 |
|
|
|
 A victims' rights group is calling for an investigation of retired Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, shown here in 2002.
March 1st, 2011
03:42 PM ET
Organization alleges church official 'concealed child sex crimes'From Logan Burruss, CNN A victims' rights organization is calling for further investigation of a former archbishop of Philadelphia, claiming records show that he ignored and covered up sex crimes against children "from the earliest days of his career." The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) says documents obtained from an alleged victim in a Florida civil case show that authorities in Pennsylvania and New York should investigate retired Roman Catholic Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua. Bevilacqua, now 87 and reportedly in ill health, was one of the subjects of a two-year Philadelphia grand jury investigation that ended just two weeks ago. The grand jury - despite finding that there was "no doubt" Bevilacqua "endangered thousands of children in the Philadelphia Archdiocese" by his actions while archbishop - declined "for now" to press charges against him. CNN was unable to reach Bevilacqua for comment, and the Philadelphia Archdiocese refused comment. The documents the victims' organization obtained "essentially show that from the earliest days of his career, Bevilacqua has ignored and concealed child sex crimes," said David Clohessy, the group's national director. The documents indicate that while serving as an auxiliary bishop in Brooklyn, Bevilacqua knew of incidents involving a priest, failed to inform the authorities, and assisted in the priest's transfer from New York to St. Louis, Missouri. The former priest, Romano Ferraro, is now serving a life sentence for raping a child in Massachusetts. Monsignor Kieran Harrington, a spokesman for the Brooklyn Diocese, said the documents were released to Mike Mullen, the diocese's attorney in the Florida case, who included them in court filings. The Florida case against Ferraro stemmed from allegations of abuse during his time as a U.S. Navy chaplain in Key West. The case was dismissed in 2007 after the parties reached "an amicable settlement," according to Miami-Dade Circuit Court documents. The prosecuting attorney's office sent CNN multiple case documents, dated primarily to the 1970s and 1980s, including a letter from Bevilacqua to Ferraro's file in 1977, along with a document authorizing the release of these documents to the prosecuting attorneys. "Father Ferraro claims that his major problem is with boys 13 to 15 years of age," Bevilacqua wrote in the 1977 document, followed by a reference to a molestation accusation from Ferraro's time as a Navy chaplain. "The one in the Navy involved a 13 to 15 year old boy and it involved the incident of touching one boy in bed." Ferraro was also accused of grabbing "one of the young boys twice" and then trying "to engage 2 of the other boys to a conversation and discussion on their masturbatory practices," according to a handwritten letter which indicates that Bevilacqua received a copy. Harrington, however, insisted that Bevilacqua was not fully aware of Ferraro's behavior and acted in accordance with the policy on handling such situations at the time. "As soon as he realized the situation with Father Ferraro, the guy was taken out of ministry and the Archdiocese of St. Louis was made aware of that," Harrington told CNN. According to the documents released by prosecutors, Ferraro was placed in psychological treatment and transferred to St. Louis, where he was again accused of molesting boys. He was later denied any more positions within the Diocese of Brooklyn. The new information from these documents comes just two weeks after a Philadelphia grand jury report said the jurors had "no doubt" that Bevilacqua's "knowing and deliberate actions during his tenure as archbishop also endangered thousands of children in the Philadelphia Archdiocese." The grand jury did not press charges against Bevilacqua. "We cannot conclude that a successful prosecution can be brought against the cardinal - at least for the moment," the report said. But the grand jury report includes testimony that claimed Bevilacqua had insisted that the dismissal or resignation of priests accused of sexual misconduct be explained as matters of health, and that parishioners were not to be informed. While Bevilacqua was not charged, three priests and a parochial school teacher were charged with raping and assaulting boys in their care, while Monsignor William Lynn, a former top aide to Bevilacqua, was accused of allowing the abusive priests to have access to children. Lynn, who served as the secretary for clergy for Bevilacqua, was charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child in connection with the alleged assaults, Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams said earlier this month. From 1992 until 2004, Lynn was responsible for investigating reports that priests had sexually abused children, the district attorney's office said. The grand jury found that Lynn, 60, endangered children by knowingly allowing dangerous priests to continue in the ministry in roles in which they had access to kids. Lynn, who is out on bond, is set to be arraigned on the charges March 3. His attorney told CNN Lynn will plead not guilty. He also added that one of the charges, endangerment of a child, does not apply to Lynn as he is too high up of an official to have had direct contact with children, something he says a 2005 grand jury had recognized.
