i never said the church wasn't culpable... at least they don't condone it as doctrine as others do
Posted on 04/29/2011 4:06:03 PM PDT by Gamecock
Full title: Priest stole $1m from church for male escorts.... and designer clothes… but won't have to pay it back and could serve again
A Catholic priest who stole more than $1 million in church money and spent it on male escorts, Armani clothes and nights out at gay bars has been jailed for three years.
But the priest from Connecticut could be allowed to continue serving as a priest after he has served his sentence, according to his former church.
Father Kevin Gray, 65, the former pastor of the Sacred Heart Parish, Waterbury, was sentenced to prison on Wednesday. He had entered a plea of no contest.
He had used the money to pay for a lavish lifestyle, which included owning a secret flat in New York, which he shared with a man who he paid to go to Harvard University.
Prosecutors said Gray will not have to pay back the money because the Diocese of Hartford did not ask for restitution.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
And Catholics believe that the sacraments he administered while in this state of unrepentant sin are still valid.
sheesh....
Then why is the church letting him?
"But the priest from Connecticut could be allowed to continue serving as a priest after he has served his sentence, according to his former church."
Really??? REALLY?!?!
The Catholic church deserves what it gets in bad publicity with actions like this.
BTW: Bronxville is the nicest suburban town in NY state and one of only two towns in Westchester that I would enjoy living in (if I could afford it).
No what is really pathetic is the fact that people like gamecock and you ignore the fact that it is more prevalent in EVERY other institution, and yet the only thing you aim at is the Catholic Church.
Like bronxville said "Log, eye"
I strongly suggest a good long look in the mirror and see why you are so hate filled.
And it would be if the Church rightly and appropriately dealt with it.
As it is, they are complicit in those very actions and the crimes committed against Catholic youth by their failure to deal with the abuse when they KNEW it was happening.
Shuffling the priests around from church to church to cover for them is NOT the proper response. THAT is what is earning the Catholic church the criticism.
The world knows how to deal with pedophiles, even if the Catholic church doesn't.
Then why did the Catholic church let them when it found out about it?
That makes them guilty.
Never said that.
As long as it’s even amongst the different denominations.
I will stop throwing stones when you guys stop throwing them first , or start policing your own before you attack ours.
Reminds me of “but momma, he did it too”.
Actually it should remind you of the pot (Prot posser christians) calling the kettle (The Catholic Church) Black.
You police yours and we will do the same with ours.
Nice way to talk about their victims.
Any victim of theirs under the age of 18 can qualify as a child.
They ARE child molesters. The children they molested are not faggots. Those priests did not do it only *with their kind* unless you’re calling all the minors they molested *their kind*, or *faggots* in your own words.
Note the key word there. Something you don't see in relation to priests who molest children.
pwnd.....
You're not the first Catholic on Free Republic to call for that.
Sonny, I got news for you. I have renounced every organized “religion”. The true Church is the collection of true believers in Jesus as Lord and Savior who have renounced any man made or pagan practices. Those who have put their full faith and trust in Jesus alone as their Savior and Lord with all that entails. I don’t “police” anyone nor do I venerate any mortal.
i never said the church wasn't culpable... at least they don't condone it as doctrine as others do
The only thing overblown in this case is the queer atheist SOB that's been stealing from the Church to stay overblown.
Ever since US Catholic bishops defied the Vatican and chose to ignore whether or not an applicant was homosexual when admitting them to seminary, things have been heading to this. The traditional Catholic universities declaring themselves independent of the Faith made it extremely easy for scum like this guy to get sheep's' clothing and attack the flock from within and/or hide the putrefied lives they live.
Anyone wants to gloat over this happening in the Church should think twice and use that energy to start investigating their own crowd as well as the officials they've had placed over them by government. Government doesn't expect employees to refrain from an active sex life while the US seminaries were, in theory, expecting this sort of folks to remain celibate. That means there are plenty of this sort who are running your government and mucking around with your life and family whether you're a member of the Church or not. It's time to start ridding all positions of any authority of this sort of scum rather than focusing on which method of gaining authority they used to further the practice of their hideous behavior.
Read the article. He want a former priest when he was hopping into bed with little boys.
In a statement, the diocese said: ‘Father Kevin Gray’s plea demonstrates that he is fully aware and responsible for the severity of his wrongdoing and is repentant.
‘After he completes his sentence, if devoted to his priestly commitment, he will be eligible to continue serving as a priest, but will never be placed in a position where he will manage finances.’
I hope the diocese of Hartford reconsiders their decision and does not take him back.
Ah, those popular mega-churches, Seed-theology, etc., but, whatcha gonna do, join ‘em? Speaking for myself: gimme that ole time religion!
In this case, assuming the reporting is accurate, the parishioners need to have a sit down with their bishop.
An assault is not victory. The Church has weathered and is beating it back, very successfully. We have the exactly right Bishop of Rome to do so.
The assault does seem to have prevailed outside the Church, in large parts of the Episcopal and some of the Lutheran, etc.
The Church is the primary target - the visible Church. And the vectors are primarily homosexuality and abortion. It is a war of world views and a culture war. Gramscian refers to Antonio Gramsci, a Marxist intellectual and politician, who believed that it was necessary first to delegitimize the dominant belief systems.
This is what we see today in the leftist attack on the Church, to delegitimize Christian values and culture. Attack the worldwide visible Church, undermine it, and thereby destroy the culture to replace it with relativism and Marxist atheism.
What frustrates many Catholics on this site is seeing conservatives piling on and unknowingly helping this along. To me it is strategy akin to hoping the alligator eats them last.
For a church that boasts of being the only true church Jesus Christ established in 33 a.d., it is puzzling how such gross evil can reach all the way to the Pope(s) - who claim to be Christ's representative on earth and have authority over all of Christendom. That's why I believe the actual church Jesus established is NOT a single man-made entity but a universal and spiritual body consisting of all those who place their faith in Jesus Christ as Savior. It doesn't make any sense that, in light of the victory of evil within many "Christian" denominations, that Jesus COULD have meant only one of them. Jesus prayed for us all and he clearly said that his church would be victorious over anything the devil threw in its path. It is and forever WILL be!
Nope. We're still here. :) And still teaching the same Truth of Jesus Christ.
it is puzzling how such gross evil can reach all the way to the Pope(s)
The pope is not the Church. Puzzle solved!
And the struggle is bigger than Western Culture. It is also the war with the heresy of Islam that's been fought by the Church for over a millennium. The front lines today are stained with the blood of the Martyrs of the Church. Religious fads, movements, preachers, and pop churches come and go, but the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church. This is our promise from Our Saviour himself. The Church is called to martyrdom, various individuals and pockets of various confessions or no confession, come and go, rise and fall, become split-off and alone… they will be blown aside with the wind.
It doesn't make any sense that, in light of the victory of evil within many "Christian" denominations, that Jesus COULD have meant only one of them.
We're still here. Have been for 2,000 years and counting. Maybe Jesus was correct. :)
We disagree, friend, on the Church Jesus established; likely we've both seen all the arguments. But looking at it pragmatically as you seem to be here, well – after all this time – we're still standing.
Thanks very much for your kind reply.
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