One of the most read posts on this blog each week is one I wrote over two years ago about Dale Fushek, the founder of the Catholic youth program, LifeTeen. He was removed from ministry because of accusations of sexual misconduct, but started his own quasi-church. This led to his excommunication and, this week, his…
Amy Welborn reviews Phil Lawler’s book, The Faithful Departed, on the sexual abuse scandal in Boston. She also mentions a documentary, “The Sermons of Sister Jane,” about a nun’s efforts to bring to light sexual misconduct by Bishop Patrick Ziemann. A related story: John Allen looks at the question of why the Vatican is soft…
Vows of Silence, a documentary by Jason Berry on sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, focusing on the Legionaries of Christ.
Richard Sipe has written a letter to Pope Benedict XVI accusing Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of preying upon seminarians and young priests. This sexual aberration is not generated from the bottom up—that is only from unsuitable candidates—but from the top down—that is from the sexual behaviors of superiors, even bishops and cardinals. The problem facing us…
Lots of emotion in Boston (and in Dallas) in the wake of Benedict’s meeting yesterday with survivors of sexual abuse by priests. The 25-minute gathering, in a small chapel at the Embassy Row mansion that is the home of the pope’s US ambassador, came toward the close of the third straight day that the 81-year-old…
Today, without fanfare and behind closed doors, Pope Benedict XVI met with victims of sexual abuse by priests–something John Paul II never did. Michael Paulson, who reported much of the scandal from Boston, reports on this development in the Boston Globe. Pope Benedict XVI, in a dramatic move likely to alter forever the image of…
David Gibson on Ratzinger’s change of heart on clergy sexual abuse.
Rod Dreher has the latest fallout from Boston, linking to the Union-Leader and other sources. Fr. Thomas Coover is suing the diocese of Manchester and Bishop John McCormack (formerly an auxiliary bishop to Bernard Law of Boston); the diocese, on its part, “asked the court to dismiss the suit in August, claiming First Amendment infringements…
Richard John Neuhaus reviews Phil Lawler’s new book, The Faithful Departed: The Collapse of Boston’s Catholic Culture (my heading is taken from a statement from Chrysostom, cited by Fabian Bruskewitz endorsing Lawlor’s work, that “the road to hell is paved with the skulls of bishops”). One might suggest that the book is really two books,…
Fr. Marcial Maciel, the founder of the Legion of Christ, has died. Accusations of drug misuse and sexual abuse had dogged him for decades; the latter finally resulted in his removal by Pope Benedict XVI. Rod Dreher reports.
Julia Duin reports on a press conference at the National Press Club promoting Leon Podles’ book, Sacrilege.
Fr. Stephen Horn, pastor of St. Luke the Evangelist Catholic Church in Houston, has been removed by the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston following an investigation into accusations of sexual misconduct.
Over at Touchstone, S. M. Hutchens references Richard John Neuhaus’ dismissal of Lee Podles’ book, Sacrilege (which I reviewed here).
NPR story points out that religious orders have been spared much of the anger over cover-ups of sexual abuse of children–dioceses have born the brunt of the storm–but that is now changing, as the Eastern Province of the Dominicans is learning. Via Bishop Accountability.
Kathy Shaw maintains the Abuse Tracker blog at bishop-accountability.org. Links are posted to articles about sexual abuse by clergy across the faith spectrum. She’s sent a lot of traffic my way this week, having linked to my review on Lee Podle’s book, Sacrilege.
