I see the pope has defrocked 400 of them in just 2 years. They need more than defrocking, though. They need prison time. It's a sad blow to any church to see it's leadership fall into such sin but at least they're trying to do something about it. I have no idea just how deep it really goes.

Pope defrocks 400 priests in 2 years
Published January 17, 2014
Associated Press

Jan. 16, 2014 - Charles Scicluna, former Vatican chief prosecutor of clerical sexual abuse, waits in Geneva, Switzerland, for the start of questioning over clerical sexual abuse of children. The questioning took place at the headquarters of the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, in Geneva. The Vatican came under blistering criticism from a U.N. committee for its handling of the global priest sex abuse scandal. (AP)

VATICAN CITY � A document obtained by The Associated Press shows Pope Benedict XVI defrocked nearly 400 priests over just two years for molesting children.

The statistics for 2011-12 represent the first time that the Vatican has provided details on the number of priests who have been defrocked. Prior to that, it had only revealed the number of alleged cases of sexual abuse it had received.

The document was prepared from data the Vatican had been collecting to help the Holy See defend itself before a U.N. committee this week in Geneva.

Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican's U.N. ambassador in Geneva, referred to just one of the statistics in the course of eight hours of oftentimes pointed criticism and questioning from the U.N. human rights committee. The AP obtained the document Friday.

The Catholic Church long ago lost control of their seminaries, just like the mainline Protestant churches have. They are "dens of iniquity", and full of polesmokers.

This problem started back with nazi homo movement. They infiltrated the catholic priesthood with homos in an attempt to destroy the church from within.

That's what you get when you forbid priests to marry. � I hate Catholicism. Rules and regulations don't bring righteousness. They should be put in prison after having their root sawed off. Amen

What a complete crock of bullshit.

Not allowing priests to marry has NOTHING to do with people becoming pedophiles.

Pedophiles become priests, teachers, little league coaches, carnies etc to gain access to kids. They become or take the jobs for access to kids. They're pedos before they're priests, little league coaches, teachers et cetera. It's not the other way around.

Your line of thinking is exactly the same as "guns cause crime".

Perhaps, or maybe the whole priest/monk/nun thing has always been a socially-legitimate pathway for those wrestling with different sexual urges. Ain't saying they were all that way, or even a lot.

To put it in perspective, there are currently about 39,600 Catholic Priests in the world.
( http://cara.georgetown.edu/caraservices/requestedchurchstats.html )

For the Pope to defrock 400 of those that represents about 1%, which seems a lot.

Locally a much loved Irish priest "Father Mike" was kicked out about ten years back for getting a teenage girl (for once) pregnant.

Also, as a kid in England (starting at age ten) I went to a Catholic School run by an order of Irish Christian brothers, maybe ten on staff. A small minority of the boys were boarding students who lived there during the school year.

Turns out that one Christian brother (who were all unmarried with a vow of celibacy) was masturbating some of these students. I went there for two years before we left for America, never a clue as to what was happening although I was in class with these kids.

Interestingly enough, my American uncle had been in a seminary studying to be a priest before WWII broke out (he left it to join the Marines and ended up on Guadalcanal), to hear my mom tell it, one time he was over visiting he went with her to meet us after school and IMMEDIATELY red-flagged that guy on sight as suspect.

Neither my folks or anyone else thought anything of it at the time. I wish my Uncle were still around to ask him how he knew.

The sexual abuse only came to light years after the fact, when we all started talking decades later on the internet basically.

Birdwatcher

The Catholic priesthood attracts a LOT of sexually confused men, which manifests in a variety of deviant behavior, not just pedophilia.

spot on.

taught by the same order in Victoria BC. There were some sadistic buggers among them ,others were just great teachers,
our school had a lot of reject kids that no other school wanted, and some of those teachers loved using the strap.

norm

Not nearly as many as there are pedophile school teachers or coaches. Not even percentage-wise.

The homosexuals took over the catholic church seminaries. Just like they are taking over the older,protestant mainline seminaries.

