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Abuse Royal Commission: Paedophile priest allowed to keep teaching job despite complaints
ABC News (Australia) ^ | 12/17/2013 | Thomas Oriti

Posted on 12/19/2013 8:57:49 AM PST by Dr. Thorne

An inquiry into child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church has revealed a paedophile priest was allowed to continue teaching at a Sydney school, despite a number of complaints against him.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is examining the church's responses to Raymond Foster and his victims.

(Excerpt) Read more at abc.net.au ...


TOPICS: Catholic; Moral Issues
KEYWORDS: catholic; corruption; pedophilia; sexualabuse
Money quote: "It has heard that although Foster was stood down from the Hunters Hill school in 1994, similar complaints were made against him in relation to events dating back to the 1950s."

The catholic church knew about this pervert for decades and did absolutely nothing. It wasn't until the last decade, when victims had the guts to buck the church and tell the truth, that the church was forced kicking and screaming to face its own sick corruption.

1 posted on 12/19/2013 8:57:49 AM PST by Dr. Thorne
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To: Dr. Thorne

He’s a NAMBLA superstar!


2 posted on 12/19/2013 9:01:48 AM PST by struggle
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To: Dr. Thorne

Thank you for keeping us informed of these abuses. Much appreciated!


3 posted on 12/19/2013 9:27:51 AM PST by MeganC (Support Matt Bevin to oust Mitch McConnell! https://mattbevin.com/)
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To: MeganC

Just a little perspective on this disgusting problem of failing to root out or screen for these perverts before they get to where they can be in a position of trust.

MORE PROTESTANT MINISTERS GUILTY OF PEDOPHILIA THAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS, NEW RESEARCH REVEALS

A Penn State historian, Philip Jenkins, has done an in depth research of pedophilia and sexual abuse among the clergy and has come up with some rather eye opening facts. It seems that while 1.7 percent of Catholic clergy have been guilty of pedophilia (or sexual abuse particularly of boys), a whopping TEN percent of Protestant ministers have been found guilty of pedophilia!

This is all the more interesting, notes Jenkins, since there has been NO media term “Pastor Pedophilia” coined at all!

Jenkins theorizes that the media, proving the ‘point’ of the ‘necessity’ of sexual promiscuity, overemphasizes any instance of pedophilia found among the Catholic clergy since it can use this to criticize the entire idea of celibacy. But it is interesting that the NON Celibate Protestant ministers have a MUCH GREATER problem with it than the celibate Catholic priests!

Protestant pastor pedophilia is not within the frame of our ‘social constructionists’ as Jenkins calls the media:

“In the 1980’s, [Pastor] Leyva had abused perhaps one hundred boys in several Southern states, but few of us ever learned of it. Leyva had the distinction of being a Pentecostal minister and was, therefore, not within the ‘frame’ of those who were busy constructing reality. The same is true of the three brothers, all Baptist ministers, who were charged with child molestation in the 1990’s; the public learned little about this highly unusual series of cases because it was not deemed worthy of dissemination by those fixated on Catholic scandals.” [1]

“Once the media elites focused their attention on framing the issue in terms of the ‘celibacy’ problem, it became difficult for them to assert that the problem was larger among the non-celibate Protestant clergy.” [2]

Jenkins’ research was based on several highly respected studies and statistics. He points out that whereas sexual misconduct has always been a problem, among Catholic and non Catholic clergy as well as among the general populace, what is new now is that the ‘problem’ of priest sexual abuse, constructed by the media as a result of a ‘moral panic’ occurring in the mid 1980’s.

Sue Widemark

Endnotes:

1. Donahue, William A “A review of Philip Jenkins’ PEDOPHILES AND PRIESTS, “Catalyst”, Vol 23, no. 4 (May 1996) (published by the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, email: jpan2so@execpc.com)

2. ibid


4 posted on 12/19/2013 9:54:20 AM PST by spudville
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To: spudville

“MORE PROTESTANT MINISTERS GUILTY OF PEDOPHILIA THAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS”

1. This doesn’t make Catholic child abusers any better.
2. It doesn’t change that the Catholic hierarchy shuffled around these abusers and covered up for them.
3. It doesn’t change that the abuse is apparently still happening in Catholic institutions.
4. It doesn’t change that the Vatican is infested with homos.

