Posted on 02/11/2012 10:13:46 AM PST by RnMomof7
Some 200 Catholic priests suspected of sexual abuse are living undetected in communities across California, according to an attorney who represents hundreds of plaintiffs who sued the LA Archdiocese for molestation they say was inflicted on them by priests and clergy of the church.
Ray Boucher has mapped sixty locations where suspect priests live, in cities and towns from northern to southern California, and provided those locations to NBC4 exclusively.
“Many if not all these priests have admitted to sexual abuse,” Boucher said. “They live within a mile of 1,500 playgrounds, schools and daycare centers.”
Since none of the priests has actually been convicted of sex abuse, none can be identified under Megan’s Law, or their whereabouts revealed in related public databases.
“What the issue is here, is how you weigh the right of the people,” said Boucher, who is also one of the attorneys representing students in the Miramonte Elementary School sex abuse scandal. “In particular the right of children to be protected from molestation versus the right of privacy."
Among Boucher’s many clients in the church action are Manuel Vega and Dan Smith.
Vega is a former police officer from Oxnard who took special interest in sex crimes investigations because, he says, he was sexually abused as a teenager by his parish priest.
“He forced me to masturbate while he took pictures of me,” said Vega, who believes that the public is often too squeamish to recognize what child molestation actually entails – and thus not properly outraged by it.
“When we talk about sexual abuse we’re talking about sodomy,” he said. “There’s pubic hair, there’s sweat, there’re smells, there’re grunts.”
Dan Smith, another alleged abuse victim, is reeling from the recent collapse of his marriage which he blames in part on the psychological effects of the molestation he says he suffered as a child – at the hands of his local parish priest.
“He would rape me and then say this is what God’s love feels like,” Smith said, struggling to hold back tears more than twenty years after the alleged incidents.
Both men helped make legal history by joining 500 other plaintiffs in suing the LA Archdiocese for sexual molestation, with Boucher as their lead attorney.
In 2007 the LA Archdiocese reached an unprecedented $660 million settlement with many of the plaintiffs without admitting any wrong-doing.
It also agreed to let the courts decide which of the case-related church files should be made public, including those identifying alleged and admitted predators.
But according to Boucher and court documents, the Catholic Church has since engaged in a cover-up. By Boucher’s account, Church officials allowed priests suspected of sexually abusing children to retire, flee the country or hide in rehab clinics until the statute of limitations on prosecution ran out.
“What the church did is take these guys and send them off to facilities where they treat pedophile priests without ever alerting police,” Boucher said. “By enabling these priests to be hidden for so many years the church protected them from being prosecuted.”
Meanwhile legal disputes delayed the release of the promised personnel files, and Donald Steir, an attorney for several priests, went to court to argue that those who’ve been accused but no convicted should have their names and privacy protected.
“They are being punished as if they have been convicted, or at least that’s the desire – to punish them,” Steir said. “That’s not fair.”
“It’s difficult if you represent an alleged terrorist or a pedophile, because people don’t really care about the rights [including privacy rights] for these type of people,” Steir said. “But once we erode the rights of a group of people we don’t like, we effectively have started down a path where other people’s rights can be similarly denied.”
The courts, expressing concern for children, overruled most of these arguments and similar ones by the Archdiocese, which declined to comment for this story.
And a judge has ordered release of some personnel files, set for some time in the coming weeks. But he also credited the church for its increased sensitivity in dealing with molestation cases and decided to withhold the names of church officials who handled the earlier cases.
It is a ruling that reminds Boucher of the breakdown in accountability in the Penn state pedophile scandal. “Look at Penn State and see how important and significant it is when people in authority enable sexual abusers to continue,” Boucher said. “That underscores how significant it is to get these names out.”
Under the judge’s ruling the church can also keep secret, subject to further court review, the names of priests who have not been convicted and who have only one or two allegations against them or have allegations disputed by the church.
To Smith that seems like a formula for further cover-up by church officials.
“If their interests were to protect the kids, they would have released the documents,” Smith said. “As a parent not knowing who your neighbor is -- that is really scary.”
Many of these unidentified priests are included in Boucher’s location map.
“The danger” said Vega, “is that you have a person who has this sickness in them who is amongst the children.”
