Friday 31 August 2012

Asking For It

So, this Franciscan dude in a dress friar accuses young sex-abuse victims of seducing the poor hapless priests.
"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," said Groeschel, the host of a weekly show called Sunday Night Prime.

"Well, it's not so hard to see -- a kid looking for a father and didn't have his own -- and they won't be planning to get into heavy-duty sex, but almost romantic, embracing, kissing, perhaps sleeping but not having intercourse or anything like that."

The New York-based clergyman with the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal went on to say he doesn't think child sex abusers should be tried on their first offence.

"...I'm inclined to think, on their first offence, they should not go to jail because their intention was not committing a crime."

Groeschel sympathized with former Penn State University assistant football coach and serial child molester Jerry Sandusky.

"Here's this poor guy -- Sandusky -- it went on for years ... Why didn't anyone say anything?"
After the predictable shitstorm hit, everybody concerned walked it back and apologized. No, no, no, that's not what he/I meant. And besides he's an old fart who has medical issues.

Riiight. But this is no obscure loony Todd Akin in a frock.

He's quite a big noise in the Vatican Taliban.
Father Benedict Joseph Groeschel, C.F.R., (born July 23, 1933) is a Catholic priest, retreat master, author, psychologist, activist and host of the television talk program Sunday Night Prime with Father Benedict Groeschel, which is broadcast on the Eternal Word Television Network. He has also hosted several serial religious specials in addition to Sunday Night Prime. He is the director of the Office for Spiritual Development for the Catholic Archdiocese of New York as well as associate director of Trinity Retreat[1] and the executive director of The St. Francis House.[2] He is professor of pastoral psychology at St. Joseph's Seminary in New York and an adjunct professor at the Institute for Psychological Sciences in Arlington, Virginia. He is one of the founders of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal.
These little 'off-leash' comments are entirely in keeping with his history and beliefs.
Groeschel has also been a highly visible Catholic activist, first in the civil rights movement. He publicly criticizes insulting depictions of the church in popular culture and the media. In September 1998, he led protests outside of an Off-Broadway theater in New York City against the production of Terrence McNally’s play Corpus Christi.[17] In his 2002 book, From Scandal to Hope, he accused The Boston Globe, The New York Times and The San Francisco Chronicle of revealing anti-Catholic prejudice in their respective coverage of the sexual abuse scandal that disrupted the church. “Seldom in the history of journalism have I seen such virulent attacks on any institution that is supposed to receive fair treatment in the press,” he wrote.
His Wiki page desperately needs updating.

4 comments:

Sixth Estate said...

It's not so much that he believes this that surprises me. It's that he'd say it in a public forum. Has he been living under a rock for the last 20 years? Could he not guess how this would be (correctly) interpreted? Props for speaking his mind, I suppose.

fern hill said...

A commenter at Freak Dominion thinks he forgot he was speaking ex cathedra.

But, yeah, seems a lot of these priest-pedophiles think of themselves as victims. And the church, as in the person of this guy, backs them up.

Luna said...

Someone REALLY ought to be looking into this guy's past. :(

Alison said...

“Seldom in the history of journalism have I seen such virulent attacks on any institution that is supposed to receive fair treatment in the press,” he wrote.

Is he kidding? The RC receives too much deference in the press. An organization so corrupt as to shield and excuse pedophiles, while waging war on women's rights does not deserve any respect.

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