I deleted my comment here, because I decided I should be "nice!"

I was molested by a priest. I live in a predominately Catholic city. I can't pass a Catholic church without the fear and terror and rage, rising in my gut so consequently I avoid passing by them if I can. You want to know something ironic? There's a Catholic church one block away from my house and I have to go out of my way to get home to avoid seeing that church and those effing signs in the yard "Come Home" I get sick to my stomach and I feel the fear and I want to scream, "CLEAN UP YOUR OWN F___ING HOUSE AND YOUR PEOPLE WILL COME HOME! THEY'RE HUMILATED BECAUSE YOU'VE LET YOUR PEDOPHILES ESCAPE JUSTICE!"

Meanwhile, the flock stays away. I don't blame them. I would too.

Rusty

OH...you mean THIS Catholic "Church?" The one that REFUSED to renounce this statement:

“more than three-quarters of the victims were post pubescent, meaning the abuse did not meet the clinical definition of pedophilia.”

AND

Penn State professor Philip Jenkins has studied this problem for years. After looking at the John Jay data, which studied priestly sexual abuse from 1950-2002, he found that "of the 4,392 accused priests, almost 56 percent faced only one misconduct allegation, and at least some of these would certainly vanish under detailed scrutiny." Moreover, Jenkins wrote that "Out of 100,000 priests active in the U.S. in this half-century, a cadre of just 149 individuals--one priest out of every 750--accounted for over a quarter of all allegations of clergy abuse." In other words, almost all priests have never had anything to do with sexual molestation.

I invited the head priest of a local church and HUGE school to renounce what Bill D. caims. he won't even return emails.

Does anyone find this Penn State connection and OFFICIAL ACADEMIC "RESEARCH" a bit FUCKED????

Rusty,

I am so sorry for what happened to you.

I deleted my above comment because it wasn't going to be to kind to the Catholic church, but I will say some of it now.

I was raised as a Roman Catholic. I am not a Catholic now. I am a non-denominational Christian. I was sexually abused for 2+ years by my Scoutmaster, and it started in the Catholic church that sponsored our troop. I was an altar boy and thankfully I was never molested by a priest, but since I was already damaged from a very early age, I suppose it wouldn't have made things much worse. I do feel there is some liability on the part of the Catholic church for what happened to me, because no one in the church ever checked up on the troop to make sure the boys were safe, plus they should have a responsibility to know when a boy is being sexually molested in their building, behind their altar.

I live in Colorado. A lawyer told me that the Catholic church lobbied lawmakers in Colorado to severely reduce the statute of limitations. Not only that, but the reduction in the statute of limitations was made retroactive. I think it is as wicked as can be, for priest to sexually abuse boys, then the Catholic church moves the perps from church to church, hides the sin and never, ever does anything to stop it. Now the pure evil is compounded by letting adults that were permanently damaged by the abuse have no means to seek restitution for what was done!

The Catholic church can advertise "Catholics Come Home" all they want, but they will NEVER, EVER get me to come back, plus I do not consider myself Catholic!!!

My last thought is, What does the Bible say about restitution and WWJD?

"It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones."
(Luke 17:2 NKJV)

Anyone finding THIS interesting? I just notified the reporter at MSNBC who interviewed me regarding Penn State:

ZE02031121 - 2002-03-11
Permalink: http://www.zenit.org/article-3922?l=english
"THE MYTH OF THE PEDOPHILE PRIEST"

A Researcher Puts Scandals in Context

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania, MARCH 11, 2002 (Zenit.org).- Philip Jenkins, a Penn State University professor of history and religious studies, is author of "Pedophiles and Priests: Anatomy of a Contemporary Crisis" (Oxford University Press, 1996). He wrote this article for the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, which published it March 3 under the headline "The Myth of the Pedophile Priest."

" Now, many people are confused about the distinction between a pedophile and a person guilty of sex with a minor. "

Kind of like how many people are confused about the distinction between a plumber and a person you pay money to fix the water pipes in your house..

I notice the article seems mostly concerned with "treatment" for the perv-etrators rather than the children.

This article sure puts the scandals in context, all right.

John

They get the protection and we get vilified. Their day of reckoning WILL come my brothers either in this life or the one to come.

My perp is allegedly "sick" and had to retire from the priesthood. He's being housed at St. Somethingoranother and only allowed to do christenings and weddings. So let's take a poll. How many of you think that's a crock of shit. The Archdiocese knew what he was doing and they put him into "retirement."

Rusty

Rusty,

In my experience when I was a Catholic, the Bible wasn't regarded as having much authority there. However, Biblically speaking, they owe you restitution. To me, more important than anything, they should pay for enough therapy to get you to a point of being functional. In my case, that is the most important part of suing the perp and his "enabling organization." Also, in my case, my entire career never came to pass, so they are responsible for that as well.