VOTF calls for bishop resignations

pssst... VOTF, the Church is not a democracy. Nobody takes you seriously with your hidden agenda, which has less to do with the tragic crisis that your phony attempt to run the Church to satisfy your own self-interest and redefinition of sin, and other issues.

votf can disagree with an institution that has saved and guided millions of people to a sense of peace and purpose. To ask for heads is barbaric. Does anyone remember what the prescribed rehab was for pedophiles? At that time? Counseling and re-assignment. WEB - MD was incorrect. Cardinal Law got crucified by an ignorant media who failed to reveal the truth. Wake up VOTF! You are all bordering on participating in the act of intrensic evil. Some of which Christ refers to as "unforgivable".

Psssst....KJR, the church is not a democracy, nor is there any oversight or accounatbility....as was seen with Priest raping little boys for years and years.

Thank God there are people like VOTF and the Globe who got the Truth out!

Those priest ruined the lives of innocent children. They committed the ultimate sin. These bishops covered it up. To argue that they were "just following orders" didn't work in other situations, and it shouldn't work now.

I am a Catholic, and I think that gives me the right to demand justice in the name of the innocents.

Again, KJR proves himself to be a huge spiritual and intellectual joke

Shepherds protect their flocks. We were always taught that Cardinals and Bishops were shepherds. Well, they didn't protect the least among us - they didn't do their jobs! They will be judged by the Good Shepherd. If I were in their shoes, I would quake at the thought.

Had these priest pedophiles robbed the till instead of the innocence of children, they might have been forgiven, in time, by their Cardinals and Bishops - but you can bet Peter's Pence on it that they would never again been allowed to touch money. How sad that children were not valued as much as money!

moveon, you're real name isn't Olbermann is it?

Agawam Joe - you do have that right - if not, the duty! But I think justice involves primarily protecting the children, but not seeking revenge or using that issue to "reform" the Church according to the Gospel of VOTF. VOTF is not a "mainstream" set of Catholics as it represents. It is a radical fringe group, and seeks to "redefine" infallible Church doctrine on topics like abortion, contraception and others. Hey Olbermann, can you form an articulate response on the merits rather than continue the schoolyard name-calling?

If it was not for the statute of limitations and the clergy exemption rule, most of the hierarchy would be doing HEAVY time in a maximum security prison.

Moveon
Geoghan himself raped 135 boys and the criminal hierarchy moved him from parish-to-parish and never called the cops.
What part of CHILD RAPE don't you understand ???

Cardinal Law is a criminal. In a just world he'd have been in a cell for the past 15 years instead of stuffing his face with lobster and caviar in Vatican City. Have you noticed he never comes home to visit? Why do you suppose that is?

The Church is not a democracy. Well, it isn't a dictatorship either. The pervert clergy must be held to account, and so must their enablers and apologists.

Why bother? Why do you hang on to an institution that committed the inquisition, ignored the holocaust, and whose leaders diddle little boys?

What ignorance concerning the Catholic Church, Wake up people and look at the world and not only your little cornor in Boston. Yes, the Catholic Church has made mistakes but other churches have made even bigger mistakes of the same kind and no one attacks them. Amd that´s the way it should be. Move on and work towards a better world and look at your private life before you condemn others.

These bishops willingly and knowingly failed to protect the most vulnerable in their
flock - thousands of innocent children!

They did it to protect their brother priests and avoid scandal - they could have cared less about the damage to these kids.

These scoundrels should all be in jail! But no - they are still in charge, and still unfortunately, supported by some Catholics who refuse to hold them accountable.
May all of these bishops and loyal supporters rot in hell!

Articles like this don't bother me anymore. I learned a long, long time ago how to effectively set aside concerns about accountability, fairness, and justice so as to allow gracious and full submission to the needs and dictates of the Catholic clergy — I mean God.

The Catholic Church was founded by Christ who we believe is God the Son. He chose 12 apostoles and even they had trouble. The church ever since it began had problems but it´s still there helping the poor all over the world. Why condemn it for a few who even Christ knew that we should do what they say and not do what they do. I´m Catholic and don¨t have a right to destroy the church but to defend it.

