A friend of mine many years ago knew a priest who was accused of sexual abuse. The priest denied it with tears, saying it was all a fabrication. My friend believed him and hired the best defense lawyer in town and got the priest off.
Then the priest was accused again.
My friend asked him, “What gives?”
The priest responded, “You don’t understand, the kids enjoy it.”
Bishop Vangheluwe of Belgium was accused of abusing his nephew. The bishop admitted it and the nephew recorded the conversation.
But the statute of limitations had run out, and Vangheluwe could not be prosecuted. The Vatican has ordered Vangheluwe to leave Belgium, but the bishop continues to give interviews.
Bishop Roger Vangheluwe defended himself on television by saying the abuse he committed was only “superficial.”
Vangheluwe, who quit his post and went into hiding a year ago after admitting to molesting a nephew, confessed in the interview on Thursday evening that he had molested a second one.
In his interview, Vangheluwe told VT4 television he was sorry for molesting his nephews but did not consider himself a pedophile or see the acts as anything serious.
“It had nothing to do with sexuality,” he said. “I have often been involved with children and I never felt the slightest attraction. It was a certain intimacy that took place.”
“I don’t have the impression at all that I am a pedophile. It was really just a small relationship. I did not have the feeling that my nephew was against it, quite the contrary.”
He continued:
“How did it start? As in all families: when they came to visit, my nephews would stay over,” Vangheluwe said.
“It began as a kind of game with this boy. It was never a question of rape, or physical violence. He never saw me naked and there was no penetration.
“I don’t in the slightest have any sense I am a paedophile. I don’t get the impression my nephew was opposed, quite the contrary,” he added, before admitting “I knew it wasn’t good, I confessed it several times.”
Imitating his spiritual ancestor, Archbishop Leonard has washed his hands of the matter:
Brussels Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard, who is head of the Belgian bishops conference, has caused controversy by saying the Church had no obligation to compensate victims.
Pedophiles justify their actions to themselves by saying that the children enjoy it, that they are initiating them into sex, that it is a trivial mater and why does everyone have to get excited.
How widespread is this attitude among the clergy? A bishop has it.
Confession is also an issue. At one time the practice of auricular confession was rigorous. Penitents were not given absolution until they had demonstrated reform and performed the assigned penance. Then Alphonse de Ligouri emphasized mercy and easier penances.
An Australian priest had abused for decades and said he went to confession hundreds of times. He was given absolution hundreds of times. Something is wrong withtnat
What has gone wrong?
Serious sins need serious penances, not three Our Fathers.
There has also been a flattening of the concept of mortal sin, in which sexual fantasies are deserve hell as rape, incest, child abuse, and genocide.
The Catholic Church as a bigger problem than just pedophiles in the clergy.
If the Vatican laicizes Vangheluwe, they lose all control of him. What should the pope do?
I have a Bishop Sheen audiotape where he states that the “Smoke of Satan” in the Church is precisely this: The loss of the practice of penance and reparation for sin.
Bonhoeffer had a similar thesis on the Protestant side of Christendom with his protesting the “Cheap Grace” problem in Lutheran circles. We don’t think sin is important any more.
Please note the fundamental contradiction:
On one hand, the bishops preserve the rules that equate (most) sexuality with mortal sin, and do the (gravity) leveling that Leon notes.
On the other hand, the worldwide response of bishops is that the sexual abuse offenses are just an ordinary garden variety sins, no big deal… just go to Confession.
They are just not credible..
Like the Australian priest, priest who raped me, in the Boston archdiocese, also confessed his crime regularly. He wrote a letter which said that he confessed weekly, for seven years, that he was raping kids. He received absolution weekly, for seven years. As far as I can tell, not one of the priests to whom he confessed took action. I know, I know, there is the seal of confession. How crazy.
“If the Vatican laicizes Vangheluwe, they lose all control of him. What should the pope do?”
Maybe they should follow some of the practices of days of old and burn him at the stake?
This bishop’s behavior and attitude are beyond disgusting. He is a pedophile, whether he wants to admit it or not. I hope that Benedict does not miss the opportunity to put his money where his mouth is. I hope he publicly and forcefully rebukes this “prince of the Church.” I hope he publicly demands obedience from this bishop, and forces him to undertake some kind of public and verifiable penance. I hope he forcefully rejects all that this bishop has said and done, and provides reparations to his victims.
A large millstone tied around the waist and a deep body of water might be an enjoyable experience also.
What’s absolutely amazing is how Vangheluwe justifies his behavior. That leads to far broader, more fundamental questions: How do people like this get in the priesthood? How are they trained morally? How do they manage to rise to the office of archbishop?
This is just one more example of a face that most “devout” Catholics continue to deny: Catholic ecclesiology has set itself up as a God, ignoring the obvious revelation of God Himself. How else can one explain the nearly uniform lack of compassion toward the victims of clerical sex-abuse on the part of bishops, priests and sycophants like Donahue worldwide? How else can one explain the tendency to act only in the face of embarrassing publicity that threatens the Church’s prestige and temporal interests?
The decent Father Gerald Fitzgerald actually bought an island where pedophile clergy could spend their lives in isolation. He knew back in the fifties that there were no cures for these men doing the work of demons. Of course, he was banished for speaking the truth and the order he founded, the Servants of the Paraclete, became a breeding ground for pedophile priests.
Perhaps Bishop Vangheluwe should set up living arrangements with Cardinal Levada, since Levada thinks it proper to promote pedophile clergy into positions where they actually set up sex abuse policies for the wider church.
