YESTERDAY it was the damning report on abuse of children by Catholic institutions in Ireland.
Today we learn that a retired Catholic Archbishop in the US is claiming in a soon-to-be-published memoir that he did not comprehend the potential harm to young victims or understand that the priests had committed a crime.
Rembert G Weakland
Said Rembert G Weakland:
We all considered sexual abuse of minors as a moral evil, but had no understanding of its criminal nature.
Weakland, who retired in 2002 after it became known that he paid $450,000 in 1998 to a man who had accused him of date rape years earlier, said he initially:
Accepted naively the common view that it was not necessary to worry about the effects on the youngsters: either they would not remember or they would ‘grow out of it’.
Weakland’s critics allege that, when he was Archbishop of Milwaukee, he had tried to cover up some of the widespread abuse that had taken place in the diocese – in particular by overseeing an evaluation in 1993 of Father Lawrence Murphy, one of those prosecuted for abuse.
A 2003 report on the sexual abuse of minors by clergy in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee revealed that allegations of sexual assaults on minors had been made against 58 ordained men, who were under the direct supervision of the Archbishop of Milwaukee.
By early 2009, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee had spent approximately $26.5 million in attorney fees and settlements to victims.
Weakland’s words are contained in his memoir, A Pilgrim in a Pilgrim Church – and have infuriated those who suffered at the hands of the clergy.
Said Peter Isely, Midwest director for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP:
It’s beyond belief. He’s either lying or he’s so self-deceived that he’s inventing fanciful stories … These have always been crimes.
Weakland’s handling of the Milwaukee clergy sex abuse scandal is just one chapter in the wide-ranging memoir that recounts his childhood in the coal-mining region of Pennsylvania, his life as a Benedictine monk, his struggles with his own homosexuality, his strained relationship with Pope John Paul II and finally his public fall from grace in Milwaukee.
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
May 21st, 2009 at 12:32 pm
He didn't know??? Under how big a rock has this guy been living? Shouldn't he be sued till he's blue in the face, and his 'friends' with him?
May 21st, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Isn't the guy supposed to be a FUCKING EXPERT at identifying sin? turns out he's a fucking LITTLE CHILDREN expert….. didn't know it was a crime my arse!
May 21st, 2009 at 1:56 pm
BULSHIT<BULSHIT,BULSHIT, who do these criminal Bastards think they are kidding? why are no prosicutions being bought to these catholic corrupt animals, from that turky they call the pope down, and all that were directly involved, these are much worse that war criminals and should be bought to trail. Or is justice too much to ask for?
May 21st, 2009 at 3:51 pm
prisoner: father forgive me for I have sinned, I raped a little girl…
priest: I do hope that you didn't use a condom!
sorry!
May 21st, 2009 at 4:47 pm
A CofE spokesman said something very similar regarding child abusers within their ranks. They claimed that their cover ups had occurred before they had their current proceedures in place which state that the correct thing to do when you become aware that a crime has been committed is to report it to the Police. Up until these guidelines were implemented no one knew that that was what you were supposed to do.
May 21st, 2009 at 6:18 pm
The worst thing about being an atheist is knowing people like this pond scum won’t get punished in this workd or the imaginary next one
May 21st, 2009 at 9:13 pm
Wow, seems like the Catholic church has been just a perfect dark damp place for a secret culture of child rape to thrive and fester. Let the sunshine in!
May 21st, 2009 at 10:34 pm
Bad choice of words, Roger.
May 21st, 2009 at 10:40 pm
I say jail him.
May 21st, 2009 at 11:31 pm
Next time you're out with your kids, and you see someone wearing a clerical collar, keep your eyes on him. If he approaches you, tell him to stay the hell away from your kids, or you'll make him swallow that book he's carrying.
May 22nd, 2009 at 12:43 am
The Romans used to feed christians to the Lions..and we made them out to be the bad guys.
May 22nd, 2009 at 1:43 am
This argument is as incredulous as it is irrelevant: thus the proviso "ignorance of the law is no excuse".
May 22nd, 2009 at 3:52 am
HOLYSHIT….the Catholic church seems to be a fucking place!how come he didn't know child abuse was a crime???huh?FDUCh ya asshole!!
HANG THE BUGGAR!
