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Retired New York Cardinal Egan retracts apology on Catholic priest sex abuseBy Laura Batchelor, CNN New York (CNN) - A decade after the sex abuse scandal that plagued the Catholic Church across the country, retired Cardinal Edward Egan has taken back his apology for how the church handled the issue. In an interview published this week in Connecticut Magazine, Egan denies any sex abuse happened under his watch in Bridgeport, Connecticut, or in New York. "I never had one of these sex abuse cases. ... Not one," he told the magazine. Referencing the apology he issued in 2002, Egan continued, "I should never have said that. I did say 'If we did anything wrong, I'm sorry,' but I don't think we did anything wrong." The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests responded with a press release saying Egan was "unrepentant, self-absorbed and painfully dismissive of the abject suffering of tens of thousands." "Most bishops have a dreadfully skewed and self-serving view of the crisis," the release said. "But most work very hard to conceal it." Egan successor as archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan, spoke briefly on the matter at a news conference in the city Wednesday. "I'm not familiar with the extent of the interview, but all I know is I'm grateful for what Cardinal Egan did here," he told reporters. Brian Wallace, director of communication of the Bridgeport diocese, where Egan was bishop from 1988 to 2000, told CNN, "If there is one thing Catholics agree on, (it) is the abhorrence of child abuse, any form, and the need to make sure that it doesn't happen again." The timing of Egan's comment coincides with the Vatican's four-day summit on the sex abuse scandal, titled "Towards Healing and Renewal." CNN's senior Vatican analyst, John L. Allen Jr., says the attitude behind Egan's denial was in fashion 10 years ago but has been abandoned. "Based upon this week's Vatican summit on sex abuse, the position that Egan expresses in the interview would not be in line with the positions of the Catholic Church," Allen said. Egan also denied the church has a responsibly to report cases of abuse, telling Connecticut Magazine, "There really wasn't much in the way of (things being kept) hidden. I don't think even now you're obligated to report (abuse cases) in Connecticut." That contrasts with a statement at this week's summit by the Vatican's chief prosecutor of sex abuse, who said the church has an obligation to report sex abuse. "Egan is stuck in a mind set that just isn't the case any more," Allen said. And Wallace told CNN, "We know the abuse was real and it happened. Catholics are united and it won't happen again." |
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@Credenza
Your position is that the Catholic Church hasn't done anything wrong because the individual abusers used their free will to abuse children. Recently, a school in California closed its doors after two teachers there were convicted of child abuse. When a school has a child abuser on its hands, the school board and administrators invite law enforcement and investigation. If the school did not do everything in their power to stop such abuses, they would be complicit in the crimes–so they cooperate in rooting out the individuals AND the problem.
The RCC hasn't done all it could to stop child abuse; they're complicit. Your assertion that the RCC is not to blame is sickening; however, your remarks are symptomatic of the entire power structure. As long as the RCC has supporters like you, it will continue to shift blame and deny involvement. The RCC's continual refusal to investigate the issue and bring an end to child abuse within their organization shows just how little they care for children and for the world–or for how normal people view an organization who demonstrates such wide-scale disgusting behavior.
Kudos to The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests!!
Keep up the good work.
SNAP started as a a good idea with good intentions, but it's turned into just another money making business just like the lawyers out there coaching people to making outrageous and in many cases, false claims just to make a buck. This is not to say crimes were not committed, and those should be prosecuted. But so should the fraudulent claimants along with those that enabled and encouraged the fraud.
re kenintexas .... the Vianney Renewal Center in Dittmer, Missouri started as good idea...... but i guess creating a country club for ped preists isnt about money.... about denial?
Cardinal, regardless of what you say, if there is a God and he is Omniscient, you are in seriously deep dodo. You did not protect the sheep. You invited the wolves in to feast on them and moved them to new flocks when they were discovered. Iwonder what the Good Shepherd will say to you on judgement day?
Tax the churches.
They should pay taxes, just like us little people.
amen
Go look any long term organization and check out all the skeletons in their closet.
Pointing to the Catholic Church as an exception is just religious persecution.
Wow. Really? Can you point to any other organizations that systematically, globally, and for decades routinely covered up heinous crimes and implicitly allowed the abuse of children? I mean, I can think of a few organizations, but they're pretty much limited to militias in third world countries.
so are catholic priest part of an organization pf are they men of God?
The Christian Church has fallen on hard times. The leadership of the Church – Protestant and Catholic – is shot through with corruption. The best Christians are all in the pews.
I disagree with you. The best christians have abandoned the pews and followed their consciences instead. There the Holy Spirit can work in the hearts of people, unimpeded by the arrogance and hypocrisy of church teachings and teachers/priests.
Leprechauns are far far more reliable. Plus they have lots of gold to boot.
"If there is one thing Catholics agree on, (it) is the abhorrence of child abuse, any form, and the need to make sure that it doesn't happen again."
