Catholic abuse news

My inbox is overflowing with news related to the clergy sexual abuse story in the Catholic Church. I don’t normally post on Catholics, but I felt compelled to provide a summary.

Father Philip DeRea (priest to celebrities race drivers) is being sued for his alleged relationship with an 11-year-old boy. DeRea tried to buy the victim off earlier in the process.

Father Edward Fitz-Henery denies claims that he abused a boy at the San Juan Bautista Mission in Monterey County. He denies ever having any inappropriate contact with the victim. Of course, a priest definition of inappropriate and the legal definition are two different things.

The Archdiocese of Dublin is taking steps to close the barn door after the cows escaped. “Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has said there could be no room for complacency regarding the protection of children”.This comes after 93 allegations were made against priests.

The Little Rock Catholic diocese is being sued over claims that father Joseph Ross abused children while serving as a priest. Ross was convicted of molesting an 11-year-old but still lives in the community.

The Vatican is being sued by St. Paul  attorney Jeff Anderson. “…The lawsuit claims Pope Benedict and two other top Vatican officials knew about allegations of sexual abuse at St. John's School for the Deaf outside Milwaukee, and called off internal punishment of the accused priest, the late Rev. Lawrence Murphy.”

Defrocked priest Edward V. Avery and 4 others to plead not guilty when they appear in court on charges that they molested alter boys or allowed the molestation to happen. Among the four others is Monsignor William J. Lynn who was the secretary for clergy in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. He’s charged with allowing it all to happen.

The former Bishop of Bruges Roger Vangheluwe appear on TV and appeared to play down the seriousness of the years of child sex abuse. Vangheluwe says:

“I don't in the slightest have any sense I am a paedophile. I don't get the impression my nephew was opposed, quite the contrary,” he claimed, before acknowledging, “I knew it wasn’t good. I confessed it several times.”

He raped his nephew, I’m pretty sure that he qualifies as a pedophile.

There were 683 cases in the United states where people reported clergy sexual abuse in 2010. Catholics are trying to spin this as an improvement over previous years. It’s a self-generated and unaudited report that others claim is inaccurate. I tend to agree.

Bill Donohou of the CAtholic League for Religions and Civil Rights thinks we are being to hard on the Catholic Church over clergy sexual abuse. He took out an add in the N.Y. Times to make his point. Donohou is an abuse denier.

“Lets get it straight — they weren’t children and they weren’t raped,” Donohue alleged.  “We know from the John Jay study that most of the victims have been adolescents, and that the most common abuse has been inappropriate touching (inexcusable though this is, it is not rape).

I have his name in a special news filter… I call it the the hate filter.

A Florida man is suing the Catholic church over charges that a nun sexual abused him 30 years ago in Miami.

"Sister Joah Marie would stand behind John and rub against him with her body, touching him all over with her hands," the suit alleges. "She then pretended to tuck in his shirt and while doing so, rubbed John's genitals under his clothing and fondled him."

I’m skeptical on this one. 30 years later and no evidence usually means no jury award. I smell money.

I could go on. There are a lot more stories.

Clergy Sexual Abuse, Catholics