically ignoring the scope of the evil and portraying the Church as the major source. They don’t even assign proper blame there. For instance, they don’t seem to know that the bishops have hardly more control over the religious orders than they have over universities such as Notre Dame, yet so many of the bad priests are “religious” rather than “secular” (diocesan)priests. One great failure of the bishops has been in not “branding” errant Franciscans or Dominicans, or in accepting priests from other dioceses whose bishops just want them to disappear. Another has been not seeing how great the scope of the problem is. One percent villians might be acceptable in the general population , for such people end up in prison, but not for a priesthood whose vocation is supposed to be sanctity. Psychologism masked as compassion runs through the Church as through society. Given that the priesthood suffered a collapse of morale after the first heady days of Vatican II, bishops alternated between legalism and pudding-headedness as they sought to fill their depleted ranks. Men who in 1940 would have been sent packing from seminaries or even the priesthood stayed and even prospered. And we see the fruits of this kind of slackness. I would be a lot more pessimistic if I didn’t know how corrupt the priests of the diocese of Rome were in the time of St. Philip Neri were. The improvement that followed gives me hope that a cleansing light will purify.

[Antoninus]

The lies and slander you spread will be brought before you at your judgment. Repent.

[Antoninus]

Gee, what a coincidence that the lawsuit came out when Gomez was named the new archbishop of LA. Yeah, what a conincidence.

I'm convinced that a lot of these attacks, if traced all the way back, originate within "progressive" Catholic circles. They are freaking out over Benedict's reforms and are doing everything they can to bring him and his supporters down.

[Salvation]

Not so fast.

I bet this is to try to discredit Archbishop Jose Gomez. Read the links about him below.

Latino Immigrants Proud That L.A.'s Next Archbishop Is 'One of Us' [Can We Get Rid of Ethnic Pride?]
In Defense of Archbishop Gomez's Handling of Abuse Scandals
Archbishop Gomez: Who is He?

Why Archbishop Gomez is like other Bishops Appointed by Pope Benedict An Interview with Archbishop José H. Gomez
Gomez vows to be an advocate for L.A.'s immigrants...(misleading title alert!)
San Antonio's Archbishop José Gomez named by Pope to be successor to Cardinal Roger Mahony. ...
Precious words from the archbishop... [Jose Gomez]

New Coadjutor of Los Angeles One of 22 Opus Dei Bishops
Opus Dei Seeks to Make Everyday Life Holier
Archbishop Gomez 'deeply grateful' for Los Angeles appointment
Cardinal Mahony grateful LA will have Hispanic archbishop
Vatican: Archbishop Gomez appointed to Archdiocese of LA

Pope's 'Revenge' As LA Gets Opus Dei Bishop [Pope's "Revenge" on Hollywood Sodomites!]
Gomez Holds Both Conservative And Progressive Views [Denounced College for Pro-Abortion HRC Invite]
Pope Names Latino Leader For L.A. Archdiocese [Member of Conservative Opus Dei Movement]
Historic Appointment to LA Archdiocese
Report: Gomez is going to L.A.

It's Official: New Archbishop [Gomez} for Los Angeles
El Tiempo Ha Venido -- Reports: (Archbishop) Gomez Up to LA (Catholic Caucus)
[To replace Cardinal Mahony] Vatican rumor: an American prelate in play?
Los Angeles Getting a New Archbishop (Part 1)
Los Angeles Getting a New Archbishop (Part 2)

[marshmallow]

This scandal is pervasive and goes to the heart of a priesthood made up of men who are considered to be an "alter Christus" -- "another Christ."

I'm not sure what "pervasive" means. "They're all at it"? Is that your meaning? Please clarify. Anyway, let's look at some actual numbers for the US.

Source: The John Jay Report

Does that look "pervasive"? OK, the graph stops in '02 but recent data released a couple of weeks ago indicates that there is no recent upwards spike. Overall, 4% of Catholic priests have been accused of sexual misconduct during the years shown in this graph. That figure is heavily skewed by the peak years in the '70s. The number accused over the last decade would be below 1%, I believe.

