philly scandal

[dspen2005]

i'm here in philly attending seminary. during the 4 weeks i have been here i have noticed an anticatholic bias on the part of the media and the DA in this city.... the grand jury has finally issued its report concerning the sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of philadelphia yesterday. now, in this morning paper on the front page is nothing but articles about the abuse -- 4 or 5 stories. then these carry over into 5 more pages of the paper being about this story. what is particularly heinous about the approach is that the articles assert that there are "likely more", implicating the rest of the good priests of this archdicoese as somehow being complicit, if not outright abusers themselves. The DA when she began this investigation -- 3 years ago, i would add -- said that this was to be an investigation into the abuse by clergy "of all faiths". THe archdiocese cooperated with the investigation providing 10s of thousands of documentation and information. As time progressed, it became clear and it is definitively proven from the document released, that this investigation was one probing solely and completely into the Catholic Church. Even more appalling from this, is that the taxpayers of Philadelphia have spent millions of dollars to investigate something for which the DA will not file charges, because the statute of limitations had run out on all of the abuse -- in most cases the abuse took place 25-50 years ago..... I am absolutely frustrated, angry and gosh-darned pissed off (I do apologize for the language here, but I am really tied in knots over this)......

ok, that's my rant... i will leave now :

[Paladin D]

The Catholic League made mention of this.

[url="http://www.catholicleague.com/05press_releases/quarter%203/050921_empty.htm"]http://www.catholicleague.com/05press_rele...50921_empty.htm[/url]

[quote]PHILADELPHIA D.A. COMES UP EMPTY



Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham released a grand jury report today on cases of alleged sexual abuse by priests in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.  Commenting on the report is Catholic League president William Donohue:


“The incredible amount of time and money that Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham has wasted in her fanatical crusade against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia is just cause for her being thrown out of office.  After all is said and done, she has come up empty: not a single priest will be prosecuted for any alleged crime.  And she knew this from the get-go: the report says that ‘much of the abuse goes back several decades’ and that ‘many of the victims were unnamed, unavailable or unable to come forward.’



“In other words, Abraham wants us to believe that many years ago (decades ago?) there were priests who molested kids she can’t identify.  Other alleged victims moved away and can’t be found (perhaps they’re hiding from her).  Still others are apparently too old to meet with her.



“At bottom, Abraham is a phony.  From the beginning, she had absolutely no evidence that would lead her to conduct a massive taxpayer-funded investigation of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia while not similarly investigating ministers, rabbis, public school teachers, abortion counselors, et al.  But all of them got a pass nonetheless.  Worse, Abraham has the gall to say she wants to tighten the Pennsylvania Child Protective Services Law yet never states that abortion counselors should be added to the ‘Mandated Reporters’ list.  And that’s because her friends at Planned Parenthood would then have to report cases of statutory rape.



“Some will say she is heroic simply because she successfully named some priests who apparently were molesters.  But it is not an act of heroism to select one institution out of many for an investigation that was destined to fail.  It’s an act of exploitation.”[/quote]


Much of my family is from there, and I was raised right outside of Philly too.

[Paladin D]

By the way, which seminary are you attending? Are you planning to be ordained in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia?


[b]EDIT:[/b] Read your profile and some of your blog. Is there any particular reason why you're going to Philly? Like I said before, much of my family (including both my parents) were born and raised in Philly, and I've spent much of my young life right across the Delaware River in Mapleshade, NJ, and also in the northern suburbia of Wilmington, DE.

I've been thinking that if the priesthood is for me, I've been discerning whether or not to move back up north and study in the diocese of Wilmington (DE), Archdiocese of Philadelphia, and [b]maybe[/b] the dioceses of Trenton, and Camden. Though more than likely, it'll be the former two.