May 22nd, 2009 at 3:58 am
HOLYSHIT….the Catholic church seems to be a fucking place!how come he didn't know child abuse was a crime???huh?FUCK ya asshole!!
I SAY HANG THE BUGGAR!
May 22nd, 2009 at 6:08 am
and I sat alone in a room with this guy when i was 13.
May 22nd, 2009 at 6:16 am
The Catholic church, i.e. THE PEDOPHILE CLUB
May 22nd, 2009 at 6:30 am
yep, don't believe it.
He knew it was wrong but the Catholic Church looks after it's own. It's no coincidence that they refer to their parishoners as 'sheep'. They don't credit them with any intelligence, and thanks to their colleagues they can get away with it for years..
May 22nd, 2009 at 6:38 am
he lives under the Rock of St Peter.
May 22nd, 2009 at 8:12 am
He's obviously bullshitting here that is a fact. However to think that the entire Catholic church is a huge pedophile club and that all clergy men want to have sex with little boys is ridiculous. There have been a few cases but that doesn't taint the entire religion…
May 22nd, 2009 at 9:19 am
"There have been a few cases but that doesn't taint the entire religion… "
So what constitutes more than a few then?
May 22nd, 2009 at 10:27 am
Society is ass backwards like that.
May 22nd, 2009 at 10:49 am
That senior bishops actively protected paedophiles, moving them when they got into trouble, keeping other people quiet and then allowing the perpetrator to continue his abuse, suggests to me that it was institutionally accepted, or at the very least the 'good' name of the church was considered more important than justice & child safety.
May 22nd, 2009 at 2:46 pm
However to think that the entire Catholic church is a huge pedophile club and that all clergy men want to have sex with little boys is ridiculous. There have been a few cases but that doesn't taint the entire religion…
…doesn’t taint the entire religion….???
Jesus H. Fucking Christ! Bullshit!!! Child abuse is the CORNERSTONE of Xtian-insanity. It starts with the holy piece-of-crap deity that they created in their own image, who required his only mis-begotten son, through the incubus-like rape of a young girl-child, to undergo torture, mutilation and death. These vicious maniacs actually created, a god, out of thin air, to worship… for the very reason that he DID commit child abuse and infanticide! They fucking GLORIFY these crimes! And then in some sort of twisted, tortured, head-spinning leap of logic, they managed to pull off the forgiveness angle which they need to perpetuate and condone these atrocities down through the ages. They also use the forgiveness angle along with the afterlife stick and carrot to suck the healthier human beings, the ones who wouldn’t otherwise commit to such depravity and insanity.
May 22nd, 2009 at 2:46 pm
“Hey everybody, it’s okay to commit these vile crimes because your holy crap-ness did them first and since he did it, it must be a really cool thing to do! You too, can, and are urged to torture children and even kill them! You want to be god-like? You must emulate your torturer and murderer god! And what’s more, you can even get forgiveness because we understand that healthy human beings might have some qualms about acting out in the depraved animalistic ways that their god behaves. All you have to is just believe in his holy crap-ness and know that he did all this out of love for you and therefore, no matter how depraved you can be, you will be forgiven for it all!
May 22nd, 2009 at 2:46 pm
The greatest atrocity here is not that these sick-fucks will escape earthly prosecution and punishment, because, no doubt they will. It’s that they will actually be able to repent their sins, ask for and receive forgiveness, and enjoy aid and comfort from their sick-fuck peer support group and actually enjoy a high degree of probability of living happy, healthy lives without remorse. The entire system is so absolutely diabolical that it escapes comprehension. Am I the only one who sees the gigantic elephant in the room here??? Ugghhh! I, for one, am proud to be labeled/libeled an Atheist.
May 22nd, 2009 at 5:32 pm
Disgusting (incidentally, I am Catholic, I came to this site by a link…).
Joining him in the "didn't know it was a crime" stupid attempt at an excuse are the many non-Catholic law enforcement, psychologists/psychiatrists, parents, etc. who also failed in their responsibility and didn't want to "rock the boat" by pursuing charges at the time either. Obviously not all abuse was known, but from what I've read depending upon the location there were significant percentages where law enforcement/prosecutors (i.e. secular) were aware of what was going on but didn't do anything either.
May 22nd, 2009 at 5:49 pm
Good rant matey let it all out I for one agree with everything you said.
