one of my oldest friends steve sent me this, he is the only friend not blood relative, that reads the blog, so consider this a sorta guest post. the article is about the handling of abuse cases by the catholic diocese in philadelphia. this is news today because of a recent letter sent out to parishioners. there are some things in there that stagger the mind.

IF YOU’RE A Philadelphia-area Catholic, you may have received a
brochure in October explaining how the church has purged itself of pedophile priests and enhanced its outreach program for victims of clergy sex abuse. "With confidence I report that currently there are no Archdiocesan priests or deacons in ministry who are known to have sexually abused a
minor,"
…

Of 60 priests who the Archdiocese believes abused children, 15 are now dead. Twenty are among the residents at the Villa St. Joseph retirement home in Delaware County, participating in a sex-offender
treatment program under church supervision.

But what about the 25 others, who have been expelled from the priesthood amid allegations that they raped and molested schoolchildren?

A Daily News investigation has found that several of them are living in sunny climes such as the Jersey Shore and Florida, sometimes without their neighbors’ knowledge. In some cases, these ex-priests are even collecting a church pension.

…

Church officials, however, know where most of the defrocked priests are living – they just won’t say.

…

he Philadelphia Archdiocese provides more information than most. Its Web site includes photographs of all priests who have been credibly accused of abusing minors, and lists their previous church assignments.

But church officials say they don’t believe they can legally disclose defrocked priests’ addresses under civil and canon law.

it reminds me of the sbc conversations how those protestant churches deal with abuse cases. in there the big disclaimer is that there is no control over the individual churches and abusers can go unnoticed there.

here that control mechanism is in place.. but it seems that abusers can still go unnoticed. reminds me of this south park episode where the south park priest is the only clergy not abusing children.