Even LA Times Admits Laxity In Seminaries The Root Of Priestly Abuse Scandal

My editorial seciton of my local daily, The Orange County Register, has a blog. On Thursday, one of their writers, Steve Greenhut, published this on-target post:

Michael Rose Was Right, Bishop Brown Was Wrong

What is the reason for the Catholic church child-rape scandal? Officials for the LA archdiocese, quoted in news reports, can't figure out why incidents of child rape and molestation by priests went up since the 1960s. In his brilliant book, "Good Bye Good Men," Catholic author Michael Rose argued correctly that the reason for the crisis is that the post-Vatican II liberals who came to dominate the church adopted a lax attitude on sexual matters. These liberal reformers didn't want to be constrained by the church's traditional teachings so they allowed into the priesthood men who were not holy and often used their position to advance their own perversions, and they drove away the traditionalists. The church adopted the thoughts and language of modern psychology, rejecting again traditional church ideals. Hence, the desecration of church architecture and liturgy advanced as the sexual crisis advanced. The two -- church liberalism and the child-rape scandal -- are inextricably linked.

This isn't just the fringe views of traditionalists. Here is what the LA Times wrote today on the matter: "An independent review board studying the sex-abuse crisis nationwide found that a 'laxity' in seminary admissions, the sexual revolution and radical changes within the church sent the number of accused priests soaring around 1980."

Then, these "great" liberal reformers shuffled around the rapists and molesters and covered up the scandal much as a corrupt corporation, government agency or criminal organization would do. They used every hardball legal tactic in the book to keep the press and lawyers away. Then when there was no other choice, the liberals such as Tod Brown and Roger Mahony tried to champion their horribly belated and inadequate efforts as being proactive. But Brown has always been about PR, and LA DA Steve Cooley told the Times today that Mahony's release of summarized documents -- after much stonewalling, and continuing refusal to provide subpoenaed documents -- is "little more than a public-relations ploy."

When I talked to Brown, he was highly critical of the Rose thesis. But Rose was right. Brown and the other church liberals are wrong.

Posted by Steven Greenhut -- [email protected] at 9:08 PM on October 13

It's significant that the Los Angeles Times, in the article Greenhut references, puts forth the resulkts of that independent review without any disqualifying descriptions. Even though it is buried near the latter part of the article, it differes from the MSM's usually strenuous attempts to portray the priestly abuse scandal as being unrelated to the sexual revolution and moral laxity in the seminaries.

Greenhut has been very tough on the Diocese of Orange regarding the priestly abuse scandal (justly so in my opinion), as you can see from a Greenhut post written just previous to the one above:

Will Bishop Brown Stand Up To Mahony?

Will Orange County Roman Catholic Bishop Tod Brown call on LA Archbishop Roger Mahony to release full documents regarding the transfer of LA perpetrator-priests to Orange County? That happening would be as likely as the Pope appointing a Protestant as a cardinal. Brown is a virtual clone of the modernist Mahony, and someone who seems more interested in good PR than in doing the right thing. Brown can always be counted on to crack down on expressions of conservatism and traditionalism within the diocese with a strange ferocity. Don't expect any similar strength when it comes to standing up for victims.

Here's a statement from John Manly, who represents sex-abuse victims in OC, regarding the recent LA archdiocese release of documents:

"On October 12, 2005, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles released sanitized summaries of the personnel files of alleged pedophiles. The Archdiocese released no files on alleged pedophile priests transferred to Orange County in 1976 when the Diocese of Orange was established. There are over 50 cases still pending against the Los Angeles Archdiocese relating to these priests.

"'Clearly, the Archdiocese and its professional public relations machine want people to forget that the Archdiocese supervised some of the worst molesters in Southern California before transferring them to the Diocese of Orange before, during and after 1976,' said victims' attorney, John Manly, who represent dozens of victims with claims against the Archdiocese and Cardinal Mahony. On behalf of their clients, they call on the Archdiocese to immediately release all documents pertaining to priests transferred to Orange County when the Diocese was created in 1976. A list of the 20 priests at issue is attached.

"Additionally, today, Mr. Manly, in a letter to his attorneys called on Bishop Brown to ask the Cardinal to release the documents ... . Mr. Manly stated, 'Bishop Brown has promised transparency and promised things would change after the 100 million dollar settlement reached last November. The Bishop's willingness to call on Cardinal Mahony to do the right thing with regard to priests transferred to the Diocese of Orange is a test of his commitment to openness, honesty and integrity on the issue of sexual abuse by priests.'

"It is important to note that some of the worst perpetrator priests in the history of the church were transferred to Orange County by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. These priests include Father Michael Harris, Father Eleuterio Ramos, Father Richard Coughlin and numerous other pedophiles who were transferred to Orange by Los Angeles with substantial evidence that these men had molested children while serving the parishes in Los Angeles."

Posted by Steven Greenhut -- [email protected] at 3:00 PM on October 13

Comments

[Tito]

Great blog on the priest sex scandal and how it relates to the lax liberal bent the liberal Catholics of the seminaries had on the vetting process.

Keep up the great blogs!

[Gary]

Satan is with us and has entered the church. The arrogance of the Catholic leadership is a disgrace. May God help us all.

[Russell Neglia]

The most disgraceful thing about the Priest sex abuse scandal is how the Catholic hierarchy turned a blind eye to it. This is pure treachery. When will bishops be held accountable? Michael Rose was exactly right in his book "Goodbye, Good Men." This is a must read book if you want to understand how we came to this pathetic point.

[shelray]

Is there any trends in the abuse and the type dioceses involved?

[shelray]

Is there any trends in the abuse and the type dioceses involved?

[The Catholic Knight]

I agree! Michael S. Rose was right. "Goodbye Good Men" is a MUST READ for anybody who wants to understand the sex-abuse scandal in the US Catholic Church. Unorthodox LIBERALISM is the problem. The reason why the problem was so disproportionate to the Church in the USA is because America is a very liberal society in relation to the rest of the world. The US Church needed to go against the flow, but it didn't. Instead it went along with the liberal trends and attitudes of the culture. That was its undoing. Now the US Catholic Church is impotent, and must rely on Rome for everything. Increasingly, faithful American Catholics must turn to the Vatican for leadership, and virtually bypass their local bishops and the USCCB. There is only one way for the American bishops to repair the damage that was done. They must follow the Vatican in lockstep for the next 20 to 30 years. They must implement reforms EXACTLY the way the Vatican tells them -- without exception. Only after two to three decades of this will faithful American Catholics begin to trust them again.

[joeh]

Homosexuals have to be turned away as a start in any true reform.