Archdiocese cites 'financial turnaround'
BRAINTREE -- The Archdiocese of Boston is continuing its slow but steady progress digging out of a deep financial hole triggered by the clergy sexual abuse crisis, but is still facing an enormous challenge in the form of a pension fund for retired priests that will run out of money in two years without major change, church officials are announcing today.
The archdiocese, for the fourth year in a row offering the public a detailed look at the finances of the region's largest religious institution, today is releasing the annual financial reports for the central administration and, in aggregate, the 292 parishes, as well as for more than 60 other Catholic organizations, including schools, hospitals, cemeteries and social service agencies, overseen by Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley. For the first time, the archdiocese also is releasing individual financial reports for 102 parishes; a significant step toward fulfilling O'Malley's delayed goal of reporting every parish's finances publicly each year.
Archdiocesan officials said they were heartened that contributions to parishes rose 4 percent in fiscal 2008, and the archdiocesan annual fundraising campaign slightly surpassed its $15 million goal. And they said that indications are that contributions are holding steady this year, despite the recession.
"The continued generosity of the parishioners in the Archdiocese of Boston, despite very challenging times, is inspirational,'' said the Rev. Richard M. Erikson, the archdiocesan vicar general. And Erikson credited the archdiocese's financial officials with transforming "a diocese that was in economic freefall" to one that he described as now "in the midst of a major turnaround financially, and in many other ways.''
The archdiocese is hoping to balance its budget by fiscal 2010, which begins this July 1.The deficit in fiscal 2008 for its central administration was $4 million, which the archdiocese said was a decrease from about a $15 million annual deficit when O'Malley first arrived in Boston.
The reports are rich with detail about many aspects of the Catholic Church's complex financial situation, but perhaps the numbers that will most raise eyebrows among the public are the salaries the archdiocese is now paying the new employees O'Malley has brought in as he attempts to modernize and professionalize the church administration: the new superintendent of Catholic schools, Mary Grassa O'Neill, is being paid $325,000, and the new general counsel, F. Beirne Lovely Jr., is being paid $300,000. Two other top officials, chancellor James P. McDonough and development director Scot Landry, are being paid $250,000 each.
Erikson noted that the highest salary is for the church's top education official, which, he said, reflects the archdiocese's priority on strengthening its struggling schools. And, he said, the salaries generally reflect the cardinal's decision to recruit experienced laypeople to help transform an oft-criticized church administration.
"The salaries we have are an indication of the cardinal's commitment to attracting the most talented and gifted people we can find to serve in the church,'' he said.
The reports also reveal that the archdiocese's new headquarters, in Braintree, was valued at $25 million when it was given to the archdiocese, in a complex transaction, by one of the archdiocese's biggest donors, Thomas J. Flatley, who died shortly thereafter. The archdiocese spent $8 million renovating, furnishing, and equipping the building -- money that came from a portion of the proceeds from selling the church's former headquarters, in Brighton, to Boston College.
"We see the pastoral center as an investment in the future of the archdiocese," Erikson said, noting that the building, which houses 225 employees formerly spread across six different structures, is already being heavily used by a variety of groups for training sessions and other kinds of church meetings. He also said the building's chapel is proving a draw, saying that about 100 people attended daily Mass there during Lent.
The report is largely backward looking, reflecting on the fiscal year that ended in June 2008. But it also includes several predictive comments that shed light on how the archdiocese is being affected by the economy, and what its concerns are going forward. Among the projections is a grim forecast for the troubled Catholic schools of the region: the archdiocese expects enrollment at its parish elementary schools to drop by 4 percent next year, and at the few remaining parish high schools to drop by 9 percent.
The archdiocese, which recently assigned a single priest to oversee three parishes in Dorchester in what it said could be a model for how to handle the dwindling number of priests, suggests in the report that some parishes should now begin to share employees such as business managers.
"It is critical that parishes begin collaborating and sharing staff and costs whenever possible,'' McDonough wrote in the report. "Going forward, parishes will need to plan for increased payrolls, as more lay staff will be needed for operational responsibilities previously handled by clergy or religious.''
The economy really began to tank after the fiscal year covered by the report, but the archdiocese says in supporting documents that it has been affected in several ways by the recession and the stock market collapse. O'Malley, in a letter that accompanies the report, says the archdiocese is seeing "an unprecedented number of requests for services for the poor and those who find themselves in a never expected circumstance of need.'' And the report indicates that a pooled investment fund for many Massachusetts Catholic institutions, including the archdiocese, lost 18 percent of its value between July of 2008 and March of 2009.
