Thursday, March 28, AD 2024 6:27pm

Lord Save the Church From Such Defenders

“It is interesting to note that the most irrational, indeed hysterical, reaction to PA grand jury report is coming from conservative Catholics,” the Catholic League tweeted Friday from its account. “They are singularly incapable of making a cogent argument, so all they do is vent like little boys. They are a pitiful lot.”

Bill Donohue took time from counting his pay of half a million bucks a year to run The Catholic League to make the above noxious tweet.  Cardinal Wuerhl’s pet bulldog has an over the top attack on the Pennsylvania Grand Jury report that has to be read to be believed.  Go here to read it.

Becket Adams at The Washington Examiner says it all:

 

The report reveals an institutionalized horror within the Church in the United States. It’s real and it’s terrible.

Not so, says Donohue, whose job is running a nonprofit that raises money off of outrage and pays Donahue roughly half a million dollars a year. It’s a liberal conspiracy!

“There are many vicious critics of the Catholic Church who would like to weaken its moral authority, and will seize on any problem it has to discredit its voice. Why? They hate its teachings on sexuality, marriage, and the family,” he writes in a “rebuttal” piece titled, “Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report Debunked.”

He lays out several points that he claims “debunk” the report, including that, by his own calculations, only 150 priests are guilty of abusing children. Well, that’s a relief.

Another “debunk”: One of the accused priests, George Zirwas, molested only teenagers, not children.

First, this isn’t even true. Diocesan documents show one Father Garbin met with “a little boy and his family about an ‘incident of inappropriate touch’ by Zirwas at St. Joseph the Worker parish.”

Second, what an absurd defense! These priests didn’t molest children. They molested adolescents. We’re not monsters, you know.

The rest of his “rebuttal” of a mishmash of whataboutism aimed at mitigating the damage from the report. He complains that sexual abuse is likely worse in public schools. He complains certain Pennsylvania officials have never sought to “shame imams, ministers, or rabbis.” He complains newsrooms keep using the word “rape,” when not all of the alleged and confirmed abuse involved penetration. It’s all whitewashing and handwaving.

Remember: This is his defense of the Catholic Church in the U.S.

Donahue’s response serves only to argue that things are likely worse elsewhere, and that the grand jury report is unfair. He doesn’t even attempt to argue Pennsylvanian Catholics haven’t suffered grave evil.

“It is interesting to note that the most irrational, indeed hysterical, reaction to PA grand jury report is coming from conservative Catholics,” the Catholic League tweeted Friday from its account. “They are singularly incapable of making a cogent argument, so all they do is vent like little boys. They are a pitiful lot.”

I’m not in the business of running damage control for unaccountable monsters, but a word of advice: When an organization is accused of a widespread conspiracy of abuse against children, avoid counter criticisms involving references to “little boys.”

This Catholic League response is a disgrace. Donahue is a disgrace. He is the Catholic version of a Tea Party scam-PAC. He exists to separate credulous Catholics from their hard-earned money.

 

Go here to read the rest.

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father of seven
father of seven
Monday, August 20, AD 2018 5:17am

Bill Donahue is a psychopath. Or, he’s just thoroughly corrupt. What I am sure of is he is entirely irrelevant. No Catholic listens to him.

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Monday, August 20, AD 2018 6:48am

The Pope should reinstate the Inquisition to solve the gay priest crisis – perpetual imprisonment on bread and water (as penance). The left runs one except (after Ho, Mao, Stalin Pol Pot) they don’t employ dungeons or instruments of torture.

Following on PA AG Shapiro’s triumphant victory in Pennsylvania’s Catholic priest crisis, he could empanel a grand jury to save Pennsylvania from the Muslim terrorism.

He won’t. “All Muslims Are Not Terrorists.” And, accused are innocent until proven guilty unless they are Trump or enemies in the culture wars, e.g., The Catholic Church.

Maybe Shapiro will get a grand jury to indict Trump for making a speech in Harrisburg where one Russian was in the 15,000 person crowd and for perjury over the size of the crowd.

Don L
Don L
Monday, August 20, AD 2018 7:05am

“What would Jesus do?”
Sorry, Mr. Donohue, but I think it might have something to do with a whip…..

Foxfier
Admin
Monday, August 20, AD 2018 8:08am

The Grand Jury report does look like it was motivated by a desire to cause trouble– the question is if it’s to destroy a basic protection like the statue of limitations for stuff where there isn’t any possible evidence, or against the church for profit or progress, I wouldn’t know.

150 of the accused didn’t do anything wrong? That’s kinda a big deal, when there’s only 300 involved over the course of half a century. How many were already exposed and charged? How many weren’t accused until after they were dead?
I know that some of those accused have this idea that they can actually expect, if not a presumption of innocence, then at least a chance to prove they are innocent before being executed. From memory, 29 priests?