The plaintiffs in the church scandal are planning to appeal the latest rulings to assure broader disclosure of suspects’ names and locations. But Boucher warned this could take time, allowing suspects to keep their privacy protected, as well as their undetected presence in neighborhoods across California.
Actually, no. It would seem as if your fervor has put blinders on you. Your answer shows that you have not REALLY read the articles without a pre-determined slant on what they say. Let's see if I can say it plainly in a way you can understand:
Molestation of children is AWFUL - no matter who the predator is. But what is MORE AWFUL (f that is possible) is the coverup and the protecting of these predators by their organization that claims it represents the One True, Almighty God. And that the organization claims that one moment these perverts destroy the lives of children, but at the same time they can still be representatives of God - forever. That is outrage! It gives a most disgusting picture of the god these people and their protectors are serving.
So you are trying to tell us that you are one of the learned and stable folks who understands the scripture and we are not???
Now you are making stuff up...That's not the issue at all...Never has been...If you are unwilling to discuss the issue, why even post at all???
Oh ya, it's called distraction, isn't it...
No one is saying it’s “exclusively” a Catholic problem. What we are saying is that the Catholic Church proposes to be the “only” church sanctioned by Christ and claim they are the source of all truth in religious matters. They claim the “vicar” of Christ is their head and that their priests can absolve of sin. No other entity claims those things.
Catholics can’t have it both ways. They can’t present themselves as the “only” true church and then cry like babies when they are actually held to a higher standard. It’s hypocritical. So which is it? Are they the "only true church" or are they "any other entity"?
Sure it is. See posts 2,3,4, and 5 this very thread. That's EXACTLY what all those posts say.
What it is however, is an attempt to rebut the idea being put forth that child molestation is an exclusively Catholic problem.
Show us where ANY of us said or implied that.
The problem is, you people get mad when any evidence is presented that shows that it is a lot more widespread OUTSIDE of the Catholic church.
We do? How do you know that?
It's almost if you people *don't care* when a child is molested outside of the church.
It's almost if you people *don't care* when a child is molested outside inside of the church.
But that would be cyncical of me to state, and since you people have *so much* class, I would never make that accusation.
But you did anyway.
Lastly, this is an article about people who *are accused*, not convicted, released by a lawyer who has a finacial interest in children being molested, and seeing that those numbers are as high as possible.
Did you even READ the article? Or did you choose to ignore this line......
“Many if not all these priests have admitted to sexual abuse,” Boucher said. “They live within a mile of 1,500 playgrounds, schools and daycare centers.”
Wait, is he trying to deny that the cover ups or transfers have happened? The Catholic Church is the entity that holds itself as the highest authority as it relates to religion. How can they now want to be compared to other entities in this issue?
So ... it seems that some protestants think that child molesting is perfectly fine ... if the molester happens to be a protestant.
I often pray for the people on FR who are so filled with hatred for the Catholic Church.
Vilifying the Church is a treasured strategy for the left.
OK, what's the issue here? I mean flamebait and posturing aside for a moment. Let's talk honestly, if that's possible. These are men who have been accused of committing abuse, right?
So is the Church hiding them? That's what the headline says. "Hiding in plain sight" What's going on here, that shouldn't be going on? Is this illegal? Should these men be locked up? Forced to wear a sign?
Ray Boucher has mapped sixty locations where suspect priests live, in cities and towns from northern to southern California, and provided those locations to NBC4 exclusively.
OK, so these men are "suspects". Good for Ray. He knows where these accused men live.
“Many if not all these priests have admitted to sexual abuse,” Boucher said. “They live within a mile of 1,500 playgrounds, schools and daycare centers.”
OK, so now we're getting somewhere. These men are self-admitted abusers. We'll take your word for it. And they're living too close to places frequented by children. OK, so this could be an issue. But they haven't been convicted and therefore can't be marked with the "sex offender" tag and therefore they can live anywhere they please.
So this amounts to "hiding", to use the phrase coined by the headline? Really?
Since none of the priests has actually been convicted of sex abuse, none can be identified under Megan’s Law, or their whereabouts revealed in related public databases.
Just as I suspected.
So why haven't they been convicted? Is it because a financial settlement was reached and cases were dropped? OK, that's a choice that was freely taken.
