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Sandusky the victim. Seduced by those slinky sexy boys for decades, yet nobody came to help. Who weeps for Jerry?

Interesting. Yes, interesting. Possibly even concerning.


http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/08/how-youths-seduce-priests.html


Let's all say a dozen Hail Marys for Jerry.

 

The National Catholic Register, which proudly posted that interview, took it down as of yesterday and left this note:

http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/father-benedict-groeschel-reflects-on-25-years-of-the-franciscan-friars-of/

Child sexual abuse is never excusable. The editors of the National Catholic Register apologize for publishing without clarification or challenge Father Benedict Groeschel's comments that seem to suggest that the child is somehow responsible for abuse. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our publication of that comment was an editorial mistake, for which we sincerely apologize. Given Father Benedict's stellar history over many years, we released his interview without our usual screening and oversight. We have removed the story. We have sought clarification from Father Benedict.
Jeanette R. De Melo
Editor in Chief

Clarification? He was pretty clear.

More of the interview (posted here -- http://www.religionnews.com/culture/gender-and-sexuality/prominent-catholic-priest-rev.-benedict-groeschel-says-first-time-pedophile):


Part of your work here at Trinity has been working with priests involved in abuse, no?

A little bit, yes; but you know, in those cases, they have to leave. And some of them profoundly — profoundly — penitential, horrified. People have this picture in their minds of a person planning to — a psychopath. But that’s not the case. Suppose you have a man having a nervous breakdown, and a youngster comes after him. A lot of the cases, the youngster — 14, 16, 18 — is the seducer.

 

I don't even know how to respond to that.

 

The good reverend seems to believe the bigger problem is that there won't be enough priests to go around if you keep screening out the pedophiles, er, men with nervous breakdowns who get seduced. Fortunately for him, that problem is taking care of itself by a decline in the number of self-identifying Catholics. You know where the biggest drop in religious identification is happening? Ireland -- a direct result of priest pedophile scandals.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/08/religiosity-plummets-ireland-declines-worldwide-atheism_n_1757453.html

 

Bruce Willis does.

 

Fr. Groeschel's Trinity Retreat is in my hometown. He's revered by a lot of the Catholics there.

But, this is so sick.

I think, for a period there, the abuse in the Church was so widespread, that -- in addition to wanting to cover it up, and avoid prosecution/embarrassment/loss in revenue/loss in Parishioners -- to many really did sympathize with the abusers, and not the abused.

They somehow thought these were good men, who had a problem, that could be addressed.

But, by sympathizing with the abusers, they abandoned the abused, and ensured their would be many more victims. And, it's to the Church's eternal shame.

It amazes me that to somehow justify the behavior, some have actually taken the step of making victims out of predators. It's sickening.

This mindset needs to be eradicated.

Fr. Groeschel needs to be stripped of all his duties, and not be allowed to speak on behalf of the Church ever again.

 

Bob, were you raised Catholic?

It astounds me that we haven't moved to married Clergy. It's just nuts. You're not going to attract enough quality people to live such an abnormal lifestyle.

 

I've gotten in borderline shouting arguments with some priests/monsignors/bishops, who all recoil in horror at my stock suggestion the RCC should take an aggressively proactive stance to ruthlessly weeding out, prosecuting and punishing to the full extent of the law (civil and religious) pedophile predators. The Church has been real good at running Inquisitions in the past, now's their chance to do one for a good cause.

Their reaction is almost utterly invariably: "If the Church did that, 50 percent of the priesthood would quit within 90 days and probably half the rest within a year."

My response to that is, "Uhmmm .... Hmmmm ... OK. So what?"

 

Priests afraid of an abuse inquiry?

Yeah, we don't need them.

 

Bingo.

Usually when I respond with "so what," they go glassy-eyed. Either they don't realize the implications of what they said -- or they don't care.

In the rare cases they carry on the conversation any further, they usually come in with, "priests would resign if it became clear the church would not protect them."

From what?

 

here's my question: does anybody know if the tickle monster was/is catholic? just a random question.

 

IIRC, he is Methodist. Paterno is Catholic.