Update: I’ve posted this at my main webpage, The Oak Tree. Leon J. Podles, Sacrilege: Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church. Baltimore, MD: Crossland Press, 2008 It’s not a sin to be angry. This is evident from the scriptural injunction to “Be angry and sin not” (Eph. 4:26), as well as references to God being…
I’m still working on my review of Leon Podles’ book on sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, Sacrilege. It’s a book of both history and its interpretation. Why did it happen, and why did the bishops cover it up? Why have the bishops and the popes never expressed any anger toward abusers? He sees clericalism…
The National Catholic Register, a newspaper owned by the Legionaries of Christ, is complaining. It sees a difference in the number of papers who reported sexual abuse by priests vs. those who published a recent article about sexual abuse by teachers. It thinks someone is picking on the church. I’m reading another book about sexual…
Andrew Sullivan draws attention (again) to a member of the Giuliani camp who the mainstream media is continuing to ignore–Msgr. Alan Placa. He links to a commentary by Deal Hudson (and an update from Deal). Since 2002, Msgr. Alan Placa has worked for Rudy Giuliani as a consultant at Giuliani Partners. In 2003 a grand…
I’ve been reading Leon Podles’ book, Sacrilege, this weekend. I’m not done, and so this isn’t my review, but I need to vent a little. What I’m reading has made me angry–reminding me of people I knew and trusted, and of the institution I once trusted. I’ve just read a portion recounting the number of…
Msgr. Dale Fushek was a star in the Catholic world. He was pastor of St. Timothy’s Catholic Church in Mesa, vicar general of the diocese of Phoenix, and founder of LifeTeen, a popular program for teenagers used by Catholic churches around the nation. He’s been suspended from ministry for two years because of accusations of…
Patricia Snow of New Haven, CT, writes in First Things of the Catholic Church’s self-protection programs in the wake of the sexual abuse scandal. Instead of focusing on the reality of the problem–homosexual priests preying upon teenage boys, and the cover-ups by bishops–the Catholic Church has tried to say “everyone” is at risk and “anyone”…
Bishop Jerry Kicanas is the new Vice President of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. The Chicago Sun-Times reports (via SNAP). While rector of Mundelein Seminary in the 1990s, Bishop Gerald Kicanas says he knew about three reports of “sexual improprieties” against then-seminarian Daniel McCormack. Still, Kicanas supported McCormack’s ordination, he told the Sun-Times. “It…
US Catholic Bishops heard a preliminary report from John Jay College of Criminal Justice about the “causes and contexts” of the sexual abuse crisis yesterday. Research falls into six categories, Terry explained: a historical overview of social and political events since 1950; recruitment and seminary training; leadership; victimization; a clinical analysis using data from three…
Matt Abbott posts (with permission) a large chunk of the introduction to Leon Podles’ new book, Sacrilege: Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church. It’s a powerful statement of Podles’ journalistic journey, starting with his own physical abuse at the hands of a Christian Brother (he was punched in the face, and when he complained to…
The Catholic Bishops begin their annual meeting today in Baltimore. John Allen gives a preview. Most of the agenda will deal with internal matters. A much anticipated report on the “causes and context” of the sexual abuse crisis will attract the most attention, I suspect: Researchers from John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Fordham…
ABC reports: Guiliani Defends, Employs Priest Accused of Molesting Teens. It’s not a new story: AP October 4, CNA June 28, Salon June 22, Blog Feb 25. Giuliani continues to claim his high school pal has been “unjustly accused.” Msgr. Alan Placa was not only accused of molestation as a priest, but was also a…
Many Catholic apologists are pointing to the recent story about sexual abuse in public schools and crowing–“See, you can’t fault celibacy or anything else unique about the priesthood! Schools have the same problem!” But do they? Is it the same problem? AP reports 2,570 cases of teachers being removed for sex-related problems (out of 3,000,000…
Sexual Misconduct Plagues US Schools; AP Finds 2,500 Teachers Punished in 5 Years. Young people were the victims in at least 1,801 of the cases, and more than 80 percent of those were students. At least half the educators who were punished by their states also were convicted of crimes related to their misconduct. The…
Houston Press–Parish Predators: Trial Set in Molestation Case against Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. After three years of legal wrangling, a trial has been set in the case of four men who sued the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston for alleged negligence related to sexual abuse they suffered at a diocesan parish in the mid-1990s. The trial has been…
Advent Hope 
You must be logged in to post a comment.