May 22nd, 2009 at 6:21 pm
Actually, he will get punished: the only thing that will live on of him is the memory of his evil, perfectly preserved and documented in perpetuity.
May 22nd, 2009 at 6:23 pm
"There have been a few cases but that doesn't taint the entire religion…"
There have been more than a few cases. But, no, by itself it doesn't taint the entire religion. What taints the entire religion is its pervasive history of crimes against humanity, its cult-like organization, and its intrinsically immoral theology.
May 22nd, 2009 at 7:23 pm
No doubt, the true victims here, the children, will find solace and comfort in the established Xtian-insanity and learn that their plight was ordained by their beloved god and will grow up to become well-adjusted (NOT!) mentally sick deviants like their progenitors, capable of proudly and mindlessly perpetuating the abuse on to the next generation of victims. It's really quite mind-numbing when you begin to see the sheer elegant perverted beauty of insanity operating at its finest.
May 22nd, 2009 at 7:35 pm
So now it's the non-theists that are at fault for not stopping you theists and risking potentially serious attack whenever speaking up in a social environment that consistently and loudly catigates any public outcry against the moronic defenders of religion? Nice try. You religiots need to stop blaming everybody else for the consequences of your perverted doctrines. What was it Jesus was reported to have said about taking out the timber in your own eye before casting aspersions on others?
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:31 pm
No, the sickening, horrible fact is that this pedophile priest is going to profit off his abuse of untold numbers of children by publishing his memoir. The money should go to his victims and other victims of the church.
"There have been a few cases but that doesn't taint the entire religion"
Bullshit! It's tainted in my eyes and millions of others, I'm sure I would never let my child anywhere near a Catholic priest…ever! What a great con job religion is. Make up some spiritual crap that people so desperately want to believe so you can have power over the masses and then take advantage of the innocent and weak. Disgusting.
May 23rd, 2009 at 12:49 am
Seems like Mr. Wonderful here doesn't even know his own Book:
"As You Have Done Unto the Least of These, You Have Done Unto Me"
I truly despise hypocrites and liars.
May 23rd, 2009 at 2:15 am
I left that awful church many years ago at the age of 21. As a young woman, I realized then how sexist as well as how abusive they were. I did not receive any sexual abuse, but did receive physical and emotional abuse from the nuns. So far, the church has never said anything about that and so I assume they condone it. The sexism will probably never end. So much else about this church that sucks. I don't understand why people still call themselves catholic when they say something like, " however I do believe in birth control, equal rights for women , etc. If you have any kind of sense, you would leave this institution of the dark ages. If you are christian, they are far better choices than the catholic church.
May 23rd, 2009 at 4:10 am
HA HA!
May 23rd, 2009 at 5:05 am
I am morbidly disgusted.
May 23rd, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Good point! There's so MANY "worst things" about religion it's impossible to keep up. How does one rank depravity?
May 23rd, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Of course the child abuse actions don't taint every individual in the Church, but the point is that, over and over, the church hierarchy–those in the positions of power and authority–have shielded and protected and covered up for the guilty ones. That makes the corporate body of the church guilty. If you want to distinguish that from the whole church–well, that's a distinction that gets a bit subtle for a lot of people.
May 23rd, 2009 at 6:48 pm
"… I truly despise hypocrites and liars."
Upon reading the comment mentioning hypocrites, I was reminded of Michael Shermer's opening line in his Introduction to Why People Believe Weird Things: "The bane of hypocrisy is not in its visibilty to others, it is its invisibility to the practitioner." As an atheist, I find it infuriating to watch all the blind religiots walking around, consistently bumping into things as evidenced again with this latest child abuse case, yet hypocritically lording it over everyone else, piously ass-uming they are the only ones who are able to see. Will it ever stop?
May 23rd, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Their God forgives them, remember? They need to lose their balls.
May 23rd, 2009 at 8:55 pm
Yeah yeah yeah, wir haben es nicht gewüsst… Sounds all too familiar. The guy should be in prison for the rest of his life, or worse.
May 23rd, 2009 at 10:11 pm
Besides, even if he really believes his own crap…
if it is a sin he goes to hell
if it is illegal he goes to jail
So instead of jail he opts for hell? O_o I bet that jesus crackers have PCP on them
May 24th, 2009 at 4:01 am
could be hype to make people want to buy the book… just saying
May 24th, 2009 at 5:52 am
Unfortunately I got out too late. They got me too…..
