Shapiro's Grand Jury Report Charges No Crime

Attorney General Josh Shapiro has released a devastating account of child sexual abuse that includes over 300 priests and over 1,000 children. Even worse, it chronicles a systematic cover-up by the Catholic hierarchy. I hope it helps at least some of the victims find closure. But let me add the following caveats.

First, it is a report, not an indictment. Not a single of these hundreds of priests has been charged with anything. Though the torches and pitchforks are out, the grand jury has essentially admitted it is unable to prove even one crime.

Second, it is almost entirely old news, going back as far as the '60s. I could look any human institution and come up with a devastating account of how it has operated over the past 50 years. The number of corrupt officials in Lehigh Valley local government would number in the thousands, with crimes extending from bribery to illegal wiretaps to very real police brutality, in which confessions were quite literally beaten out of people.

Third, beware the motives of AG Josh Shapiro. He has that "lean and hungry look," as Caesar might say. He would like to be the next Governor, and could ride into office as the man who took on the Catholic Church without prosecuting a single one of these evil priests. That's quite an accomplishment.

Fourth, understand that many of the news accounts are going to be salacious and essentially unfair, while pretending objectivity. Nothing like a sex scandal to beef up sales.

Fifth, in the Allentown Diocese, all five DAs conducted an investigation in 2002, revealing much of the same information that has surfaced again 16 years later. At that time, the Allentown Diocese committed to notifying authorities whenever any allegations of child sexual abuse are made against a Catholic priest, no matter what church officials may think of the merits. DA John Morganelli said a few weeks ago that he believes the Diocese has lived up to its agreement.

Bishop Barres Uses Pulpit to Go Easy on Child Predators

I missed Mass this past Sunday, and with it, the latest missive from the Most Reverend John O. Barres, Bishop of the Allentown Diocese, to his brothers and sisters in Christ. I'll have to miss Mass more often, especially after reading what his Majesty has to say.

Reader John is a better Catholic than I. He went to Mass, and provided me with a copy of the Bishop Barres' Bulletin. We're on a Crusade again, folks, so watch out!

We're not going after Islam because Trump is taking care of them. Nor are we going after the Jews because most of Europe is once again stoking the flames of anti-Semitism. We're going after innocent children.

The Holy Order is to urge state legislators to oppose any legislation that would eliminate the statute of limitations for child predators, many of whom wear that Roman collar like a wolf in sheep's clothing. Reason? It might cost money. Holy Mother Church might have to melt down a few golden candlestick holders.

John, who is a sinner like I, is dismayed.

"I found it notable that Bishop Barres would use his authority to send a letter like this, essentially urging parishioners to protect the church from civil lawsuits over past sexual abuse. I found it distasteful that he would put up as a defense that such lawsuits would take away funding from ministries that "feed the hungry and serve those in need". This seems particularly manipulative especially considering that the letter is silent about what the findings of past abuse investigations have turned up.

"As a long-time parishioner, I'd also note that I can hardly remember the last time that the Bishop took the time to send a two page letter urging the faithful to contact our representatives about numerous other important political and social issues."

When I was a kid, we had a summer place down the street from the Bishop's summer retreat at Beach Haven. My Dad, an irreverent and insensitive bastard of the first degree, would rise early in the morning and take Duke for a walk. He was our German Shepherd and a Lutheran who would shit all over the beach right in front of the Bishop's house, to the dismay of nuns and friars, and in violation of numerous laws and ordinances. (My Dad was very bad and is probably burning in Hell right now). His Excellency at that time was Joseph McShea. He caught my Dad one morning, and threatened us all with excommunication.

"Ah, go tend your flock," was my Father's reply.

That's what Barres should do, instead of making the Catholic Church look worse than it already does.

Allentown Bishop Opposes S/L Elimination For Child Predators

Ss Simon & Jude Convent to Become Shelter For Pregnant Women

Instead of the Sisters of St. Joseph, the convent at Saints Simon & Jude Catholic Church, located at 6th and Broad in Bethlehem, will soon be home to 6 or 7 pregnant women. Bethlehem's zoners, in a unanimous May 26 ruling, paved the way for Mary's Shelter to "bring hope to the hopeless," in the words of Bethlehem supporter David Muething.