KJR, obviouly is a fool. People do take VOTF are taken seriously. You are correct that the church is not a democracy, but that does not mean catholics can't express thier opinion. I would not dought that the church as a whole does not wish to address this most embarrassing issue, especially from the leadership in Rome. They want it to all go away, but VOLT and others won't let it go away.

The reason Moron Law is in Rome is because he screwed up and the AG was going to press charges against him

If the church had any sense of justice or even a sense of morals they would turn these bishops over to the local governments for trail.

Once again the so called "Voice of the Faithful" proves that they are anything but faithful.Perhaps since their membership and funding is dying off they are attempting to revive themselves . It is time for Last Rites,of course you'd have to be faithful Catholics to desire the sacrament. I pray for their return or that they find peace in the Episcopal Church. May the Angles Lead them into paradise!

How can any one be a faithful catholic in these days when the church hides the facts and lies to your face? It is not the faith or belief in the words of christ, it is the political institution that the church has become that is wrong. The notion that the very top eschelons of the church hid these monsters, shipped them all around the country and said nothing is wrong. Compound that with the fact they lied about not knowing, I have zero faith in the church. They have lost the way and need to find salvation for thier own souls.

Truthseeker said: Cardinal Law got crucified by an ignorant media who failed to reveal the truth.

What are you talking about? It was the media that helped expose the truth! The Globe being chief among them. ANd the truth was that Cardinal Law did nothing to protect the children in his flock.

SEDNUF said: Yes, the Catholic Church has made mistakes but other churches have made even bigger mistakes of the same kind and no one attacks them.

That because we as Catholics are concerned about what is happening in our own Church...and we are responsible for speaking up for what goe on in our own Church.

Rick Said: Once again the so called "Voice of the Faithful" proves that they are anything but faithful.

Of course they are faithful! Faithful to Christ's message. Not faithful to a hierarchy that shields pedophiles. That's not being faithful...that blind alegience.

Rick seems to think that Faithfulness is allowing priests to get away with abusing children.

Moveon
My apologies
I meant KJR
He is the joke, not you
Sorry

VOTF, your everlasting contributions and efforts are appreciated by many caring thoughtful Catholics and the general public.
The burdens carried by the living victims of this sexual abuse warrant acknowledgement and every thoughtout effort to repair.

Remember the victims, remember that they have had their lives changed and ruined.
A living death for too many! Taking this out of the closet and cleansing the wound,
VOTF has helped in doing. Thank you VOTF. Barbara

Forgiveness yes. Forget no. Barbara

Anyone paying attention will know the bishops won't resign because Rome supports them. That's the way the game is played.
These men and the priests they protected must know their reckoning will come when they meet their creator. We cannot know the mind of God. But we his children are all equal in his eyes.

Jake, no worries.

I'm glad others like you and James E Stevenson clearly see KJR for the ridiculous ranter he is.

Blah blah blah... no substance from the namecallers, just the namecalling and nastyness. Why don't you all simply admit that VOTF is a misnomer. It should be VOTD (Voice of the Dissenters). Faithful they are not by their own proclaimed purpose. No one can justify the tragedy and outrageousness of the abuse scandal, and no one does here, but the so-called VOTF is another version of the ACLU trying to infect the Church's authority and inerrency on doctrinal matters. At least be honest about it. (ok, you can start the mindless namecalling now so you will feel better).

So well said KJR. VOTF needs to stop battering the Catholic Church. I thought this group ended along time ago when everyone found out what they were really about. That it was only started for their own selfish agenda's and sick purposes. To try to infiltrate our church and change doctrine. If they don't want to move on and go with the healing process then you know what? The doors the church are pretty big. Open them up and get out. Start your own left wing liberal church. Leave ours alone. Stop battering the Priests of today. Learn what it means to be a true Catholic. Move on people.....

KJR Said:

"It should be VOTD (Voice of the Dissenters)."

KJR is it dissent to follow in Christs footsteps, and like Jesus, point out when something is wrong?

Jesus called out the moneychangers, he called out the Pharisees, he called out the people ready to stone the woman.

He instructed the Apostles to do the same.

Why is the Church immune from criticism? What are you afraid of?

If there was no criticism, priests would still be raping little boys.

Awe, KJR, you really do amuse me.

