The sex abuse scandal has increasingly entangled Pope Benedict XVI and Vatican in allegations of the cover-up of molesting priests. Now, one case has directly implicated the Pope after it was learned that in the 1990s then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger effectively spared an American molesting hundreds of deaf boys. The then Cardinal received letters from Wisconsin priests asking him to move against the Reverend Lawrence Murphy, who worked at the St John’s School for the Deaf in St Francis, Wisconsin. He appears to have blocked efforts to defrock Murphy.
The disclosure came as part of litigation against the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. In 1996 Murphy’s case was forwarded to the the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, headed by then Cardinal Ratzinger, who declined to act on the case even after the Archbishop of Milwaukee, Rembert Weakland, asked him to defrocked the priest.
Notably, the Pope’s right hand man, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone (now his Vatican’s secretary of state) had ordered a canonical trial but that was stopped by the Pope after Murphy wrote to the Pope asking for mercy. He wrote to the Pope that he was in bad health and “I simply want to live out the time that I have left in the dignity of my priesthood . . . I ask your kind assistance in this matter.” He appears to have gotten the assistance that he sought. He was able to live out his days as a priest.
This is the second major abuse case tied directly to the Pontiff this month, here.
UPDATE: The Vatican has issued a statement denying the allegations vis-a-vis Murphy, here.
For the full story, click here.
Hey I’m no different than you. If you can’t beat’em might as well join’em That socialism thing sounds pretty good. I hear he is gonna force the banks to stop mortgage payments for the unemployed.
Bdaman:
I preheat it at 425 degrees. Usually 15-18 minutes if its 2 inches thick or so. My grandfather and mother were butchers. I am impressed by your culinary pedigree too.
Buddah it may be the only thing we have in common, but I come from a culinary backround. My father was a chef and I too love to cook. Don’t know where you are in LA but I use to live in BR and commuted every day to NO and worked at Tulane for about a year.
Bdaman:
you suck up you 🙂
deluxe Emerilware Pro-clad set
Believe it or not I got the same set.
AY:
Gaily bedight,
A gallant knight,
In sunshine and in shadow,
Had journeyed long,
Singing a song,
In search of Eldorado.
But he grew old-
This knight so bold-
And o’er his heart a shadow
Fell as he found
No spot of ground
That looked like Eldorado.
And, as his strength
Failed him at length,
He met a pilgrim shadow-
“Shadow,” said he,
“Where can it be-
This land of Eldorado?”
“Over the Mountains
Of the Moon,
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,”
The shade replied-
“If you seek for Eldorado!”
Edgar Allan Poe
15 minutes? at what Temp? Charcoal anyone?
Jake–
“Precisely! Science was silly to the known world.”
It wasn’t that it was silly. It was that people were afraid of stating scientific truths because they might likely fight heresy trials, torture, and even death. The church wielded great power. Those in power can compel people to do/not do things.
Some churches choose to keep their believers “in the dark.”
**********
“They didn’t conform to what was culturally acceptable at the time. What the world thought then of science is largely how America’s non-religious think of religion now: with disdain.”
Atheists don’t conform to what is culturally acceptable to many millions of believers in our country. They are treated with disdain.
**********
“Which leads to the parallel that just because experiments verify what we think now has nothing to do with a cultural “truth.” To insult someone’s religion under the name of “convincing” them of a scientific truth is using one religion to convince another that their religion is stupid.”
That the Earth is 6,000 years old may be a widely held “cultural truth.” People who hold such a “cultural truth”/religious belief as factual and fight to have it taught as “real” science in the clasroom should meet with opposition from people who think that religious beliefs/cultural truths should not be taught as scientific fact in the classroom. I believe teaching creationism alongside the theory of evolution in science class dumbs down education in America. You may think that last statement is an insult to some people’s religious beliefs. I don’t consider it to be such. It’s just a statement of one of my own personal beliefs.
**********
“To say that a religion is unsound because it can’t be empirically proven is to exchange one set of assumptions for another. Science requires faith no less than religion does.”
I think the problem lies with some religious people. One could produce all kinds of scientific facts that HAD been proved before them and yet they’d still turn their heads away–as well as those of their children–because the scientific facts conflicted with their religious beliefs.
I think there is a difference between believing in science and having faith in a religion. I guess you could call that one of my “cultural truths.”
Buddha:
I won’t do a steak now without searing it in my Lodge, and then slapping the whole kit and caboodle in a hot oven for about 15 minutes.
mespo,
For some jobs, cast iron is the only tool. Old technology does not mean inadequate by definition in my book. As a Southern trained cook, I couldn’t make cornbread without cast iron.
Mespo:
I should have figured based on that post to Buddha about Jake.
Howdy, AY.
Byron,
I too am a big Sam Harris fan. I believe I said on another thread I find him a welcome addition to any conversation. There’s a cat with a mind like a steel trap.
Buddha:
I have seen that and I like it. We just started with the stainless starter set we got as a wedding gift and it grew like rabbits. I did break down and got some copper sauce pans, and they are fabulous btw. My favorite though is my Mom’s old Lodge cast iron skillet.
bdaman,
Since when did I start taking what you say personally?
And you expected something different? 😀 You’re one of my favorite chew toys and you know it.
Bryon,
If you subscribe to the theory that all of the continental shelves used to be united, then it is not surprising that apparent degree of advancement of the Mayans is what it was. Buddha makes a valid point and since the invention of the Gutenberg movable type books were able to be produced in mass quantity. If Hitler’s henchman had had its way they would have destroyed any “print” that disagreed with the then regimes philosophy. For all that can be blamed bad about the Vatican they started a repository for all subjects of books. Our Library of Congress (The US) is modeled after this.
The Church is not much different in its dealing with people and situations that they wanted to control. What Buddha omitted is that they had a vast cargo of gold that they were taking back to the Mother Church and there was not enough room because of the weight of the Gold. And these items were deemed useless. Thus destroying and obliterating and entire civilization. Pretty much what we did to the American Indians.
The good Church’s disciple worked these people until they were dead as a person in mining. It is called El Dorodo…..The lost city of gold.
mespo,
Believe it or not, it’s the deluxe Emerilware Pro-clad set. It’s like all stainless, a bit prissy to clean, but it heats like a dream. I’ve cooked in some nice pans in my day, but I have to say I’m very impressed with the quality of this set. I got the 10 piece set and an extra skillet.
Buddah you know as well as I, that I am no match to your superiority of all subjects. Your are smart, intelligent, wise and debonair. Now just let me have my fun you big green fat ugly looking mofo. It’s Friday, my wifes outta town and I’m gonna have some fun tonight. You know I’m just fuckin with ya. Don’t take it personally.
Byron:
Come on, you know I worship at the Sam Harris “altar.” 🙂 He’s one of my favorite thinkers and writers.
Byron,
The Greeks were more advanced in some ways, for example, they had the wheel, but in building and astronomy? For construction their only equal are the Egyptians and maybe (maybe) the Chinese. In astronomy, eh, probably the Persians (theory) and the Chinese (recorded observation), but those are the only two serious competitors in the ancient world.