“He would rape me and then say this is what God’s love feels like”

[kpete]

200 priests suspected of abuse living in California, victims' lawyer says
'Public is often too squeamish'

Among Boucher’s many clients in the church action are Manuel Vega and Dan Smith.

Vega is a former police officer from Oxnard who took special interest in sex crimes investigations because, he says, he was sexually abused as a teenager by his parish priest.

“He forced me to masturbate while he took pictures of me,” said Vega, who believes that the public is often too squeamish to recognize what child molestation actually entails – and thus not properly outraged by it.

...........................

Dan Smith, another alleged abuse victim, is reeling from the recent collapse of his marriage which he blames in part on the psychological effects of the molestation he says he suffered as a child – at the hands of his local parish priest.

“He would rape me and then say this is what God’s love feels like,” Smith said, struggling to hold back tears more than twenty years after the alleged incidents.

the rest:
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/12/10386205-200-priests-suspected-of-abuse-living-in-california-victims-lawyer-says
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/02/12/1064051/--He-would-rape-me-and-then-say-this-is-what-God-s-love-feels-like-?via=siderec

[onethatcares]

1. words fail

me.

and the catholic church is rallying against contraception.

[kpete]

2. exactly!

why i posted this horrific story.

peace, kpete

[sakabatou]

50. +1

[russspeakeasy]

3. No words, no punishment is enough.

[surfdog]

4. Disgusting

Every Catholic that is still part of the church is responsible

[Bluenorthwest]

9. I agree. They don't like to hear it, I don't care. They fund this and lend it power.

If they did not line up to offer legitimacy to the Church, the Pope would be some old man in Prada slippers holding mass in the second largest room at the Marriott when he comes to the US, instead millions line the streets for him.

[malaise]

19. And then they want to decide whether I can or cannot use

birth control.

Fugg em all!

[xchrom]

5. du rec. nt

[kag]

6. Ugh.

It's true. The public needs to be hit in the face with this abuse.

My brother and sister-in-law, both life-long Catholics, left the church about ten years ago when all of the sexual abuse by priests was revealed. Neither regret it.

These sick fucks need to be prosecuted, and the church needs to have its coffers drained--use it to pay damages (not that it would "undo" the damage) to the victims and their families.

[kpete]

8. recovering Catholics (including myself)

are everywhere these days...



peace, kpete

[Nye Bevan]

16. Hilarious picture.

Isn't it God's will that they get wet? Otherwise why would He have made it rain?

[Lugnut]

48. I dumped the Catholic church over 20 years ago.

The hypocracy is what did it for me. My mother was a devout Catholic until all the abuse was uncovered and revealed. She immediately stopped her donations and quit going to church which was a very big deal for her. We followed her wishes to have no religious ceremony at her internment when she passed away at age 88 last year.

[vaberella]

51. I had a more simplistic reason.

I left the church when I was 13; I'm 31 almost 32 so about 19 years. My mum was never devout she was raised as a Gnostic...not Agnostic, but within the Gnosis by her father although she went to Catholic schools. So my mother was never a devotee to the church and actually despises the pope and all he stands for. She read the dirty secrets of the church in Latin. I sometimes think my mum is the only person who still speaks, writes and reads in the stuff. Anyway...she sees him as a Don in the mafia that is the church. She's religious but not adherent to all things catholic.

So when I was going through the Catholic schooling she allowed me to stop practicing as long as I gave her a run down of why I didn't want to go. I gave her a host of reasons most of which I found to be absurdities in the faith that remained unexplained and the issues I had on sexuality. I had big thoughts as a kid. In any event she agreed with my way of thinking and gave me a pass. I had to endure Catholic schooling until Uni though because she wanted the 'discipline' when I really think she did it to appease my dad who was a devout Catholic (regardless of the controversies it faces).

[Frustratedlady]

7. The church should be charged, as well...

Hide them until the statute of limitations ran out? What's the difference between that and abetting?

[graywarrior]

10. Someone in my family was molested by a priest so this INFURIATES me.

[spanone]

11. i was raised in this disgusting excuse for a religion....jesus wept

i got out before they got to me.

[Nye Bevan]

13. That's like calling Islam a "disgusting excuse for a religion"

based on the fact that a small minority of its adherents issue fatwas and commit suicide bombings.

There are many good Catholics, like Joe Biden, and the Kennedys.

[spanone]

17. i was raised in the church, i call em like i see em

[Scuba]

18. I agree there are many good Catholics...

... but I feel they are victims of the world's longest-running criminal enterprise.

[Pisces]

21. The child molestation is not a small minority when you include all the priests who knew and condoned

the behavior by either taking confession, allowing the priest to be moved to another parish, never reporting to the police or the parents. The cabal of secrecy is why an ex-Catholic can state the religion is flawed from the top.

I would never call myself a Catholic again and do not understand the people that attend Church today who are not demanding that Cardinals, Bishops and the Pope be held accountable for knowing about these priests and not defrocking them or moving them to monasteries for a life of contemplation. Instead they moved them to poor 3rd world locations where the people ( KIDS) didn't matter. There is no reconciling this.