AW
Bill Donohue-Catholic League ad in New York Times is a brilliant strategy before the beatification of John Paul II
read the full article
http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/04/bill-donohue-catholic-league-ad-in-new.html
Why John Paul II is Opus Dei’s Patron Saint: analysis of conference at Holy Cross Pontifical University in Rome
http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/04/why-john-paul-ii-is-opus-deis-patron.html
Prayer to John Paul II: the saint of pedophiles and pederasts, rapists and abusers of children
http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/04/prayer-to-john-paul-ii-saint-of.html
I ask:
Why he gave an interview?
The Apostolic See MUST silence Bishop Vangheluwe.
I for one am kind of glad he said it.
It’s horrifying, absolutely horrifying. But at least he is being honest about it—-and the behavior of so many other princes of the Church over the past decades seems to indicate that his attitude, rather than being abnormal within the hierarchy, is probably quite prevalent.
If it weren’t so very offensive and disgusting, it would actually be comical. See how the other bishops run in the opposite direction now! Yet their part in the cover-up over the decades is a clear indication that their attitudes are no less socipathic than Vangheluwe’s. As long as Law is parading around Rome in high places and pedophile pimps are still honored as bishops, I will have to conclude that the attitude of the institutional Church itself is probably fairly close to Vangheluwe’s.
I’m really glad Donohue is out there continuing to blow smoke out his you-know-what, too. He just keeps making SNAP look classier and classier. Meanwhile Donohue is making himself and those perverts he defends look trashier and trashier.
Let it stand for what it is. Catholics all over are finally starting to realize how the game is played. Better for it all to be out in the light than to stay hidden in the darkness. And shame upon those in our Church who have stained her in this way.
Apparently the next best kept secret is the vast amount of sexual abuse against girls and vulnerable women in the Church (see story of Fr. Euteneuer and others like him). If that is true, I hope it comes to light soon, too. Enough of the “it’s the fault of all those gays” talk. These people like Donahue contradict themselves when they blame sexual abuse in the Church on homosexuality then do their little song-and-dance and cry, “Look over there! It’s worse in schools and families!” when clearly the abuse happening in families and probably schools, too, is very often male on female and not nearly so easy to pin on the gays. So how come sexual abuse in the Church is the fault of the gays, but nobody like Donohue is blaming all the sexual abuse by fathers, uncles, teachers, brothers—and yes, even mothers, aunts, nuns, and female teachers—iin the rest of society on homosexuality?
Until they understand the real root of the problem—abuse of power—they will continue to be completely out of touch.
In the meantime, perhaps more Vangheluwes in the Church will come forward and continue to reveal how clerics REALLY view child molestation. No big deal, they like it!
The Vatican shouldn’t be “in control” of him.
The man is a pedophile, and he should be laicized.
Whatever else happens to him should be up to the civil authorities- let them be in control of him.
Rainey,
Amongst women there are even more unknown vulnerable victims. Go into any Church for daily mass and you will see it is older women who are in the pews.Not because they do not have jobs to go to these days, but because women find solace to family problems more often through prayer and are more trusting
Women have been the ones who have been duped by both the pedophiles and the priest’s who are rising “stars”. Pedophiles, by their own admission have sought out vulnerable children from amongst the divorced or widowed single mother parent homes. Women are looking for real masculinity security and love in priests and husbands. A rare commodity today since societal norms have blurred the lines. I have heard from other women about younger and older ladies who were sexually molested by priests, but they tend to keep it quiet and do nothing for fear they will be accused of having caused the unwanted agression.
http://www.pagesofmary.com/2011/03/rock-star-priest.html
This guy reminds me of Rembert Weakland who said that the kids get upset about the abuse when they get older and THEN the abusers have to deal with it.
Maybe the Apostolic Penitentiary should get some real bars, and people like Vanghelewe could help out on Sundays at St. Mary Major.
Abused when I was 11.
The elephant in the room seesm to be the use of counsellors and treatment centres. Fr. Fitzgerald always doubted their efficacy. It seems for this he lost control of the Paraclete order. This is something Richard Sipe et al. (including Doyle and Petesen) gloss over.
The famous Petersen/Doyle report was implemented to the letter by Cardinal Law and others acccording to Judith Reissman:
http://www.drjudithreisman.com/archives/2003/01/catholic_church.html
There is more on the Doyle/Petersen frausters here:-
http://www.catholiccitizens.org/press/pressview.asp?c=3540
I sense that Dr. Podles has also been conned by Doyle who has been suspended by an Archbishop for gross disobedience.
Child abuser disappears from convent
Brussels – Former Catholic bishop and admitted paedophile Roger Vangheluwe on Sunday left the French convent where the Vatican had banished him for an undisclosed location, Belgian media reported.
The head of the convent of La Ferte-Imbault in France’s Loire Valley had indicated on Saturday that he would leave shortly but could not say where he was going.
Vangheluwe last year became the first Catholic bishop to resign over sexual abuses he committed after admitting to abusing a nephew for 13 years.
The Vatican ordered him to seek “spiritual and psychological treatment” at La Ferte-Imbault and to disappear from view.
But the former bishop on Thursday told Belgian media he had abused another nephew for nearly a year, playing down the encounters by calling them “a kind of game”.
The Vatican’s forced retirement was “not a punishment, but a period of reflection,” he said, pointing to many expressions of support, notably from religious communities.
The case plunged the Belgian Catholic Church anew into turmoil, with several bishops asking the Vatican to act quickly to punish Vangheluwe.
The church was rocked by revelations in September 2010 of nearly 500 cases of abuse by priests since the 1950s, including 13 victims who committed suicide