Next entry »My Take: Remembering the Rev. Peter Gomes
« Previous entryCatholic Church voices support for unions, to a point
|
  About this blog
The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
|
|
|
You all
we should come all together to bult a world without any religion
is it not enough to believe just in creator ??? why do you need intermediares to connect with your creator??
common guys you are powerful beings... take your power back and eliminate all this man made religion...religion is not god is not allah or whatever you want to call it RELIGION IS A BUSINESS... religion mission is to exploit your emotional system and tell you that you are less than you are.....BUT YOU ARE BIG AND POWERFUL BEINGS..TAKE YOUR POWER BACK AND DELETE RELIGIOUS DOGMA FROM YOUR BRAIN FOR EVER
See the verdict given by the International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State committed by vatican and heads of state re crimes against humanity.
http://itccs.org/2013/02/25/guilty/
Question? How come the truth about the residential schools are not being reported truthfully?, and why are the churches being protected by the Government? What's going on? and the police, Aren't they supposed to be upholding the law? Kevin Annett hasn't earned it yet, but should to be given the Nobel Prize for his work. I will never go into another church in my life ever again. They're sick
CatholicMom
Letsslowdownhere...,
YES!
Science is beautiful! Every time something new is discovered I am reminded how Jesus Christ promised to bring us into the fullness of His Truth as we can bear it! I hope I am ready for the next great discovery and wonder what it will be! Thank God for great scientists and God bless everyone!
Everyone? Does that include me, I am a protestant. I thought according to what I have seen you say many times, the other "ecclesial communities" aren't true and do not follow god. We are lost then?
Your popes have made a new rule, sometime back. Here it is, but it is not what Jesus said!
St. Augustine (354-430), Bishop and Doctor of the Church:
"No man can find salvation except in the Catholic Church. Outside the Catholic Church one can have everything except salvation. One can have honor, one can have sacraments, one can sing alleluia, one can answer amen, one can have faith in the Name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and preach it too, but never can one find salvation except in the Catholic Church."
St. Thomas Aquinas (1226-1274), "the Angelic Doctor" of the Church:
"There is no entering into salvation outside the Catholic Church, just as in the time of the Flood there was not salvation outside the Ark, which denotes the Church."
Convened by Innocent III in 1215, the Fourth Lateral, Council was the most important ecu=menical gathering up until that point in history. More than four hundred bishops and archbishops, eight hundred priors and abbots, and the ambassadors of Europe's kingdoms and cities were in attendance. 'lhe Council established the main elements of Catholic culture as it exists today, and among those elements is the resolute assertion that "There is indeed one universal church of the faithful outside of which nobody at all is saved, in which Jesus Christ is both priest and sacrifice." As a consequence, ecclesiastical authorities felt an even stronger need to call yen Jews and others.
A little over a decade after the Fourth Lateran Council, in 1231, Council Pope Gregory IX established the Inquisition.
Was Pope Gregory IX speaking infallibly for God, when he proclaimed "The pope is the lord and master of the Universe, things as well as people."?
In 1229, this same pope decreed that only ordained priests were allowed to read the Bible and two years later he began the Inquisition which lasted 600 years.
" Question : What relationship does the Catholic Church perceive to exist between itself and various Protestants (the baptized ones who still accept their faith)?