If there is one thing Catholic abusers and those that may have to deal with the the fall out agree on, (it) is the abhorrence of being caught abusing children and the need to make sure they don't get caught again.
Oh and by the way, you lay people who have a problem with child abuse, go screw yourselves. The church of St. Peter, the only true church, is infalable . . .
I'm ashamed that I was ever a catholic.
Why? The degenerate members of the clergy and those who covered it up used their free will to do the dreadful things they did to children. THEY did it. There was NO directive from the Church to do it.
The Catholic FAITH doesn't change. Some of the people in it are a downright disgrace but to deny my faith because of them????? NO WAY.
Jesus was quite explicit when he said that if anyone gives scandal to little ones, it would be better if they were thrown into the millpond with a millstone round their necks. THAT is part of our faith. So is the gift of free will. God gave us that with the 10 Commandments as guides for living. They have to face HIM.
the second problem is that the catholics protect their "religion" at the expense of the little ones ...
Don't be ashamed Sean, be glad you are not supporting them with your money anymore. Here is the bottom line. If someone supports the church with money and the Church remains unrepentent (which is obvious from the article above), then they too are participating in abusing children too. One way to stop the crime is to dry up the funds.
Don't be ashamed Sean, just be glad you are not supporting them with your money. Here is the bottom line. If someone supports the church with money and the Church remains unrepentent (which is obvious from the article above), then they too are participating in abusing children too. One way to stop the crime is to dry up the funds.
DO NOT BE ASHAMED. Be proud that you escaped from the mental slavery that religion is.
It saddens me that so few people can see that the church has become the anti-christ.
Sister Lucy, one of the 3 children to whom Our Lady appeared to in Fatima died recently aged 93. Some years ago she said that within the Church there is an element that is using , I quote "Diabolical disorientation" to destroy the Church from within. This scandal is all part and parcel of that.
In the world at large AND within some parts of the Church, Satan has never had it so easy. Let's face it, todays world makes Sodom and Gommorah look like a bunch of sissies and look what hapened to them!. But Jesus promised that the gates of hell will NOT prevail against His church.
Edward Egan is a COWARD, plain and simple. He waited until he retired to recant something that ultimately HE chose to say in the first place; coerced or un-coerced by his superiors in Rome (only a milquetoast ecclesiastic could be coerced to such).
Conversely, he could have also recanted his insincere "apology" days, weeks or months after he said it (well before retiring).
Yet, it is his own self interest and fear of the vatican that prevented him from saying what he really thought/felt – and it is this same self aggrandizing motivation to preserve his tainted "legacy" that has lead to him reneging now via this revisionist attempt at perception shaping for the masses (probably hoping he could cull a bit of the same vacuous sympathy as the late Joe Paterno did from a few misguided loyalists after his own woeful dereliction of duty).
Whether or not he was complicit in the ills (or the subsequent cover up) of pedophile preist – directly or indirectly – under his aegis is somewhat trivial at this point. In the end, however, Egan can at least take some credit for one positive that his weak excuse for spin control has wrought . . . the sad fact that his tenure at St. Patrick's Cathedral has reminded the world that Edmond Burke was right: "all that is required for evil to prosper is for good people to do nothing."
"I should never have said that. I did say 'If we did anything wrong, I'm sorry,' but I don't think we did anything wrong." ... I never said that ra.ping a child is wrong... What is wrong with this guy?
Thanks Egan for yet another confirmation for me that I made the right decision in rejecting Catholicism for Humanism. Thank you.
Me too. When the churches are led by sociopaths and others too cowardly and self-serving to hold them accountable, then organized religion will not get you to God or to good. I find the "to each his own path to God" to be more fundamentally moral.
Another reason why we should not trust the men who are in charge of the Catholic church. They can't even be honest when they are saying they are sorry.
Yes, well...... there is a difference in saying that you are truly sorry verses saying that you are sorry that you got caught. It has something to do with humility and repentence, but apparently the "good" Cardinal forgot that part of the theology he has studies and taught for so long.
Would someone please explain to me how I, a "godless athiest" understands that child molestation is wrong but people who run a church don't get it??
Because morality is no longer necessarily connected to religion. I've found that Humanists are more ethical in general. That hit home to me especially when I saw so many "Christians" enthusiastically supporting the unnecessary, lie-based, torture-laden, trillion dollar Iraq holocaust.
Because these church people are too worried about their futures – and protecting their own interests.
A trivial matter, like child abuse, is not going to get in the way of their tax-exempt funds.
Um, you are moral and they are amoral??
More proof that this is NOT the Church Christ started, but a darker, more sinister copy, meant to draw men away from the truth.
The problem with some people is that they don't know when to stop talking.
i bet his has packed some serious fudge in his lifetime.
The cardinal is still subject to the authority of the civil officials, and should behave accordingly.
In such a matter he is NOT the judge. Far from it.
A senile priest more interested in his legacy than anything else.
This guy sounds like the pope.