Edited September 22, 2005 by Paladin D

[dspen2005]

I am postulant with the Order of Our Lady of Mercy. THe friars send their seminarians to St Charles Borromeo -- so, I will not be ordained for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

[Paladin D]

[quote name='dspen2005' date='Sep 22 2005, 02:10 PM']I am postulant with the Order of Our Lady of Mercy.  THe friars send their seminarians to St Charles Borromeo -- so, I will not be ordained for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
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Will you be within the Philly metro area though, after ordination?

[thessalonian]

No victims, no witnesses, no perpetrators, the Church has handed over tons of documents and they spent millions of dollars on this? And they are still claiming there was a crime. The Church is guilty until proven guilty I guess. Can you say STUPID!

[dspen2005]

[quote name='Paladin D' date='Sep 22 2005, 03:30 PM']Will you be within the Philly metro area though, after ordination?
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that is up to the Order... I will be wherever they feel I will be needed.

[dspen2005]

[quote name='thessalonian' date='Sep 22 2005, 03:45 PM']No victims, no witnesses, no perpetrators, the Church has handed over tons of documents and they spent millions of dollars on this?  And they are still claiming there was a crime.  The Church is guilty until proven guilty I guess.  Can you say STUPID!
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of course... in fact they have evidence of abuse that took place 30-45 years ago... and they write in the paper, "there is probably more" -- which casts a damning shadow on other priests....

[jezic]

i can't say this is surprising.

Just pray for them.

They need it.

[CatholicCid]

I think we all can cherish the day when the headlines are "Church does <good deed>" or so and so... Though, all they want is to stir up the waters...

I guess the best charity is truly the unspoken kind.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

"Priests are the only group in the United States without civil rights." -Fr. Benedict Groeschel

[Nicole8223]

I live about 20 minuts from St. Charles seminary and have friends who attend there too. Paladin, I am in the DIocese of Camden, and man do we need some good, orthodox priests!

The news stations have done everything they can to make the Church look like terrorists. It's so sad to see their agenda so clearly and know that nothing is being done to stop them.

[dspen2005]

today, another example of the subtle disdain shown to the Church by the media.... in the Philadelphia Inquirer, in HUGE BLOCK LETTERS, it reads; DON'T READ IT, Cardinal says. if you read the article, that is not what the cardinal said -- he said the faithful should avoid it (which is entirely different from the "command" in the headline). Furthermore, the cardinal warned the faithful that the material in the report is quite graphic and disturbing......

[Paladin D]

The level of hypocrisy against the Catholic Church is absolutely amazing.

[Lounge Daddy]

i have not heard much good about the elected government of Phili
which is sad - our country has such a chunk of history there... maybe Phili will make a return from the liberal basement its currently locked into

[dspen2005]

from what i understand -- the mayor, here, is very corrupt... but for some reason nothing has been able to stick -- practices of nepotism and some other stuff have been lodged against him... but people keep electing him

[toledo_jesus]

[quote name='dspen2005' date='Sep 23 2005, 11:17 PM']from what i understand -- the mayor, here, is very corrupt... but for some reason nothing has been able to stick -- practices of nepotism and some other stuff have been lodged against him... but people keep electing him
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ahem, marion barry anyone?

[Paladin D]

Mayor John F. Street (D), of Philly, should be removed from office.

[ofpheritup]

[quote name='dspen2005' date='Sep 22 2005, 07:50 PM']of course... in fact they have evidence of abuse that took place 30-45 years ago... and they write in the paper, "there is probably more" -- which casts a damning shadow on other priests....
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I am in Georgia now. I was raised in Southwest Philly on Elmwood Ave.
We are getting IT down here too. I don't say this because I am Catholic I say this to people down here because it is true.

Are we "the only show with freaks" in town?" I wish the people pointing fingers would clean up their own denominations and then help us clean up ours. Okay, I'm done.

[Paladin D]

[quote name='ofpheritup' date='Sep 24 2005, 09:55 AM']I am in Georgia now. I was raised in Southwest Philly on Elmwood Ave.
We are getting IT down here too.
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Awesome, both my parents were born and raised in Northeast Philly. :