At age 79, his credibility went right out the window.
His recent comments that inexplicably mitigate, or possibly exonerate, the guilt of sexual abusers of children and teenagers was understandably enough to bring on the mob, torches and pitchforks at the ready. In the case of teenagers, he had the gall to blame the victims. Not content with stopping there, he added that first-time offenders should not be imprisoned for their crimes.
Wasn't that sick concept exactly what has resulted in so many more kids being victimized by protected pedophiles and the rightful lawsuits that have almost bankrupted more than one Diocese?
Although he later backtracked and apologized for his statements that he made in the interview, I for one feel quite comfortable holding him in a permanent state of contempt.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/31/nyregion/in-interview-the-rev-benedict-groeschel-says-abuse-victims-can-be-seducers.html?_r=1
"The comments were published on Monday by The National Catholic Register, which is owned by EWTN, a religious broadcaster based in Alabama.
“Suppose you have a man having a nervous breakdown, and a youngster comes after him,” Father Groeschel, now 79, said in the interview. “A lot of the cases, the youngster — 14, 16, 18 — is the seducer.”
He added that he was “inclined to think” that priests who were first-time abusers should not be jailed because “their intention was not committing a crime.' "
I will not comment on the first-time offender statement other than to say that such evil delusions ignore the fact that crimes are crimes and that there are no mitigating factors when children are victims.
As far as the 14-18 year-old victims that he blames, the Franciscan jumps right in with the "there is no absolute wrong - everything is relative" belief that is advanced by the secular liberal faction of our society. It is not uncommon for teenagers to develop strong and confused emotional feelings for older adults (crushes).
To ignore the fact that the adult, when faced with this type of situation, has a very basic God-given responsibility and civic duty to redirect the teenager from this is to add fuel to the fire. I have no doubt that thousands of (Mostly male, though women have been jumping on this bandwagon too of late) adults will cling to this to justify actions that they have either already taken or are contemplating right now.
Groeschel needs to retire in disgrace. To that I have nothing to add.
In others pedophile news, a Muslim cleric discussed the need for girls as young as six years-old to cover up. To the cleric, children of this age may appear sexually desirable to men and presumably older boys. This falls in line with the Koran, which notes that Mohammed married Aisha, his right-hand man's (Abu-Bakr, who was also his friend) daughter, when she was six. He nobly waited all of three years before consummating the marriage though.
The incident itself points to the cult that Mohammed created. In that region, men who are that close speak of each other as brothers. Once day, Mohammed gets the idea to tell Dad that he wants to marry Aisha, age six. Abu-Bakr responds, somewhat distressed, but is overruled:
" Narrated 'Ursa:The Prophet asked Abu Bakr for 'Aisha's hand in marriage. Abu Bakr said "But I am your brother." The Prophet said, "You are my brother in Allah's religion and His Book, but she (Aisha) is lawful for me to marry." (Sahih Bukhari 7.18)"
I hold that this illustrates that Islam is not patriarchal in any way. Fathers have no decision-making authority but are slaves of the system. That's why they honor-kill their female relatives, force raped daughters to marry their assailants, and send them back to viciously abusive husbands and in-laws.These are not the actions of men who decide how things are going to be. They are the actions of a slave who has no discretion whatsoever.
The video is brief, but is worth the time it takes to view for those who think that I made this up. The age of the cleric, maybe 30-35, somehow made me cringe even more than I expected as I was assuming that he would be some toothless old man.
No comments:
Post a Comment