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Catholic Priest in CT stole $1.3M (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/06/AR2010070601918.html?hpid=moreheadlines - broken link) to pay for male escorts, fancy threads and swank hotels. Ahhh, the good life--on someone ELSE's money (of course!).
The archdiocese issued a statement that is worthy of any governmental downplaying of reality: "....At the financial level, the archdiocese continues to work with the parish to improve its financial controls and to address issues arising from the situation .... " Gee, ya think so? You betcha!
It truly is sad to read these stories. When I was a kid, the Catholic Church was one of the bulwarks of our society, a force for good, standing up for the oppressed. Some Priests even fought FOR abortion in many places after seeing the horrors of botched abortions on poor girls from big families. Even today, six of our Supreme Court justices are Catholic and when I worked for the Army back in DC, some of our best senior civilians were Jesuit-trained and simply awesome people to know and work for.
I won't pretend to know how to fix the church; I could suggest a number of steps but they need to figure it out for themselves.
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I'm surprised that it took seven years to figure out he was stealing. No parish bookkeeper? I also thought the financial reviews or audits were once a year. I guess every diocese is different.
Those are not religious people, they are gays. It should be expected wherever they are.
Paying for sex should be expected wherever humans are, whether they are homosexual or heterosexual.
The issue in this case involves a clergyman who is both gay and a thief, a thoroughly corrupted person masquerading as a paragon of purity and holiness, and it's the contrast of being outwardly "religious" while being so inwardly corrupted. IMO, being gay, of itself, is not a corruption. The corruption is the thievery and the hypocrisy of preaching homosexuality is a sin while being a homosexual himself. That is stunningly hypocritical and makes a mockery of his church.
None of us really understand why people are gay. Many gay people profess to having "known" they were such at an early age, and I'm loathe to tell them they don't know their own selves. A few years ago there was some tantalizing evidence that gayness was the result of a genetic difference, and if further research proves that, it will be a huge step in understanding human behavior.
Meanwhile, this case would be laughable except for the sad damage he did to the church, his parishioners and himself.
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It really is a shame because I can honestly say that some of the awesomest (that's not a word, I know) people I've ever met have been Catholic. I was raised Catholic and most of the priests I've met have been very kind, gentle souls with compassion for the poor & disadvantaged. Nuns are some of the sweetest old ladies you'll ever meet.
It's too bad that the Church is poisoned with scandal after scandal because as far as conservative Christianity goes, Catholicism is great.
Some should definitely not try to lump one group in the mix because of a rotten few, shame shame and shame. I happen to have friends who are gay, that are religious in their own way, have good morals, and are good people. It should be expected today, that their is always those that are giving someone a bad name. Whether it be a Priest, a Pastor, someone Black, or White, People who are out there to do no good. There are quite a few of very straight laced so it seems straight people out there, getting them selves into trouble. People need to mind their own business, and stop trying to figure out why some are gay, stop, you will never figure it out, we will be a much better Nation, when we get over our phobias over Gays, you will always have some in whatever group, that give a bad name to others.
Those are not religious people, they are gays. It should be expected wherever they are.
Hmmm...your Freudian slip is showing.
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