The Holy Spirit has departed these "denominations" a long time ago. Now they toil in ritual and sin, trying to be "religious" as they twist and contort scripture to fit their evil desires.

There are probably as many pedophile priests as there are pedophile ministers, rabbis, Sunday School teachers, Scout leaders -- or Hunter Education instructors.

No way. Catholic Priests have a long history of pedophilia, way beyond the rate of other professions.

I agree that they have a long history of DISCOVERED pedophiles. Perhaps the other professions I mentioned haven't been under the witch hunters' obsessive eyes -- yet.

One would think.....the nuns would beat the $hit outta them with their frizzin' rulers.

Leather? About like a razor strap and applied to an outstretched palm in front of the class? Yeowww that stung!

We had one older master flip out one time and start really whaling on a kid who he couldn't keep from talking back, failing at him about the head and shoulders as he backed him into a corner. He briefly apologized to the class the next day for losing his composure and it was business as usual.

Seems like I got the strap every week for something. I recall my absolute dread of going back to school at the end of the summer holidays, but hey, at least you learned early on not to be a wuss. I never did learn much Latin, and writing left handed with the mandatory fountain pen was a pain.

Only remotely weird thing I can recall was when they lined us all up in the hallway and one at a time we went into an office where some man I had never seen before was asking us one at a time if we wanted to study to be a priest. Just has an odd vibe in memory somehow.

The really funny thing to all us St. Joes alumni though was, when they finally closed for financial reasons, they apologized for their "brutality"

That was before the child molesting thing was common knowledge tho...

Birdwatcher

Whether Catholic or other flavors, I agree. Confused men seeking solice and acceptance in the scripture and church.

Regardless- I hope "defrocked" means they cut 'em from nuts to chin and spill their guts on the church lawn.

The modern philosopher Adam Watts trained to be an Episcopalian priest and was for a period of time. Now Watts in his writings is in many ways an immoral kind of guy, finding nothing wrong with "open marriage" for example and wanting to elevate prostitutes to the level of nurses, but he did write well.

(during my three years of relative isolation in Africa his book "In My Own Way" was one that stood up to being read over and over again starting at any part, exactly as he had set out to write).

In that book he does say that, in his experience, the whole robed and costumed priesthood thing attracted a disproportionate number of homosexual men, closeted and otherwise.

Birdwatcher

Confused men are called to seek solace in the church but the Bible says that they aren't to be leaders or teachers. Leaders are to be solid in their beliefs and above reproach. The church has the responsibility of sorting them out, with the help of the Holy Spirit.

This is true. The gays took over most of the Catholic seminaries by the 1950s.

Yep.

They protected the perverts when they got caught as well.

The perfect place for an aspiring pedophile.

Kinda reminds one of the Village People stalking the YMCA.

I realize there are some men so strong of faith they can lead a celibate life, but I believe their number to be very few.


Way more few than how many priests are needed in this day and age.


the urge to purge ourselves of what is naturally produced in us is very, very strong.

I know it's unlikely to happen but I believe God's interests could be better served by not having men take such a vow to serve the Lord.

That's not meant as a slam against Catholics or the Catholic doctrine.

It just seems to my mind an incredibly extreme and difficult vow to make for a young man, to remain celibate.


it seems to me repressed sexual desire is often the root of great evil.


tis why I'm for the legalization of prostitution. It's been going on forever in many different forms and guises. I feel strongly that a good portion of societal ills could be avoided with a clean regulated work force of sexual therapy professionals.


though I suppose the institution of marriage could take another hit if that indeed came to pass.

That was to be expected once priests could not longer have a mistress. Normal priests dropped out and pedophiles joined up.

It's like asking how many who are teachers, scout masters, day care workers, police officers, lifeguards, coaches, etc.

Some one said a long time ago. Child molesters go where the children are. Coaches don't become child molesters, for example, child molesters become coaches because that's how to get access to children.

Finally, a subject hit the Campfire that the two of you are well versed in and have first-hand knowledge of.

