The relic hunter is a pedophile and a sexual predator

I will not be using a Facebook anymore after the relic hunter and book writer was exposed of his modus operandi of luring young men as altar servers or followers of his "relic" ministry.

I have verified information of the number of young men he has sexually abused in the Diocese of Cubao, in the school and parish.  I have verified information of what he did while he was in the USA, asking relics from different postulators since, according to him, the Servant of God is his "model and inspiration" which are all a ruse to build up his massive collection of relics.

Speaking of relics, lay people are not granted the privilege to own first class relics!

NEVER!

Only priests and religious are given this privilege and ONLY a bishop can write to the postulator of a saint to request a first class relic.

So, it confirms our long held suspicion that this relic collected stole diocesan letterheads and faked the signature of the bishop in order to get the relics he has.  OR the relics he possesses are either stolen or FAKE as shared to us be reliable sources inside the Dioceses where he had been.  Couple of priests and workers of the Chancery have relayed this story to us.

So, beware of this RELIC HUNTER - SEXUAL PREDATOR!

He is a disgrace to the Church!

Stay away from him and never be fooled by his other name - BLESSED IVAN.

My Facebook account attacked by a homosexual predator in the Church!

We have criticized Islam, Protestants, Modernists and contraceptive/abortion advocates but NEVER has our Facebook account been deactivated only until I gathered evidence and started questioning this high profile RELIC THIEF who is confirmed to have sexually abused young men altar servers who are serving at the Cathedral of his former diocese.

We will not be silenced Mr. Vice Postulator!'

You have met your match!

You can keep talking about being the Vice Postulator of Blessed Ivan.  You can keep selling your book about relics.  But the fact remains that you have been jumping from one seminary after another.  You have faked the signature of bishops and illegally used the Chancery letterheads to secure for yourself first class relics.

And you cannot deny the fact the you are psychologically unfit to become an ordained minister of the Church because your carnal desires for young men is insatiable!

You are the FILTH of the Church which Pope Benedict spoke about!

You will be brought to justice for using the Church and the Sacred Liturgy as your window of opportunity to take advantage of young men!

Let the bishops, priests, religious and laity be warned against this individual!

PS:  To our Facebook followers, while we work on recovering our Facebook account, you can send your messages via our email account thepinoycatholic@gmail.com

Crimes in the Vatican rising! Mainstream media bias, as usual.

Pray hard for the Eternal City.  Satan is not resting.

Taken from this site.


***

The Vatican’s chief prosecutor says the city state is experiencing a rise in crime, including drug trafficking, child pornography and money laundering. [Uh-oh...]


Gian Piero Miliano made the remarks while presenting a report on criminal activity and judicial work in the Vatican City last year.

Miliano said authorities were taking action against pedophilia with two cases of possession of child pornographic material being investigated in the Vatican City, which is a sovereign state within the Italian capital of Rome and holds a population of 842 people.

The prosecutor did not identify those accused in the cases; however, the Holy See spokesman Federico Lombardi named disgraced former Ambassador Josef Wesolowski as one of the accused.  [He has been laicized.  See here.]

Wesolowski lost his diplomatic immunity last year after being convicted by a church tribunal of abusing young boys while being an envoy to the Dominican Republic. The former Polish archbishop had more than 100,000 child porn files on his computer, with another 45,000 images deleted.

Wesolowski is currently awaiting trial at the Vatican in what will be the first sex abuse trial ever held at the Holy See.  [Ingat ingat kayong nandiyan sa diocese of......(north of Manila)]


Drugs and money laundering

In addition, Miliano, the chief prosecutor, said Vatican authorities intercepted three drug deliveries last year, including a packet containing 340 grams of cocaine, with a street value of 44 million euros.

Miliano said the Vatican City is also fighting money laundering, including five alleged cases reported to the court by the Financial Intelligence Authority.

Earlier this year, Vatican’s chief accountant, Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, was arrested for allegedly using his Vatican bank accounts to launder 20 million euros.

The Roman Catholic Church has been hit by numerous scandals in the past few years, involving allegations of covering up the sexual abuse of children by priests to protect pedophiles and the reputation of the Church.

More than 4,000 priests in the United States have reportedly faced sexual abuse allegations since the 1950s in cases involving more than 10,000 children.

Pope Francis, who was appointed [what?!  not elected?!] in 2013 with a mandate to overhaul the Vatican, has warned that there will be “no privileges” for bishops when it comes to child sex offenses. The pontiff also promised more action in response to accusations of cover-up and excessive leniency by the Vatican.

***

The reforms set in motion by Benedict XVI are being continued by Francis.

The Church is continuously under attack and Satan sets his evil gaze upon the shepherds of God's flock.

But also remember this: the Church is not the only one beset by child abuse and money laundering cases.  The US Public School System is the biggest single institution in the US to have this problem.  See here and here.  In fact, other religions have similar problems but are not reported by the media.

And here is graphic from the Associated Press that the mainstream media would NEVER ever report.

BREAKING NEWS: Conservative Opus Dei bishop removed by Pope Francis!

Read the entire article before you react.

***


(Reuters) - Pope Francis has dismissed a Paraguayan bishop accused of protecting a priest suspected of sexually abusing young people, the Vatican said on Thursday.

The sacking followed a Vatican investigation of the bishop, the diocese and its seminaries, said the statement, which gave no details.

Vatican sources said the bishop had refused to resign after the investigation and reports of irregularities in his diocese and clashes between the conservative Livieres Plano and other bishops in the country. [The reporter makes it appear that the sacking is caused by two things one of them is Plano IS conservative.]

The Argentinian-born pontiff has vowed zero tolerance of clerics who abuse minors, after church scandals in several countries over many years. Last May, Francis called such abuse an "ugly crime" and likened it to "a Satanic mass".

The Ciudad del Este diocese said in a statement that accusations that he lacked unity with the other bishops of Paraguay were "unfounded" but that he would obey the pope's order. The diocese's statement did not mention the allegations that he had protected the priest accused of sexual abuse.

The Vatican's ambassador in Paraguay, Archbishop Eliseo Ariotti, told reporters in the capital Asuncion it would be up to the new administrator of the diocese to make decisions regarding the priest accused of sexual abuse.

Ariotti said that as part of the disciplinary procedure against Livieres Plano, the bishop would not be allowed to say mass in public but only in private.

According to reports in Catholic media while the Vatican investigation was in progress, Livieres Plano had promoted a priest accused of sexual abuse while serving in the United States.

CONSERVATIVE

Livieres Plano had defended both himself and the priest, saying the charges were unfounded, Catholic media have reported.

The bishop was a member of the conservative Roman Catholic group Opus Dei and often clashed with more liberal clerics, according to the reports.

The Vatican said Pope Francis had taken the "onerous decision" to remove Livieres Plano after careful examination of the results of the Vatican investigation.

SNAP, a U.S.-based victims' group which has often called on the Vatican to discipline bishops suspected of covering up abuse, said it was "encouraged" by the move. It said Livieres Plano had "protected and promoted a credibly accused sex offender cleric".

BishopAccountability.org, a U.S. resource center on sexual abuse in the church, called the move "bold" but said the Vatican should say if he had been "fired primarily because of his wanton disregard for the safety of young people" or because of his divisive behavior in his diocese. [They have a point.]

The dismissal of the Paraguayan bishop came two days after the pope approved the arrest in the Vatican of a former archbishop accused of paying for sex with children while he was a papal ambassador in the Dominican Republic.


***

Pray for our bishops.  Stop making them into soap opera stars.

They are not.

They are pastors.  And they must be pastoring, not crying on TV or talking in every retreat or forum.