...in short, it may or may not be true that you can find worse abuse somewhere else on earth. THAT IS NEVER AN EXCUSE NOT TO CLEAN YOUR OWN HOUSE NOW - AND QUIT COVERING IT UP AND ENABLING IT!

Until those things happen, Catholic child abuse will continue to reverberate in the news.

It is sad everywhere it happens.


5 posted on 12/19/2013 10:07:36 AM PST by aMorePerfectUnion (I grew up in America. I now live in the United States..)
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To: aMorePerfectUnion

Please point out where I said this excused anything. I called it all exactly what it is. Disgusting. I was merely pointing out that protestant pastors are committing this crime in far higher numbers and getting very little press about it. I’m sure someone could do a story on media types and find that they are committing far more of these crimes than all churches put together. This is not a Catholic problem, it is a societal problem. Pedophiles go where they have access and authority over children. Until they can evaluate pre employment, and eliminate them from access to these type of positions the problem will persist. Think Boy Scouts of America. Law suits to allow the very problem to be included.


6 posted on 12/19/2013 10:21:01 AM PST by spudville
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To: spudville

“This is not a Catholic problem, it is a societal problem.”

It most certainly IS a Catholic problem. Has been, is and will be until the hierarchy gets serious about ending it and their homo mafia. Until those things happen, credibility has been lost by Rome.

Does it happen elsewhere? Sure. It wasn’t covered up by some combination of either Bishops, Archbishops, or the Vatican, etc.

Instead of pointing fingers at others, clean house.


7 posted on 12/19/2013 10:55:29 AM PST by aMorePerfectUnion (I grew up in America. I now live in the United States..)
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To: spudville

The problem with comparing anyone to anyone else with this particular topic is the acknowledged and pervasive amounts of cover-ups going on with these cases.

With the Roman Catholic Church the numbers will statistically exceed that of any single Protestant denomination just for the fact that 1.2 billion people on the planet are Catholics and the single largest Protestant denomination is only 16.3 million people.

The RCC, with it’s global reach and vast resources, has been more effective at executing these cover-ups and the current Pope has alluded to his challenges in confronting these practices.

For the time being comparing the RCC and any other denomination (favorably or unfavorably) is pointless given the acknowledged unknown extent of abuses that have been covered up. Many of which will likely never be revealed.

In the meantime the best anyone can do is to expose these crimes to the public regardless of who commits them.


8 posted on 12/19/2013 11:22:26 AM PST by MeganC (Support Matt Bevin to oust Mitch McConnell! https://mattbevin.com/)
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To: spudville; MeganC; aMorePerfectUnion
A Penn State historian, Philip Jenkins, has done an in depth research of pedophilia and sexual abuse among the clergy and has come up with some rather eye opening facts. It seems that while 1.7 percent of Catholic clergy have been guilty of pedophilia (or sexual abuse particularly of boys), a whopping TEN percent of Protestant ministers have been found guilty of pedophilia! This is all the more interesting, notes Jenkins, since there has been NO media term “Pastor Pedophilia” coined at all!
In an article in Sojourners, Rose Marie Berger wrote the following:
"Philip Jenkins concludes in his book Pedophiles and Priests that while 1.7 percent of Catholic clergy have been found guilty of pedophilia (specifically of boys), 10 percent of Protestant ministers have been found guilty of pedophilia."
I regret to say that the statement is baloney. I never said it, and it's not true!

In PEDOPHILES AND PRIESTS, I was attacking a statistic that claimed that a proportion of Catholic priests were pedophiles on the basis that the sample was worthless, since all the men involved were undergoing psychiatric treatment. Hence, you could not extrapolate that figure to the whole priestly population. In order to demonstrate the foolishness of the argument, I cited another study of protestant ministers UNDERGOING TREATMENT, which found that ten percent of them were also pedophiles. By this argument, I remarked - as a reductio ad absurdum - then ten percent of protestant clergy were also pedophiles.

(By the way, pedophilia is a psychiatric condition not a criminal offense, so nobody can be "found guilty of pedophilia")

Every time this ten percent statement appears attributed to me, I try to debunk it, but these things have a life of their own. I have no idea what the actual proportion of pedophile protestant clergy is, but I would be amazed if it was more than a fraction of one percent.

I hope that clarifies my position.

