Loading ...(EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a heartfelt guest rant by my personal friend and former GTL co-blogger, Matthew O’Keefe of Papamoka’s Straight Talk. You can just feel his anger and disappointment with his beloved Catholic church as he stumbles upon the New York Times piece below — there’s no holding back; Mat just lets his fingers fly as he “vents” in this controversial piece. I thank Mat for sharing with our readers — feel free to chime in with a comment below — GTL)
Prominent Jesuit Is Target of New Federal Charges
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN and SUSAN SAULNY
A prominent Jesuit priest accused of sexually victimizing teenage boys who were his valets as he traveled the world leading Roman Catholic spiritual retreats was taken into federal custody yesterday in Chicago.
The priest, the Rev. Donald J. McGuire, was charged by the federal authorities with traveling to Switzerland and Austria to engage in sexual conduct with a minor. Father McGuire was convicted last year of sexually abusing two high school students on trips to Wisconsin.
(Snip)
Victims’ lawyers released documents this week that showed that as far back as 1969 parents had contacted Jesuit officials to report that Father McGuire was behaving in sexually incorrect ways with their sons.
The order also received complaint letters from parents in 1993, 1994, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003.
In that time, Father McGuire traveled alone with teenagers as young as 13, usually sharing a room and often a bed, according to the affidavit unsealed yesterday.
The actions continued despite orders from his Jesuit superiors in the Chicago Province in 1991 instructing Father McGuire not to travel on overnight trips “with any boy or girl under the age of 18 and, preferably, even under the age of 21.” …
So the Catholic Church leaders knew the creep was a problem but still let him loose on the parish children? I’m guessing the Jesuit superiors are hoping to cover their sorry asses with a strongly worded letter rather than calling 911?
“… Sometimes after the abuse, he would perform the rite of absolution. One of the reported victims said the first time Father McGuire molested him was at confession, when he was 9. The parents had considered it an honor when the prominent priest mentored their sons.
The boy who reportedly traveled with Father McGuire to Switzerland and Austria roomed with him in a Jesuit residence in Evanston, Ill., in 1999, starting at age 13, and stayed until 2003.
That was one year after the Catholic bishops of the United States declared that all priests credibly accused of abuse should be removed from ministry service. – New York Times
The right of Absolution? For the child? Yet another sick minded SOB priest who raped young boys.
What the hell is the deal with my Catholic Church? Who in their right mind would allow a “Known” sex offender against children to still have contact with children? Direct report senior officials in the church should be tried right next to this SOB and given the same damned sentence. This is a crime against humanity in the most disgusting form and it angers me so much that it has rocked my faith in the church to the point of wanting to leave it.
Yes, I mean leave the church that has shown me the world of Jesus Christ and that we all are our brother’s keeper. How can I go to my church and look any priest in the face without wondering if this man of God is also a pedophile in disguise? What is going through his mind as my children are taking the body of Christ? I can not rely on or trust the Bishops or the Cardinals to clean up their acts and cast out the sex offenders anymore than I could trust a known serial killer not to kill… again!
What I see as a serious problem with the brotherhood that is the priesthood of the Catholic Church is that they take care of their own no matter what wrongs they have committed. In their minds, it seems better to hide a known criminal amongst themselves than report the criminal to the authorities. After all they are all looking out for the greater good of the Catholic Church. With the criminal priest on the lamb for one or more sexual crimes against children they have knowingly farmed them out to other dioceses to start all over again for decades. Who the hell do these people think they are? Wearing that collar does not absolve you from being a sinner at any level of the church and if you knowingly hide someone who has sexually abused children then you are just as guilty.
If the United States government or for that matter states and local law enforcement looked at the Catholic Church as just another corporation then they would have seized all the records of the Bishops (Vice Presidents) and Cardinals (CEOs) within the church and shut this sexual predator pedophilia syndicate down years ago.
I’m disgusted as a practicing Catholic. If my church does not see this as a long running problem then I can not continue to participate in this church in the same ways I have in the past. If I can see it in the press, then so can the Pope. If he looks the other way still, then somebody needs to call Saint Peter and tell him about the going out of business sale.
My suggestions to parents thinking that their child may have been sexually abused by anyone in any church; call the police first, your District Attorney General’s office next, and then call a lawyer. Insist on an arrest no matter who the accused is.
Calling the church or the abuser’s boss in circumstances of sexual abuse against your child is like swatting at the rain. The drops are still going to come down and get your feet wet.
Cross posted at Papamoka Straight Talk and Bring IT ON!
Is the clergy itself somekind of magnet for perverts and egomaniacs? What with Jackson, Swaggart, all these priests, I gotta wonder!
