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Accused priest apparently takes own life at Maryland hospital Copyright © 2002 AP Online By STEPHEN MANNING, Associated Press SILVER SPRING, Md. (May 16, 2002 7:57 p.m. EDT) - A 64-year-old priest who resigned from his parish in Connecticut amid allegations of sexual misconduct apparently killed himself Thursday at a Catholic psychiatric hospital, church officials said. The Diocese of Bridgeport, Conn., identified the priest as the Rev. Alfred J. Bietighofer, who was stripped last month of his priestly powers and ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluation. Two men told diocesan officials Bietighofer abused them when they were boys in the late...

The Baltimore Sun:EditorialsThe Anguish Within May 16, 2002 A SIMPLE "I'm sorry" might have made all the difference. It's a lesson learned too late by the Rev. Maurice Blackwell, shot three times Monday by an anguished young man who had accused him of sexual molestation. And perhaps that's no surprise, since it's also a lesson learned too late by the Catholic Church, which for years has protected sexually abusive priests and paid off victims instead of taking responsibility for the appalling criminal conduct of some of its own. When Dontee Stokes was in high school, he charged Father Blackwell with...

The New York Times Gloats Over Pope’s Illness, Awaits His Death by J.P. Zmirak FrontPageMagazine.com | May 9, 2002 IT’S ONE THING to report the tragic, dunderheaded mistakes some churchmen committed in handling priestly sexual predators, and gay clerics who seduce teens. (The latter group makes up the huge majority of the cases that have occurred in the recent Church scandals—the recruitment or seduction of teen boys, not girls—bolstering the case for a priesthood that excludes both pedophiles and homosexuals.) That’s important work, and The Boston Globe will win a Pulitzer Prize for doing it. But it’s another thing when...

Pluralism and the Catholic UniversityAlan Charles Kors Copyright (c) 2002 First Things 122 (April 2002): 11-13. The decline of Catholic higher education in our country should concern all Americans, regardless of their religious affiliation. (I am not myself a Catholic.) The Catholic tradition, preserved and revitalized by its own institutions, has made and will continue to make truly indispensable contributions to the intellectual and moral vitality of American life. At the most basic level, Catholic higher education is vital to the meaning of American pluralism, which does not entail homogeneity, but a variety of lived differences. From well before the...

Church Bashing Delights the LeftBy Cal Thomas Originally published May 8, 2002 ARLINGTON, Va. -- Politically liberal and religiously secular people are having too good a time beating up on the Roman Catholic Church. Lefties, who would never tolerate stereotyping their favorite groups (blacks, women and gays come to mind as examples), think nothing of universally condemning all things Catholic for the despicable sexual actions of what appears to be a relatively small number of priests and the cover-up by some higher-ups in the church. Media commentators are among the worst offenders. Not since the "high-tech lynching" of Clarence Thomas...

Accused Pedophile Priest Arrested in San Diego By Tim McLaughlin Boston (Reuters) - An accused pedophile priest at the center of a sex-abuse scandal in Boston that has engulfed Cardinal Bernard Law and the Vatican was arrested on Thursday by police in San Diego, prosecutors said. Father Paul Shanley, who faces three counts of child rape, was arrested at about 10:45 a.m. EDT, according to Middlesex County District Attorney in Cambridge Massachusetts.

U.S. Cardinal in Secret Vatican Talks A cardinal at the centre of child sex abuse scandals rocking the Catholic Church in the United States said he won the backing of Pope John Paul II to remain on in his post in secret talks at the Vatican this week. Cardinal Bernard Law, the Archbishop of Boston, said in a statement released by the Vatican on Wednesday that he had travelled to Rome to "seek counsel and advice" from the ponriff. He said he had been "graciously received" by John Paul II, and would not be stepping down. "As a result of...

<p>The Catholic Church's most reliable supporters, conservatives who have traditionally leapt to defend the institutional hierarchy whenever its practices have been questioned, are increasingly irate over the church's handling of the clergy sexual abuse crisis. Commentators William J. Bennett, William F. Buckley,Jr., and Patrick Buchanan have harshly criticized Cardinal Bernard F. Law. Self-described orthodox Catholics are denouncing the church's bishops. "We spend our time monitoring and fighting anti-Catholicism wherever it exists in American society, but I have always had a disdain of intellectual dishonesty, and if I sat on the sidelines I'd have to be accused of that myself," said William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, a group that fights anti-Catholic bias. "I don't know of single Catholic priest or layman who isn't furious about the sex abuse scandal, in terms of tolerance they [the hierarchy] have had for intolerable behavior and the way they've played musical chairs with these miscreant priests. I've never seen such anger."</p>

<p>BOSTON(AP) - The Archdiocese of Boston knew that one of its priests, now accused of rape, spoke in favor of sex between men and boys at a 1979 meeting that apparently led to the founding of a pedophile group, according to court documents. The documents also show archdiocese officials knew of sexual misconduct accusations against the Rev. Paul Shanley since at least 1967 but continued to allow him access to children in different parishes for more than 20 years. "All of the suffering that has taken place at the hands of Paul Shanley, a serial child molester for four decades - three of them in Boston - none of it had to happen," said Roderick MacLeish, an attorney for the family of Gregory Ford.</p>

Susan Estrich and Victoria Toensing are on FOX arguing over the constitutionality of military tribunals for terrorists. The question as to what should happen to Osama & Co. really should not be that difficult.

In the aftermath of Sept. 11's barbaric and horrific terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, there have been ominous suggestions about apparent needs to restrict civil liberties and to expand the probing investigatory powers of the FBI and other federal agencies. While the FBI and INS should begin immediately to review their methods for handling foreign nationals from the Middle East, there is no need to intrude on normal Americans. The terrorist threat is Middle Eastern and extremist Islamic. The FBI and airport security agents will be wasting their time and our dollars if they choose to target June, ...

<p>Washington Times writer Julia Duin discusses religious perspectives on the terrorist attacks including The Book of Revelation, chapter 18 in "Sept. 11: Judgment Day?" in today's edition.</p>

Rev. Jerry Falwell, the reknown Virginia evangelist, just recanted on Geraldo's news program. Nodding in deference to the liberal Puerto Rican journalist who once pursued sensationalist rumors of a national Satanic conspiracy and defended Bill Clinton's honor during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Rev. Falwell apologized for remarks which appeared to blame ideological liberals and those who flaunt alternative lifestyles for helping to make the terrorist attacks happen. Geraldo sat in judgment with ominous moralizing and raised the question whether Rev. Falwell could ever minister with credibility again. Which was more ridiculous?