The church investment fund appears to have significantly outperformed the broader market -- it lost 6.4 percent in fiscal 2008, a period when the Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 13 percent, and it lost 15.8 percent in the first half of fiscal 2009, when the S&P dropped 29 percent. McDonough attributed the church's success to a combination of fortune and skill -- the church's fund had minimal investments in financial services and limited exposure to the sub-prime mortgage market, and also had a relatively high amount of cash, rather than stock, when the steepest market declines began..
As has been the case for several years, the archdiocese says its biggest financial problem is the weak health of the funds it sets aside to care for disabled and retired priests; the funds are short $114 million. The church's historic handling of those funds, which were largely built based on contributions made by churchgoing Catholics at Easter and Christmas, has been angrily questioned by both priests and laypeople, some of whom suspect that the money was mishandled, and others of whom question to what degree the funds were used to quietly support priests accused of sexual abuse over the years. McDonough has commissioned an investigation of how the funds were handled over their 27-year-history, and has pledged to release it in June or July; he said this week that thus far there is no indication of any criminal misconduct.
McDonough said that, in order to shore up the funds, the archdiocese will need to increase revenues and reduce expenses. He said the archdiocese will take several steps to raise money for the funds -- the party-shy cardinal has agreed to headline a gala benefit this year, pegged to the 25th anniversary of his becoming a bishop, that will raise money for the fund, the archdiocese will add a third annual collection, each June, to supplement the Easter and Christmas collections, and the archdiocese will launch a major gifts campaign to benefit retired priests. The archdiocese, chastened by the furious reaction from priests and the public to an earlier proposal to cut clergy retirement benefits, has also held multiple meetings with priests to discuss proposed changes to benefits and housing; church official say they plan to roll out those changes over time, but pledge that retired priests will be well cared for.
UPDATE: Here is the story about the archdiocesan finances that appears in the 5/1/09 Globe.
(Photo above, by Matthew J. Lee of the Globe staff, shows Richard Mawson installing stained glass windows in the chapel at the Archdiocese of Boston's new pastoral center in Braintree on 7/31/08.)
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The bigotry they cloack as religious teaching against gay people is a moral crime. Anyone who gives even a dime to that corrupt institution is aiding and abetting pure evil!
No one has taken responsibility for the decades of child rape the church is responsible for. Cardinal Law hides out in Rome and the Vatican and Pope Ratzinger pretend it never happens.
Definitely some cold, hard facts and troubling financial realities but at the same time, an evidently significantly improved situation from 5 years ago. I think spiritually and apostolically, we are in far better shape than before as well.
Why do I have a feeling that some of you will throw cold water on this report with your usual vitriol? :)
Tom,
It would be bigotry if it was specifically targeting gays. The church speaks out against any sexual relationship outside the marriage of a man and a woman. That's not bigotry, but a 2,000 year old teaching of the Catholic church designed to protect the family and children.
As for the abuse scandal, that has been beaten to death on this board. If the Church hadn't taken responsibiiity for it, then why has it been paying out millions of dollars to the victims? Your statement about the Pope pretending it never happened is ridiculous. I guess his face to face meetings with victims here in the US never happened either? One final correction, most of the cases did not involve child rape or pedophilia. The majority of the cases were active gays in the priesthood preying on older boys. I believe the term was ebophilia.
Anyone who's ever been to the Vatican would have a hard time understanding how the church could be experiencing financial woes. The magnificent opulence on disply at every turn tells a different story. If the church needs cash, all it needs to do is sell some of its llessor or overly redundent treasures (you know the 1st century roman artifacts that are on display in the hall to the restrooms, one of the many clay lamps from the 14th century, a painting gathering dust back in the store room). Do they really need the hundreds of suits of armor or would 50 provide the same impact? Hard to feel pity when the corporate office is such a treasure trove. No trickle down economics working here?
I'd say it's time to get a RICO indictment & Interpol extradition on Bernard Law, who is known to have embezzled many tens of millions of dollars from the Archdiocese Priest's Retirment Fund to finance his LUXURY retirement in Roma, while paying off several key Holy See Cardinals to protect him there, as well as having laundered multiple million$ in 'off the books' slush funds of CASH, in tiny parishes like WOOD'S HOLE and the Cape, to leave the unexplained cooked/emtpy books to the pastors, left behind, holding the empty bags.
