Friday, June 1, 2012

Money talks....

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York is under the microscope now after documents reveal that he authorized the "payment" of $20,000 to priests who were accused of abuse in return for them to accept laicization while he was bishop of Milwaukee.

SNAP, the organization which attempts to speak on behalf of victims of clergy sexual abuse is presenting this as a case against Cardinal Dolan.  They are calling the $20,000 a "payment," even a "bonus" for abusing minors.  This is absurd and is calumny!

What the Cardinal did was simply pressure priests accused of abuse to accept laicization.  Laicization is a long process which deals with canon lawyers and the like.  At the conclusion of the process, the Vatican makes a decision based on evidence to see if a priest should remain as such or be returned to the lay state.  In other words, laicization removes the position of priesthood from an ordained man.

A priest has rights and protection under Canon Law.  By making them part of the laity again, they lose those privileges and it will be easier to prosecute them in a civil system.  So instead of Cardinal Dolan having them under the umbrella of the Church, he offered them this stipend in order for them to leave the priesthood and at the same time live.

Remember, we are a Church.  We must do the Christian thing and not kick people into the streets to become homeless.  The amount given is not enough to live on for a year, but it is enough for a former priest to start looking for employment elsewhere and start a new life - hopefully a crime free one.

 

Source:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michele-somerville/cardinal-dolan-blackmail-for-jesus_b_1554485.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/31/us/cardinal-authorized-payments-to-abusers.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/31/cardinal-timothy-dolan-archdiocese-milwaukee-payoff-abusive-priests_n_1559298.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/31/cardinal-timothy-dolan-archdiocese-milwaukee-payoff-abusive-priests_n_1559298.html?ref=topbar

http://abcnews.go.com/US/cardinal-dolan-quiet-20k-payments-pedophile-priests/story?id=16467662#.T8haVrBYvyg

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thank you for reading and for your comment. All comments are subject to approval. They must be free of vulgarity, ad hominem and must be relevant to the blog posting subject matter.

Labels

Catholic Church (743) God (400) Atheism (340) Jesus (328) Bible (299) Jesus Christ (276) Pope Francis (228) Atheist (226) Liturgy of the Word (192) Science (151) LGBT (145) Christianity (136) Pope Benedict XVI (79) Rosa Rubicondior (79) Gay (77) Abortion (75) Prayer (65) President Obama (57) Physics (53) Philosophy (52) Liturgy (50) Vatican (50) Christian (49) Blessed Virgin Mary (43) Christmas (43) Psychology (40) New York City (39) Holy Eucharist (35) Politics (34) Women (34) Biology (30) Supreme Court (30) Baseball (29) Religious Freedom (27) NYPD (26) Traditionalists (24) priests (24) Space (23) Pope John Paul II (22) Evil (20) Health (20) Racism (20) First Amendment (19) Pro Abortion (19) Protestant (19) Christ (18) Theology (18) Child Abuse (17) Evangelization (17) Illegal Immigrants (17) Pro Choice (17) Apologetics (16) Astrophysics (16) Death (16) Donald Trump (16) Police (16) Priesthood (16) Pedophilia (15) Marriage (14) Vatican II (14) Blog (11) Divine Mercy (11) Autism (10) Gospel (10) Jewish (10) Morality (10) Muslims (10) Poverty (10) September 11 (10) Eucharist (9) academia (9) Easter Sunday (8) Gender Theory (8) Human Rights (8) Pentecostals (8) Personhood (8) Sacraments (8) Big Bang Theory (7) CUNY (7) Cognitive Psychology (7) Condoms (7) David Viviano (7) Ellif_dwulfe (7) Evidence (7) Barack Obama (6) Hell (6) Hispanics (6) Holy Trinity (6) Humanism (6) NY Yankees (6) Spiritual Life (6) Babies (5) Cyber Bullying (5) Massimo Pigliucci (5) Podcast (5) Pope Pius XII (5) The Walking Dead (5) Angels (4) Donations (4) Ephebophilia (4) Gender Dysphoria Disorder (4) Pope Paul VI (4) Catholic Bloggers (3) Death penalty (3) Evangelicals (3) Pluto (3) Pope John XXIII (3) Baby Jesus (2) Dan Arel (2) Eastern Orthodox (2) Encyclical (2) Founding Fathers (2) Freeatheism (2) Oxfam (2) Penn Jillette (2) Pew Research Center (2) Plenary Indulgence (2) Cursillo (1) Dan Savage (1) Divine Providence (1) Fear The Walking Dead (1) Pentecostales (1)