I could have told them it was a sin AND a CRIME! If they would have asked me, I would have told them it hurt. And still does.
GD liars.
The good old boys club is alive and well – internationally.
Signed, a Canadian
May 24th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
I had a specific example in mind, my understanding is that New York State is considering temporarily dropping the limitation period on lawsuits to allow those who were abused as children years ago a window of opportunity to sue. Except, it's limited to those who were abused in religious schools. Despite the fact that (according to the story I read) both in absolute numbers and percentage-wise (% of students abused) the New York State public schools were much worse, the state doesn't want to allow abuse victims to sue the state because, hey, that would cost money. If the concern is really for abuse victims, let them all sue, not only those abused in religious schools; and one should be aware of the problem of public school sexual abuse also, and not ignore it because it's not a religious institution.
Similarly if bishops are liable for hiding/moving around abusive priests (I AGREE they should be) then so too should others (e.g. a police officer or prosecutor or psychologist or school principal).
May 25th, 2009 at 8:48 am
Consider that is what the recent pope did for a career ( for 20 years): transporting childmolesters to new, green pastures, so the molesters would not be harmed when the abused children grew powerful enough to take their revenge…
(nice guy this pope, I much preferred the previous one)
May 25th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
I am literally shaking with rage right now, reading this article, and wishing with every cell in my body that I could, somehow, end up locked in a room for 10 minutes with Archbishop Weakland, a blow torch, and a copy of the Wisconsin Criminal Code.
I GUARANTEE he'd be able to recite the entirety of the WCC, in Latin, by the end of those 10 minutes.
May 25th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
I am literally shaking with rage right now, reading this article, and wishing with every cell in my body that I could, somehow, end up locked in a room for 10 minutes with Archbishop Weakland, a blow torch, and a copy of the Wisconsin Criminal Code.
May 25th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
I just don't know what to day… thought they'd forget? thought they'd grow out of it?? Didn't think it was a CRIME!!! Oh dear… I am stunned
May 25th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
Don't buy the book – isn't it standard in most states that criminals aren't allowed to profit from the products of their crimes? While this SOB hasn't been convicted, refusing to buy the book is the least we can do to punish this asshole? If anyone can find the intended publisher of this "memoir", perhaps a flood of letters questioning the wisdom of publishing the memoirs of a sexual criminal might be helpful?
May 25th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
This man is the reason so many hate the Catalolic Church priests! I am so relieved he is not in the church anymore. I am concerned now….especialy with the church alowing girls to be alter servers now…..
Will we be hearing about them being molested in 10, 20 years later? Parents need to find time to talk with their children more one-on-one. Ask questions, interact more wtih their children.
May 26th, 2009 at 10:58 am
Wide spread abuse has been going on throughtout time,One has to wonder why the church did nothing to protect these people.I guess you can understand my strong distaste for any religion. If you stop and think about it even the prayers can be some what demeaning to a persons. First of the church states that we were born in sin, then we are to get on our knees and thank him for the insult
May 27th, 2009 at 3:57 am
This is hilarious in a horrible fashion.
May 27th, 2009 at 7:09 am
I feel the same way about beating priets with baseball bats.
May 27th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
"who also failed in their responsibility and didn't want to "rock the boat" by pursuing charges at the time either. "
Same problem today, why can't the 2,000 teachers referred to List 99 in 2005 be named?
May 28th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
"Naive." What a lovely way to portray the mindset of a child abuser.
June 3rd, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Check out the stats on policemen and fireman – it's the same. And you thought that they were such nice guys. Also, there are the lesser published accounts on teachers (much higher percentage rates than in the Catholic Church) abusing children. These teachers have been swapped from school district to school districts by principles and school superintendents fearing lawsuits – thereby giving favorable reviews. Go after them kpd because they're right in your neighborhood!!!!
June 3rd, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Kelly – do you have any evidence for the above claims?
Let's see it.
June 5th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
An agnostic in training, I am shocked and saddened by the anger and vitriol contained in the preceding posts. A Christian institution 'survivor' I have little understanding of the anger that is being directed at Christianity. As a counselor of sexual offenders, I wholly understand the revulsion towards the abuse of our children.
