Friday, August 31, 2012

Groeschel Condones Sexual Abuse by Clergy; Condemned by Archdiocese NY

Such is my take on the the interview he gave and published by

National Catholic Register.


Groeschel's Vanishing Comments Condemned by N.Y. Archdiocese

The Archdiocese of N.Y. has issued a statement condemning the comments of Franciscan Father Benedict Groeschel. If you missed his observations in an interview with the National Catholic Register that's no surprise. The entire interview was scrubbed last night ftom NCR's website after Father Groeschel thoughts on the psycholoigy of priest sexual abusers began to provoke widespread outrage. His comments, which seemed to excuse some priest pedophiles suffering "nervous breakdowns" and "seduced" by teens, came right out of the dark ages of the sex abuse crisis. Groeschel goes well beyong blaming the victim and excusing people who should have known better from reporting sexual assaults of children. He even offered an understanding heart for Penn State's "poor" (I kid you not) Jerry Sandusky. 
In a statement released today, Joseph Zwilling, Communications Director for the Archdiocese of New York, said, "The comments made by Father Benedict Groeschel that appeared on the website of the National Catholic Register are simply wrong. Although he is not a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, what Father Groeschel said cannot be allowed to stand unchallenged. The sexual abuse of a minor is a crime, and whoever commits that crime deserves to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
Groeschel was "inclined to think" first time offenders shouldn't be sent to jail "because their intention was not committing a crime."

etc


Wednesday, August 29, 2012

404 Child Abuse Cases handled by Vatican in 2011



As a sign of transparency and its vigor in prosecuting such instances, the Vatican has reported that it handled 404 cases of child abuse in 1911


404 child abuse cases by clergy in 2011

The policy of transparency pursued by Pope Benedict XVI concerning paedophilia in the Church has led to a "considerable" increase in the number of reports of child abuse by clergy according to the 2011 edition of the annual report "The activity of the Holy See" published by Libreria Editrice Vaticana at the end of July.

In 2011 the disciplinary office of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith opened a total of 599 procedures, of which 404 concerned cases of abuse perpetrated by members of the priesthood against minors. This was fewer than in 2010 but considerably more than in the period 2005-2009, the volume said. The Congregation initiated a total of 37 judicial proceedings and 189 administrative proceedings in 2011. It also submitted to the Pope a request for the removal "ex officio" from the clerical state of 125 priests and for dispensation from priestly obligations for a further 135.