Posted on 07/21/2003 9:03:33 PM PDT by Land of the Irish
While the Catholic Bishops claim to have been "enlightened" and say they are doing everything they can to protect our children, nothing could be further from the truth.
Bishop Gerald Andrew Gettelfinger of Evansville Indiana, one of seven bishops who voted against the "Zero Tolerance" policy which called for the removal of any priest guilty of abusing one child, believes that an admitted "sex addict," registered sex offender, and convicted felon is the best man to run the diocese's diaconate program.
"Father" Jean F. Vogler, who served jail time for possession of dozens of video tapes containing child pornography, who once served as the bishop's advisor, now not only heads the diocesan diaconate program, he is an associate pastor and heads an RCIA program at his parish. This "king of child porn," who excused his behavior by claiming that "he began looking at pornography in his mid-40's to compensate, he now believes, for a lack of intimacy in his life," [1] is now held up as a moral leader deemed fit to educate and lead others to holiness.
"Vogler was the leader of Evansville's largest parish and a top aide to the bishop when the Postal Service's undercover Operation Special Delivery found dozens of lewd videotapes of children in the rectory of his Holy Rosary Church in 1995. He was immediately suspended and, after pleading guilty to a felony, was sent to prison. After his release, he spent seven months in therapy". [2]
Fr. Vogler now resides at Villa Maria, Apt. 205, 1640 Lincoln Ave., Evansville, IN 47714. He was born January 1, 1945. He was ordained February 28, 1970. He currently serves as associate pastor, Holy Trinity, Evansville, since 1999, residing at Villa Maria.
According to Spencer County, Indiana court records, Father Vogler also owns a home in Christmas Lake Village. The mailing address for taxes on this property is 1640 Lincoln Avenue, Evansville, IN 47714, Vogler's current address.
Vogler's office is at the former Diocese Chancery office, at Holy Trinity, which also doubles as the Evansville Diocese Permanent Diaconate Office. Its address is 219 NW Third Street, Evansville, IN 47708-1233.
While Bishop Gettelfinger's actions in this case show his contempt for victims and suggest his loss of faith, the words and actions of some parishioners is beyond belief.
According to one parishioner, "There weren't any children crying to their parents," said Charles Burns, 50, a postal worker who has attended Holy Trinity for a decade. "Father Jean was hurting himself, he was hurting his ministry. He wasn't hurting anyone else." [3] Apparently Mr. Burns, and many of his fellow parishioners, lack the common sense to realize that a person who buys child pornography merely pays someone else to abuse children so they can obtain their perverted satisfaction by viewing a video of the abuse. As such, Fr. Vogler paid others to abuse children so that he could watch.
Bishop Gerald Gettelfinger (Evansville, IN) is the current bishop-advisor to the National Catholic Committee on Scouting (the Catholic Church's liaison between the BSA and the Catholic Church, aka NCCS). At the May 2002 meeting, he was an opponent of the one-strike policy in the USCCB adopted Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. At the November 2002 bishops' meeting, he was one of seven bishops who voted against the new policies the US bishops voted upon to prevent sexual abuse of minors. He has admitted to allowing at least one convicted child molester serve as a priest in the diocese, as well as other known molesters.
"In late March 2002, Bishop Gettelfinger told parishioners that priests who sexually abuse children are guilty of 'grave sins' and that he would not tolerate them. A couple months later, news accounts detailed the backgrounds of six diocesan priests," some had been convicted for sexual abuse, yet allowed to remain ministers in the diocese. One had been a Scout chaplain. (Ref. http://www.bsa-discrimination.org/New/SexAbuse/sexabuse.html)
The crisis within the Catholic Church is not about mistakes, or poor judgments made on the part of bishops. It is not about new research or new discoveries, either. This current crisis was brought on by perversion, lust, greed, and the loss of faith by our bishops. Those bishops within the minority who do not fall into this category, but refuse to take a public stand against those in the errant majority, are cowards. Until we laymen accept this fact and address it, nothing will change.
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[1] "Parish Makes Peace With Sins of the Father," by Jodi Wilgoren, The New York Times, Monday, April 15, 2002
[2] "Parish embraces fallen priest, learns power of forgiveness, by Jodi Wilgoren, New York Times News Service, Chicago Tribune, Friday, April 19, 2002
[3] [3] "Parish Makes Peace With Sins of the Father," by Jodi Wilgoren, The New York Times, Monday, April 15, 2002
Who were the other six?
Why did they vote against it?
Do they have certain preferences, theological and otherwise?
Further, Christmas Lake Village is in the same town with both the Holiday World themepark (formerly Santa Claus Land) and St. Meinrad's.
You do the math.
This has been my point all along. I am glad that at least ONE Catholic is now agreeing.
The greatest part of the blame for the priest/pedophilia scandal lies with the laity. The leadership of the church knows that the catholic laity regards them as demi-gods and will allow them to get away with much more than would be tolerated from mere mortals.
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