Now what?
I mean seriously? Also, are all these men actually still priests? Those that aren't can live where they please. Those that are still priests can certainly be relocated by the Church.
The article is a beat up. Absent a conviction, these men are legally free to live where they want. So what's Boucher's beef? That these men (those who are still priests, that is) ought to be moved to a monastery in the middle of Wyoming? Fine, say so. But this "hiding in plain sight" is tabloid journalism at its finest.
NOTHING TO UNDERSTAND beforehand! IT IS WHAT IT IS! God's Word IS The Final Authority. You conform to The Word, you don't conform God's Word to suite your understanding and/or agenda. You read His Word KNOWING that is the only TRUTH and everything else MUST conform to it! If it doesn't it's not from HIM! And don't assign it to HIM.
And don't add to what HE has expressly said to cover man made doctrines/teachings regarding priests, nuns, monks whatever and commands to not eat meat. You either choose to learn from God's Word by being obedient to 'HEAR and OBEY' or you twist it mean something to make yourself feel better. Twisting God's Word is deception and is satan's tactic used to deceive from the very beginning.
1 Tim 4:1-3 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
Forbidding to marry, [and commanding] to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
Reminder: God's Word is spiritually discerned. Without the spirit, one comes up with that foolish you assigned to that Scripture..this "forbidding to marry" is referring to the practices of sects like the Shakers that declared that no believers, even those who are married, should have sex.
Why should I be mad? Again I am glad when the world is made safe from a child molester. I'm just pointing out that the author is playing fast and loose with the numbers.
Hi there --- I have a sincere question which I hope you can help me out with. It is this:
Was it something someone said to you, or was it some book or movie, or where did you get the idea that Catholics are taught to "obey, force themselves if need be, and never question" any member of the clergy?
It is false, and to all the Catholics I know, it is laughably, eye-rollingly false. But on the other hand, I don't want to accuse you of knowingly circulating a falsehood, so I'll assume you believe it to be true because somebody told you, or you read it somewhere.
So, where did you pick up this misinformation? Or who passed it on to you? Do you remember?
Really? Did you read my post and contact them all? Wonder who is spreading a falsehood.
I was denying your bizarre assertion that because priests are human and some priests, being human, are bad, that the Catholic Church is therefore EVIL.
You remind me of those Westboro Baptist Church freaks.
Admit it... you're a Westboromite, aren't you?
This issue has often been characterized by posters screaming....."defrock him!! .....why won't the Church defrock him!!" You and several others on this thread might have been among them. It's often been a shrill and unthinking shriek.
Due to the law of unintended consequences, your posting of this thread shows very nicely why. Those men who are no longer priests (i.e. they've been laicized) can live anywhere.
Can we now agree that "defrocking" might actually not be such a great idea? If so, that would be progress. At least if they're still priests, the Church can still supervise these men and exercise some degree of control over them, as opposed to none when they've been cut loose. If our concern is truly for the children and we're not simply engaged in a "whack-a-mole" exercise, would it be too much to expect some sort of admission that the "defrocking" route might actually be counterproductive?
Thank you.
And your proof for that outrageous statement is where?
Your response was clearly....and twice no less...." No. No it doesn't."
So let's be clear about that.
Further let's just see what evil behaves like within the Priesthood and leadership......
"John Geoghan was engaging in oral sex with boys while instructing them to close their eyes and repetitively recite "Hail Marys,"..... Gauthe was forcing altar boys in Louisiana to repeatedly submit to and perform anal or oral intercourse with him – often molesting several boys in one family..... Estimates of the number of his victims, some of whom were as young as 7, ranged upwards of 100..... Geoghan swore boys to secrecy by telling them what they did was "confessional";... Gauthe, who often carried firearms, warned at least one boy that if he said anything Gauthe would harm his parents..... Inevitably, though, some of these boys did tell their parents. Diocesan authorities simply transferred him to another parish--and another, and another." Now this happened by just two of the many Priests now a matter of record. So yes, using your word, the church could be said as "evil" for enabling and assisting these criminals to continue their dastardly deeds.
School teachers don't claim to Represent Jesus Christ to their students or their parents. The catholic church does claim their Priests as Representing Christ.....BIG difference.
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