**Updated, with new material at the bottom...
...Is actually the dimwit from last month: Father Christopher Heath of St. Edward the Confessor in Dana Point. To mark Pope Benedict XVI's meeting with the sex-abuse victims of his priests, Heath wrote a post on his blog where he made this off-hand but telling remark:
It's a good story of healing and hope, but will never be enough for some who use this awful situation to justify their hatred for all things Catholic.
Chris: Have you learned nothing from this scandal? Most of the Orange diocese's fiercest critics have never bashed the faith, the very faith that betrayed them. No, they despise the arrogance of apologists like you, the complicity by the church hierarchy in the rapes of innocents, the sham that you Pharisees have propped up instead of the One True Faith. "Hatred for all things Catholic"...to quote the Nazarene, Chris: why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? To quote the Mexican: pendejo.
**UPDATE: Heath responds to a critic at his blog (howzabout playing over here, padre?). "I don't doubt that there has been spin, lies, and cowardess on the part of our leaders in some cases, but I do believe that most bishops who were given information about pedophilia and recidivism never understood the gravity of the problem because the 'experts' (doctors, lawyers) gave them advice that was "current" in the 70's and 80's that has since been changed," he writes. "It's easy to lay blame 20-30 years later in the light of better medical/psychological evidence, and it's easy to conclude that this was all some big conspiracy and that our leaders did all of this in bad faith."
In "some cases," Chris? Whither Eleuterio Ramos? Whither Andrew Christian Andersen? Whither Pecharich? Whither Bishop Brown's own accusation? We've invited Heath to converse here on our blog--we doubt he'll take us up on the offer and instead live the blinders life.
**Updated, with new material at the bottom...
April 22, 2008 05:45
Dear Father Heath:
St. Edward is a Catholic church and school that will always be in my heart, the hearts of my children and many other families. But something terrible happens when you learn your family priest, the priest that you seek counseling from in times of need, a priest you trust, had also sexually abused minor children BEFORE he was assigned to St. Edward and no one in Diocesan leadership thought it was important to consider the protections of my children and the protections of so many other precious children. Whether children were sexually abused or not, this type of behavior is a betrayal of trust no matter how you look at it.
We now understand that transferring pedophiles from parish to parish, church to church, while failing to report sex crimes committed against the innocent to law enforcement, was one of the business and employment practices of the Church. Sweeping the root of the evil under the rug will never allow the faithful to heal from the clergy sex abuse crisis or any other faith/life challenge. I pray daily that my children will never hide from the truths that exist. St. Edward was the pedophile leader in the Diocese of Orange, but yet, how many listening sessions with clergy abuse victims has St. Edward hosted? NONE. Listening to personal stories of abuse would allow the faithful who care and want to reach out, an opportunity to do so without being punished by the Diocesan hierarchy or labeled as a "traitor" to their faith.
I pray that the 16 plus years of Catholic education my children received at St. Edward, Mater Dei, Santa Margarita Catholic HS and the Catholic colleges they were blessed to attend, taught them to support abuse victims and others who seek justice, truths and peace, without fear of punishment. In the interests of respecting Pope Benedict's public words this past weekend, I ask that you schedule listening sessions for clergy sex abuse victims at St. Edward. Maybe the confirmation classes would be a good place to start. Allow young adults seeking commitment to the Catholic faith to dialog with survivors of clergy sex abuse.
Please feel free to contact me at bodkind@hotmail.com if you would like to discuss the scheduling of a listening session at St. Edward. By the way Father Heath, have you ever sat face-to-face with a childhood victim of sex abuse? Before your next blog, you might want to place a phone call.
April 22, 2008 07:31
There are several Tod Boy Brown and Rog Mahal Mahony playbook themes that seem to keep coming up in defendants and advocates for mutiple decades of serial pedophile enabling and child endangerment, as well as the clear aiding and abetting of pedophiles still in active secular and religious RC ministries:
All Criticism, Even When Constructive, Is "Anti-Catholic"
Never discuss FACTS (which leads to truth), instead personally attack or otherwise demean any Roman Catholic lay person attempting to point out faults.
Ignore the empty pews, vocations in the sewer, and plummeting donations, and instead build or remodel more cathedrals while jacking payrolls and lay ministries,. while closing schools, hospitals, and selling off other laity paid for assets.
Continue to deny, deny, deny. The BIG LIE works, ask Joseph Gobbels.
Fake mental illness on all deposed witnesses with overtly incriminating evidence against the Church, particularly agaisnt miters or red hats in civil and criminal courts, and wisk them away for rehab in a non extraditable venue.
Attempt to hack, jam, or spoof, online web sites or vocal critics, that disclose the ongoing criminal cover up, and many billions of laity dollars already spent, with no end or correction in site.
Lie the Pope's visit was a home run, when any thinking person, or one that reads daily verified coverage at www.bishop-accountability.org
/abusetracker certainly knows better, that it was a feable attempt at DAMAGE CONTROL, that has failed.
Ignore over 80 empirical treatises and books at www.amazon.com on the overt criminal guilt of most RC miters and red hats, from brilliant, and totally factual authors, like Richard Snipe, Leon Podles or Fr, Thomas Doyle, OP.
So where do we in HEAVEN (by the way John Paul II who appointed 99% of the cardinal and bishop serial pedophile enablers and criminals is no where to be found up here) think what the laity should do to correct this Cuira Made Mess?
STOP DONATING all monies or time for any reason, to force the removal, canonical censor, and life time house arrest, of each and every cardinal and bishop, or alterntively each of their irrevocable EXCOMMUNICATION.
Reporting From Heaven,
William F. Buckley, Jr.
April 22, 2008 11:18
Hello;
Earth to Father Heath...99.9% of all children abused by Catholic priests were raised Catholic by Catholic families, were themselves devoted Catholics, and whose friends and family were and are all Catholics, as was I.
Pinning the Church's problems on some invisible Anti-Catholic rhetoric just shows how out of touch you are and also (dare I say) the Pope. When does he go home, because very few if any of my fellow survivors think the Pope is anything more than a glorified CEO.
April 22, 2008 12:45
Hey, Chrissy Heath,
You are such a dim-whit! Keep up your facade and try to act hip (by driving a Prius and sporting a lame goatee) and continue to be a homer for MY church. Asswipes like yourself abound. Look around this glorious county and you will find plenty of support for your pathetic coul. But be a TRUE man of God face up to the reality...Pinchi idiota.
April 22, 2008 12:59
Is Fr. Heath the pastor at St. Edward's?
What is his assignment at the church?
Is Fr. Heath Catholic or just pretending to defend Catholicism to move up the CORPORATE ladder of the Diocese of Orange hierarchy?
Will Fr. Heath allow FREE SPEECH, PRESS AND OPINION on his blog to encourage young Catholics to exercise guaranteed freedoms, WITHOUT his personal edits?
Lastly, what planet is Fr. Heath from?
April 22, 2008 13:23
Christopher Heath,
Enron did not have the Canon's to hide behind and the CEO's went to jail.
This type of hiding beyond Canon's will not work in the future Cris. The internet has and will expose this type of lie to the world.
Do your self a favor and go back to school and get another degree for the future. I don't think a Theology degree is much sought after in the work force today. My guess is that the lay people are on to the abuse of power. Tidings are and will be dropping fast.
Retirement from the priesthood is not a likely avenue in the future!
Hit the curve with a head start! Another degree
You did not join the priesthood to be a liar or a half truth kind of guy!
Get out of the priesthood; I’ve heard your homilies and your not good at it anyhow.