# American friar defends accused priests

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-friar-defends-accused-priests/633129>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [August 30, 2012, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-friar-defends-accused-priests/633129 "2012-08-30T11:03:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-friar-defends-accused-priests/633129/1 "2012-08-30T11:03:00Z")

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> **[Friar Suggests Teens Seduce Priests In A Lot Of Sex Abuse Cases](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/father-benedict-groeschel-teens-seduce-priests_n_1840900)**
>
> Friar Suggests Teens Seduce Priests In A Lot Of Sex Abuse Cases

Some choice quotes:

> [@](#):
>
> “People have this picture in their minds of a person planning to — a psychopath,” Groeschel said. “But that’s not the case. Suppose you have a man having a nervous breakdown, and a youngster comes after him. A lot of the cases, the youngster — 14, 16, 18 — is the seducer.”

> [@](#):
>
> Pressed for clarification, the New York State-based religious leader explained that kids looking for father figures might be drawn to priests to fill a hole.
> 
> Furthermore, Groeschel expressed a belief that most of these “relationships” are heterosexual in nature, and that historically sexual relationships between men and boys have not been thought of as crimes.
> 
> “If you go back 10 or 15 years ago with different sexual difficulties — except for rape or violence — it was very rarely brought as a civil crime. Nobody thought of it that way… And I’m inclined to think, on [a priest’s] first offense, they should not go to jail because their intention was not committing a crime.”

Fill a hole?! This must be an Onion article I am thinking.

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**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-friar-defends-accused-priests/633129/2 "2012-08-30T11:33:44Z")

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OK, I updated his Wiki page.

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**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-friar-defends-accused-priests/633129/3 "2012-08-30T13:07:26Z")

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> [@grude](#):
>
> [Father Benedict Groeschel, American Friar, Claims Teens Seduce Priests In Some Sex Abuse Cases | HuffPost Religion](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/29/father-benedict-groeschel-teens-seduce-priests_n_1840900.html)
> 
> Some choice quotes:
> 
> Fill a hole?! This must be an Onion article I am thinking.

Actually, here’s the remarkably similar [Onion article](http://www.theonion.com/articles/pope-forgives-molested-children,101/) from a decade ago.

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**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\
**Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-friar-defends-accused-priests/633129/4 "2012-08-31T02:58:18Z")

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Defenders are now saying the 71-year-old is senile and suffering from a brain injury. Makes you wonder if sometimes these conditions lead to people telling the truth.