Bernard Law is #4 in all time EVIL cardinals deck of cards, after Torquemada, Richelieu, and Rog "Mahal " Mahony, in stolen clergy and laity monies, as well as body counts.
www.bishop-accountability.org/abusetracker for DAILY verified & vetted reporting on the the rolling uncorrected racketeering, fraud, and child endangerment of the USCCB (Unremoved Sexual Criminal Cabal Bishops) as well as the Roman "La Cosa Nostra" Pedo Curia.
THE SOLUTION? "STOP DONATING LAITY!" as St. Peter Damien correctly asserted.
Remember, the Curia's Motto Remains = ISAIAH 28:15!
How is it the Church is "always broke" yet still the single largest holder of priceless art, real estate and massive secretive investment porfolios on the face of the globe, amassed over 2,000+ years, TAX FREE?!
You are either a pedophile cult financial contributor laity, or you are not, there is no middle gound.
HOW WILL YOU ANSWER YOUR MAKER?!
Fiat Lux & Veritas!
Albino Luciani,
MURDERED POPE
Albino Luciani is off his meds again.
But one demand, Alby. If you say someone "is known to have embezzled....", then put up or shut up. Known by whom? The police and DA? Were they paid off too? Your demented mind? You know what they say about conspiracy theorists. Was Law on the grassy knoll too, and did he give his prior blessing to the 9/11 terrorists? Innocent until proven guilty in this country, old chap. If you have the evidence, come forward, you'll be a hero to your buddies; you do have the evidence, don't you? Because if you didn't, such assertions would be slanderous.
I would just add to Rob A @#3 that besides the multi-millions of dollars, many priests have gone to jail for their crimes. The word you were searching for is 'ephebophilia." The teaching of one man, one woman marriage goes back long before Christ and the Church, to the Hebrew people of Genesis, Adam and Eve.
SharetheWealth either is intentionally misleading, or laboring under of ignorance on 2 scores.
First, whatever wealth there might be for the sake of argument in Rome, that has zero impact on whether a diocese or archdiocese is financially stable or not. The 2 treasuries are not institutionally connected, much the same as the US federal
treasury and state treasuries are not connected, and one can't empty out one to fill the other.
Secondly, yes, there are untold treasures of art in the Vatican. But here the Church of Rome serves as the cultural conservator for western civilization, rather than selling things off to the highest bidder, thus placing everything at the whim of capitalists, rather leaving the art objects virtually free for tens of millions of tourists to marvel at in one place. Plus, there is a good reason they call such art "priceless;" that means, there is no fair market value for them. It is like what millions of people in our country mean when they are 'house poor' or 'mortgage poor;' their house looks great from the outside, but they don't have 2 nickles to
rub together in cash. Again, it is like how the US fed gov. maintains the priceless Grand Canyon or Yellowstone National Park for everyone; or do you want to sell those off too?
Apparently "guadete" can't read.
Try the verified and vetted 100% accurate book, and brilliantly researched, by David Yallop "The Power & The Glory" on the non saint John Paul II, pedo enabler, and his Polish mob.
Or better yet, read about how I was murdered, along with several friends, in auto accidents in the days after I was bumped off, "In God's Name" also by David Yallop and totally factual.
FACT are irrefutable "gaudete", but you just keep drinkling that Jonestown Kool-Aid.
Additionally, these embezzlements and accounting missing monies, were report in The Boston Globe, The NY Times, and several other regional New England, and major publications WITH NOT A WORD OF REBUTTAL from the Boston Archdiocese, who knew they were TRUE CHARGES.
Ask Re, Bertone, Sodano, who were all in on this Law heists also.
As St. Peter Damien correrctly asserted: "STOP DONATING LAITY".
St. Paul to the Ephesians, 5:11 says: "Do not dead in fruitless deeds of darkness, but expose them!"
Edmund Burke Reminds each of us: "The only condition for the triumph of evil is for good men (or women) to do nothing".
Fiat Lux & Veritas!
Albino Luciani,
MURDERED POPE,
NOT Smiling, From Heaven
PS - Read THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED by Phillip Lawler 'gaudete', it spells out in detail how pervasive the curia pedo cult is. Watch ;'VOWS OF SILENCE' on DVD, the Cannes Film Festival Winner on John Paul II's promotion of serial pedophile Marciel, and the laundering drug cartel monies from The Legion Of Christ, through The Congregation Of Works (Vatican Bank). The 2006 US Academy Award BEST DOCUMENTARY 'Deliver Us From Evil' also substantiates these FACTS.
