I keep reading this, and wondering what planet some of you folks live on.
NO Catholics that I know "defend the sex-abusers".
I'm going to repeat that.
NO Catholics that I know "defend the sex-abusers".
We do (a) refuse to let the issue be used to slander priests in general, between 95% and 98+% of whom are completely innocent by anyone's reckoning; (b) refuse to let the issue be used to slander Catholicism per se; and (b) refuse to let the issue be used as an excuse to persecute the innocent, whether by civil suit or by "trial" in the media.
I daresay that EVERY Catholic FReeper, and EVERY faithful Catholic I know, is disgusted by the whole string of episodes, and further upset because almost all of it could have been avoided by keeping homosexuals out of the priesthood (that is, the onus is on the bishops and the seminaries, both of whom dropped the ball).
In a larger sense, this whole thing is the fallout from the toxic evil perpetrated on the Catholic Church in the name of the "spirit of Vatican II" (not the letter of Vatican II, which knows nothing of it) by liberals in positions of power. (cf Rembert Weakland for a classic example)
That is why conservative, faithful, orthodox Catholics don't feel like they should be ripping their garments and pouring ashes on their own heads over it. The abusers were, and were enabled by, largely (not entirely, but largely) the same people we have been fighting against for the past 40 years. Why should we blame ourselves for the corruption our enemies -- wolves in shepherd's clothing, in many cases -- brought upon the house of God? The uncovering of the scandals -- not the scandals themselves, but the uncovering of them -- are God's way of purifying His Church. And in that, those of us who try to be faithful to Christ should rejoice.
I tend to think this priest is innocent simply because he seems really teed off...which usually comes with being falsely accused. Also, it seems that this is the only charge against him and most sexual abusers are serial abusers.