Have these bishops been living in a cave????????? What is Cardinal O’Mally going to say about this? And Edward Penten has been here before when he caught Cardinal Kasper in a major lie! All these bishops should be treated by Pope Francis as His Holiness treated the Chilean bishops!
Honduran Bishops’ Conference Replies to Accusations of a Homosexual Network at Major Seminary
The statement, which asserts that the seminary follows the norms and morals of the Catholic Church, criticizes the Register’s reporting on the seminary for causing “pain and scandal.” The Register, however, stands by the story.
The bishops' conference of Honduras has expressed “regret” that leaked information about a crisis of homosexuality in Tegucigalpa’s major seminary has given it a bad reputation.
In a statement issued July 29, it also denies any institutionalized promotion of practices that are contrary to the morality and norms of the Church.
The bishops were responding to a July 25 Register article in which it was reported that nearly 50 seminarians had written a letter to bishops complaining of a homosexual network in Tegucigalpa’s major seminary, and which they said is protected by its rector.
The Archdiocese of Tegucigalpa is headed by Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, the coordinator of the C9 Group of cardinals advising Pope Francis on Church and Curia reform.
The Register’s article drew on the contents of the seminarians’ letter, the existence of which was confirmed by a Honduran bishop. The seminarians wrote that they were encouraged by their spiritual advisers to write the letter and give it to the bishops as a plea that the homosexual activity among seminarians be stopped and that the bishops adopt stronger admittance practices for choosing seminarians.
The Register article quoted directly from one of the seminarians who had signed the letter, and referenced both a copy of a suicide note from a seminarian involved in a homosexual relationship with another seminarian, and graphic homosexual texts verified to have been exchanged between seminarians.
Also contacted for the article were the offices of Cardinal Maradiaga, the archbishop of Tegucigalpa, the Honduran bishops’ conference and each of the country’s bishops. None of the bishops had replied to the Register’s queries at the time this article was published.
The bishops said they “regretted” the information in the article, adding what was reported “causes pain and scandal in those who supposedly it wants to defend.”
But the statement did not refer to or deny the contents of the seminarians’ letter, nor any of the other substantiated facts in the article.
The Register stands by its reporting.
Elsewhere in their statement, the bishops said they are praying that priests increase their “selfless dedication to the service of the Gospel” so that “free, mature and fearless” vocations arise.
They also asked “present and future seminarians” to “grow in confidence, authenticity and transparency with their bishops and formators,” and view “honestly in their communities and parishes the lights and shadows of the seminary.”
The bishops also requested that all parishioners increase their prayers for the major seminary and avoid all kinds of speculation that ignores the respect for the dignity of bishops, seminarians, formators and all who seek to carry out God’s plan.
Bishops and seminarians are already engaged in a constructive dialogue, the statement added, and have enlisted the help of a bishop emeritus on the continent who has experience in the field of priestly formation.
In a statement issued July 29, it also denies any institutionalized promotion of practices that are contrary to the morality and norms of the Church.
The bishops were responding to a July 25 Register article in which it was reported that nearly 50 seminarians had written a letter to bishops complaining of a homosexual network in Tegucigalpa’s major seminary, and which they said is protected by its rector.
The Archdiocese of Tegucigalpa is headed by Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, the coordinator of the C9 Group of cardinals advising Pope Francis on Church and Curia reform.
The Register’s article drew on the contents of the seminarians’ letter, the existence of which was confirmed by a Honduran bishop. The seminarians wrote that they were encouraged by their spiritual advisers to write the letter and give it to the bishops as a plea that the homosexual activity among seminarians be stopped and that the bishops adopt stronger admittance practices for choosing seminarians.
The Register article quoted directly from one of the seminarians who had signed the letter, and referenced both a copy of a suicide note from a seminarian involved in a homosexual relationship with another seminarian, and graphic homosexual texts verified to have been exchanged between seminarians.
Also contacted for the article were the offices of Cardinal Maradiaga, the archbishop of Tegucigalpa, the Honduran bishops’ conference and each of the country’s bishops. None of the bishops had replied to the Register’s queries at the time this article was published.
The bishops said they “regretted” the information in the article, adding what was reported “causes pain and scandal in those who supposedly it wants to defend.”
But the statement did not refer to or deny the contents of the seminarians’ letter, nor any of the other substantiated facts in the article.
The Register stands by its reporting.
Elsewhere in their statement, the bishops said they are praying that priests increase their “selfless dedication to the service of the Gospel” so that “free, mature and fearless” vocations arise.
