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Report documents eight decades of Capuchin province's poor handling of sex abuse
National Catholic Reporter ^ | Jun. 18, 2013 | Joshua J. McElwee

Posted on 06/18/2013 6:42:44 PM PDT by haffast

For eight decades, leaders of a community of Catholic priests and brothers spanning 10 U.S. states acted inadequately in responding to sex abuse allegations and prioritized protecting accused abusers over their victims, concludes an audit released by the group Tuesday.

The report, released by a province of Franciscan priests known as Capuchins, could raise questions of how communities of religious, which are not under direct control of bishops, are handling abuse allegations.

It also addresses themes many critics of the U.S. church's response to sex abuse have raised since the issue made national headlines in 2002.

The report says that at the heart of the Capuchins' inadequacy to respond to the abuse was a culture of clericalism that placed the needs of priest-abusers above their lay victims and deference to lawyers who "revictimized" those victims in an attempt to protect the clerics from costly lawsuits.

"It is the opinion of the auditors that the Capuchins' response to sexual abuse reports was deficient, especially their failures to report abuse to civil authorities and their inadequate pastoral responses to victims," states the report, which was conducted by the Capuchins' St. Joseph Province by three auditors over the last year and which examined province records back to 1932.

snip

The report also concludes that since the 1930s, when it says records were first available, the province rarely reported abuse to authorities, spent more money on hiring lawyers than on aid to victims, and routinely moved offenders between positions without divulging complaints against them.

"Through much of our history as a province, we have failed," Capuchin Fr. John Celichowski, the province's leader, said in a media call Tuesday announcing the report. "We violated the trust of those who were harmed [and] their families as well as the wider community in the church."

snip

(Excerpt) Read more at ncronline.org ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: catholic; chaput; cultureofdeceit; fishwrap; franciscans; omalley; sexabuse
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O'Malley and Chaput are Capuchins
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Friars_Minor_Capuchin

O'Malley, Chaput epitomize church's different paths
http://ncronline.org/news/people/omalley-chaput-epitomize-churchs-different-paths

Archbishops Chaput and Gomez on the politics of immigration
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YryXDaAwak

Justice, prudence and immigration reform
http://catholicphilly.com/2013/02/think-tank/weekly-message-from-archbishop-chaput/justice-prudence-and-immigration-reform/

"As a seminarian, Chaput was an active volunteer in the presidential campaign of Robert Kennedy. As a young priest, he supported the election of Jimmy Carter."

"Chaput has stated that absolute loyalty to the Church's teachings on core, bioethical, and natural law doctrinal issues (that the Church has definitively spoken on, and where its stance is not subject to appreciable change in the future – in this case, abortion) must be a higher priority for Catholics than their identity as Americans, their party affiliation, and their party's stance on other issues. This is so because, for a Catholic, loyalty to God, his supreme importance, and his expectations (the Commandments, Beatitudes, the Scriptures, and the Church hierarchy's interpretation of what he expects) is more important than any other identity. The martyrs and confessors gave witness to that fact."

"Chaput advocates reform of immigration laws to regularize the status of most undocumented immigrants as a moral imperative"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_J._Chaput

1 posted on 06/18/2013 6:42:44 PM PDT by haffast
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To: haffast

The press just loves these stories of the occasional abusive priest, while studiously ignoring homosexuals banging each other in public rest rooms and public parks and just about everywhere else; spreading HIV/AIDS; engaging in rampant drug abuse; spreading rape in the military; and driving legislation to eliminate all standards of age in relation to sodomy.


2 posted on 06/18/2013 6:49:51 PM PDT by Jack Hammer (American)
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To: haffast

Chaput and O’Malley aren’t mentioned in the article at the Fishwrap so why are you mentioning them?


3 posted on 06/18/2013 7:27:50 PM PDT by A.A. Cunningham (Barry Soetoro can't pass E-verify)
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To: haffast

Looks like you have an axe to grind with Archbishop Charles Chaput, OFM Cap. For some reason you did not tell us why.

Maybe you should take some time to read his book, “Render Unto Caesar”. He sure writes like one rather conservative thinker today. In my opinion he is a model for all US Bishops, Archbishops and Cardinals.

Chaput turned the Archdiocese of Denver into one very vibrant center of Catholicism. He reopened the seminary, brought conservative thinkers in to establish Catechesis, Bible study and other programs.

Now, he is in Philadelphia working to clean up the mess into which that archdiocese had fallen over many years.

The US Catholic Church needs many more Bishops, priests, brothers and sisters like Charles Chaput.