Get it?

So.....the pope is out to sack incompetent bishops or bishops who transfer erring priests, eh?

I have some dioceses in mind here in the Philippines.

Here in Metro Manila, we have......

***

UPDATE:  6:30PM

It seems observers are seeing the deep reason for the "firing"

Livieres was named bishop of Ciudad del Este in 2004 and immediately disturbed other more progressive bishops in Paraguay by opening his own seminary, following a more orthodox line than the main seminary in the capital, Asuncion. Paraguay's bishops are known for their progressive bent in a poor country where liberation theology found fertile ground.

Relations between Livieres and the rest of Paraguay's bishops worsened when he got into a public spat with the then-archbishop of Asuncion, whom he accused of being gay.

....


There was no reference in the Vatican statement that Livieres' removal had anything to do with Urrutigoity. [A priest accused of sex abuse but the bishop accepted in his diocese.] Rather, the Vatican spoke of the need to maintain unity among Paraguay's bishops, suggesting that political and ideological issues were of far greater concern to Rome and that Urrutigoity's past was a secondary factor.

As a result, the removal underscored the deep ideological shift in the Catholic Church with Francis in charge. Vatican watchers say it is highly unlikely that Pope Benedict XVI would have removed either Livieres or the "bling bishop," since both had strong supporters among the more conservative prelates in Rome who appreciated their firm orthodoxy in the face of opposition from more progressive parts of the church.

Urrutigoity had been a member of the schismatic, traditionalist Society of St. Pius X. After leaving the society, he joined the Scranton diocese, where he founded a priestly society where the pre-Vatican II old Latin Mass was celebrated. In 2004, Scranton Bishop Joseph Martino suppressed the society, citing financial instability and allegations of sexual misconduct against Urrutigoity.

And the bishop does this.

 

Network of victims of clerical sex abuse endorses Cardinal...

TAGLE!!!

***

The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) has issued a list of three prelates the group regards as “promising” candidates for the papacy: Cardinals Luis Tagle of Manila and Christian Schönborn of Vienna, and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin.

SNAP, which has mounted an energetic media campaign in Rome during the sede vacante period, has been persistently critical of prelates who, in the opinion of the group’s leaders, have not been sufficiently aggressive in eliminating abusive priests from the Catholic clergy. The group had previously issued a statement condemning a “dirty dozen” cardinals who, SNAP said, should not be regarded as suitable candidates for the papacy: Cardinals Tarcisio Bertone, the Secretary of State; Timothy Dolan of New York; Dominik Duka of Prague; Sean O'Malley of Boston; Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops; George Pell of Sydney; Norberto Rivera Carrera of Mexico City; Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa; Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congegation for the Eastern Churches; Angelo Scola of Milan; Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace; and Donald Wuerl of Washington, DC.

***

After it was revealed that some accusations are complete fabrications against some priests and bishops, and after it was also revealed that the lawyer of SNAP was just out to get money, it was downhill for me for them.

Makes me wonder...how did they get to their decision to endorse a certain cardinal?  Do they know how one actually handled a sex abuse case?

How will they endorse one cardinal who actually DID NOTHING???

As it looks, I have no idea how they judged a cardinal as promising in handling sex abuse cases, when in fact, and this is privileged information, I know those who handled these cases properly and YET they are not named Cardinals!

Cardinal Mahony asked to stay home and not join the conclave

From the Washington Post

No copyright infringement intended.

Just a simple blog post.

Duh!


***

VATICAN CITY — The controversy over Cardinal Roger Mahony’s vote in the conclave that will elect a new pope has now reached the Vatican, [uh-oh!] with at least one cardinal musing aloud that the former archbishop of Los Angeles should consider staying home.  [he'd better be!]

Mahony, who led the nation’s largest archdiocese from 1985 to 2011, has been accused of hiding sexual abuse by priests and was recently sidelined by current Archbishop Jose Gomez.  [Last I read, he'd be asked to appear in court!]

Gomez announced that Mahony would no longer have any “administrative or public duties” after a court-ordered release of 14,000 pages of internal church records showed Mahony and others actively tried to shield abusive priests from prosecution. Gomez called the records “brutal and painful reading.”  [Oh yeah, they were.  I read some of them.  Very graphic of how these predators attacked their helpless victims.  FYI, there was a nun!]

Nonetheless, the 76-year old cardinal remains a bishop” in good standing” and retains the right to vote for the future pope until he reaches age 80. Gomez has since said he supports Mahony’s vote in the conclave. [Hope, Pope Benedict XVI strips him of his red hat!]

On Monday (Feb. 18) Italy’s main weekly, the Catholic magazine Famiglia Cristiana, put the so-called “Mahony affair” on the home page of its website, quoting the petition by left-leaning group Catholic United calling the prelate to “stay home.”

The magazine also asked its readers to share their thoughts on whether Mahony should attend the conclave. Within hours, the magazine received hundreds of answers via its website, overwhelmingly asking the cardinal not to come to Rome.

“Cardinal Mahony should not only stay home from the conclave but retire to a life of prayer in a monastery,” read one typical comment. “It seems inconceivable to me that he doesn’t feel the moral duty to abstain from the conclave,” read another.

By Tuesday, Mahony’s case was on the front page of most of the main Italian newspapers, prompting the first reactions from within the Vatican.

In an interview with the daily La Repubblica, Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, the former head of the Vatican’s Prefecture for Economic Affairs and the pope’s envoy charged with reforming the disgraced Legionaries of Christ, said that “it will be up to (Mahony’s) conscience to decide whether to take part or not.”  [I think his conscience dictates otherwise.  If he can turn a blind eye to the abuses before, what makes him think he is not worthy of a spot in the Sistine Chapel?]

De Paolis stressed that there is no formal procedure to stop Mahony from attending the conclave. [There is!  The Pope can take away his cardinatial title thus Mahony's right to vote!]

“The common practice is to use persuasion. There is no more that can be done. Cardinal Mahony has the right and duty to take part,” he said. “This is a troubling situation but the rules must be followed.”  [Cardinal Ratzinger, then Cardinal Dean, advised then a very ill Cardinal Sin to stay home and not join the conclave.  Why not Mahony?  He is a lightning rod of controversy!]

According to De Paolis, only “someone with great authority” could advise “through a private intervention” that the retired Mahony not take part. [ So that would be the pope, the Cardinal Dean (Sodano) and the Cardinal Camerlengo (Bertone).]

On Tuesday, the Italian news agency ANSA quoted Bishop Gianfranco Girotti, a former No. 3 official at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, as saying that “if his presence creates difficulties or embarrassment, then I think it could be opportune to renounce.” [Embarassment is an understatement.]

“But the decision is up to him and his conscience,” Girotti added.

La Caramella Buona, an Italian group for victims of sexual abuse, also called on Mahony not to attend the conclave.

But in a Monday tweet, Mahony signaled his resolve to come to Rome. “Count-down to the Papal Conclave has begun. Your prayers needed that we elect the best Pope for today and tomorrow’s Church,” Mahony wrote.  [He is calloused.  In Filipino "Kapal mo tsong!"]

The tweet sparked dozens of reactions online, with Twitter users calling his decision “shameful.” 

‘’Please recuse yourself for the good of the Church,” asked @bobshineproblem.

In a Monday post on his blog, Mahony also discussed the difficulty of “never rationalizing what is happening in our lives, never protesting misunderstandings, and never getting angry because of false accusations.”

“That is so difficult for us human beings. It is certainly difficult for me on my journey,” he added.

***

If it were difficult for him, then the humane thing to do is to follow the Pope's example.