The "alter Christus" comment is really a theological question which has no bearing on the abuse issue. I presume you're implying that if sin and scandal within the Church reaches some arbitrary, unspecified level, then the Church loses its credibility and/or right to make theological claims about the nature of the priesthood.

That would be a false assumption. The sins of Judas did not in any way alter the nature of the ministry conferred on the other Apostles.

Mahoney Part Deux.

Not really. Religious orders have their own superiors and while they require permission from the local bishop to work in his diocese, the bishop is not responsible for their overall administration or internal discipline.

Minor detail but an important one in this case.

Anything else?

[Salvation]

Great chart!

[sydney smith]

Priests had sex with young boys. And the Church and pope did nothing. Despite knowing about it. This is so disgusting that no one in their right mind should try to defend it with graphs or anything else. If there were 800 reports then there were probably 5,000 events. Come on folks—fellow Catholics. There is no defending the Church. They did nothing but mumble nice words like “Let’s forgive”, “Let’s get therapy”, “Let’s not rush to judgement”, etc. Rather, the pope(JPII)and other bishops should have acted like men and said “These degenerates are out of here today. And BTW, call a cop”

[Campion]

And the Church and pope did nothing.

I take it that you haven't actually done anything connected with the Catholic Church and kids in the USA lately, or you wouldn't be saying this, recalling your background check and the mandatory "child safety" education program you had to go through.

There's a reason that graph has fallen off steeply, and it's precisely because the Church and the her leaders "did something".

Oh, and they weren't "young boys". In more than 80% of the cases, they were teenagers, and the priests involved were homosexuals. That doesn't make it right, but it does make it politically incorrect for liberals to report on it truthfully, which is why the "priests molested young boys" canard keeps being repeated.

[marshmallow]

This is so disgusting that no one in their right mind should try to defend it with graphs or anything else.

Hard data is a pain, isn't it?

Much more fun to use hand-waving generalizations like this; "If there were 800 reports then there were probably 5,000 events.", without a shred of evidence.

Minor point: The graph is not meant to defend (your word) the abuse. It simply shows two things;

1) There was a period when this problem was at a peak and that period has now passed.

2) Something has been and is being "done" about the abuse issue and the number of clergy involved in the USA is a small fraction of the total.

Yes, just a small attempt to bring some sanity to the ever more hyperbolic ranting which appears to be infectious.

[Campion]

The lawsuit accuses the Rev. John M. Fiala of repeatedly sexually assaulting the teen, including twice forcing him to have sex at gunpoint when Fiala was the pastor at Sacred Heart of Mary Parish in the remote community of Rocksprings.

And criminal charges were not filed at the time ... why?

[Campion]

There are Bishops in Germany that are encouraging anyone with a complaint go to the civil authorities. Implying that they should not trust the church authorities.

Wow, with logic like that you shouldn't be talking about anyone else's "disconnect from reality".

If a civil crime has been committed, you go to the civil authorities. If a canonical crime has been committed, you go to the church authorities. If an act is a crime in both legal frameworks, you go to both. The police can put a man in jail; the church cannot. The church can remove a man from the priesthood; the police cannot.

No "implications" required.

[vladimir998]

I think you’re right. The libs are going nuts.

[caww]

Why do do you say this when the Church has done more to address the issue than other institutions?

If what you say is true than why does the problem continue and further has any Priest or has any served jail time for these crimes? If one considers the numbers...then of that how many have been convicted?

There is sin in all denominations among the clergy as well as the congregations...but it does seem that homosexuals have for some time been attracted to the catholic church, as it was and likely still is hidden or covered up. Thus a homosexual would feel safer from prosecution as the church would assist to cover the deed.

I would be curious to know that from this chart how many of those found out were convicted and served jail time? and this at various years the chart depicts. When you also consider the statue of limitations then you have a whole set of other considerations.

