Former Bronx priest sues Catholic Church to clear his name after sexual abuse allegation droppped

Our hearts go out to Monsignor Kavanaugh who dedicated his life to God and had to experience being called a pedophile. What a horrible experience for a man living his life for others. I agree with another poster that pedophiles found the church which was the perfect place for them, along with schools and other organizations that put them in touch with young children. They are truly sick, reprehensible people. However there seems to be new evidence that some pedophiles may have been abused as children, accepted it as normal behavior and passed it on. What a cruel world we live in.

Thanks seano, my sentiments exactly.

Good luck with that. No Catholic parish is going to want you. Take retirement in Florida. Most of us can't afford that. Somehow you can.

RC church aside, this could be any institution or individual who can today be accused via this society's favorite which hunt . All the law & public opinion is on the accuser's side; none on the accused. Cotton Mather would be so pleased, never mind possible innocence. Hang them all.

the RC flock are left with the bill - democracy at work.

The Catholic Church has badly handled all aspects of the child sex abuse allegations ,principally the phony charges constantly being levelled against priests who are totally innocent . Once a charge is made it is very difficult to defend ones reputation ,thus a very lucrative "compensation industry " has developed .

I think that if Fr. kavanaugh is innocent of these charges, he should be compensated by the Catholic Church and returned to his priestly duties..

one of the worst things a man could ever be accused of, especially if one is Innocent,this is where transparency and openness,whether of state or church should always be seen to operate,dream on.

Another tome of bull from Jacer. If you wish to write a book jacer this is not the place to do it.

(…more) Upon the Bishop’s arrival, the small monstrance door was seen to open, the Holy Host exited it, the gold monstrance fell to the ground but the Holy Host remained suspended in the air, exuding a bright light, according to the witnesses. The market square people realised something miraculous was happening and famously chanted the Italian equivalent of “Stay with us”. The Bishop, in prayer and hymn with other priests and monks who had now gathered (the event lasted some hours), held out a gold chalice and the Host descended gently into it. The chalice and Host were brought to Turin Cathedral by the Bishop, followed in procession by the hymn singing priests, monks and the huge market square crowd that witnessed the event. Since then and to this day, Turin is known as the ‘City of the Holy Eucharist’. A special tabernacle was made to house the Eucharistic Host of that event and while I didn’t at the time I was in Turin, I believe you can go and see it for yourself. Justice was finally delivered for the stolen Holy Eucharist in its gold monstrance, as I hope and pray it will be for Fr. Kavanagh. Ya’d wanna believe it… Miracles do happen to the most ordinary of people.

(…more) After many misfortunes, the thief got rid of the monstrance, selling it to a dealer, who also had so much misfortune with it that he sold it on too. After a few similar exchanges of hands, one dealer eventually brought the monstrance still in its sack on the back of a donkey into Turin city on the 6th of June 1453. Outside the Church of St. Sylvester, in the wide-open market square Plaza beside the church, the donkey collapsed on the ground, thrashed around trying to get up, but it couldn't. In this frenzy, the monstrance fell out of the sack on the donkey's back and floated upwards to a height of about 12 feet above the ground and remained suspended in the air there, in full view of all the people in the market square for some time. A priest ran to the home of the Bishop of Turin, calling him to come immediately and see for himself. (More…)

Funny peculiar but in mentioning thieves and church gold in response to TisEyerish below, I am reminded my visit to Turin in the company of other tourists and of the very famous story told to us of the thief who stole a gold monstrance from some Church in the 16th century with the Holy Eucharist still inside and stuck it inside a sack (true! Don’t all thieves carry sacks? Once, as a student working as a temporary Christmas postman, walking through a Dublin housing estate in the dark at 5am with a sack over my shoulder, on my way to deliver the Christmas cards, a police car screeched and pulled up alongside me. The policeman asked me “Now where are you coming from, Lad?”). Anyway, back to the Turin story… (More…)

(… more) Gold in most Catholic churches is not easily accessed – otherwise thieves would have long emptied these churches! Often it is seen in the high ceilings of very old churches like St. Peter’s Basilica, the Church of Mary Maggiore, San Giovanni in Laterano and other churches in Rome and elsewhere in Italy and especially in Spain and Portugal, where devotion to Our Lady is part of daily life of the people. Almost all of the gold to be seen has been donated by wealthy families in past centuries, copying the Three Wise Men in giving the gift of gold to a baby in a stable; it was not bought by the Catholic Church per se. Paintings and statues in Churches were almost always commissioned of artists by wealthy families, as gifts to churches being newly-built back then, though some were commissioned by Popes – the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in St. Peter’s, for example (and what a treasure that is to behold!)

While I would want to see proper justice delivered in any child abuse claim – false or true – I have to take issue with the aside claim of TisEyerish re so-called Church gold that could be sold. S/he forgets that most churches are ‘opulently’ decorated in the fashion one would do as in giving a worthy gift out of huge respect to a personal friend – in this case, Jesus Christ present in the Holy Tabernacles in Catholic Churches all around our world. Three Wise Men brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh (sweet-smelling gluey resins from trees) to a simple stable in Bethlehem a couple of millennia ago. That is why gold is used in Catholic Churches and many Orthodox and Anglican Churches; most use all three - gold or gold-lined chalices for the Holy Eucharist, and frankincense and myrrh is mixed for incense, burned during Holy Benediction and at High Masses. Who better to gift gold and incense to other than the Most High? This is not opulence at all but humble gift-giving and to accuse the Church of having these “riches” and calling for selling them off is a bit rich of TisEyerish (More…)

If someone accuses everyone else of being a liar, maybe in fact he is the liar.