Answer : Validly baptized Protestants are regarded as true Christian brothers and sisters who are in imperfect relationship with the Church. The nature of the imperfections is as varied as Protestantism itself. The idea at work here is that the faith is an incarnational thing, not just a "spiritual" (disembodied) thing, just like Jesus himself. Thus, it is possible to be out of union with the Church "bodily" (structurally, sacramentally, liturgically), yet still have a spiritual unity with the Church. Likewise, it is possible to be "bodily" united to the Church yet cease to be in communion with her spiritually (as an apostate Catholic is if he keeps going to Communion yet rejects the creed or continues unrepentant in grave sin). The latter form of disunity with Church is more serious than the former." ( Mark P. Shea )
So, which is it?
Jesus said... To ALL people..
John 5:19-34;
"Then Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.
For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved” Romans 10:13.
Says nothing here about being a "member" of the Catholic (universal)Church.
Jesus spoke to the "universal" chuch, for all people, which is and "Catholic" is what it is defined as universal.
The thief on the cross, only asked forgiveness and acknowledged Jesus death on the cross, for himself. Jesus said, You shall be with me in Paradise this day.
Nowhere did it say, he was Catholic.
The quote attributed to Pope Gregory IX was made up by an evangelical protestant called Wayne Griffin. I suspect that most of the rest of your quotations are equally dodgy.
Letsslowdownhere said:
To the Christians here calling non-believers fools and throwing the 'you're going to hell' trump card around; this is exactly part of the problem which has given Christianity a bad name. Try to have more compassion for the fact these people are searching for answers. Why dont you, instead, hope that many of them become like C. S. Lewis (pretty smart guy), who thru an attempt to disprove the existance of God, came to the realization that it is hard not to believe the facts and logic supporting Him. (The book "Mere Christianity" is basically his thought process and findings). Why condem them for not understanding?! Why not hope and pray for the best for them and their families?! We Christians should all try harder to Love one another and encourage each other! By doing this we will be able to better demonstrate Jesus' Love for all of his people and as a result, more people will believe in his Truth
Kudos to you! Very well said!
gerald
YOu have no clue. What do you think confession is for simpleton
Wow! You are a follower of the church without spot, stain. or wrinkle? Yet you call people names, when you can't win an a debate?
You are what gives us Catholics a bad name! STOP, PLEASE!
Wow... both sides of the argument need some food for thought. To the atheists who say Christians as a whole are stupid and living in the Iron Age etc., there is no need for statements like that. I know you're smart therefore I know you recognize that, off the bat, statements like this only contradict your wisdom, fact and intelligence superiority argument. As a genuine request, look into the scientific research that the RCC is and has been doing and you will find that their scientific division works on the same cutting edge problems as non-Christian Scientists. Some atheists tend to forget, or do not know, that it was actually a Priest that first proposed the big bang theory. Please remember too that many of us do recognize science as being an instrument for understanding and describing the nature of the material plane, how it grows, changes, evolves etc. One must keep in mind, however, that science, AS WE KNOW IT, is nothing more than the information compiled as a result of our human effort in trying to understand what already exists. As our knowledge of what is 'real' changes, so does our science... our understanding of science is reactionary, so in many cases 'FACT' should really be interpreted as 'factual until proven otherwise.' Since we have not begun to fully understand all of science we cannot declare, without a shadow of a doubt, that 'fact' and 'science' disproves the existence of God. I hope with all my heart that you do find the truth that you are seeking. Do not settle for believing that you know all of the answers. I can tell you from a personal experience that the Love, Peace and Joy that only God through Jesus can give is truly wonderful and truly great to see them spread!
To the Christians here calling non-believers fools and throwing the 'you're going to hell' trump card around; this is exactly part of the problem which has given Christianity a bad name. Try to have more compassion for the fact these people are searching for answers. Why dont you, instead, hope that many of them become like C. S. Lewis (pretty smart guy), who thru an attempt to disprove the existance of God, came to the realization that it is hard not to believe the facts and logic supporting Him. (The book "Mere Christianity" is basically his thought process and findings). Why condem them for not understanding?! Why not hope and pray for the best for them and their families?! We Christians should all try harder to Love one another and encourage each other! By doing this we will be able to better demonstrate Jesus' Love for all of his people and as a result, more people will believe in his Truth.
Anywho... I hope you all have a great rest of your day!
Letsslowdownhere...,
YES!