Denver � 1969 � Students at the university across the street from Iliff School of Theology (a prominent Methodist seminary) had a nickname for the students across the street � "the Iliff atheists."

Some prominent predilection must've been brazenly obvious.

The part that is most troubling to me is not that it happens, but that when it is found out, no strong actions are taken, and that cover-ups take place or these vermin are pawned off on they who know or fend less well. Such was the scourge which was inflicted upon parts of Alaska and elsewhere. I'm not sure about this new pope, but I give him kudos for making these efforts.

400 doesn't seem to be all that many considering the amount of priest stationed all over the world.

1 is too many. Priests are supposed to be the pillars of the church, not the sewer.

This action was probably in response to a legal requirement in a lawsuit settlement.

The world is full of pedophiles not just the church. This is the new gay agenda , indoctrinate the children into the gay life style starting with the Government Run Schools and the Churches

I received a letter from my Diocese quite a few years ago about a priest that was an alleged pedophile. I was an alter boy during the time he was stationed at our church, and all that I had to do was sign a document stating that I was molested and I would get a rather large settlement check. I must have been really ugly because I never even heard of anything inappropriate. The part that bothered me was that no claims were made until after the priest had died, so he didn't have the opportunity to defend himself.

offering you money sounds like a bribe to me and someone seems to have had it in for the Priest

.

I was cornered in an ultra aggressive manner by a homosexual/pedophile Catholic Priest in 1977 at the age of 16. With his gay lover, he was running a Catholic sponsored hostel in Virginia along the Appalachian Trail. I had to threaten him within an inch of his life to back away from me. Not something you soon forget... I like Catholics, I loathe the non-biblical legalistic Catholic hierarchy.

As a former Catholic I know that the faithful, the real church is sitting in the pews, the folks on the altar have largely squandered their inheritance. I left not because of the pedophile priests, I left because of the management cover up. Satan loves religion.

I believe it was the former pope who done the good deed.

Some people are kind, polite, and sweet spirited....................until you try to sit in their pew.


I will not belong to any organization that will have me.
Especially organized religion.

Yes, funny how he is also the only one to ever be retired instead of dying in the job.

I didn't realize it was that extensive (at least in my mind it is).

Thanks for posting this,,, I'll think about it the next time I see Bill Oriley rant about the war on Christianity and then in the very next segment tell us how he's "protecting the kids".

How many?

Take the total number of priests, and divide by 1.

That will get you a pretty good ballpark number.

Even if not pedophiles, there are a lot of crappy priests and nuns in the Catholic church because it gives them power, respect, room and board, insurance, and shields them from questions about their sexual issues. It's a corrupt system with a lot of eyewash. Good clergy/bad clergy has about the odds of a coin toss.

^^^^^^^^

This

Where did all the Irish priest go and whatever happened to Benediction??

As far as the first question; I only know two, and both married ladies in their congregations, one of which had to divorce her husband first.

Then they each took jobs as counselors in rehab programs.

I'm sure the children were dressed too provocatively, being the unrepentant little heathens that they are.

ah, yes..better stated has how many arent ??

I fear that man shall never be free. If man continues to be ruled by unopposed, self appointed, leaders of the body and soul then man is doomed.

Man Will Never Be Free Until The Last King Is Strangled With The Entrails Of The Last Priest.

Until then, man is enslaved.

Denis Diderot

Damn. THAT'S powerful stuff.

That might well serve as a dividing line between human beings of ALL races, colors and creeds.

FWIW.......... I'm firmly in agreement with the statement.

I believe Diderot wrote that in the late 1700s.

....got him in a bit of hot water, too.

GTC

Mankind shall not be free until God puts Satan in his bottle for eternity � and corks it. Until then, Mankind will keep flocking blindly to Satan as his eager and willing slaves.

That is the single most poignant post I have read on these fora...and Cross, it is correct.

The act is deplorable and should be punished with extreme prejudice....
The cover up that went on and may still is at least as bad if not worse.
The whole gig is repugnant and sent me into a total different direction re: my religious views. I operate differently now.