Albino,
You need help. I guess everything Yallop writes is "fact" even though he is an agnostic writer from England that written about unsolved crimes as well as comedies for the BBC.
The fantasies of the book were debunked once and for all by Cardinal Foley, the president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. He picked another anti-Catholic author to debunk Yallop's rubbish, John Cornwell, giving him full access to original sources (which Yallop never cites for his most sensational allegations, because he has no other source than his fantasy) and even to John Paul II himself. No conditions, no restrictions. Since there was nothing to hide and the "Vatican secrets" are only a slogan of frustrated dissenters and their hatred for the papacy, John Cornwell did an excellent job and the result was the definitive "A Thief in the Night: Life and Death in the Vatican".
Yallop like you lives in his own little fantasy world obsessed with conspiracy theories.
To Rob A:
"...preying on older boys" IS a crime. Having sex with anyone under the age of consent IS child rape. It makes no difference is the abused child is eight or thirteen. It makes no difference if the abuser and child are male or female.
It's still a crime, a betrayal of trust, an abuse of power. The hierarchy of the church covered up this abuse and protected these rapist priests.
Rob A:
Here's a reading list of non Yallop authors for you, verifiying beyond any argumentation, the uncorrected & persistent criminality of the curia & pedo cult ,they continue to run, allow & thrive.
Rob A it is a Mortal Sin to be donating any monies to these criminals.
The Roman Catholic Curia remains a CLEAR & PRESENT DANGER to the safety of all living children.
Over 6,000, Rob A, ordained and religious, have been removed from ministries and religious orders, in just the USA, of a total of 44,000 clerics, yet the USCCB (Unremoved Sexual Criminal Cabal Bishops) continue to hide and protect them, if alive, as well as a conservatively estimated additional 3 to 5 thousand pedos still in active ministries with full acces to children.
False argumentation pedos ate less than 1% of all ordained adn religious is patentely FALSE by the USCCB's own numbers.
Just last week they bust yet another pedo priest in Salinas, CA, and this is NOT an isolated incident, the curia KNEW had been still assaulting children.
Rob A, the USCCB Charter Of Protection is a PR Stunt, there have been over 5,000 sexual asault of children in the American Roman Catholic Church brought to trial and litigation since it was put in place in 2002!
Most of these books are FREE at the local public library, or can be purchases new or used at :www.amazon.com
Authors include: Roman Catholic Bishop Jeffery Robinson of Australia, Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of the USA, and in the 2008 Summer edition of the UK's prestigious and very accurate THE TABLET, commentary from Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, of Milan, Italy, on his colleagues' felonious conduct.
Other (only a few) authors include: Fr. Richard Sipe; Fr. Thomas Reese, SJ; Phillip Lawler; Jason Berry, Dr. Leon Podles; Dr. Robert Grant, MD; Fr./Dr. Howard Bleichner, SS; Attorney & Legal Scholar Marci Hamilton; and Fr./Dr./Canon Lawyer Thomas Doyle, OP.
It would appear by this mere short list of FACTS, not fiction, Rob A, it may be you living in some fantasy world.
Why do pedo defenders always try to attack the person raising the FACTS? I think we know the answer, they cannot refute the HARD EVIDENCE!
If these authors are not enough evidence, then also try for FREE, at www.bishop-accountability.org the USCCB commissioned JJ Criminal Justice Report, where the FACTS are irrefutable, but the numbers sand-bagged on the low side of actual child assualts, by a multiple factor of at least ten times lower, & as admitted to by all experts Iincluding lawyers for the Bishops), on all sides, of the curia crime sprees and cover ups.
Also at www.bishop-accountability.org is the Philadephia Criminal Grand Jury Report on the Roman "La Cosa Nostra" Pedo Curia cover-ups.
By the way Rob A, there are over 8 years of research done on Yallop's book on John Paul II, and the sourcing is from the curia and clergy themselves (how do I know this?...I have relatives at the Holy See among them).
At best you are mistaken or uninfomed Rob A, at worse you are a pedo apologist, or endorser. Either way, you are 100% wrong.
I repeat THE SOLUTION remains "STOP DONATING LAITY!" as St. Peter Damien correctly asserted.