Retire to a life of prayer and silence.....hidden from the world.

Well, not like the Pope, he has to face the wheels of justice.

Cardinal Mahony: Epitome of Incompetency

In the light of what was done to Cardinal Mahony by Archbishop Gomez of LA, I was planning to write a post about this until I read this post from a priest from LA.

So I though, well, what the heck!  He hit it right on the head!

Killer line:

Cardinal Mahony seems to have misunderstood the nature and identity of the Catholic priesthood. He seems to have managed the Church more as a civic organization than the Bride of Christ. And this is why even the Los Angeles Times finds his behavior indefensible. Everyone, even the Church’s enemies, expect the Catholic Church to act like the Catholic Church.

Even the secular media, who used to be his darling, is ganging up on him!

FYI, Cardinal Mahony is one of the major of a failure of appointments of Bl. John Paul when he was pope and how he just let this loose canon run wild.

He had more time criticizing Mother Angelica and went at great lengths to the Vatican, going office to office, finding a way to censure the cloistered nun of EWTN.

While he let the pedophile priest run wild preying on innocent children!

Take the red hat off of him and send him to a monastery!

No wonder most of his critics call him Cardinal Baloney.

Thanks to the liberal theology and attitude of Vatican II hijackers, we have this problem in the Church..............and we have Cardinal Mahony.


***

PS:  I know of a Filipino cardinal who.....................Never mind.

The double life of some priests

In continuing our post about the problem of some priests...most of them WE SEE ON TV everyday or every week!   Honestly, nothing against Fr. Glenn Paul Gomez, SVD but how he celebrates the Mass is really CRASS!  Good Lord, that guy must just sell DVDs at Quiapo and Greenhills!  Evangelical pastors would look like Greek Orthodox eparchs with his kind attitude during the Holy Mass!  Ugh!

But back on the topic...

Here we have an article, published a year ago by the National Catholic Register....not Reporter aka FISHWRAP, about the problem of Priestly Narcissism and how it is indicative of a doouble life of a priest.  Not the Bruce Wayne or Peter Parker double life kind of thing.

More like John in the morning and Johanna at night?

What do you think?

Joke.

***

OTTAWA - Despite the many cases in recent years of unfaithful priests, an expert on sexual abuse and pornography predicts a future with a “much healthier Church and healthier priests.”

Peter Kleponis is a Pennsylvania psychologist who has counselled priests who sexually abused minors as well as men addicted to pornography, his specialty. He says the Church has gone through a painful phase and, although “it’s not over yet,” there is reason for optimism.

“There is hope. There is change,” said Kleponis. But, he adds, “there is still more purification and purging that needs to be done.”

Kleponis made his remarks while discussing the case of Bishop Raymond Lahey, who received a 15-month jail sentence after pleading guilty to importing child pornography. At his sentencing hearing, a forensic psychiatrist testified that Lahey had been involved in a “number of one-night stands” before entering a 10-year relationship with a man. Kleponis and other experts who have worked with troubled priests believe the double lives they lead might partly be explained by narcissism.

“What causes a man to maintain this kind of double life for so long is basic narcissism, the idea that I’m entitled to this, I can do whatever I want; if I want to lead a double life I’ll have a double life,” said Kleponis.  [Too much attention?]

Narcissism can grow as priests climb the ladder and become bishops, regarding themselves as a Prince of the Church who is above everything, he said.  [Uhm... What do you think?  Not all those who rise from the ranks are like that.  Some, I know one, newly ordained.  Not even a decade as a priest.  When he acts, he is like a Cardinal already!]

“Narcissism is very common in addicts, because even though they know what they are doing is bad, and know it is wrong, they decide, ‘I’m going to do it anyway,’ ” Kleponis said from his office at the Institute for Marital Healing, a private Catholic practice, in West Conshohocken, Penn., where he works with colleague Dr. Richard Fitzgibbons, a psychiatrist who is a consulter to the Congregation for Clergy in the Vatican.

“Our clinical experience in treating large numbers of seminarians, priests and religious for over 35 years has demonstrated a direct link between unresolved anger from childhood and later rebellion against the Church’s teachings on sexual morality and sexual acting out,” wrote Kleponis and Fitzgibbons in the August 2011 issue of the Linacre Quarterly, the journal of the Catholic Medical Association in the United States.  [Sounds like what liberal seminary formators and faculty call "normal" in the book, Goodbye Good Men.]

“Some men are more susceptible to sexual temptations because they suffer from psychological conflicts of loneliness and sadness, weaknesses in male confidence, excessive anger, anxiety, selfishness and/or having a history of childhood sexual abuse,” they wrote.  [And the pseudo-psychiatrist, like a priest or nun who just took up a book, and even the closeted homosexual seminary staff, would tell the seminarian that it is "OK" to act it out.]

Fitzgibbons, who wrote an open letter to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2002 at the height of that country’s sexual abuse crisis, said at the time that those treating priests who engaged in pedophilia or ephebophilia observed they “almost without exception suffered from a denial of sin in their lives.”  [Isn't denying what is wrong, immoral and sinful the lines of liberals and those who hate the Church?  "Accept the love. Stop the hate."  that is the motto of the homosexual movement against the Church and the Pope.]

“They were also unwilling to admit and address the profound emotional pain they experienced in childhood of loneliness, often in the father relationship, peer rejection, lack of male confidence, poor body image, sadness and anger,” Fitzgibbons wrote, noting the anger was often directed at the Church, the Holy Father and religious authorities.  [And most of the liberals and aging priests and angry feminist nuns have this common problem!]

Richard Sipe, who spent 18 years as a Benedictine monk and priest and has authored eight books on clerical celibacy and/or the clerical sexual abuse crisis, said cases such as Lahey’s did not surprise him.

“It’s very easy for priests as they move up in administrative levels to establish a sexual life,” Sipe said from his office in La Jolla, Calif.

Los Angeles Bishop Gabino Zavala is one clergy who led a double life, fathering two children. 
Experts say narcissism can partially explain such behaviour.- CNS photo

Those double lives can be either homosexual or heterosexual, he stressed, noting the recent resignation of Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala after revelations he had fathered two children.

A myth has been perpetrated that priests and bishops do not have sexual lives, Sipe said.

“There are volumes of case histories that record this kind of behaviour,” he said.

“Sometimes it lasts for a long period of time, even a lifetime of the priest or bishop, sometimes it’s a serial monogamy that a priest or a bishop will have a relationship with a woman or a man for three to five years and go to someone else.”

During the 1970s and earlier, before being “out of the closet” was socially acceptable, some men went into the priesthood so no one would ever ask them why they never married, said Kleponis. In the 1970s, there was more homosexual activity going on in seminaries than there is now, and some men who became sexually active with other men in seminary continued to remain so after ordination. Some became seminary rectors, he said.  [I know someone North of Manila.   Oops!  hehe.....and some place else....hehehe]

As for the future, Kleponis is not finding this tendency to run away from or hide one’s sexuality is as prevalent in priests 50 and younger, he said.

“Younger seminarians are there because they feel it’s a vocation, they are not there to hide their sexuality and have no intent of leading a double-life.” This is true both of men with heterosexual orientation as well as those who struggle with same-sex attraction.

Sipe said more needs to be done to train priests on how to live out their celibate vows successfully. [Not how to experience and express the repressed tendencies like what the liberals teach the seminarians!] Though he received a dispensation to marry, he said celibacy is a wonderful gift to the Church, but secrecy and cover-up over failures needs to be replaced with a full understanding of human sexuality and ways to live a celibate lifestyle in a spiritually fruitful and successful way.