Ms Berger may well be making an excellent point - that there is no evidence that abuse rates are higher for protestant than for catholic clergy. But this particular figure is a kind of urban legend.

Philip Jenkins
Distinguished Professor of History and Religious Studies
Pennsylvania State University

-- from the thread Letter about Catholics wrong about Protestants [re claim 10% of Protestant clergy are sex abusers]


9 posted on 12/19/2013 11:42:31 AM PST by Alex Murphy ("the defacto Leader of the FR Calvinist Protestant Brigades")
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To: MeganC

400,000 roman priests worldwide, based on what I read
600,000 Protestant clergy in the USA alone, from what I read

Always a bad thing when kids are abuse and when evil is covered up


10 posted on 12/19/2013 12:07:52 PM PST by aMorePerfectUnion (I grew up in America. I now live in the United States..)
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To: aMorePerfectUnion
Always a bad thing when kids are abuse and when evil is covered up

Concur.

11 posted on 12/19/2013 2:09:55 PM PST by MeganC (Support Matt Bevin to oust Mitch McConnell! https://mattbevin.com/)
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To: aMorePerfectUnion
in short, it may or may not be true that you can find worse abuse somewhere else on earth. THAT IS NEVER AN EXCUSE NOT TO CLEAN YOUR OWN HOUSE NOW - AND QUIT COVERING IT UP AND ENABLING IT! Until those things happen, Catholic child abuse will continue

really mad at Catholics aren't you??? The Catholics have been cleaning house for 50 years, the protestants have yet to admit that the problem is rampant in their own congregations....having one doesn't excuse the other, both are vile....but the Catholic Church has paid out billions of dollars in reparation, the protestant churches, virtually nothing........how is that fair to their victims?????

12 posted on 12/19/2013 7:04:30 PM PST by terycarl (common sense rules overall)
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To: terycarl

“but the Catholic Church has paid out billions of dollars in reparation”

I believe this was forced upon them after decades of abused victims fighting for admission of guilt and delayed justice.

There is more to come. Keep cleaning. It’s the right thing to do.


13 posted on 12/19/2013 8:06:20 PM PST by aMorePerfectUnion (I grew up in America. I now live in the United States..)
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To: Dr. Thorne
It wasn't until the last decade, when victims had the guts to buck the church and tell the truth, that the church was forced kicking and screaming to face its own sick corruption.

It needs to filter down to the laity now. They're still defending it.

In before the accusations of *hater*? (Time to scroll down and find them....)

14 posted on 12/20/2013 2:23:50 AM PST by metmom ( ...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith....)
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To: spudville; aMorePerfectUnion; Dr. Thorne
Please point out where I said this excused anything. I called it all exactly what it is.

The minute you start pointing fingers, you are excusing it.

It would be refreshing and sadly rare, to hear a Catholic condemn it without Prot bashing.

Case in point....

So, could you provide the stats? And remember, we are talking sexual abuse of minors, not garden variety adultery. Not that it's much better, but please, compare apples to apples.

I’m sure someone could do a story on media types and find that they are committing far more of these crimes than all churches put together.

Have at it. We're waiting....

. Pedophiles go where they have access and authority over children. Until they can evaluate pre employment, and eliminate them from access to these type of positions the problem will persist.

Then why hasn't the Catholic church done so? And why hasn't it removed them from the priesthood and had their sorry butts thrown in jail, where they belong instead of allowing them to administered the sacraments with hands defiled by disgusting, perverted sin?

Would YOU want those hands that have been where they've been putting the eucharist on your tongue? Wouldn't that thought bother you even a little?

15 posted on 12/20/2013 2:30:21 AM PST by metmom ( ...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith....)
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To: terycarl
The Catholics have been cleaning house for 50 years, the protestants have yet to admit that the problem is rampant in their own congregations....

Prove it. Where are your stats?

but the Catholic Church has paid out billions of dollars in reparation, the protestant churches, virtually nothing........how is that fair to their victims?????

Sure. Like money makes it alright so he can keep on being a priest.

Every time I read about a non-Catholic minister in regards to sexual sin, he's been stripped of his credentials and has been charged with criminal charges, often being in jail awaiting bail or bond, not being bounced around from congregation to congregation to be foisted on more unsuspecting victims.

16 posted on 12/20/2013 2:37:01 AM PST by metmom ( ...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith....)
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