They also asked “present and future seminarians” to “grow in confidence, authenticity and transparency with their bishops and formators,” and view “honestly in their communities and parishes the lights and shadows of the seminary.”
The bishops also requested that all parishioners increase their prayers for the major seminary and avoid all kinds of speculation that ignores the respect for the dignity of bishops, seminarians, formators and all who seek to carry out God’s plan.
Bishops and seminarians are already engaged in a constructive dialogue, the statement added, and have enlisted the help of a bishop emeritus on the continent who has experience in the field of priestly formation.
12 comments:
When will this ever end?
In Sydney, Australia, a city of almost 4 million people, I read an article by an agnostic secular humanist psychologist and therapist who said she can over 3 decades recall zero significant media coverage and zero serious media discussion over how depressingly common it is for the deviant boyfriends of single mothers to abuse the children of the woman they are in a short term relationship with.
In Australia, the nightmare level of child abuse in some indigenous communities in recent years including rape of children under 5 can often get no where near the level of media coverage, especially from the ABC and Fairfax media, of allegations against a senile Catholic priest or ex-priest who may have, for example, groped a teenage altar boy 30 to 40 years ago.
Just how stupid does a lot of the Australian media think people are?
With the recently completed Royal Commission how much media coverage was given to the Salvation Army and state run institutions; to terrible levels of sexual abuse of teenage Navy recruits in the past etc and so. Journalist Gerard Henderson states that given its size compared to the Catholic Church the stats re child abuse against the Uniting Church of Australia run institutions was actually worse than Catholic run institutions but not 1% or 2% of the nation's 23 million population would know that as most media seems to have a clear agenda to condition the nation like Pavlov's dogs: think Catholic Church, think child sex abuse, think Catholic priest, think actual or potential child molester or even child rapist.
Could this possibly have anything to do with an agenda among secular humanists and liberal and "progressive" Christians to destroy or greatly weaken the credibility of a major institution in Australia which at least officially will not cave in and accept and admit that sodomy and abortion are good things?
In Australia, especially with the ABC and Fairfax media; wrecking the credibility of the Catholic Church takes on a MUCH greater priority than the maximum number of child sex abusers being exposed and arrested and the maximum number of victims of child sex abuse getting justice and support.
AJP.
AJP
Spot on. Hence the witch-hunt against Archbishop Philip Wilson which culminated in a farcical trial, a perverse verdict on the part of the presiding magistrate who would not have dared depart from the script, and the Archbishop's resignation today.
Regarding the issue of child sex abuse in Australia, the coverage by almost all media outlets, not just the enormous billion plus $$ government funded Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the Fairfax media group, is a total joke.
My wife is a protestant. I have spoken with Anglican and Salvation Army pastors. Literally hundreds of Protestant pastors (and thousands of state school teachers over 3 plus decades) and other professionals too many to calculate are alive now and as guilty as Bishop Wilson. Bishop Wilson, almost 70 and with dementia, has been found guilty and sentenced in Criminal Court because as a 27 year old priest he did not report to police allegations of abuse against a fellow priest about 40 (40 !!!) years ago. Also, with the recent Same Sex Marriage vote business, which was approved by 62% of voters, literally hundreds of Protestant ministers and pastors published for their respective lay members and followers material that simply stated that Same Sex marriage was opposed by scripture and was against God's will etc YET guess who was chosen to be dragged before a state, legal tribunal charged with hate speech? Bishop Julian Porteous of course, for writing to his flock (not the general public) gently and mildly (literally no use of words or terms like "intrinsic disorder" or "moral evil") reminding them of Catholic teaching on marriage and regarding 2 men or 2 women marrying being against Christian teaching.
But the ABC and Fairfax media are the worst, I agree.
The Australian newspaper gave recent major and lengthy coverage to how many leftist and arts and literature types in Australia were having illegal sex with girls 16 and under in the 1970s; and a story of how many male state school teachers and adult footballers were having illegal sex with underage girls in the 1980s in the Northern Beaches areas of Sydney etc and those 2 media giants the ABC and Fairfax Media gave these news stories close to zero coverage.
FXS.
In Australia, its 2 major political leaders on the left and right, PM Malcolm Turnbull and Labor Party opposition leader, Bill Shorten, showed themselves to be the worst sort of political whores by jumping on the MAJOR media circus bandwagon against Archbishop Wilson after he, a man near 70 and with a significant level of dementia, was found guilty and sentenced in a court of criminal "justice" not because he ever molested a child in any way but because as a very young priest 40 years ago he did not report ALLEGATIONS against an older Catholic priest.