Canon lawyer Fr. Francis Morrisey, who has advised the Catholic Church in Canada on the sexual abuse crisis, when asked if Lahey’s kind of double life is common, answered: “I certainly hope not.”

“Oftentimes, provincials or superiors are the last persons to know what’s going on,” he said. “Normally, let’s say somebody’s leading a double life, he is not going to tell his boss what he’s doing.

“We’re probably dealing with a psychological issue,” Morrisey said, adding that he hoped Lahey would get the assistance he needs to “address his issues.”

Morrisey said that most Catholics were shocked by the revelations.

“I’m just hoping the Holy See will be able to address this situation rather quickly so it’s not left hanging and Bishop Lahey will be able to get on with his life.”  [I seriously doubt he could get back with his old job.]

Lahey applied for laicization a year ago, his lawyer told the court, and removal from the clerical state is one of the penalties the Holy See can impose on him.  [Good for him at least he has the decency to do it without him being forced to by Church officials!]

In the last sexual abuse case involving a priest where Sipe served as an expert witness, the priest received 3,000 signed testimonies in his favour, even though he had “savagely abused this youngster.”

“People will always defend the perpetrator,” he said.

Lahey was hailed for the compassionate and generous settlement he brokered for clerical sexual abuse victims in the Antigonish diocese.

***

Latest report about Richard Lahey is that he has been laicized or removed from the clerical state, or is now a simple layman.

I am sure you have your own stories about these men who live double lives.

So a friendly note to ALL CATHOLICS!

Stop over pampering your priests!  Some take in too much it reaches their heads and forget who they are and what they are.

I even tell my friend-priests that people would not gang up on them to greet them, grab their hands, have their photos taken IF THEY ARE NOT PRIESTS.  It is the character of the Sacrament of Holy Orders that sets them apart from other men.  If they are not priests, would they think they will enjoy the same attention?  My friends all agree that they wouldn't.

On the other hand, they must let these admiration get the better of them and think that people are after them just because they are uhm, cute, handsome and what have you though sometimes there are those old ladies who still think that years of dancing in Obando gave them the answer to their prayers courtesy of Fr. Pogi or Fr. Entertaining-Mag-homily!  Darn it!  Douse some ice cold water on that poor woman and tell her to accept her vocation as a single lady!  Period!

But hep hep hep!!!  Those anti-Catholic hypocrites like the INC stop where they are because they themselves especially their BEM ministers, (I'd like to call them BUM Ministers) have their own share of atrocities.

INC ministers who are drunkards, gamblers, womanizers, wife-beaters, crooks, and yes even sex abusers.

They are all humans, like priests, they commit mistakes.

The ones who don't are those 6 feet under.

Felix Manalo agrees.

He can't rape anyone anymore.

Toinks!

The priesthood and my take on the John Corapi scandal.

I have read the sad news about famous televangelist Fr. John Corapi in the past weeks.  And even got emails about my take on his leaving.

Now here is the shocking news about the real reason why this all happened.

***

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Father John A. Corapi was involved in "years of cohabitation" with a former prostitute, repeated abuse of alcohol and drugs and "serious violation" of his promise of poverty, according to a fact-finding team appointed by his religious order.  [And you think Marcial Maciel is not enough.]

Father Corapi, who recently announced he would leave the priesthood because he could not get a "fair hearing" on misconduct allegations against him, has been ordered by the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity to return to live at the order's regional headquarters in Robstown, Texas, and to dismiss a lawsuit against the woman whose accusations prompted the investigation.  [The conditions are pretty simple right, but made me wonder the first time I read this why he find it so hard to comply.  That sounded off alarm bells for me.]

"Catholics should understand that (the order) does not consider Father John Corapi as fit for ministry," said a July 5 news release from Father Gerard Sheehan, regional priest servant for the order, commonly known as SOLT.

Although Father Corapi's ministry "has inspired thousands of faithful Catholics," the news release said, he is "now misleading these individuals through his false statements and characterizations."

"It is for these Catholics that SOLT, by means of this announcement, seeks to set the record straight," it added.

There was no immediate response to the announcement from Father Corapi.

The order said its three-member fact-finding team had gathered information "from Father Corapi's emails, various witnesses and public sources" and had concluded that the priest:  [the emails, in my point of view, are hard evidence.]

-- "Did have sexual relations and years of cohabitation (in California and Montana) with a woman known to him, when the relationship began, as a prostitute."

-- "Repeatedly abused alcohol and drugs."

-- "Has recently engaged in sexting activity with one or more women in Montana."

-- "Holds legal title to over $1 million in real estate, numerous luxury vehicles, motorcycles, an ATV, a boat dock and several motor boats, which is a serious violation of his promise of poverty as a perpetually professed member of this society."  [Oh good Lord.]

Although he did not name them, Father Sheehan said the fact-finding team was made up of a priest specializing in canon law, a psychiatrist and a lawyer, each of whom has a national reputation and "substantial experience in ecclesiastical processes related to priest disciplinary issues."

Two of the three were members of religious orders, and the third was a layperson. Two were men and one was a woman, he said.

As the team was carrying out its work, Father Corapi filed a civil suit against his principal accuser and then offered $100,000 for her silence, [hmmm...seems like a pattern in handling sex abuse allegations, right Cardinal Roger?]  the news release said. Other key witnesses who "may have negotiated contracts ... that precluded them from speaking" with the team declined to answer its questions or provide documents, it said.

When the fact-finding team asked Father Corapi to dismiss the lawsuit and release individuals from their contractual obligations to remain silent, "he refused to do so and, through his canonical advocate, stated, 'It is not possible for Father Corapi to answer the commission's questions at this time,'" the news release added.

Father Corapi, 64, announced June 17 -- two days before the 20th anniversary of his priestly ordination -- in a YouTube video and blog posting that he would leave the priesthood.

"For 20 years I did my best to guard and feed the sheep," [now we wonder what sheep he is talking about here.] he said in the blog posting. "Now, based on a totally unsubstantiated, undocumented allegation from a demonstrably troubled person I was thrown out like yesterday's garbage. I accept that. Perhaps I deserve that."  [now there is substance and evidence.]

Father Corapi had been highly visible for several years as a speaker and preacher, including a program on the Eternal Word Television Network. EWTN took his show off its schedule shortly after his suspension, saying it would not knowingly put on the air a priest whose faculties had been suspended.

The SOLT news release said Father Sheehan would not be available for further comment because of the order's general chapter July 5-23.

***

Fr. Dwight Longenecker of Standing on my Head gave a very nice analysis of this sham.

I have long told my friends in the Order [of the Knights of Columbus] to always pray for priests, old or young, they need our prayers.  I KNOW FIRST HAND what goes on in the life of a priest and the struggles he had to go through.

And I remind them that it is only Grace that makes a man a priest.  Human politics and psychology may play a part in a man getting the nod of his superiors for him to receive Holy Orders but it does not diminish the fact that a man gets the indelible mark of the Sacrament of Holy Orders once he gets it, whether he leaves graciously or not, or stays until his dying breath, the mark on his soul as a priest remains forever.  So our Faith teaches us.

But we have to remember that they are much vulnerable to the attacks of the devil, masked as carnal desires, money, fame.  Because the devil knows that he cannot stand a simple man becoming alter Christus at the altar, offering the same sacrifice that Christ offered on Calvary.  By his hands, he forgives sins, by his words the hopeless are comforted.  In all, through the priest, men are led back to God.

And that is something the devil does not want.

