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Voltaire2

(13,033 posts)
Tue Aug 14, 2018, 06:39 PM Aug 2018

Catholic Church Covered Up Child Sex Abuse in Pennsylvania for Decades, Grand Jury Says



Bishops and other leaders of the Roman Catholic Church in Pennsylvania covered up child sexual abuse by more than 300 priests over a period of 70 years, persuading victims not to report the abuse and police officers not to investigate it, according to a report issued by a grand jury on Tuesday.

The report, which covered six of the state’s eight Catholic dioceses and found more than 1,000 identifiable victims, is the broadest examination yet by a government agency in the United States of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. There have been ten previous reports by grand juries and attorneys general in the United States, according to the research and advocacy group BishopAccountability.org, but those examined single dioceses or counties.

The report catalogs horrific instances of abuse, including a priest who raped a young girl in the hospital after she had her tonsils out, and another priest who was allowed to stay in ministry after impregnating a 17-year-old girl, forging a signature on a marriage certificate and then divorcing the girl.

“Despite some institutional reform, individual leaders of the church have largely escaped public accountability,” the grand jury wrote. “Priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing; they hid it all. For decades.”



https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/14/us/catholic-church-sex-abuse-pennsylvania.html

Just a few bad apples.
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Catholic Church Covered Up Child Sex Abuse in Pennsylvania for Decades, Grand Jury Says (Original Post) Voltaire2 Aug 2018 OP
If any other organization was guilty edhopper Aug 2018 #1
Was it Dan Savage who said, Pope George Ringo II Aug 2018 #2
Then imagine if we gave the circus a tax exemption Major Nikon Aug 2018 #4
And does anyone wonder why the Catholic church is BigmanPigman Aug 2018 #3
Yeah, but I heard there was a secular communist podiatrist who abused a kid once. Act_of_Reparation Aug 2018 #5
I was recently told here that we should stop Voltaire2 Aug 2018 #7
We're still allowed to identify them by their political party, right? Act_of_Reparation Aug 2018 #8
The entire institution is guilty. This has been going on MineralMan Aug 2018 #6
Agree 100%. BigmanPigman Aug 2018 #9

edhopper

(33,579 posts)
1. If any other organization was guilty
Tue Aug 14, 2018, 07:15 PM
Aug 2018

of such gross depravity and criminal activity, it would have been abolished.
But religion gets a pass.

Pope George Ringo II

(1,896 posts)
2. Was it Dan Savage who said,
Tue Aug 14, 2018, 07:45 PM
Aug 2018

"If kids got raped by clowns as often as they get raped by preachers it would be illegal to take your kids to the circus."

Voltaire2

(13,033 posts)
7. I was recently told here that we should stop
Wed Aug 15, 2018, 12:56 PM
Aug 2018

identifying child molesting religious officials by their religion. Apparently it is unfair.

Act_of_Reparation

(9,116 posts)
8. We're still allowed to identify them by their political party, right?
Wed Aug 15, 2018, 02:07 PM
Aug 2018

If not, this place is gonna get really boring, really fast.

MineralMan

(146,308 posts)
6. The entire institution is guilty. This has been going on
Wed Aug 15, 2018, 09:27 AM
Aug 2018

worldwide for centuries. It is the poorly-hidden shame of the Roman Catholic Church worldwide. Since the hierarchy's response has always been to shuffle offenders around to new places, the entire hierarchy is guilty.

The only solution, really, is to disband the entire thing as a cosmic mistake, in my opinion. I see no possible way for the RCC to atone for the damage it has caused during its history.

I'm serious about this.

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