Executive Director Christine Folk told the Zoning Hearing Board that, as ironic as it sounds, convents are actually an "ideal location" for pregnant women in need of housing because they are "designed for group living." In the eight bedrooms available, a "house mother" will occupy what was the Mother Superior's bedroom. The remaining seven bedrooms will be available for pregnant women with an average age between 17 and 25.

During their stay, pregnant guests will get an education, job training and learn to be self-sufficient. Folk testified that a professional social worker will be at the convent during the day, and there will be supervision by between two and four employees, 24 hours per day. Once the child is born, the new mother will be able remain at the convent for up to six months.

Mary's Shelter already operates at two different locations in Reading and, according to Folk, is licensed by the Department of Public Welfare. She added that seven different states are now using their program as a model.

Asked whether neighbors should be concerned about visits from the fathers, Folk told zoners that "[u]nfortunately, the fathers of the babies are not usually involved."

John McGeehan, a Public Safety Administrator with Northampton County and a parishioner at Saint Simon's, said that a "home for unwed mothers is highly laudable, but not right next to the Church." Although he acknowledged that he's pro-life, he was also troubled by a home for unwed mothers being located right next to Seton Hall Academy, a Catholic school. "Young children in the Church, in the school and in the neighborhood will ask: 'What is an unwed mother?'"

McGeehan noted that 48 churches have closed in the Allentown Diocese, and is dismayed by the "cavalier attitude" he sees from the Church.

But his strongest point is a provision in the Bethlehem Zoning Ordinance that prohibits any residential treatment facility within 800 feet of another. McGeehan produced an aerial map that clearly demonstrates that Valley Youth House, a residential treatment facility at 539 8th Avenue, is only 458 feet from the convent. "No means No," argued McGeehan.

Attorney John Miravich, representing Mary's Shelter, denied that this proposed home for pregnant women provides is a "treatment" facility.

West Bethlehem resident David Muething also took issue with McGeehan's claim that this home is inappropriate so close to a Catholic Church. "This is very much in keeping with the values of the Catholic Church," he argued.

In addition to this home, Catholic Charities has a program for the "adoption" of unwed mothers by "special friends" to give these women a safe place to stay.

Immediately after the hearing, McGeehan was excommunicated and struck by a lightning bolt as he tried to cross the street.

Notre Dame High School Plays a Little Politics

Notre Dame High School, a Catholic school located in Bethlehem Township, has linked to a radio program hosted by state representative candidate Ron Shegda. "Our Speech & Debate Moderator, Mr. Sal Rizzo, appeared on "The Two Things We Don't Talk About Show" hosted by Ron Shegda on WGPA (1100 AM). If you missed the live broadcast you may find it at http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/8692201." That video link, which can also be found here, not only features a political candidate, but contains four signs endorsing his house race.

By linking to this program, Notre Dame High School is unwittingly helping Shegda's campaign in violation of IRS rules against endorsements, contributions and bias.

I've contacted the Diocese of Allentown, and if they have anything to say, I'll pass it along.

Midnight Update: I never heard back from the Diocese of Allentown. They must be too busy praying. But Notre Dame High School did remove the Shegda link soon after this blog was published.

Doncevic:Prevent Church Closings By Letting Priests Marry

Steve Doncevic is upset about The Allentown Diocese' decision to close nearly fifty churches. He recently submitted an op-ed for publication in The Morning Call, suggesting it's time for The Catholic Church to permit its priests to marry ... again. For whatever reason, the paper declined. So I'll publish Mr. Doncevic's op-ed here.

As a lifelong Catholic, I look at the photos (The Morning Call, Sunday June 8, 2008) of the nearly 50 churches that the Archdiocese of Allentown will close and sell and I want to cry. I want to cry because I think of my Yugoslavian grandparents and the thousands like them of different ethnic groups who sacrificed and gave so much to build these churches in order to worship and praise their loving God. These are the churches of great-great grandfathers who dug foundations with pick and shovel, lifted timber with their backs and built walls brick by brick and stone by stone with their hands.

These are the churches of immigrants who worked the night shifts, middle shifts and day shifts in the damp, dusty and dangerous coal mines, the noisy hot and hazardous steel mills and the endless toil and drudgery of the factories. Many were buried alive, crushed, severely injured or disabled by lung diseases. They came to a new country with very, very little, worked very hard and gave to the Church.