The scandal that Fr. John Corapi made as confirmed by his own religious order is truly regrettable.  But don't fret.  The Church is made up of sinners and saints, men and women who are still living, and men and women who are now in Heaven and in Purgatory.  The Church has been here for thousands of years and She has encountered all kinds of scandals you can ever imagine seeing on Carlos Celdran's Book of Religious Scandals.  [Can't help it.  I just had to put that in. :)  I think he'll make a killing out of this just like his worthless walking tour, full of lies and anti-Catholic bigotry]

The Church is founded by God Himself, Jesus Christ who is also fully and truly human.  And He certainly knows what he is doing.  He knows that the enemies would use the scandals against His Church to undermine the Church's moral ascendancy.

What could be more scandalous than one of the first apostles was the one who betrayed Him and sent Him to His horrible and humiliating death of a criminal?

And his first Vicar ran like a dog with its tail between its hind legs in fear, denying that he did not even know Him, even after that guy boldly declared in front of all the other apostles that he will die rather than deny Him!

The Church is a Holy Institution where both sinners and saints are found.  And its primary mission is to save the likes of Fr. John  Corapi.

Pray for our priests!

Pope: Reforms of Vatican II contributed to Abuse Crisis

From the Irish Times through the wonderful blog Southern Orders of the great Fr. Allan McDonald.

***

THOSE WHO have suggested that the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, has had his “wings clipped” and does not see eye to eye with Pope Benedict XVI vis-a-vis his handling of the Irish church’s sex abuse crisis may want to think again after reading Light Of The World , the pope’s new book launched in the Vatican yesterday. [Remember that Ireland was caught in a maelstrom of sex abuse controversy.]

Based on six hours of conversation between the pope and German journalist Peter Seewald, the book attempts to use what senior Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi called “simple, concrete and accessible” language to provide answers to a wide range of key questions concerning today’s church.

At one point, Seewald suggests that the evident episcopal mishandling of abuse cases represents a complete “failure” for the church. By way of response, Pope Benedict says: “The Archbishop of Dublin told me something very interesting about that. He said that ecclesiastical penal law functioned until the late 1950s; admittedly, it was not perfect – there is much to criticise about it – but nevertheless it was applied. After the mid-sixties, however, it was simply not applied any more." [And this was after the massive, sweeping reforms of Vatican II when everything was reformed even if there is no need for reforming.  It wasn't broke, why did they fix it?  Because it was old, no matter how precious it may be like a family heirloom, but because it was old, it must be DUMPED!]

“The prevailing mentality was that the Church must not be a Church of laws but, rather a Church of love: [Nothing wrong with that, ain't it?] she must not punish [Now there's something wrong with that.]. . . This led to an odd darkening of the mind, even in very good people.” [No more awareness of the four last things: Death, Judgment, Heaven, Hell.  Remember when Christ forgave the adulterous woman?  He said "Your sins are forgiven.  Go and sin no more.  He was both showing love and mercy and at the same time reminded the woman to not sin by observing God's law.  That is what the Church is, and has been for thousands of years.  Not the woodstock type!]

Asked by Seewald about the overall impact of the Irish sex abuse crisis, Pope Benedict says: “In Ireland the problem is altogether specific – there is a self-enclosed Catholic society, so to speak, which remained true to its faith despite centuries of oppression, but in which, then, evidently certain attitudes were also able to develop. I cannot analyze that in detail now."

“To see a country that gave the world so many missionaries, so many saints, which in the history of the missions also stands at the origin of our faith in Germany, now in a situation like this is tremendously upsetting and depressing. Above all, of course, for the Catholics in Ireland itself, where now as always there are many good priests.” [Maybe a dozen priests were involved in the scandal and thousands are faithful, but the anti-Catholics call it institutionalized pedophilia.  We'll what do you expect?  If Christ would appear today, they would not believe an ordinary carpenter to save the world.  Obama, for them, maybe.  But digress.] 

Asked by Seewald why the sex abuse scandals in the USA and Ireland had not prompted rigorous preventive investigations in other countries, Pope Benedict replies: “We responded to the matter in America immediately with revised, stricter norms."

“In addition, collaboration between the secular and ecclesiastical authorities was improved. Would it have been Rome’s duty, then, to say to all the countries expressly: Find out whether you are in the same situation? Maybe, we should have done that. For me, in any case, it was a surprise that abuse also existed on that scale in Germany.”

Referring to his pastoral letter to the Irish of last March, the pope says that “what was true for Ireland was not said just to Ireland”.

Thus far, the pope’s book has prompted most controversy because of his remarks about the circumstances in which the use of condoms is acceptable.  [There is an interesting analysis of the great Fr. Z as to the pope's seeming knack to engage the world with his statements.  Remember the Regensburg address and his condom/HIV comments on the flight to Africa?]

In the English translation, the pope says: “There may be a basis in the case of some individuals, as perhaps when a male prostitute uses a condom, where this can be a first step in the direction of a moralization . . .”

Father Lombardi yesterday explained that the term “male prostitute” was simply the fruit of a poor translation from the original German: in fact the pope’s reference was to prostitutes, male or female.

The point of the condom remarks is further explained by the pope himself in the book, when he says: “The Church, of course, does not regard it (the condom) as a real or moral solution but, in this or that case, there can be nonetheless, in the intention of reducing the risk of infection, a first step in a movement toward a different way, a more human way, of living sexuality.” [And the mainstream media will not write any other part of the book except the condom remarks.]


Elsewhere, the pope’s book reiterates traditional teaching on women priests and the incompatibility of homosexuality with the priestly vocation.

***

And you thought Vatican II would usher a new springtime for the Church?

Could the hasty reform of the liturgy contributed also to the watering down of the Faith?

Chime in.

Pope admits sex abuse scandal "a shock and a cause for great sadness"

Interesting updates from Rome Reports

About the upcoming visit of the Pope to the UK...

Catholics pray thousands of rosaries ahead of the Pope's visit to the UK

Susan Boyle and Michelle McManus will sing for the pope during his visit to the United Kingdom

And on a more interesting point...

A book investigates the long battle of Benedict XVI against sexual abuse

Pope's visit to Britain a mistake, says anti-Catholic minister

As if this is a surprise!

From the Irish Times

***

POPE BENEDICT’S visit to Britain in September is “a mistake”, and the Catholic Church’s response to clerical sex abuse is “very weak” and “an absolute disgrace”, former DUP leader Rev Ian Paisley has said.

Dr Paisley, [Doctor!  Huh.] in an extended interview with the BBC broadcast last night, said he stood by long established claims by him that the pope is the anti-Christ, and that Catholics were encouraged by their church to breed like rabbits. [If this doesn't sound like Hitler, then what does?  This jerk is the one that should be put in jail along with those sex abusers, in and out of the church!]

... [I had to edit some lines regarding Ireland's politics which have no relation to the Pope's visit and this loony's diatribe.]

Regarding the pope’s visit to Britain, the first by a pope since 1982, Dr Paisley said it was a mistake. “I think he should not be invited to the country,” he said. “But I don’t know how it has been done because they have had it all secret. Nobody knows who made the thing. You go and ask a question of any Minister and he says he doesn’t want to have anything to do with it.” [Wow.  He has an EXTENSIVE network of information.]

He criticised the Irish Catholic Church for its stand on sex abuse of children, [what stand?!] claiming the bishops had been “very weak”. “I believe that any man that destroys a child’s life, as we have seen scores of young people in this day and generation – and then the church having to wait until it’s uncovered – is an absolute disgrace,” he said.

...