A person would refuse to work for a known pedophile who is still practicing pedophilia, yet we are glad to sit in the pews of a Church that to this day is protecting known molesters. A Church that will not aide in investigations because it would implicate them as
aiding and abetting a crime. Where is the outrage????

[barbtries]

35. very well put.

i'd love a response from a practicing catholic.

[originalpckelly]

56. The church's power structure hid this.

[wickerwoman]

44. All religions invite this kind of abuse to the extent that they ask their followers not to question

authority.

The same kinds of abuses are well documented in Hare Krishna communities, Mormons, Evangelicals, etc.

Pretending that this is a Catholic problem instead of a religion problem misses the point IMHO. Anywhere that adults are given access to and authority over children to whom they are not related (and sometimes even where they are), you will see abuse relative to the amount of authority they are given and the lack of consequences they face. These kind of positions draw pedophiles like moths to the flame.

[Pisces]

12. Many people wanted Joe Paterno's head for not doing anything, what about the thousands of cases in

the church that nobody reported or cared about. Why are no Bishops, Cardinals, even the Pope accountable to these atrocities????
I can not understand how the public and government officials have allowed the people who transferred pedophile priests
to other parishes go unpunished.

[spanone]

15. you raise the $64,000 question. where are the trials, where are the convictions?

a church hides behind the first amendment

[Pisces]

20. The problem is the Catholics themselves do not ask the question. Why are they willing to allow child

abuse to go unpunished? I am sure the majority of these people would not want a child molester in their neighborhood or running
their company? How many would work for a known child molester?

It is sick that these Church clergy are deified, and therefore not taken to task for their disgusting crimes.

[Ilsa]

22. If anyone did that to my children, the police

would need to be called to stop me from killing that person. Even a priest.

Thank goodness I have no formal affiliation with the hierarchy of molestors and rapists and felons.

[sulphurdunn]

32. There are

68 million Catholics in the US. The Church employs about 1 million people, educates 3 million more and is richer than Exxon Mobile. It doesn't need to hide behind the 1st Amendment. Priests are disposable. They could eat kids raw and the scandal wouldn't put a dent in Church assets or diminish its political clout.

[Pisces]

37. Then why don't they dispose of them? They are still sheltering these perverts and subverting

investigations. They are not outing priests who haven't been accused. They have many priests in Mexico and other 3rd world countries that are known pedophiles. I am wondering why those 68 million don't demand and answer or convictions??? There is power in those numbers, but I guess ducking your head in the sand and looking the other way is safer and easier.

[sulphurdunn]

58. I think the answer

to your question may like in knowing how corrupt and degenerate a self-governing institution can become in 20 centuries. Criticism of the priesthood for gross immorality is as old as its ascendency in Imperial
Rome.

[Scuba]

14. I thought it was going to be a Santorum thread. This is even uglier.

[Kalidurga]

24. Well isn't Santorum Catholic?

He is a politician, why hasn't he at the very least called out the Pope on this?

[Bluzmann57]

23. Jesus fuckin' christ!

"This is what God's love feels like"?!!!!!!
Wonder if that goddam pedophile piece of shit would say if some lifer with nothing to lose decided to lead a gang rape and tell him (the priest) "I am the devil and this is what the devil does to pedophiles"?
Sorry to be so graphic but that headline just angered me no end.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

29. same here

I feel the same way you do.

[Webster Green]

25. I bailed out of the stupid fucking Catholic Church when I reached the age of reason.

That's what everyone should do. What a despicable bunch of perverts they are.

[Remember Me]

34. Age 7?

Hell, I thought I was plenty precocious for bailing out in 7th grade.

[SammyWinstonJack]

26. Organized religion..raping,killing the World over, all in the name of "god".

Ain't it grand?

[Arkana]

27. But birth control is UNGODLY, got that ladies?!

UNGODLY!

Now if you'll excuse me I have to go scar some more young boys for life.

[erinlough]

28. I am not a Catholic, and I don't have a problem with the people who are.

But, I must say that I have been attending many family funerals in the Catholic church, and I can't shake the thoughts that come to me when I am there. Which one of these altar boys is the priest bothering? Why would these kids families let them get under the control of this guy? I know it is bad of me to judge and I always chastise myself while I am thinking it, but I bet I'm not alone, in fact I have talked to others who think the same things. My point is that until the Catholic church addresses these issues by getting tough on those priests who have been caught there will always be these suspicions. Then again, maybe they just don't care.

[MarkCharles]

30. My stupid question: why are these people still free ?

Why are they still members of the Catholic church? Shouldn't the church excommunicate them all and turn them over the law enforcement?

I am very naive, I know. But why can't this happen today. Statute of limitations?

[Liberal_in_LA]

31. The words 'molestation' seems to soften it somehow. In that documentary

about catholic priest abuse they laid it out - priest took babies from crib and raped them. That's what it is: RAPE. word is rarely used with respect to priests.

[Odin2005]

33. "this is what God’s love feels like” that's why I'm an Atheist.

If that's what "god's love" looks like people don't need it.

[Initech]

36. Amen to that!

[chrisa]

57. If there were a God, humans must have been a practical joke.

His 'representatives' (the church) would be better off working for the devil, judging by the way they act.