Science is beautiful! Every time something new is discovered I am reminded how Jesus Christ promised to bring us into the fullness of His Truth as we can bear it! I hope I am ready for the next great discovery and wonder what it will be! Thank God for great scientists and God bless everyone!
Why do you assume that non believers are searching for anything.. we have found peace and love and are understanding the world via science, which is the best tool we have to do that. I could just as easily say that you are looking to be healed from your delusion and faith is one way of reaching out. The bible has no more "truth" than say Harry Potter.. you have no evidence that it is real.. just because you believe it to be so does not make it so. You notice that as science moves ahead religion is tying to take credit with obscure , ambiguous passages from the bible which in hindsight could be used to fit into any situation.
Doc,
You should acknowledge her acusation of lying by omission just as you want the Church to acknowledge it's faults. The advice given to the Church by the APA was to treat abuses with psychiatry. We know in hindsite this was bad advice. It does not prove a huge conspiracy. Neither does the moving of priests as priests are moved all the time. We do know there are SOME cases where the moves were due to abuse. However many of the moves that the Bishops are being accused of a coverup for were most likely not due to abuse. The Archdioces of Ireland seems to have had some coverup issues. Was their child abuse going on in the CC? Yes. What more do you want us to say.
@Gerald
I am curious to know when the American Psychiatric Association recommended that the RCC not report instances of abuse to the police.
The cases I cited involving moving priests to another parish do not include those moved for reasons other than being accused of impropriety.
And I all ready stated what the world would like the RCC to say – that all allegations of abuse will immediately and unreservedly be reported to local law enforcement.
In 1962, The Vatican relased the 'Crimen Sollicitationis', which outlined how the church is to handle accusations of se.xual impropriety against clergy.
The stickiest point for most people is that not only was the doc.ument itself Top Secret for decades, it explictly stated that anybody involved in this type of investigation, including the accuser and potential witnesses, are sworn to secrecy regarding any and all details, upon penalty of excommunication (a fate worse than death for the devout).
This preoccupation with secrecy significantly slowed the investigative process – the backlog of referrals to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for action against se.xually abusive priests is so large that it takes 18 months to get a reply.
According to the John Jay report, 918 of 1872 substantiated allegations of abuse (or 49%) were addressed by sending the priest off for psychaitric counselling and then moving him to another parish, with nary a whisper to law enforcement.
The Irish Commission to Inquire Into Child Abuse from 2009 came to the conclusion that ""the Dublin Archdiocese's pre-occupations in dealing with cases of child se.xual abuse, at least until the mid 1990s, were the maintenance of secrecy, the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the reputation of the Church, and the preservation of its as.sets. All other considerations, including the welfare of children and justice for victims, were subordinated to these priorities."
In summation: The Roman Catholic Church is guilty of criminal conspiracy. Until the Pope publically and unequivocably states that all allegations of abuse will immediately be referred to local law enforcement, the RCC will be viewed as an evil, predatory inst.itution by a large portion of the world.
Doc Vestibule,
If only you would give the whole truth…just your first sentence shows what you are about….let me finish the sentence for you…..
In 1962, the Vatican released the Crimen Sollicitationis which outlines how the Church is to handle accusations of s3xual impropriety against clergy which took place in the confessional. I hope everyone who wishes to read it seeks out the doc-ument on the Vatican website.
Think about how it would be for a teenage boy confessing that he is gay and has been acting on it and not wanting the world to know. Telling the priest all his sins…maybe lying about his gayness to family and classmates…amongst other sins, and then he learns that he is talking to a priest who is living the same life style….or the priest could be a pedophile and not the holy priest that most of us come in contact with in the confessional.
This doc-ument is to protect all of us who confess our sins in the confessional to a priest….
@CatholicMom
I recognize your accusation of lying by omission, but you haven't addressed the rest of the post. Do you believe the findings of the John Jay report and the Irish investigation?