He also stood by his long-held beliefs regarding Catholics. Reminded of his claims that Catholics were vermin who bred like rabbits, he said: “I don’t think that it’s wrong to say that the Roman Catholic Church did believe that they [adherents] should have very large families. And large Roman Catholic families were brought into existence simply because of that.” [OH mercy on this guy!  He can share a table with Osama bin Laden.  This poor nut is full of hate!]

Asked whether he regretted such comments, he said simply: “I haven’t said anything that is contrary to what I believe to be truth. [He really is a master of self-hypnosis, ain't it?] And for me to say that I am going to turn my back on all I’ve said would be nonsense. I believed it and I said it, and it stands the test.”

On the question of the pope being branded as the anti-Christ by Dr Paisley in the European Parliament in 1988, he said: “Well it’s quite true. [The pope] does seek by his claims to replace Christ. And he puts himself in the place of Christ."  [I think we call that "alter Christus"  and it happens every Mass...for every priest...every bishop...and not just the pope.  Get it?  Study your enemy first before you open your mouth.  Your telling everyone how stupid of an idiot you are.  Wow, what a term.]

“Take the list of names that he calls himself. The Roman Catholic Church turns to us and says you shouldn’t call him the anti-Christ. Well, if a man comes to me and says he can forgive sins, then he is taking the place of Christ – no one can forgive sins except God." [Sounds like the Pharisees and scribes who were after Christ's neck, eh like in Mk 2:7? And these are bible thumping thugs yet they purposely turn a blind eye on Jn. 20:23.]

“A person like some of the priests we’ve had destroying the lives of young people and then going out and saying I can forgive sins – it’s only right that be called what it is. That is anti-Christ in teaching and in doctrine.”

Dr Paisley was asked whether he stood by comments that the papacy is “the seed of the serpent, the progeny of hell”. He answered: “Yes, yes, and so it is.”

...

“We must come to the place where Protestants and Roman Catholics have got to live together, practise whatever religion they want provided it’s within the law, and in their own churches. And get away from the old days when you wanted to wipe out your neighbour because he had different politics and different religions.”

***

This nutcase called DOCTOR Paisley is soooo anti-Catholic, he infamously insulted Pope John Paul II while the pope was addressing the European Parliament back in 1988.  His fellow lawmakers booed him out of the hall and some even threw things at him causing him to be hospitalized.

If DOCTOR Paisley is sooooo against sexual abuse of children, then why is this BIGOT turning a blind eye towards the abuse of his fellow Presbyterian minister accused of the same wrongdoing?  Read this one about a Presybyterian minister accused of sexually molesting young boys.

Or maybe he can read about a Presbyterian minister and university professor who settled for $150,000 with his victim.

If anti-Catholic bashers like Paisley try to be more objective as they proudly claim to be, try looking here for other sex abuse cases and see that it is NOT confined in the Catholic Church.  It is present in ALL religions and even in the public school system and EVEN within the homes of the victims themselves.

Does Hell's Bible aka New York Times publish these?  Does DOCTOR Paisley care about this?

Nope.

The devil has set his eyes on the Church.

Pray.

Catholophobia in Belgium

Belgian police admitted to this: 

"the tombs of Cardinals Suenens and Van Roey were drilled and a camera pushed in, apparently to see whether there were any hidden documents" linked to the paedophilia claims concerning Catholic clergy.

Read more of this audacity here.

***

On a side note, is this guy the head of the Belgian Police?

Why not investigate these two?  If there are two people who should be investigated thoroughly, these are the two!  We are giving them up to you!

Ok, I get the point of the Belgian police. You have a search warrant. But does it involve opening a tomb?!?!

Idiots...

Willing agents of the devil?

From zenit.org

***

Editors of the New York Times should realize that they were “used” by a lawyer trying to sue the Vatican, Catholic commentator Scott P. Richert remarked in a recent lecture. Examining instances of biased reporting and manipulation of the media, he also discussed the causes of clerical sexual abuse and Pope Benedict’s efforts against it.

Richert, editor of both Chronicles Magazine and the About.com GuideSite to Catholicism, on June 3 delivered a lecture at the Illinois-based Rockford Institute on the topic “Clerical Sexual Abuse: Separating Fact, Fiction, and Anti-Catholic Bias.” [Great title!]

An excerpt of his lecture, posted on YouTube, shows Richert exposing the “dirty little secret” that the New York Times’ coverage of the Fr. Lawrence Murphy abuse case had its source in Jeffrey Anderson.

Anderson, who directed Times reporter Laurie Goodstein to his documentation on the story, is the “most famous” of the sexual abuse attorneys and has made at least $60 million off such cases. [Judas Iscariot went to law school!  And he is still fighting for justice and the oppressed! Wow...]

“Unfortunately for him, he’s running out of clients,” Richert said. Less than a month after Goodstein’s article, he filed suit against the Vatican and Pope Benedict XVI, using the Fr. Murphy case as its basis.

The New York Times attempted to connect the Pope to the case, claiming he “declined to defrock” the priest who abused dozens of deaf school children.

Critics including Richert pointed out that the documentation used by the Times’ story in fact exonerated Pope Benedict and showed how the Archdiocese of Milwaukee [headed by that sorry excuse for a Benedictine, for a priest, for a bishop and archbishop, Rembert Weakland who confessed to being a homosexual and who used church money to support his gay lifestyle and his lover!  He should be the one that the New York Times is going after!]  and secular authorities bore responsibility for inaction in the case.

Notoriously, one of the source documents about a key meeting between archdiocesan and Vatican officials was poorly translated from Italian using a computer program. [Google translate!  That's a Peabody for you there! Hah!] This distorted or left out key information about the Vatican’s response to the case.

“If the editors of the New York Times are not complete and utter morons, they have to realize that they were used,” Richert commented. [I think they are both! Hah!]

In an article at About.com, he noted that the Times itself has reported that Laurie Goodstein was not working on the Fr. Murphy case when Anderson gave her the documents. In Richert’s view, this calls into question her claim her article was not done “at the instigation of lawyers.” [Oh really?]

In his Rockford Institute lecture, Richert cited Vatican attorney Jeffrey Lena’s comment that Anderson “shows how you can both create a media frenzy and then capitalize on it.”

He’s “very, very good at creating intense media interest and then shaping a narrative for the press to write their stories around,” Lena continued, saying Anderson “serves these media events up like nice little meals for reporters to chow down on. And they do.”

Richert discussed his lecture in an interview with Stephanie Block, founder of the Catholic Media Coalition, at her blog Orate Fratres.

He said that the campaign against the Church is motivated both by the greediness of “lawyers who are running out of clients” and by the hatred of Pope Benedict XVI for really believing what the Catholic Church teaches. [And because Pope Benedict is leading the charge against massive secularism, abortion, gay marriage!]

As one instance of bias, he noted that the final questions of a New York Times / CBS News poll read “like push polling” and used the questions to try to change attitudes rather than measure them.

The most egregious example, in his view, was a question that asked whether sexual abuse of children and teenagers is “a more common problem in the Catholic Church than it is in other walks of life, or is it just as common a problem in other walks of life?” [Too leading.  That is journalistic objectivity for you folks!]  This missed alternative responses like the view that abuse is less common in the Catholic Church, or that abuse is more common in other walks of life.

Explaining how clerical sexual abuse became such a problem, Richert said that one particular cohort of priests, born between 1925 and ordained between 1950 and 1975, were responsible for “the bulk of the crisis,” as were most bishops who transferred accused priests and covered up allegations.

“By 1980, they had begun to retire or die, and by 2002, most of them were no longer active priests,” he told Block.