[tsuki]

38. Let's see what the Bishops, the GOP and the MSM want to push out of

the headlines. 8000 new priest pedophilia cases in Milwaukee, 200 hidden priest pedophiles in California, and an emerging Asia scandal.

Rather than clean this pedophilia ring up, the GOP wants them to War on Women.

I am so glad I left; I am so glad I lapsed; I am so glad to be done with this pile of human garbage. Join me sisters. Tear up that tithing envelope. Life will continue.

[BlueIris]

39. ITA that people refuse to see this tragic abuse for what it is.

It is killing our society.

[Lionessa]

40. Well, I guess since God as according to their dogma raped a young Mary

I guess he is making a fair analogy. One of the many reasons I cannot embrace religion, especially the Xian one.

[FLAprogressive]

41. The Catholic Church is an organized pedophilia ring.

[Terra Alta]

42. has the current Pope said anything about any of this?

If not, why not?

His silence on the matter speaks volumes.

Every child who was ever abused by any of these lowlife priests should sue the Catholic church for covering it up and allowing it to happen. If they have to sell the Vatican to pay for it, then so be it. Child abuse is never acceptable.

[Ian62]

43. The current Pope

was the lead investigator on this when he was a Cardinal.
And did nothing. Tried to cover it up in fact.
Accused priests were just moved to another Parish - where they could find a new set of victims.
Tis totally disgusting.

[vaberella]

52. And this is why I have my own resentment towards Catholics in general.

Don't get me wrong I will come first to the Catholic believers being a Catholic once myself. However when I see that people in the Church don't speak out and ask for this pope to be taken out of power for actually doing what he did which is common knowledge since the bastard was facing charges. I then have problems. This is common knowledge, this is not hidden under the rug or some conspiracy bullshit. This is what irritates me about Catholics they don't take back the religion. They let the heirarchy remain and the old sick ways continue and this is what keeps me away from the faith as a whole. Catholics are partial to blame for allowing this shit to continue and to not hold the heat of their priests, bishops, cardinals and now priests to the fire when it comes to past and current actions. It's abhorent and disgusting.

[hyphenate]

45. I do have to wonder

(though this is more in playing devil's advocate, NOT how I feel about the Catholic church personally) if pedophiles become preists because they know this kind of behavior is rampant in the church and is tolerated, or if they think that their faith will "cure" them from pedophilia?

The thing is, this is not NEW behavior. The Catholic church goes back over a millenia and a half at the least, and I'm sure the abuse is as old as the church is. Keeping this in mind, sexual abuse has also gone back even further. It's not new, hasn't been new since ancient days.

Would things have been different if some changes had taken place, like allowing priests to have families? Many other sects of the Xtian tradition allow families, but I don't knoow statistically if there is less child sexual abuse in their midst, or if it comes out to about the same percentage.

It's not only a sexual abuse, but a control issue. Rape always is, and no form of rape is any different from another.

Personally, I grew up as a catholic, and slowly got myself out of it after I turned 12. There are enough incidents in my life that made me want to get the fuck out of the ranks, but there are also many people who have no problem with the church.

A case in point was my best friend Marje. She was a devout believer, and while she hated a lot of the shit that was going on with the church, she had little problem with the church tenets. She was also very intelligent and separated the church from her beliefs. For many of us, separating the two was not going to work.

I know that there are untold treasures and documents hidden in the Vatican, for example, and I hate that people are starving in the world while the church hoards all those things. And yet, they refuse to yield to women even now--shows just what assholes they are. It's all about control. And I think they're fighting a losing battle, because as a poll just recently revealed, 98% of catholic women use or are in favor of birth control.

I've bitched about this before, and I still think that the group of bishops should not be able to make any kind of political demands. If we had other religious groups come out with their own demands, it might make it more obvious to these dicks that everyone has the right to practice whatever they want to, as long as no one is harmed as a result.

I'll bet lick-ass Santorum is peeing himself in happiness with the current bishops and their "demands" on contraception.

[VPStoltz]

46. Is there a Popemobile big enough?

Let's put the whole bunch of them, Catholic radicals, Republican radicals, conservative radicals, the radical Pope, etc. in one big Popemobile and send it off a radically high cliff.

[Volaris]

47. sigh....I was raised RC and at this point,

I think the ENTIRETY of the American Synod of Bishops should just be dragged before a Federal Grand Jury and slapped with a violation of the RICO statutes. (and my exp. is that there isn't a sane Catholic left in this country who thinks the Bishops maintain enough Moral Credibility to tell me that birth control is bad for my soul. Not after this kind of nonsense.)

[niyad]

49. k and r

I am so glad I left the church (and got thrown out, too) when I did.

[garmatnuk]

53. Nothing surprising

How can an adequate men be normal if he lives alone abondoned without women? It's obivious that he will go crazy and rape some boys an girls) think it's ok.

[RobertBlue]

60. ?

[Vinca]

54. But, on a godly note, there was no contraception required.

(Where's the sarcasm smilie gone???????)

[LeftinOH]

55. *God Damn* the Catholic church for tolerating this. n/t

[RobertBlue]

59. Puke!