Catholic Cardinal Authorized $20K To Pay Off Pedophile Priests, Then Railed Against ‘Immorality’ Of Gay Marriage
Samantha
2012/06/01 16:47:00
Cardinal Timothy Dolan has led the charge against same-sex marriage, describing gay and lesbian unions as “unjust,” “immoral,” and unnatural. “This is a very violation of what we consider natural law that’s embedded in every man and woman and we’re really worried as Americans that it’s going to be detrimental to the common good,” Dolan said in a radio interview in June, as New York prepared to legalize marriage equality. “[W]e still worry about the detrimental effect upon society, upon culture, and certainly upon our individual churches.”
But church documents showing that Dolan paid off priests who had been accused of sexually abusing minors suggest that the prominent Catholic leader was willing to overlook these very same religious convictions to help colleagues accused of egregious wrong doing. The documents, obtained by the New York Times, also show that Dolan lied to reporters when he initially dismissed news of the payments as “false, preposterous and unjust”:
But church documents showing that Dolan paid off priests who had been accused of sexually abusing minors suggest that the prominent Catholic leader was willing to overlook these very same religious convictions to help colleagues accused of egregious wrong doing. The documents, obtained by the New York Times, also show that Dolan lied to reporters when he initially dismissed news of the payments as “false, preposterous and unjust”:
Read More: http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/05/31/49289...
Any payments were made to force them to leave the priesthood and had nothing to do with any criminal charges or legal action.
It was severance pay and the most expeditious way to get them away from those who could have been potential victims.
We aren't talking about proven accusations where the person could be prosecuted.
For some reason you are under the misconception that every single member of the clergy is a pedo and it's somehow a higher percentage than what goes on in our public schools, Internet predators and the weird Uncle within every family.
Fact is, anyone can make an accusation but if there isn't any physical evidence of such the authorities cannot do a thing about it. Sometimes the child is examined by medical personnel but that can also be just as, or more damaging as the assault itself. Many things that must be considered.
Most cases of child abuse are never prosecuted for that very reason unless the person is caught in the act or there is physical EVIDENCE to back up the claim. I'm not saying it's right by any means but when it's the young victim testifying against the accused, there aren't any witnesses to corroborate either story and unless prosecutors have physical evidence they cannot by law, pursue the case.
What exactly do you charge someone with who is 'suspected' of committing a crime, yet have no clinical evidence, no sign of physical injury, no eye witness, no video evidence, and all you're left with is he said - she said?
That's hard enough to do in a rape case where the victim is not a minor but no evidence of the incident exists and you're left with the victim claiming they were assaulted and the accused claiming innocence.