However, it is the likely truth that the former Archbishop did not understand that the moral evil he cites was a criminal act as no such understanding existed in law until recently. This is a shameful reflection on society as a whole, and cannot be dumped solely on the front steps of the catholic church or upon xtian institutions.
Canadian law held some protection as early as 1890 for female children under the age of 12, and only in regards to sexual intercourse. Although the protection for female children was strengthened in 1978, it was not until the introduction of Bill C-15, in 1988 that protection was extended to boys and that other forms of sexual exploitation and touching were included. Shameful, yes. Does the blame though lie with the Catholic church, or the aforementioned, disgraced Father?
A history of the more generalized abuse of children, as is referred to above, is no more enlightened.
The following link outlines some of Canada's history in terms of laws protecting children from sexual abuse.:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/informat...../PRBpubs...
For a more general discussion of child abuse history, this article was excellent:
http://members.shaw.ca/pdg/the....._child_a...
June 9th, 2009 at 7:13 am
went to catholic lectures adelaide south australia mon aitken regularly playing with zipper in front of everyone i said to women do you see it her reply yes but it's not my job to tell him not too just a small taste of life in the church can not recommend church to anyone
June 11th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
uh yes it does
June 11th, 2009 at 10:01 pm
Ditto
September 28th, 2009 at 4:44 am
As a survivor of catholic school atrocities myself, all I can say is they will be judged by the God they claimed to represent.
March 20th, 2010 at 5:26 am
Kelly,
I second the call for cites showing your statistics. They’d best be from some reputable source, and not someone’s blog, some conservative talk show asshat, or the like. Real studies, comprised of real figures, compiled by professionals who have no axe to grind.
There isn’t a single profession on the planet that does not have its share of child molesters, rapists, perverts or what have you. Why don’t you cite politicians? Or doctors? Or
You just sound like someone with an axe to grind.
What you’re conveniently overlooking in your zeal to tar and feather everyone whom you think is in an authority position (and I’ll almost guarantee you’re a stoner type who couldn’t hack it in school, btw) is this:
The Catholic priests take a vow of celibacy as a qualification to be a religious leader.
The Catholic Church has absolutely refused to change this policy despite strong pressure from the American Catholics, in particular, to do so. Ostensibly, any priest wishing to break this vow is asked to leave the priesthood.
Therefore, *ostensibly*, the Catholic Church is governing itself and requiring a standard of sexual purity from its priests.
INSTEAD, what this information shows is that the Church is not only not forcing its representatives to go by the stated rules, it has *also* been involved in a coverup of crime for *at least* decades, if not far longer.
Name me one school, police department or fire department who has engaged in that scale of a coverup for that long, and I’ll spot you $20. Answer: You can’t. You also overlook every time that when those individuals get caught, they have paid the penalty for their crimes and lost their profession as well.
In the case of the Catholic Church, the Church is not aware of the crimes, but is aiding and abetting criminals by relocating them and instituting a policy to help them cover their tracks…all the while promoting the image of the priests as trustworthy counselors and representatives of the faith.
See the difference? No, didn’t think you could. But it’s there, anyway.
And IMO, I hope this SOB and all his ilk are hung for eternity by whatever body part will hurt them the most. Claiming he didn’t know it was wrong…give me a break!
But I did laugh at the ‘Rock of St. Peter’ comment. Good one.
April 4th, 2010 at 2:00 pm
The entire Catholic Church is ONE organization and they ALL knew what was going on but instead chose to act like a WHOREHOUSE and try and get away with having their carnal pleasures and appearing moral on the outside. Now the Head of this MORALLY BANKRUPT organization has been shown also to be involved in covering up pediphiles for years.
Catholic leaders soon will be seen as amongst the most corrupt people on earth alongside their Muslim bomb blasting Mullas who incite murder.
This is the age of FREEDOM FROM CLERGY. Why do we need to think through another person’s mind instead of our own or listen to a Catholic priest or Mulla when we can investigate reality using Google and our own mind? We DON’T NEED PRIESTS AND MULLAS ANYMORE. Get rid of these corrupt parasites and pediphiles ONCE and for all and let’s use our own brain and think and learn for ourselves.
June 26th, 2010 at 2:06 am
The Catholic church preaches against abortion (next generation to abuse and steal from)when history has proven babies born in religious institutions between the nuns and priests were killed. I suppose they didn’t know that was a crime either.