He speculated that too many in the Church began to regard the priesthood as a profession or occupation [and in some cases, regretably though, as a way for a better chance at life.] rather than as a vocation. Some bishops then began to ordain men to the priesthood who “weren’t fit to be husbands and fathers,” Richert said, quoting Byzantine Catholic priest Fr. Thomas Loya.

Similarly, some bishops began to treat grave sin as a medical or physical problem and not a “metaphysical” one. [yeah like a kid gets possessed and they treat it as a psychological disorder.]

Richert explained that before he became Pope, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger successfully lobbied to have responsibility for cases of sexual abuse transferred from the Roman Rota to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). [TRUE!] Since April 2001, the CDF has investigated over 3,000 abuse cases and 85 percent of those cases brought to canonical trial have resulted in convictions. [And the mainstream media did not even bother to publish this.]

Despite the objections of other prominent Vatican officials, [like Cardinal Sodano who up to now, reportedly, refused to leave his office in the Vatican even though he is not Cardinal Secretary of State anymore.] Cardinal Ratzinger also ordered the investigation of Fr. Marcel Maciel, the powerful founder of the Legion of Christ who faced many allegations of sexual abuse. This investigation resulted in the priest’s removal from ministry and his exile to a monastery. [who died refusing Sacramental Confession!]

The future Pope Benedict also helped the U.S. bishops develop their charter to protect young people and put into place “strict new rules” to prevent the admission to the priesthood of both practicing homosexuals and those with homosexual tendencies. Since over two-thirds of U.S. priest abuse cases from 1950 to 2002 involved adolescent males, Richert contended, they are more accurately described as homosexual acts rather than pedophilia. [Still nothing from NYT!]

Questioning the motives of groups like the Survivors’ Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and Voice of the Faithful (VOTF), he noted that both oppose the ban on homosexuals in the priesthood, both call for an end to clerical celibacy, and SNAP in particular has agitated for women priests. [Wolves in sheeps clothing!  And you think they are the victims?  Think again.  They are not only after the money of the Church but they are also after the total destruction of the Catholic Church!]  According to Richert, SNAP has received “significant funding” from lawyers [I hope he gives names.] who have sued the Church.

Richert’s lecture is available for purchase at the Rockford Institute website, www.rockfordinstitute.org.

***

Now the issue is clear.

Attorney's for the victims are after the money, not after justice.

NYT and SNAP are after the pope and the Catholic Church because of her doctrines.

If these groups are really after justice, why not go after Cardinal Mahony and Abp. Weakland?  Apparently, these agents of evil do not want to touch these two men because:

1.  Mahony is a liberal loved by liberal minded dissident Catholics, and non Catholics who hate the Catholic Church.

2.  Weakland is a homosexual and a disgrace to the Church for how he destroyed the liturgical heritage of his cathedral in Milwaukee and how he lived an active homosexual life while as archbishop, even using the money collected every at every church in his archdiocese to support and shut his lover up.

And both men transferred offending priests, from one parish to another...

Yet the NYT and SNAP did not vent their energies against them, instead focusing their aim, like a laser beam, on Pope Benedict.

And they call Catholics bigots.  Yeah, right.

Pope praises priests, anti Catholic media goes wild!

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI hailed priests on Sunday as gifts to the world for their generous and courageous work, in a speech that didn't mention the clergy sex abuse scandal.

"Dear friends, the priest is a gift from the heart of Christ, a gift for the church and the world," Benedict told faithful in St. Peter's Square."

"If we look at history, we can observe how many pages of authentic spiritual and social renewal have been written with the decisive contribution of Catholic priests, inspired only by passion for the Gospel and for man, for his true religious and civil freedom," he said. [AMEN!]

The pope's comments didn't mention the international scandal involving pedophile Catholic priests or the mishandling of that abuse by bishops and even Vatican officials. [ho-hum...]

Two days earlier, in a ceremony in the square capping three days of pro-priest rallies and prayers, Benedict acknowledged the scandal by begging forgiveness from victims of sexual abuse by priests and made a symbolic pledge to do everything possible to protect children.

In his remarks Sunday from his studio window overlooking the square, Benedict cited Polish priest Jerzy Popieluszko, who was beatified in Warsaw on June 6 as a martyr during the Communist crackdown on the Solidarity freedom movement in Poland the 1980s.

Popieluszko, who was tortured and killed in 1984 by Polish secret police for championing Solidarity, "carried out his generous and courageous ministry next to all those committed to freedom, to the defense of life and its dignity," Benedict said.

Much of the momentum to rid the church of pedophile priests and bring them and those covering up for them to justice has come from faithful in the U.S. and Irish churches.

On Sunday, Benedict asked the faithful to "remember all priests in our prayers" and pray that God "keep them in his grace as faithful friends and ministers."

He also urged Catholics to support their pastors with "wise advice." [Wow!  Huge words!  Priests and bishops should remember that they are not the only ones giving out advice nor the only ones who should do the talking.  Most of the time, priests must learn to stop, look and listen.  Too much of the outside world, leaves the inner world too devoid of meaning and purpose.]

***

You know how the secular media headlined this news?

Pope praises priests, despite scandal.

So?  The pope cannot praise priests because of the scandal?  So is the majority of priests are sexual abusers?

If you go over to the Yahoo news page and read the comments on this particular news, you'll notice that thye anti-Catholic bashers are having a party.

If the Western media and anti-Catholics are really soooo into the protection of women, children and victims iof sexual abuse, tell me, where in the world are the news reports about sexual abusers in families, homes and even in other religious denominations?

Now there's journalistic objectivity for you folks!

Two Catholic authors defend the Pope

This interview appeared in the USA Today website.

***

Pope Benedict XVI's legacy will be shaped by his response to the explosive global clergy sex-abuse crisis, say two Catholic authors who detail and defend his record in a book published this week.

The Vatican and Benedict are accused of "acts of neglect, cover-up, and disregard for the plight of the victims," they write. Pope Benedict XVI and the Sexual Abuse Crisis: Working for Reform and Renewal [the book the two authors wrote] is their rebuttal.

Greg Erlandson, head of the Catholic publishing company Our Sunday Visitor, and church historian Matthew Bunson, editor of The Catholic Almanac, take a long view — tracing the church's confrontations with sinful clergy back to the fourth century.

In two current examples in the headlines, the authors argue that Benedict was either unaware of the abusive priest or made a decision in favor of mercy ( by declining to defrock a dying Wisconsin priest decades after he abused 200 deaf children).

However, the book also includes a compendium of speeches, letters and documents so readers can draw their own conclusions. The authors discuss their findings (replies have been edited for length and clarity):

Q: You both rely on a Catholic, church-based readership. What if you found Benedict did something wrong?

Erlandson: If there were a smoking gun, it would be reported and it would be dealt with. I take my cue from Benedict, who says, "There is a need to tell the truth."

Q: Why can't Benedict just fire bishops who protected abusive priests and make new rules for the whole church?

E: The Catholic church is not a multinational corporation with bishops as branch managers that the pope can hire, fire and mandate actions. It's much more complicated. In history and canon law, bishops are descendents of the apostles. It would be like Peter firing James. ... But it's pretty clear that he is chiding the bishops as a group and individually. There's definitely some steel there.

Bunson: Look at Ireland where a number of bishops' positions became untenable as a consequence of their failures in office. You see the direct timeline between their February visit to the Holy See and (three) resignations in short order.

Q: Before he was pope, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, he headed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under Pope John Paul II and was steeped in reports of abuse that reached Rome. How much blame for failure to act sooner falls to him and John Paul II?

E: I'm wary of a tendency to throw John Paul II under the bus. ... He was taking steps, working with Ratzinger every week on this and certainly not clueless or insensitive to what was happening.