I’m not condoning the good ol’ boy network of protection in the RC heirarchy, nor am I saying that even one case is too many, but if you dig into stats and do a comparison you will find that, roughly, the percentage of priests who are child molesters is about the same as in the general population. And, you will find that the same holds true for the clergy of the various protestant sects.
The vast majority of priests and other clergy are good, decent, honorable men who go about their jobs with dignity and humility.
I think Matthew O’Keefe is a day late and a dollar short to say he’s upset with his church. Or did he just learn to read a few days ago?
No John, I am not a day late. I’ve been posting against sexual child abuse against children for years but maybe you just haven’t been reading my post’s here or for that matter recall them. I loan you the dollar if you need it to catch up.
Matthew, if you’ve been posting against child abuse by officials in the catholic church for years, the tone and content of your article doesn’t indicate it. I can understand your hurt and anger, but I don’t understand how you have continued to support such a flawed institution.
Joe Lovell’s post above really gets to the heart of the “issue.” It might be fair to expect the Catholic clergy to be better than average in this respect, but they are just people, just like the rest of us.
Another important point is that Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular have been under great scrutiny in recent years, even to the point of the creation of an anti-Christian and anti-Catholic bias. An example of this would be the events unfolding in China. Atheletes attending the 2008 Summer Olympics will NOT BE ALLOWED to bring a Bible with them into the Olympic Village, and possibly even into the country. There is currently no intention to ban books from other religions, such as the Torah, the Koran, etc, just the Christian Bible.
“Atheletes attending the 2008 Summer Olympics will NOT BE ALLOWED to bring a Bible with them into the Olympic Village, and possibly even into the country. There is currently no intention to ban books from other religions, such as the Torah, the Koran, etc, just the Christian Bible.”
On another blog it was this and the banning of wearing or carrying any religiously symbolic items, not just the Bible.
Have faith in the Chinese themselves, remember Tianamen Square.
Thanks, F&B. Too many people see clergy as something other than human, and somehow perfect and without sin. They are simply men with a special calling.
Yes, in the RCC and Eastern Orthodox Church it is taught
that, through the laying on of hands and annointing with the holy chrisim, they receive a special gift of the Spirit. But, that just makes them all the greater targets for assault by the evil one.
This country has had a strong anti-Catholic bias from the get-go, except maybe in Florida and Lousiana Territiory. But from Georgia and the Carolinas, on up into New England, even in supposedly Catholic Maryland, the English Reformers etc. held power and it was actually dangerous to be RC. This carried through to the Know Nothings just prior to the War Between the States, and was still strong up until JFK. The more general anti-Christian bias didn’t become strong until after the Summer of Love.
I think that Matthews hammering the RCC on this subject, which is merited, is somewhat akin to my hammering the Progressives and Democrats about the strong anti-civil rights, anti-white male, anti-Christian, anti-gun, pro-all powerful nanny state agenda that the leadership pushes. I was raised both RC and Democrat. I left the RCC just after Vat II and joined the Orthodox Church about 20 years later after going through agnostic and neo-pagan phases. I have not left the Dem. party yet, at least officially, but until the leaders stop supporting the cause du jour and any and every fringe, revisionist, anti-american tradition snake oil salesman that comes along, I don’t see myself giving much support to it. When it again returns to being the fairly centrist party it was during the Truman era, I may be able to support it again.
A further comment:
a word from the desert
It happened that Abba Moses was struggling with the temptation of
fornication. Unable to stay any longer in his cell, he went and told Abba
Isidore. The old man exhorted him to return to his cell. But he refused,
saying, “Abba, I cannot.” Then Abba Isidore took Moses out onto the terrace and
said to him, “Look towards the west.” He looked and saw hordes of demons flying
about and making a noise before launching an attack. Then Abba Isidore said to
him, “Look towards the east.” He turned and saw an innumerable multitude of
holy angels shining with glory. Abba Isidore said, “See, these are sent by the
Lord to the saints to bring them help, while those in the west fight against
them. Those who are with us are more in number than they are.” Then Abba Moses
gave thanks to God, plucked up his courage, and returned to his cell.
Mark Samuel, Nurse Sex Offender Convicted
On Sept 8,2005 RN:Mark Samuel was sentenced to five years in Jail with all but two years suspended,having been convicted in January 2004 of unlawful sexual contact with a 6 year-old girl . Mark Samuel counseled the girls mother. when the counseling ended , the three became friends attending family fuctions together. The violations occurred during sleepovers at the Nurses residence during the summer of 2003. Mark Samuel has been released from prison and is now at risk to the community of North Bay Ontario Mark Samuel emyployed 2007 for Assertive community treatment Team North Bay, ON
Northeast Mental Health Center
P.O. Box 3010 4700
Highway 11 N
North Bay, ON,CA