Roman Catholic spiritual leader says ‘youngsters’ often to blame for priest’s sexual abuse

My wife and children and grandchildren do not agree with your spiteful gutter remarks pedophile lover. You're a sad case surfsidetx3. When you crawl out of the gutter let me know as I do not wish to converse with a gutter snipe.

@surfsidetx3 - Thank you for showing us ALL exactly what kind of a person you are. We now know exactly what to think of all your future comments. Have a good day! *_*

yeah seanomelb. I didn't make those rules, that is reality. When you grow a backbone we can talk. The usual ad hominem attack from the craven and cowardly. Once you meet a woman and procreate children you can open your piehole. Have you ever been with a woman Sean? my gut feeling is no. Have any children sean? Or are you the master of the cheap shot? Ever have a woman after you? I mean women in their 20s-40s? Yeah Sean when you have had many women telling you how handsome and sexy you are maybe you can loosen up. I am guessing you are not handsome, sexy or desirable. but keep up your slanderous asides, You might think you are a man but every woman knows , you are not

I agree with surfsidetx3, with regard to the Texas teacher, Brittni Colleps. Those guys were 18, and the Texas law (4 other states have similar laws) is plain wrong! However, I think 17 is a valid age of consent, which is what it is here in New York. Fourteen is just too darn young! I'm surprised at Germany!

I'm glad I do not live on planet surfsidetx3 where pedophiles make the rules.

Lets see, the age of consent in Germany is age 14, a sheriff in California lets us know it is de rigueur for 13 year old latin youths to have had intercourse to prove their manhood, in New Jersey at Peters Valley there is an old cemetery where children at 11 years and six months or less died in childbirth per their headstones, Mary was 13 when Jesus was conceived according to scholars, there is the Time magazine article about children having children and in New Jersey schools there were young women called June blooms as that's when the baby was due. So it may well be while the law puts the age of consent at 18 let's say in California, reality lets us know otherwise. I believe the Germans are on the mark with 14 years. Anything else just opens us up to useless prosecutions as in Texas where a teacher faces up to 25 years in prison for her ill thought out affair with a young man. The key word here is man. He is not a child. Please don't bombard me with slanderous asides worthy of a political hack. Reality is many highschool age men (and women) are criminals in the eyes of the law. Feel free to stock of the prisons with half the youth of this country

@Proud Canadian,i am born a catholic but i agree with you 100%, until people face up to and accept responsibility for their own actions,the healing process will not take place,but the option is always there.

This is more of Rev. Benedict Groeschel comments on the subject:...“Here's this poor guy – [Jerry] Sandusky – it went on for years. Interesting: Why didn’t anyone say anything? Apparently, a number of kids knew about it and didn't break the ice. Well, you know, until recent years, people did not register in their minds that it was a Crime. It was a moral failure, scandalous; but they didn't think of it in terms of legal things.”He added that he does NOT believe that a priest or “any responsible person in society” should go to jail on their first conviction of child sexual abuse because “their intention was not committing a crime.” My question is...who didn't think it was a crime; the Vatican, the church hierarchy, because if you asked anyone in normal society they would say it was a crime and they belonged behind bars. Rev. Benedict Groeschel does not sound like a man with an "unclear mind" instead he sounds like someone actually speaking about the real sub culture within the church when it come to the abuse of children by grown men in power.

Dailearie You mention:"I really think all of this is a bit of a witch hunt. Although I have no proof" How do you think victims feel when they read posts like yours. Proof and facts about abusive priests and their victims are readily available and easy to find in court records (online) if you take the time to know the truth.

As I said earlier, this man has long struck me as quite unsuitable to represent the Church. He should have retired years ago. And I have no illusions that my Church has harbored evil men and women in this country, in Ireland, in Australia and probably in scores of other places. The Hierarchy from the Pope downwards have not managed to articulate proper contrition for any sins of omission they may be guilty of in permitting a culture to exist in which perversion flourished. Nevertheless, it is clear that there are cases in which children can be led to make charges of abuse where no abuse occurred. Anyone who has taken a Psych 101 course will have come in contact with the research on how memories can be "planted". And I am old enough to remember the furore in North Carolina at the time of the "Little Rascals" trial, when apparently credible accounts of abuse were shown to be untenable.

this is disgusting and sad.... well will our Church take responsibility for the sins of their laity and also make lasting change in the Church so to welcome congregants back?

"When asked about his work with priests who were involved with abuse..." If his work counseling abusive priests only gave him contact with the criminals, then he was party to only their way of viewing their crime. When dealing with criminals, many good people, naively, want to believe them out of human kindness. Many criminals have spent their lives honing their "con" and can play the innocent victim amazingly well. Many of them repeat their imaginary excuse so often to themselves and others that it takes the place of reality in their minds. Rev. Groeschel and the authorities within the RCC that enabled and continue to excuse these horrible crimes need to spend time with the REAL victims listening to THEIR histories and the effect that victimization has had on their lives. They need to listen with open minds unclouded by preconceived beliefs and with the realization that their actions (or lack of action) make them complicit in the crime. Only when the RCC authorities accept their own fallibility and take full responsibility for allowing these crimes to go on under their watch, can real healing begin. Denial of responsibility and shifting the blame to the blameless only deepen the wounds of the victims and the church itself. Being PRIESTS, you would think they would understand, and believe in, the healing power of CONFESSION.

I don't believe his statement was due entirely on age and any possible head trauma he might have sustained. This is probably a core belief that makes it easier to say due to lack of control caused by the entities effecting him. If he had these beliefs as a younger man, then he was stupid and ignorant and a poor excuse for a psychologist. The man needs to be in an ALF or nursing home or strict retirement home where someone can supervise him and not allow a press conference where he can say stuff like this. It doesn't help those dealing with the after math of priest sexual abuse.

portia and co: See my earlier post. He is over 80, is both psychologist and priest, was thrown from a car on his head in Orlando. he and his community and the diocese of NY have apologised, the story was taken down. Pray God that when you get to be 80, after a distinguished career, none of your grand-children makes fun of a mistake you made, even if you are never suffering from a stroke. Fr Ben could live to be 100 and you and your anti-Church cohorts could never hold a candle to what that one human being has done for good. Shame on you constant negative ranters on IC

I was raised Catholic, went to Catholic schools etc. I really think all of this is a bit of a witch hunt. Although I have no proof, I suspect many of the accused may be innocent. I am not saying all, but I think many mentally endangered individuals may feel so guilty that they could confess to things they actually did not even do. I blame the sexual revolution for many ills of our society today. Everyone is subjected to everyday television that is rampant with all kinds of sex stuff. In my youth, my mother (a convert even) would have had a heart attack watching some of the commercials today. My father would have immediately followed her with his sister.