B: We remind readers that the U.S. bishops, in close consultation with Pope John Paul II, put together a program in 2002 that has proved remarkably successful.

Q: You say the U.S. bishops' approach — zero tolerance for abusive priests and clear provision for child protection — has worked well. Why hasn't Benedict pushed other nations to follow it?

E: What the U.S. bishops did was tough medicine — and controversial. As painful as it is right now, (global bishops) may need time to see this is what is needed.

B: We think (worldwide church law) based on the U.S. approach is coming soon, but each country in a church of more than 1 billion people has to deal with this in its own legal culture and society. [Inculturation, eh?]

Q: Benedict calls for both mercy and justice. But does the public want mercy for abusive priests?

B: The church always has to remember both. Church and civil law can be frustrating. Each has its process and requirements, and equal justice is still required regardless of how horrendous the accusations.

The word I think everyone is really looking for is accountability. We think this pope is demanding accountability. [Bingo!  Most Pinoy Bishops demand it from our local politicians...When can we the laity demand it from them?] What people really should know, and our book tries to tell them, is that the rules and guidelines (to prevent and root out abuse) were always there in church law, but many bishops just chose not to act on them.

E: We are in a really angry age. We are angry at everybody —Democrats, Republicans, the Tea Party, the coffee party, what have you. People want vengeance.  But sometimes the desire for justice cannot be met. The accused are dead or too old. The Catholic Church is about the salvation of souls. [which most Catholics forget!] The question becomes: How do you save a person's soul and at the same time show penalties? No one gets a free pass. [this ain't a monopoly game.]

***

ACCOUNTABILITY...

I have been smelling something foul coming out of the dark corners of rectories here in the Philippines.

Before the wolves got wind of the news, start working on your own backyards, Excellencies!

WE ARE HERE TO SUPPORT YOU!!!

Sex scandals hurt image of priesthood, prelate says

Courtesy of CBCP News

***

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, May 4, 2010—The recent media play-up of sex scandals involving some priests and bishops across the globe has somewhat tainted and damaged the image of priesthood, according to a prelate.[This is the first time a Filipino bishop addressed this issue! As far as I could recall.]

Delivering his homily before a jam-packed Cathedral of St. Augustine in Cagayan de Oro on April 30 during the ordination of Bishop Jose Cabantan, Surigao Bishop Antonieto Cabajog said the media coverage of the issue have led some people to lose their faith and respect for the clergy. [Making mountains out of molehills.  But concrete steps must be undertaken to prevent this from happening.  But I digress.]

Cabajog lamented that people seemed to forget “that majority of the ordained ministers are serving seriously, wholeheartedly and joyfully the people of God.” [Bingo!  The magic word!] The anti-Catholic media who have an agenda to undermine the moral authority of the Church in society will attack the Church on this front.  Stay informed and know the facts.  There are those who will inflate a condom of lies, if I may use the term.]

“What adds great damage to the scandal is the irresponsible handling of the issue by people in the media and by some groups who are unsympathetic to the Catholic Church,” the prelate said.

Cabajog said the celebration of the “Year for Priests,” is an opportune time for the Church to acknowledge “in a special way the services of faithful and holy priests.”

He then cited the significant contribution of Bishop Jose Araneta Cabantan in the archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro serving in various capacities as a member of the clergy.

Fr. Joe, as called by his friends, served as parochial vicar, parish administrator, seminary formator and later on as vicar general of the ecclesial province and recently Director for the ad extra ministry of Cagayan de Oro.

“For more or less 20 years, Fr. Joe fulfilled his assigned tasks silently, diligently and lovingly and in spite of his high educational attainment and noble status in the archdiocese, Fr. Joe remains a simple, humble and faithful servant of God,” the prelate from Surigao said.

Cabajog said the people also recognized the sacrifices of priests in large and small parishes, in mission areas, in schools, in hospitals, in monasteries, retreat houses, the military and in other various ministries.

“For all shepherds of souls who, without counting the costs and with no personal interests, are serving God’s flock untiringly, thank you very much,” he added.

He said there is no better way to express the people’s gratitude to these dedicated priests than “to support them in their struggle towards spiritual perfection through our daily prayer for their sanctification.”

The prelate from Surigao said the “Year for Priests" provides the clergy the opportunity to make a personal, deep interior conversion in order to make themselves credible ministers of God’s people.

Quoting Pope Benedict XVI, the prelate said “the effectiveness of a priest’s ministry particularly depends on his spiritual strength.”

Cabajog said human weaknesses including laziness, mediocrity, selfishness, lust and pride [which are some of the seven deadly sins, which unfortunately are not being taught in Catechism classes nowadays.] could easily impede a priest’s desire to serve as the Church encourages all ordained ministers to “rekindle their ideals of the priesthood” and to “once again give their best efforts to observe the promises and vows they had made during their ordination day.”

Many have an inadequate or wrong understanding of priesthood as there are people who consider the priesthood as “a way of improving one’s status in life,” Cabajog said. [Ouch!  I know a lot some of them media hungry ones.  "Can you say good morning to the one seated beside you?"  I often suspect these types of priests who use the Mass as their own variety shows to have questionable lifestyles.  Okay before you even bring out your pitchforks and demand that I be burned at the stakes and call your own Torquemada, I know all of these priests.  Some of them struggling to stay faithful to their ministry and some are just plain too lukewarm.  They couldn't care less for what they do even if they live their flamboyantly scandalous lives right under their own parishioners noses.  Some are too scandalous, I would not dare post it here.  Thank God we do not have our own New York Times here, though the Philippine Daily Inquirer is trying to be one, attacking the Church at whim.  But these men should just go quietly and leave the ministry if they cannot be faithful to their vocation.  They do more harm than good to the Body of Christ.  Once again, before you demand for my head on the stake, I KNOW THESE MEN PERSONALLY.  Pray for them that they make the right decision in life.  The Church does not need another Maciel!]

They look at the priest as somebody who is economically rich, politically influential and socially high above the others, he added.

“There are also others who would like to reduce the priestly ministry to the dispensation of sacraments, while others would merely equate it with community leadership,” he emphasized. [Dispensation of the Sacraments is the primary reason for ordination.  No matter how Protestant pastors and clergy of questionable orders wave their hands or sprinkle buckets of water on you, all of these are not sacramental.  I am not against community leadership but as I always say, Basics First!  Some priests spend more time in the streets and in their offices and boardrooms rather than in the confessional or at the altar, then that is a red flag for the superior and/or bishop.  But I digress.]

He said during the “Year for Priests”, the people should increase their knowledge of the priesthood “in the light of the priesthood of Christ, who came not to be served but to serve because the priesthood of Christ is rooted in the love of God and is practiced by way of teaching, sanctifying and shepherding.”

Bishop Cabajog with the pope

 He further said Pope Benedict XVI used the words of St. John Vianney who once said “Priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus.” [There is also a reason why St. John Vianney was made Patron of all Priests, because I believe the Pope wants all priests to be like St. John Vianney,  TO STICK TO THE BASICS!]

Cabajog said it is a fitting reminder for priests that in doing their ministry, they are to embody and carry the love of Jesus for his people and in this way, a priest is really to be called alter Christus or another Christ in the midst of God’s flock.

The prelate from Surigao said many would look at Bishop Jose Cabantan as someone going up the ladder of the hierarchy with his elevation to the episcopacy.

“[But] Bishop Joe, in the Christian community, you are actually going a step lower in order to serve more people,” Cabajog said.

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Beautiful sermon!  Hope we can get the full text.

Huzzah to Bishop Antonieto Cabajog