Doc Vestibule,
The Church handled s3x abuse cases just the same way that our society did….get treatment for the abuser and then as-sume that the person was healed. No one discussed these crimes because they perpetrated every corner of our society, and afflicted many families; it was the ‘way’ society handled these crimes and the Church did not know what we know today….that these s3x offenders are not healed with the treatments available. If you think the procedures were inadequate you needed to be alive and working towards better ways in those days for better procedures to handle such crimes. But as it is, it has been in only a more recent history that we find these criminals are not healed by the standard procedures and so need to be taken out of society where they cannot continue to harm children. That seems to be the only means now known that helps save the children from these criminals from continuing in their crimes.
Matt 10: 16
"I am sending you (apostles/priests) out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves."
Obviously said pedophiliac priests got the "shrewd as snakes" part right but forgot about the "innocent as doves" part.
Of course, quoting Jesus is not always a good thing:
Actually, Jesus was a bit "touched". After all he thought he spoke to Satan, thought he changed water into wine, thought he raised Lazarus from the dead etc. In today's world, said Jesus would be declared legally insane.
Or did P, M, M, L and J simply make him into a first century magic-man via their epistles and gospels of semi-fiction? Most contemporary NT experts after thorough analyses of all the scriptures go with the latter magic-man conclusion with J's gospels being mostly fiction.-–
To steal a great quote from a great man. He's discussing the evidnence of man's history on the earth, which is estimated, at smallest, to be about 100,000 years
"..and for the first 96,000 years of this experience, heaven watches with folded arms, us go through all of this, with indifference, without pity, and then around 4,000 years ago decides ‘Gee, it's time to intervene’". And the best way of doing that would probably be around Bronze Age middle east, making appearances to stupefy illiterate peasants , which could then be passed on, the news would get to China around 1000 years after that –as if the Chinese weren't as worthy as the Galileans or Canaanites."
While not as eloquent as Mr. Hitchens, my contention would be this.
I find it rather odd that a being with an IQ of 8,000,000 would select a burning bush as the preferred method for communication.
"Most contemporary NT experts "
You should say most that you accept because this is simply and blantantly false if you consider all of Christianity.
Bobinator,
It has been quite clear all along that you do not have even human wisdom. You also fail to see the symbology in the burning bush and the great wealth of other symbols that God used to come down to man's level and teach. Ever tried to teach a child anything Bobinator? Apparently not.
@gerald,
Just curious, what is the symbology in the burning bush? I'm not familiar with that.
> It has been quite clear all along that you do not have even human wisdom.
So, let me get this straight. Because communicating through a burning bush is moronic, and it is, and because I don't accept this nonsense without evidence, I'm the one who is lacking wisdom. Right.
> You also fail to see the symbology in the burning bush and the great wealth of other symbols that God used to come down to man's level and teach.
You fail to see that God must be a horrible teacher. Tell me, how many different interpretations of the bible is there? Wouldn't that make God inept and bumbling? I mean really, if a perfect God ever inspired man to write a book, it would be unquestionable, not filled with moronic stories.
Explain this one Einstien. They story of Job. God and Satan have a bet, whether Job will curse God when all his favour is taken away from him. But wouldn't Satan know that God is all knowing and knows the result of the bet? And why would God see entertaining Satan's challenge at the expense of torturing a man as a reasonable thing to do.
Another story in the bible written by uneducated peasants that doesn't stand to even cursory scruitiny.
Where's your wisdom?
> Ever tried to teach a child anything Bobinator? Apparently not.
Yes I have. I use examples. I don't teach a child math by dressing up in a easter bunny costume and telling him/her "2+2=4"
I teach children concepts. I make them understand concepts that can be applied to their daily life. From your statement, you probably tell children things. There's a difference.
Nominus:
"the burning bush represents many things to Jews and Christians such as God's miraculous energy, sacred light, illumination, and the burning heart of purity, love and clarity. From a human standpoint, it also represents Moses' reverence and fear before the divine presence."
When people who have no clue say it doesn't represent anything they simply have no clue.
bobinator,
You are a fool.
bobinator – Ever heard of literary types, metaphore allegory? Maybe you read Moby Dick or an Asop's fable. Scritpure uses these types of things as well. Clearly you are rather ignorant of writing and your ignorance of God's way of teaching man only proves your ignorance of them.
