June Catalyst 2011 Fr. Michael P. Orsi The following recounts what happened to an innocent priest from New Jersey in the wake of the bishops’ conference that took place in 2002. Just a few months after it was exposed that the Boston Archdiocese was deeply involved in a cover-up of priestly sexual abuse, the bishops assembled [...]
by Kiera McCaffrey (Catalyst 12/2006) The Catholic League would never defend the indefensible. That is why we praised the media for putting the spotlight on the Church's sex-abuse scandal in 2002. Without journalists breaking the story, the Church may have been slower to clean house and a greater number of adolescents may have been harmed. Similarly, [...]
by the Rev. Gordon J. MacRae (Catalyst 11/2005) Three years before the latest wave of clergy sex abuse claims rippled out of Boston across the country, Sean Murphy, age 37, and his mother, Sylvia, demanded $850,000 from the Archdiocese of Boston. Sean claimed that three decades earlier, he and his brother were repeatedly molested by their [...]
(For more material related to Bishop Murphy, please go here.) (8/2003) VOTF CLAIMS: According to the [Massachusetts attorney general’s] Report, Bishop Murphy played a key role in the failure to protect the children. As a consequence, he has abdicated his moral authority. With regard to Bishop William Murphy, now of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, the [...]
by Father Benedict J. Groeschel, C.F.R. (Catalyst 6/2003) I have been expecting a smear attack from the anti-Catholic segment of the media for years, and on March 2, 2003, it came. The Dallas Morning News, which I had never heard of, carried an article by Brooks Egerton entitled, “Priest plays down abuse crisis while helping clergy keep [...]
(Catalyst 5/2003) Father Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R. is a good friend of the Catholic League. On March 2, the Dallas Morning News published an article about him titled, “Priest plays down abuse crisis while helping clergy keep jobs.” It was written by Brooks Egerton, a staff writer for the News; he is also the past chairman of the Texas chapter [...]
by William A. Donohue (Catalyst 4/2003) The sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church is being used by state lawmakers to crack the wall of separation of church and state. Unless this is resisted by the hierarchy of the Church, state meddling in the internal workings of the Church will grow. One of the more conspicuous [...]
by David Reinhard (Catalyst 5/2002) I think the Roman Catholic Church has turned the corner on its priest sexual abuse scandal. Yes, turned the corner. True, the stories about pedophile priests—the crimes and cover-ups—will fill the news and fuel the outrage of Catholics, non-Catholics and anti-Catholics for some time to come. The courts, civil and criminal, [...]