A propos- from The Daily Dish:
Dumped In Alaska
No, not Palin: the Catholic church. The sex abuse crisis - in which the Vatican became the de facto hub of an interational sexual criminal conspiracy in the 1960s and 1970s - had a special brutality in the frozen north:

The new suit contends that pedophile priests unsuited to serve anywhere else were dumped on Alaska and put in remote villages with little or no law enforcement, making it virtually impossible for anyone to report them. There was a calculated effort at the highest levels of the Jesuit order to "'dump' these 'problem priests' in a location in which the priests could avoid detection and continued to sexually abuse countless Native children," the suit says.

Problem priests from seven Jesuit provinces in the United States as well as four other countries ended up in the rural villages, mostly in Western Alaska, Wall said. "They were specifically targeting the Athabascan and the Yup'ik cultures, because they wouldn't talk," he said in a telephone interview Wednesday.

KJR and Truthseeker67,
The only hidden agenda here was owned by the church. Cardinal Law crucified? He should not only step down. He should have gone to prison for aiding and abetting felonious conduct. The church will never recover from the abject filth it inflicted upon a trusting populace. Never.

I didn't think VOTF was still in existence. They're a little slow with this demand, aren't they?

KJR is dead on about VOTF's hidden agenda, i.e., women's ordination, married priests, etc.

Will someone clue me in as to what the VOTF hidden agenda is? I've heard it said before by church representatives, but I have never heard or read anywhere just what it is. I've been a member of VOTF from the beginning (internet participation only) and I haven't read or seen them refer to anything but what's in their mission statement. I guess what I'm looking for is concrete proof. If anyone can point me to it I would greatly appreciate it.

Is Ratzinger gay? What would it mean if he were? Just raising the question is, for some, shocking and out-of-bounds. Which is exactly the point.

This isn't a snarky academic question, especially in light of the Church's recent policies designed to purge seminaries of gay men and its stone silence around calls such as VOTF's for further action toward bishops who let priests molest.

There's been enough speculation if not open discussion, over the years about Ratzinger's sexuality and his relationship with his 52 year old male secretary (See in particular: http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=188&view=print) that the question ought to be raised, to lead where it might.

My own feeling is that discussion of the sexuality of the men at the top of the Vatican would shed a powerful light on some of the reasons for its leadership's homophobia, self-hatred and projection, and the protection of its own --these errant bishops-- by way of a do-as-I-say-but-not-as-I-do policies at the top.

By definition, one cannot give concrete proof for a hidden agenda. Its just a combination of inference, hunches, mix in a little paranoia. I agree; take the person's (or organization's) written word as being sincere, until proven otherwise; only basis for rational discussion.

mary d,
They can't clue you in because it's hidden so no one can see it. And Peggy, Peggy, Peggy, women and married priests is probably the only thing that can save the church from obliterating itself. God knows the nabobs running it now have a snowball's chance in H E double hockey sticks. They are more corrupt than even the Bush Administration and that says a lot.

So KJR,
Is child molestation a real sin, or is it only sin as redefined by VOTF? And was it not illegal, even when the standard treatment was counseling? What in your view is the obligation of the church and its members, priests included, to follow the law? Are priests above the law in instances other than hearing about a crime in confession? Honest answers to these questions will tell us, and perhaps even yourself, a thing or two about where you are coming from.

I always hear that the church is not a democracy. I don't believe it is supposed to be a dictatorship or a monarchy either but a community of love. Whether the institution is noticing or not, thousands of people are voting with their feet. Many of them are under 30.

It is hard to believe KJR BELIEVES what he writes. Until you have walked in the shoes of a sexually abused child you cannot begin to know the lifelong damage. It is devastating to FAITH. It kills the soul....and the RCC calls abortion murder and yet protects these deviates. A Shepherd like Jesus was consistently loving and without sin and by the way did not belong to any Catholic organization. The Catholic Church has violated its own Canon Law, protected the most vile pedophiles to prey on the innocent and those of us who Call for them to be accountable are WRONG? Sorry KJR, this Church is destroying itself, not these protests. We expose the TRUTH and is that not what God is all about?

Will someone clue me in as to what the VOTF hidden agenda is?

You can't know! It's "Hidden"!

Only those whiners who can read the minds of others really know! Shhhh!

Thank God we had people like VOTF...or Cardnial Law would still be here!

(And little boys would be fearful every time they heard Fr. So-and-so wants to see you...!)