They, their sons and grandsons went to war and they continued to give. They endured the Great Depression, recessions and unemployment and still they gave.

Their wives, daughters and granddaughters cleaned, volunteered, baked and cooked for the Church and they gave. Baptisms, marriages and funerals were celebrated in those churches and they gave and they gave and they gave.

And now, the Archdiocese of Allentown would close these 47 churches – churches nearly 100 years old and older, erected to the glory of our Heavenly Father.

Not only are the closures of these churches sacrilegious, they are contemptuous of the work of God and his children - blasphemy! Is this what is meant by Pope John Paul II’s call for “new evangelization in the church”?

While our Protestant brothers in Christ are planting and building churches around the world and in our own neighborhoods to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Catholic Diocese of Allentown is closing churches, in response, it says, to a growing shortage of priests.

A shortage of priests? Is it impossible for the Diocesan hierarchy to seek the ordination of its Deacons or to embrace its brother priests who left for the sacrament of marriage – a sacrament the church extols? Are these priests any less holy or less dedicated to the ministry of the church than their celibate brothers? Is mandated celibacy so important to the Diocesan hierarchy that they would destroy 47 churches named after saints whose works, dedication and sacrifice would shame the hierarchy?

According to Donald Cozzens, Ph.D., priest, writer and lecturer at John Carroll University and author of Freeing Celibacy, 2006, Liturgical Press, clerical celibacy did not become the norm until the 12th century. In fact, since the earliest centuries, it was normal for the clergy to be married.

As Father Cozzens so eloquently explains in his highly praised and thoroughly referenced 105 page book, “Clearly, the tradition of married priests, bishops and popes of the first millennium and the current practice of receiving Anglican and other married ministers into full communion with the Catholic Church (there are hundreds) dispels the claim of some traditionalist Catholics that celibacy is essential to the priesthood.”

Will the Most Reverend Edward P. Cullen, D.D. do everything in his power to continue the work of the Holy Spirit in these 47 churches or will he please Satan and his minions who wring their hands in glee as 47 churches that stand as bulwarks against the forces of evil in our society are to be relegated to the dust bins of history? This, the same Reverend Edward P. Cullen D. D. who was appointed vicar of administration under Cardinal Anthony Bevilaqua for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in 1988. This, the same Reverend Edward P. Cullen, D.D. who, according to the 2005, 423 page grand jury report on priest sex abuse in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia (The Morning Call, September 23, 2005), helped Cardinals Anthony Bevilacqua and John Krol hide the deviates, molesters and rapists who destroyed the lives of hundreds of children and devastated their families.

After his complicity with the celibate brotherhood of Catholic hierarchs in enabling these sexual horrors against children and covering them up (The Morning Call, October 1, 2006), Reverend Edward P. Cullen was installed as Bishop of Allentown in 1998 by his mentor Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua.

Will Bishop Cullen now also add to his legacy the destruction of 47 churches and the devastation he has wrought on the churches’ families?

Perhaps Bishop Cullen should contemplate the three words he has chosen as his motto, “Christ, Church, Compassion” which are articulated on the Diocesan website.

The churches he and his hierarchs would destroy belong to God and His children.

They do not belong to those who worship at the altar of mandatory celibacy supported by the pillars of absolute power and financial unaccountability.

They do not belong to those who ensconced themselves in the warmth of the rectories feasting on the gifts of ethnic foods from the women of the church while their husbands worked in the mines, mills and factories.

They do not belong to those inebriated with the absolute power that mandated celibacy affords them, those that would sooner extinguish the churches of the children of God rather than allow married priests into their domain.

And these 47 churches do not belong to men who portend to be men of god. Men of God do not close churches. Men of God pray and endeavor with every ounce of their being to fill and keep their churches.

That the children of God must appeal to the Diocese to keep their churches open, churches whose mortgages their fathers paid off generations ago, is an outrage! Where are the financial records? Who absconded with the deeds?

As Christ went into the temple (Matthew 21:12) and drove out the money changers, would he not go into the Diocese and drive out those who mock the financial sacrifices of His children?

May God bless, keep and strengthen his children in their resolve to keep the churches of their Heavenly Father and earthly fathers open. And may the good priests of the Diocese who worship at the foot of the Cross and not at the foot of the Diocesan hierarchy join with them. Amen.