Ciao e pace,
Albino Luciani,
MURDERED POPE
Rob A
The facts are listed in over 100+ recently published books available for free at your local public library, or at www.amazon.com, for cogent & salient authors including, but no limited to:
Roman Catholic Bishop Jeffery Robinson of Australia
Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of the USA
Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini of Milan, Itay in the 2008 Summer Edition of
The Prestigious UK's THE TABLET
Jason Berry
Dr. Leon Podles
Fr. Richard Sipe
Fr. Thomas Reese, SJ
Dr. Robert Grant, MD
Attorney & Legal Scholar Marci Hamilton
Phillip Lawler
Fr./Dr. Howard Bleichner, SS
Fr/Dr./Canon Lawyer Thomas Doyle, OP
beyond David Yallop, who took 8 years of research (and interviewed hundreds of RC clergy, religious and curia to compile his treatise of FACTS on John Paul II, who is no saint).
Foley's rebuttal is the equivalent of Roger Mahony lying on the stand 2 weeks ago, in Frsno, CA, he remembers nothing of pedophiles in Fresno, Stockton or LA under his watches.
Additionally Rob A, read the USCCB JJ Criminal Justice Report, free online at www.bishop-accountability.org, though admitted by all sides, including advocates for the USCCB, the total number of admitted to abused children at 14,000 is under estimated by at least ten fold.
Also Rob A read the Philadephia Criminal Grand Jury Report for free online at www.bishop-accountability.org
The "fantasies" are clearly in your head Rob A, the FACTS and evidence are overwhelming and published with no legal challenges from the Pedo Curia, because they know them to be entirely true and collaberated.
THE SOLUTION? "STOP DONATING LAITY" as St. Peter Damien correct asserted.
It would seem you are either highly under read and ignorant at best, or just another curia pedo cult apologist and/or supporter Rob A.
Ciao e pace,
Albino Luciani,
MURDERED POPE
Albino,
Again you greatly distort the facts.
According to a 2004 Boston Globe article there were 4,450 priests between 1950 and 2002 that were accused. In that same period there were 110,000 active priests. That number of accused priests could now be upwards of 6,000 . Depending on which total you prefer, that is still only 4% to 5.5% of total priests. In otherwords at least 94.5% of all priests or 103,950 priests between 1950 and 2002 were innocent hard working men of God. You keep claiming that the 6000 were removed from the current 44,000 in ministry today. You are the one that is either ignorant or deceptive. The approximately 6000 removed from ministry were from the nearly 104,000 that served since 1950. That is FACT. Look it up in the Boston Globe.
As for the authors you listed:
Bishop Robinson - known dissenter in the Church. Banned from speaking in most diocese in the US because of controversial views in conflict with church teachings.
Bishop Gumbleton - Known dissenter in the church. Asked to resign by the Vatican because of his advocating homosexuality in conflict with church teaching.
Fr. Thomas Reese, SJ - known dissenter in the church. Told by the Vatican to resign as editor of the magazine America because of his views in conflict with Church teaching. He has been in conflict with the church over teachings such as womens ordination and celibacy.
Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini - controversial liberal Cardinal that has been at odds with the Vatican over issues such as womens ordination, contraception, assisited suicide, abortion,
Thomas Doyle, OP- well known dissenter and friend of Voice of the Faithful. Was a Cannon Lawer until his credentials were rejected by Archbishop Burke in 2008. He is being held accountable as being found guilty of abuse of ecclesiastical function with malice, and of a culpably negligent act or omission with harm to another. This from a person famous for claiming to demand accountability from Church officials against whom he testifies. He has been order to pay back any money he received. He is forbidden from acting as canonical procurator in his Archdiocese. And as the Archbishop himself says: "As a result of the instant case, any solicitation, on the part of Rev. Doyle, to provide canonical advice or representation is deemed inept by the same Archbishop." This is all from an excommunication case in which Doyle failed in his duties to represent two clients properly in April 2008.
Albino, these are just five of those you listed. I'm sure if I dig deep enough, the rest of your list would be no different. They all are professional "Church bashers" and all have grudges or axes to grind with the church. Their credibiltiy like yours in non-existent.
I don't think I am underread. I am just more selective as to what I read. You need to get your head out of the conspiracy theories and garbage written by these characters and read some material that has a little more credibiltiy.