I’m quite supportive of harsh penalties when there’s evidence, but I’m a little too familiar with false accusations for fun and profit, especially when the only evidences is the word of the victim.
(Roommate in the Navy made a lot of progress that way. She accused her shop of sexual harassment because she didn’t want to do work, and when the other woman in the shop pointed out that it wouldn’t hurt her career, the accuser went after that gal’s fiance. It was only dumb luck that she chose a day when he was rubbing elbows with multiple high ranking officers, in a different state, and our CO still was putting his career on the line to question a “victim.” It still damaged the careers of the other dozen people she’d accused, although it didn’t totally kill it because of the last, gratuitous false accusation.)

Ranger01
Ranger01
Monday, August 20, AD 2018 9:20am

As of Monday 11:15 Wuerl still has his job.
Unless more bishops speak clearly and directly like Bishop Morlino and act upon their words to rid the Church of its aggressive gay clergy, nothing changes.
No, wait, it will change. From Above; probably soon, probably violently.

Hmmmmm
Hmmmmm
Monday, August 20, AD 2018 10:51am

Foxfier, those are exactly my thoughts as well.

Ezabelle
Ezabelle
Monday, August 20, AD 2018 11:18am

If a high ranking Vatican official like a Cardinal has been getting away with it for decades, (not years- but decades!) then you bet your bottom dollar the problem is widespread and ingrained. And probably still is. Forget numbers! 150? 300? It really doesn’t matter at this point. This Catholic League Rep is a bigot, from my knowledge of his previous work- he turns everything into a militant battle and has little regard for the Truth. Fancy turning the abuse of children into a political whoohaa.

Evangeline
Evangeline
Monday, August 20, AD 2018 2:25pm

I once supported the Catholic League. I am typically measured about these things, the most emotional I get is when people gloss over what these boys suffer from our priests, but Bill Donahue has entirely embarrassed himself on this. I am appalled by his defense of the indefensible. This has reached the level of the surreal. Can we really be seeing the head of a multi-million dollar organization supposedly intended toward the defense of Catholicism PROTECTING the men who sodomize boys and ask them to pose naked in the posture of Christ on the cross, share it with other clerical perverts, and the homo institution that protects them, and then tell us after we find out there are HUNDREDS of homo predators and THOUSANDS of boy victims, and he decries the INVESTIGATION???? What on God’s earth is this!! Truly we are in a world gone mad.

Foxfier
Admin
Monday, August 20, AD 2018 3:42pm

He didn’t defend abusing anybody.

He pointed out that an attack was likely to be flawed, because it was assuming that all accusations were true.

Good grief, there’s enough wrong with the guy’s argument without flying off the handle.

c matt
c matt
Monday, August 20, AD 2018 4:05pm

There are many vicious critics of the Catholic Church who would like to weaken its moral authority, and will seize on any problem it has to discredit its voice.

Of course, if you hand them the ammunition with which to pulverize you, you have no one to blame but yourself. Had the Church not let these questionable elements in to begin with, there would be no grand jury report. Like this is just “any problem.” We are not talking about a minor financial snafu; this is a widespread despicable phenomena that cries out to heaven for vengeance. There is no defense – there is only purging.

The Christian Teacher
The Christian Teacher
Monday, August 20, AD 2018 6:55pm

“…’interesting to note that the most irrational, indeed hysterical, reaction to PA grand jury report is coming from conservative Catholics,’ the Catholic League tweeted Friday from its account. ‘They are singularly incapable of making a cogent argument, so all they do is vent like little boys. They are a pitiful lot.'”

I would make the argument that the normal emotional response to such gigantic evil & horrors of betrayal & abide by clergy is a temporary phase of irrationality, venting, & the inability to defend this evil from Hell. When you actually believe the moral teachings of your faith, believe in the reality of Hell, have unknowingly helped to fund & support such evil with your hard earned money, & have trusted the care of your soul and the souls of your loved ones to such an organization–this information is going to make one dumbfoundedly upset. ????????????

c matt
c matt
Tuesday, August 21, AD 2018 1:06pm

They have been accused of a crime with sufficient credibility to be prosecuted; they should be prosecuted,and if found guilty, punished. What is irrational about that?

No, Mr. Donahue, it is you who is singularly incapable of making a cogent argument and who blindly defends the indefensible, covering for evil like someone who sees his gravy train going off the tracks. You sir, are not pitiful, but contemptible.

Penguins Fan
Penguins Fan
Tuesday, August 21, AD 2018 3:36pm

I do want to point out that Josh Shapiro is someone I trust as far as I can throw him. I am not defending Donahue, but T. Shaw and Foxfier are correct.

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