@gerald,
Thanks for the info.
> Ever heard of literary types, metaphore allegory?
Why yes, yes I have. Have you ever heard of children learning math through metaphor? No? How about Science? No? History, Geography? No? How about Social Science, Law? No?
Why is this the case? Because it doesn't work. It's a stupid idea. Which means that your God is either a bumbling retard or the people writing the bible were uneducated peasents who didn't know any better.
> Maybe you read Moby Dick or an Asop's fable. Scritpure uses these types of things as well.
I think you're confused. A moral of a story is not equatable to a directive from God. You're not thinking this through.
> Clearly you are rather ignorant of writing and your ignorance of God's way of teaching man only proves your ignorance of them.
I'm not. I've read the bible. If God is real and the bible is accurate, God is a fool for leaving his message in the hands of metaphor instead of fact. And that's the reality of the situation. However, you don't accept anything that disagrees with your position. Closed mind I would say.
Bobinator,
You are a fool.
Is that because your magic book tells you so. I never attribute to malice what could be adequately explained by stupidity.
So I take no offense at your statement. 🙂
Bobinator, You are a fool.
There's the typical Christian response. "You don't believe in what I believe in for no good reason. You're a fool."
If not being gullible and willing to accept outlandish claims that are inconsistent and just plain stupid without evidence means I'm a fool, colour me a fool.
Enjoy your eternity in hell bobi.
By the way I haven't bothered to tell you why I believe in God. There are tons of reasons but I would be casting pearls. I'm sure you know what I mean.
God bless – he does, you just ignore him.
> Enjoy your eternity in hell bobi.
Enjoy wasting your only life on this planet on mindless nonsense.
> By the way I haven't bothered to tell you why I believe in God. There are tons of reasons but I would be casting pearls.
They're pearls to you, but to intelligent people who can reason, they're faulty. I have yet to see any reasonable and intelligent defense of a God.
> I'm sure you know what I mean.
I don't know what you mean. Mainly because I can't relate to someone with an IQ of 80. I can try and act dumb, but that doesn't help.
> God bless – he does, you just ignore him.
No, I see God for what it is. A human construct to make them feel better and deal with the fact that they'll die. A way so that they can feel they can get revenge for bad things that happen to them and a cover so that they don't have to face the reality that sometimes bad things happen for no reason.
That is to say, intellectual cowards.
lol... good one the truth.... Patriot, didn't realize God appointed you as spokesman for him! LOL (funny isn't it how so many people seem to speak on his behalf!)
@Dan..."Religion = an easy way to control and manipulate people with no effort!"
I'll give you another "equation" you can feel free to use at your leisure:
Religion = Giving hope to those living in a world torn apart by religion.
Cheers!
Dan, you don't know what your missing but you will.
Patriot, you don't know what the difference is between "your" and "you're," so I'm siding with Dan on this one.
Peace!
scary
Religion = an easy way to control and manipulate people with no effort!
Matthew 25:40 (New American Standard Bible)
40"The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'
And?
I just farted. Shooooo : )
God bless the catholic church and child rapists. How they still have followers is beyond me.
Yes and how we still have children in schools because there are child rapist teachers and how we still have kids in sports because there are child rapist coaches, that's all beyond me as well. And we should remove all children from homes because there are child rapist fathers and cousins and uncles.
Gerald... the difference is that the schools did not coverup the abuse, and teachers are fired and jailed as this comes to light...Your group felt they were above mans laws.. which is a common presence of religions.
Evolved,
Yes we always hear that is the difference. But the post I replied to indicates the issue is putting children where they might be molested. Not making sure perpetrators are put in jail. That is after the fact. Families and victims can present their evidence and get convictions just like they do at schools. The Church can't cover this up. Most of what people claim is the evidence of a cover up is that priests were moved. Well the fact is that ALL priests are moved around alot. Now there are cases where they seem to have been moved because of this issue and I would like to see those dealt with but they are a minority of the cases when you look at that facts.