And PM Malcolm Turnbull as a young man a graduate of Sydney University and Oxford University in LAW and a brilliant young lawyer (eg he took on Margaret Thatcher and top UK civil servants in the "Spycatcher" trial) before reaching the highest levels in merchant banking and politics would damned well clearly KNOW what a total farce the legal proceedings against Archbishop Wilson were, given what Wilson actually did or did not do in THE 1970s !!! , to say nothing of the outrageous injustice of his sentence.
Up to recent times in Australia a child sex offender could often get given less jail time in state secular courts than a poor person ripping off the government in Centrelink /social security fraud.
Such inflammatory prose by reasonably articulate Aussies; perhaps there is a connection here why their less bright citizenry in Australia have always signed up for more than a 100 years to be efficient and fiery cannon fodder first for the British Empire and since 1942 their "big brother" the US of A.
JS and EC.
Why should it be in any way surprising that in Catholic seminary there is a "homosexual network" ? Be it South America or North America or anywhere?
Young boys, male teenagers and young men have often grown up in societies where it is not only bad to claim homosexual activity is sinful but secular heresy to deny that homosexuality should be celebrated.
This is why I cringe at the phrase, “zero tolerance”. We have hoped and prayed for the corrupt and morbid seminaries and bishops to to be held accountable but, as with all social exercises in force, those whose only crime is association are caught up in the nuclear blast. What is interesting here is that usually the purge starts with the most the obvious targets and exhausts itself on the innocent. In this case, the most prominent targets have gone until recently unscathed. I wonder if the actual reason for this purge is different from the crime prosecuted? Bishops and priests who are affiliated or endorse ‘Traditional’ virtues and practices are combed for fleas of error because finding even one nit provides ammunition to discredit him and by extension his values and followers. By comparison, much more grievous behaviors go ignored or even supported when they are accomplished by people with the right accompaning set of values and political delivery.
Anonymous (JS and EC)
I wouldn't recommend airing such infantile sentiments in the presence of Australian servicemen, past or present. Unless, of course, you want your teeth pushed so far down your throat that you will need to stick a toothbrush up your arse to clean them.
JS & EC, I apologize for piling on but that is a terrible mischaracterzation. But if you do want to repeat that in public please let me know when and where so that I can sell tickets.
Dearest JS and EC (aka from the kindergarten Paul Keating School of History, Watson's Bay.)
Such "cannon fodder" I assume you are referring to were:
The 1914-1918 c. 420,000 who enlisted ie; c. 39% of male population, aged 18 to 44, of Australia at the time; c. 4.9 million people.
And the 1914-1918 420,000:
From that 420,000:
60,284 dead before discharge;
155,133 wounded in action (including those gassed and shell shocked).
And only 4,044 prisoners of war 1914-1918 ??!!
By the way, many were "new chums" ie many poor East End London types combined with the best of Australia's young men from the bush and outback and its flourishing new cities.
And since then fighting alongside our US and UK allies in WW2, Korea, Vietnam and Afghanistan and Iraq etc......
Ever seen Australians and especially old soldiers playing 2 up on Anzac Day, April 25th, by the way the DOB of my son, 19 serving in......?
It is said Australians love gambling so much we will gamble on 2 flies crawling up a wall (which can be your next anon comment alias, JS and EC ; you pair of...$%#@&%^ !! or 2FCW OK?)....
On a more positive note and a happier one look at prosperity and stability of Australia in 2018 !! How many countless millions of non-US allies would sell all they had to arrive here down here even to dying at sea on boats.....
Perhaps Australians, especially its military and its sane, competent politicians aka Menzies, Hawke and John Howard etc are or were just quite good at backing winners ?
BCK, X retired.
JS and EC,
You could always show your faces at Bowral, Donnie Bradman's home town, actually Sir Donald was born elsewhere at.....(where?) on Anzac Day, 2019. With your Welsh Springers in their rainbow coats ......
You could lead the march in front of the AIF medicos, past and present or ......who will be ahead of a contingent of ex-Concord Repatriation Hospital people.....who will be followed by.....Vietnam Veterans...
In the picture now ? An allusion to E Waugh's trilogy......e-war people are such leakers under certain conditions , ay , mate ?
Or alternatively, you could put up improved candidates for next years Australian of the Year Award ......and do a better job rigging votes.
Or, line up for confession at a feely and touchy, very feel good RC inner city Sydney Jesuit run Church.....
Or, any or all of the above ?
Don
PS Or get thee to a NO seminary or nunnery.....!!
LOL....who is laughing loudest now, cobber ?
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