4 posted on 06/18/2013 7:28:37 PM PDT by CdMGuy
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To: haffast

Those Capuchin Sex Monkeys are at it again.


5 posted on 06/18/2013 7:31:06 PM PDT by GladesGuru (Islam is antithetical to, and Islam is irreconcilable with, America. Therefore - Islam Delenda Est)
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To: haffast

The Catholic Church dividing the US into provinces?


6 posted on 06/18/2013 7:38:15 PM PDT by Partisan Gunslinger
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To: Jack Hammer

The press also always ignores that most of the Church sex abuse scandals involves homosexual pedophiles.


7 posted on 06/18/2013 7:46:06 PM PDT by piytar (The predator-class is furious that their prey are shooting back.)
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To: piytar
homosexual pedophiles.

Correction: homosexual ephebophiles

8 posted on 06/18/2013 7:48:21 PM PDT by A.A. Cunningham (Barry Soetoro can't pass E-verify)
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To: GladesGuru

Those Capuchin Sex Monkeys are at it again...

...was waiting for the monkey references...


9 posted on 06/19/2013 5:00:28 AM PDT by IrishBrigade
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To: haffast

-——For eight decades-——

Christians tolerate or look the other way when there own are the bad guys. Then in a fit of guilt, pillory the BSA that has strong programs for youth protection


10 posted on 06/19/2013 5:05:05 AM PDT by bert ((K.E. N.P. N.C. +12 ..... Who will shoot Liberty Valence?)
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To: haffast

Audit Finds Sexual Abuse Was Topic Decades Ago
The New York Times ^ | Published: June 18, 2013 | LAURIE GOODSTEIN
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3033123/posts


11 posted on 06/19/2013 6:49:40 AM PDT by haffast (Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren't very new at all. -Abe Lincoln)
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To: IrishBrigade

Those Capuchin Sex Monkeys are at it again...

...was waiting for the monkey references...

Well, one could say they are the original butt monkeys.


12 posted on 06/19/2013 7:01:55 AM PDT by GladesGuru (Islam is antithetical to, and Islam is irreconcilable with, America. Therefore - Islam Delenda Est)
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To: bert

I feel a heck of a lot more comfortable sending my son to Scout camp in 3 weeks than I would any other organized activity including church retreats.


13 posted on 06/19/2013 7:13:32 AM PDT by Jack of all Trades (Hold your face to the light, even though for the moment you do not see.)
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To: Partisan Gunslinger
The Catholic Church dividing the US into provinces?

YES!!!!

WE WILL RULE THE WORLD!!!!!!!
MUUUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahahahaha!!!!!!

Ok ...

Seriously.

What do you think the answer to your question is? What do you think that "Province" means in the context of a religious order? What do you think a "religious order" is?

14 posted on 06/19/2013 7:20:50 AM PDT by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilization is Aborting, Buggering, and Contracepting itself out of existence.)
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To: ArrogantBustard
YES!!!! WE WILL RULE THE WORLD!!!!!!! MUUUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahahahaha!!!!!! Ok ... Seriously. What do you think the answer to your question is? What do you think that "Province" means in the context of a religious order? What do you think a "religious order" is?

The Roman Empire divided their far-flung possessions into provinces. It is odd to use that term given the history.

Would you like Islam to call parts of America "provinces"?

15 posted on 06/19/2013 6:04:55 PM PDT by Partisan Gunslinger
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To: Partisan Gunslinger

You didn’t answer any of my questions.


16 posted on 06/19/2013 6:05:53 PM PDT by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilization is Aborting, Buggering, and Contracepting itself out of existence.)
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To: haffast

Do you ever comment on these posts?


17 posted on 06/19/2013 6:09:48 PM PDT by Trailerpark Badass (There should be a whole lot more going on than throwing bleach, said one woman.)
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To: ArrogantBustard
You didn’t answer any of my questions.

I know the Jesuits have always used the term "provinces". Not good.

18 posted on 06/19/2013 6:36:47 PM PDT by Partisan Gunslinger
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To: Partisan Gunslinger

Why do you think it is not good?


19 posted on 06/19/2013 6:52:58 PM PDT by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilization is Aborting, Buggering, and Contracepting itself out of existence.)
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To: Trailerpark Badass

Yes, but not often. Prefer to lurk, consider other’s opinions and perspectives, share links/information I read about that others may find interesting, or not.


20 posted on 06/19/2013 8:43:29 PM PDT by haffast (Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren't very new at all. -Abe Lincoln)
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