# Furren dopers:Catholic priests scandal in your area? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 2, 2003, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/furren-dopers-catholic-priests-scandal-in-your-area/185724 "2003-07-02T05:18:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/furren-dopers-catholic-priests-scandal-in-your-area/185724/1 "2003-07-02T05:18:00Z")
\*\*This is not my usual warm, fuzzy forum…I feel so naked. \*\* If this is the wrong venue, mods, please feel free to catapult it somewhere else. Here in the states it is all over the news about the Catholic Priests and the hush up of a whole bunch of sex molestation scandals with young boys. Boston, it seems, had quite an epidemic. Here in Detroit, we’ve had maybe a handful of priests get reprimanded or arrested. ( I haven’t followed all that closely, truth be told. ) There are probably a few other cities with the same problem. I bet there is alot more still lurking, waiting to explode. But, Mr. Ujest and I were wondering if there are any similar scandals in the catholic communities over the rest of the world. ---
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/furren-dopers-catholic-priests-scandal-in-your-area/185724/2 "2003-07-02T11:34:47Z")
The South African Catholic Church has [certainly had its share of problems](http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/specialreports/churchabuse/), but seems to be stepping up to the plate at least… Grim ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/furren-dopers-catholic-priests-scandal-in-your-area/185724/3 "2003-07-02T12:00:19Z")
Grim, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/furren-dopers-catholic-priests-scandal-in-your-area/185724/4 "2003-07-02T12:29:18Z")
Canada has had more Catholic priest abuse scandals than I can count. It’s beyond measure. This story was national news here many years before it seems to have surfaced in the public consciousness in the United States. They made a very famous, and unusually well-done, Canadian movie called [The Boys of St. Vincent](http://www.reel.com/movie.asp?MID=11213) about it. A priest who sat on my school board apparently “shared” a boyfriend with a priest who taught at my school. That was just 15-20 years ago. Believe me, I’m glad my parents weren’t much into the Church and that I was never an altar boy. The Catholic Church appears to be a haven for pedophiles. I know it’s unfair of me, but I wouldn’t let my son be an altar boy for all the tea in China. Whether or not the Catholic Church in Canada has, in grimpixie’s words, “Stepped up to the plate” and taken action I honestly don’t know. I don’t recall what they did about it. ---
**Author:** ![Kalimero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aca169/32.png) [@Kalimero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalimero)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/furren-dopers-catholic-priests-scandal-in-your-area/185724/5 "2003-07-02T14:18:40Z")
I’m sure there are many other cases, but the most infamous one in Austria was [Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer](http://www.telegram.com/static/crisisinthechurch/032503.html), former cardinal of Vienna. He died about 3 month ago. From the linked article (which is about his death, but also contains information about the scandal and the way the Church handled it): > [@](#): > > … > The scandal began in March 1998 when a former seminary student said Groer, his religion instructor, had abused him repeatedly in the early 1970s. The student said he decided to go public after hearing Groer declare that those who abuse children would not "inherit heaven.’ > > Other former students at the all-male high school at Hollabrunn, 40 miles north of Vienna, came forward with similar charges. State prosecutors never became involved because the statute of limitations for sexual abuse of a minor had long since expired. > > The Vatican drew sharp criticism from many Austrians for taking three years to act. > … It’s a shame. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/furren-dopers-catholic-priests-scandal-in-your-area/185724/6 "2003-07-02T14:19:15Z")
There were reports here during the peak of the scandal last year that a past bishop had indeed investigated and removed from pastoral duties a couple of priests for improper sexual conduct involving minors some time ago. But there has been no “flurry” of accusations of actual wrongdoing (just the usual BS from the conservatives blaming the gays). The local Church announced that the policy would be that ecclesial disciplinary action and civil/criminal court cases would run independently of each other and they would cooperate with any case raised (but evidently are not going to go out of their way to start anything). OTOH we’ve had a few Evangelical preachers and lay ministers get arrested for improper conduct with young teens. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/furren-dopers-catholic-priests-scandal-in-your-area/185724/7 "2003-07-02T16:23:47Z")
I’m in Pittsburgh, dioceses of the famed Bishop Donald Wuerl, who is known for having a strict zero tolerance policy with this sort of thing. I believe he went so far as to go to Rome to argue with the Vatican when they ordered him to reinstate a priest found guilty of molestation. (And he won!) So, maybe we could look at the bishops in each dioceses? ---
**Author:** ![williambaskerville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f14d63/32.png) [@williambaskerville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/williambaskerville)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/furren-dopers-catholic-priests-scandal-in-your-area/185724/8 "2003-07-02T19:43:32Z")
The Republic of Ireland has had ongoing problems for the last decade, with many,many horrific cases. The episcopal hierarchy are being lambasted for not dealing with it properly, we’ve had a government collapse over improper handling of one case. One a personal level,I attended a Christian Brothers school, and 2 brothers who taught me, and about whom there were ongoing rumours at the time,are now doing lengthy prison sentences.