Also, it is offensive and morbid to use the name of a deceased pope to further your lies and already debunked claims of his murder. He has been dead for 31 years. Get over it and let him rest in peace.
Rob A = Pedo Cult Apologist
Ciao,
Albino Luciani,
MURDERED POPE
2004 is not 2009 Rob A; your quoted Boston Globe FACTS are out dated by 5 years!
Perhaps, you also would like to use the Dow Jones Industrial Average numbers of 5 years ago to explain away the current economic markets? You are NOT in touch with reality Rob A.
Wholesale and uncorrected obstruction of justice, active lobbying (with laity monies) to stop any strengthening of any child protection laws in each state legislature (for all aspects of society, not just the Church) by the USCCB and their laity paid for insurance companies and lawyers, racketeering, defrauding, tax evasion, child endangerment, collusion, perjury, aid & abetting known felons, perpetrating, embezzlement, pedo enabling, etc., are not honest (and in fact EVIL & CRIMINAL) qualities of any organization, let alone religious so-called office holders, and no one should be financially contributing a single penny.
The Roman "La Cosa Nostra" Pedo Curia were long ago morally, ethically or otherwise bankrupt.
Donating to any Church cause or offetory is the quivalent of still wanting to invest in Bernad Madoff Securities.
Bernard Law should be in some Gulag-style house arrest for life, canonically sensored, along with pedo enablers Roger Mahony, Francis George, Theordore McCarrick, Edward Egan, Angelo Re, Sean O'Malley, John McCormack, George Pell, Noberto Rivera, Claudio Hummes, Adam Maida, William Leveda, Raymond Burke, Timonthy Dolan, Giovanni Re, Christopher Schonborn, Justin Rigali, Tarscio Bertone, Angelo Scola, John Steinbock, John Quinn, Alfred Hughes, Daniel DiNardo, Francis George, Tod Brown, John Foley, Robert Brom, Charles Chaput, Pietro Sambi, William Keeler, Robert Lynch, Wilton Gregory, Daniel Walsh, Robert Brom, Howard Hubbard, and a very long list of GUILTY pedo curia...
Pepetrators cannot be part of the solution, it's like suggesting "they were just following orders" alla the Nazi's...these evil office holders are the MAIN CAUSE Rob A , & why the pedo crisis thrives, at at least $4.8 Billion (just in the USA) Laity Offetory Plate Diverted Dollars, & Counting, With No End In Sight!
There must be a MASSIVE purge of this pedo curia. Ratzinger's "proportionality" has failed and cannot be part of any short term, mid term, or long term solution.
Your suggestion that a list of over 100+ ROMAN CATHOLIC (many ordained or religious) authors, are all, or the majority, "Church Dissenters", and therefore somehow not credible, is a flat our LIE Rob A. FACTS ARE FACTS.
John Paul the First was murdered; the Pedo Bishop just removed forceably in Ireland was part of the poisoning, as was the late Paul Marcinkus. Murder has no stature of limintations Rob A; I, nor the majority of thinking Roman Catholics are not 'getting over anything' still be overtly criminally perpetrated upon us, in endless curia generated felonies!
Those that cannot defend the over whelming evidence and FACTS as to the pervasive criminality of the current pedo curia always revert to "Church Bashers" or "Anti Catholic". You are really very sick Rob A, seek professional help.
Joseph Ratzinger, now Benedict XVI, is just another proven pedo enabler, who did little to fix this "filth" over 24 years as CDF Prelate, as well as 4 years now as Pope, with the MILD exception of the overt criminality of Marciel being placed under house arrest, from the Pedo Cult Legion Of Christ & Regnum Christi.
It appears by over 28 years of precident, Papa Ratzy will go down as just another curia pedo apologist who did little.
Ratzinger is even a massive hypocrite, who is currently receiving embryonic stem cell treatment at Castello Gandolfo for the beginnings of Alzheimer's disease. This is not speculative Rob A, this is confirmed information, from empirical stem cell suppliers, the clinic in question, as well as 10 different secular defense and intelligence agenices.
The Institutional Roman Catholic Church is corrupt to the core; donating any monies to it, is to endorse THE DEVIL!
Fiat Lux & Veritas!
Albino Luciani,
MURDERED POPE
Post Script:
Rob A you cannot even get your percentages straight, the ongoing pedo apologists theme has been a mantra of less than 1 or 2% of the ordained are "credibly accused" in USA; in your last entry you now suggest "4.0% to 5.5%".