[Salvation]

The facts for those who are interested:

More Bogus Charges Against Archbishop Gomez
SEX ABUSE LAWSUIT NAMES SAN ANTONIO ARCHDIOCESE
Latino Immigrants Proud That L.A.'s Next Archbishop Is 'One of Us' [Can We Get Rid of Ethnic Pride?]
In Defense of Archbishop Gomez's Handling of Abuse Scandals
Archbishop Gomez: Who is He?

Why Archbishop Gomez is like other Bishops Appointed by Pope Benedict An Interview with Archbishop José H. Gomez
Gomez vows to be an advocate for L.A.'s immigrants...(misleading title alert!)
San Antonio's Archbishop José Gomez named by Pope to be successor to Cardinal Roger Mahony. ...
Precious words from the archbishop... [Jose Gomez]

New Coadjutor of Los Angeles One of 22 Opus Dei Bishops
Opus Dei Seeks to Make Everyday Life Holier
Archbishop Gomez 'deeply grateful' for Los Angeles appointment
Cardinal Mahony grateful LA will have Hispanic archbishop
Vatican: Archbishop Gomez appointed to Archdiocese of LA

Pope's 'Revenge' As LA Gets Opus Dei Bishop [Pope's "Revenge" on Hollywood Sodomites!]
Gomez Holds Both Conservative And Progressive Views [Denounced College for Pro-Abortion HRC Invite]
Pope Names Latino Leader For L.A. Archdiocese [Member of Conservative Opus Dei Movement]
Historic Appointment to LA Archdiocese
Report: Gomez is going to L.A.

It's Official: New Archbishop [Gomez} for Los Angeles
El Tiempo Ha Venido -- Reports: (Archbishop) Gomez Up to LA (Catholic Caucus)
[To replace Cardinal Mahony] Vatican rumor: an American prelate in play?
Los Angeles Getting a New Archbishop (Part 1)
Los Angeles Getting a New Archbishop (Part 2)

[nina0113]

They are freaking out over Benedict's reforms and are doing everything they can to bring him and his supporters down.

My former manager at work threw an actual tantrum when Benedict was named. I was watching the Vatican on the internet, and when the white smoke came, I yelled "Habemus!" and all the Catholics gathered at my cube to see who, and when they said it was Ratzinger, he threw whatever he was holding on the floor and said some bad words.

[RobbyS]

Indeed, they have been, but until the 1970s, seminaries took care to weed out candidates who just wanted to be “with the boys.” Many were sent home, with the excuse being that he was “nervous.” As far as those continuing, the Church has radically changed the rules since 2001, but we have to contend with those already inside. With the collapse of morale in the ‘70s, with the departure of many priests to get married, many came in. Attrition is the best policy since most are not, in fact, malefactors. So that it presents a real problem. Unlike the Episcopal Church, however, the foxes have not taken over the hen-house. The Church has not capitulated on the issue of the morality of homosexuality and is adamantly opposed to gay marriage. As to prosecution, better look to the civil authorities.

[BlessedBeGod]

Mmmmm, yeah, right. You might want to read this first before you go dancing with joy over another article trashing the Church: More Bogus Charges Against Archbishop Gomez

[caww]

.......”the foxes have not taken over the hen-house”.....

Sheep in wolves clothing might better say what they are, and these unfortunately are far more difficult to detect as they hide behind the cloth they wear. At least one can tell the difference between a fox and hen. This the catholic church faces is simply far more diabolical...

I recall a Pope mentioning satan had entered the vatican and how disturbed he was to have evidence of such. Let's hope the current pope will be unafraid to take stronger measures than have been in the past. Somehow I imagine that he will or this plague will continue.

[the_conscience]

Praying that God will use the exposure of these crimes to lift the cloud of delusion that affects many Romanists and move them to find Churches that teach the gospel of grace freeing them from the judiazing gospel of Rome.