Well, Rob A, that 4 to 5.5% is of those CAUGHT, and does not even begin to address those still in ministries and still being CAUGHT, weekly and daily reported in vetted & verified www.bishop-accountability.org/abusetracker.
By all experts on the pedo scandals admissions (real experts on the subject) they admitt the total number of RC clergy pedos is "at least three times those removed or caught". That's where the 15% comes from Rob A, Church lawyers, Church experts, Church investigators, Church clergy.
Luciani has got it correct, Rob A is a idiot and very wrong.
Albino,
You actually believe "Ratzinger is even a massive hypocrite, who is currently receiving embryonic stem cell treatment at Castello Gandolfo for the beginnings of Alzheimer's disease. ". You definitely need help. Your delusions and conspiracy theories are worse than I thought and indicative of someone who needs professional help. Get some help and get some meds buddy. You need it. Discussing this any further with a lunatic like you is a waste of my time.
Boston Roman Catholic - the only idiot I see here is you for believing the very disturbed Albino. You two should share a padded room.
As a member of the inside the beltway intelligence community of Washington DC, for some 36 years, and a non praticing (but raised) Roman Catholic, the information provided on Pope Benedict XVIth receiving embryonic stem cell treatments for Dementia and/or Alzheimer's, from a Swiss Clinic, is quite credible and confirmed; it will hit the headlines of some new services within weeks.
Note the attack on the messenger, not the message, from Rob A.
Rob A can't refute a USCCB generated report, can't refute billions on diverted and stolen laity monies, can't refute child body counts, can't refute overt curia collusion and racketeering, can't refute St. Peter Damien's correct assertion, can't refute hundreds of published books not written by "anti-Catholics or bigots", can't refute Criminal Grand Jury Reports, can't refute award winning documentaries, can't refute hard evidence on the total hypocriscy and unchecked corruption of the curia, to this very day, that is clearly FACTUAL at www.bishop-accountability.org.
YET Rob A would suggest to you to "keep the faith", or pray, obey, and pay. This is very delusional!
This is the eqivalent of suggesting you reinvest, after being defrauded, by Bernie Madoff, like Alibino Luciani inferred.
There has been NO CORRECTION OR REFORM IN THE CHURCH, the management in charge are the very same criminals that caused these problems in the first place, who remain unpunished and unremoved!
If you or I did even a fraction of these factual things that have occurred, we would be in prison for life!
Would you put a "reformed" hungry fox in charge of a new hen house?
To Boston Roman Catholic, Albino, and Langley, Virginia, Resident ,
Embryonic Stem cells have never cured anything. While adult stem cells have had some cures, embryonic stem cells have never been successful in curing anything including alzheimer's or dementia. To say that someone is secretly receiving treatments when there is overwhelming evidence that stem cells cannot cure dementia is actually quite funny. But I know you won't believe me, so I invite you to search the web using Google, Yahoo, or any search method of your choice and I guarantee you will see that my statement is correct. Unless you believe that there is some secret conspiracy where the Church is controlling all media and the internet including Google and Yahoo in order to hide their evil plans of world domination.
Thanks for comedy! Peace be to you!
Many felonies commited, resulting in the curia who caused them remaining of office, is far from "comedy" Rob A. IT'S SICK & CRIMINAL.
Archbishop Sean Cardinal O'Malley is just another pedophile enabler, who was doing what Law did, at his previous position. before he was dumped on Boston, protecting these ordained deviants.
There will be no "peace" until these guilty miters are removed; they are the cause of the child sexual assaults, as well as the perpetration of a failed organization, and the cause of the financial disater, all at laity expense.
Heads must roll (literally or figuratively) Rob A!
So far there has been no curia accountability, as evidenced by Bernard Law luxuriating in Rome at laity expense.
Luciani is correct about the UNCHECKED USCCB sorched-earth approach, daily reported on at www.bishop-accountability.org/abusetracker. These are factual stories Rob A.
I attend daily Mass, but I'm no longer donating, because I see no curia reform whatsoever.
Beacon Hill Lay Catholic
The Roman Catholic Curia are fulfilling HOSEA 8:7: "For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the wirlwind..." as well as ISAIAH 28:15: "We have made a covenant with Death (The Devil), and with Hell we are in agreement; when the oveflowing scourge (when the excrement hits the fan) shall pass through; it shall not come to us: for we have made LIES our refuge, under falsehood have we hid ourselves."
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