HART KIRCH TALK NEWS: 21 priests in sex investigation suspended

Tuesday, March 08, 2011

21 priests in sex investigation suspended

Philadelphia archdiocese removes priests from ministry while their abuse cases are reviewed

Sex charges facing church officials

PHILADELPHIA - The Philadelphia archdiocese suspended 21 Roman Catholic priests Tuesday who were named as child molestation suspects in a scathing grand jury report released last month.

The priests have been removed from ministry while their cases are reviewed, Cardinal Justin Rigali said. The names of the priests were not being released, a spokesman for the archdiocese said.

"These have been difficult weeks since the release of the grand jury report," Rigali said in a statement. "Difficult most of all for victims of sexual abuse but also for all Catholics and for everyone in our community."
Catholic church official faces criminal charges

KYW-TV's Walt Hunter reports that this is a truly historic announcement. The priests will be investigated by handpicked panel from diocese, led by a former prosecutor. Hunter told CBS Evening News that on Ash Wednesday, from the pulpit, parishoners may be able to see whether their priest was suspended.

The two-year grand jury investigation into priest abuse in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia resulted in charges against two priests, a former priest and a Catholic school teacher who are accused of raping young boys. And in an unprecedented move in the U.S., a former high-ranking church official, William Lynn, was accused of transferring problem priests to new parishes without warning anyone of prior sex-abuse complaints.

The district attorney believes Lynn knowingly recommended abusive priests be reassigned, without ever warning the parishes, reports CBS News correspondent Elaine Quijano.

"They did in fact re-offend," said Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams. "They did in fact rape and sodomize other children."
Archdiocese facing multiple lawsuits for child abuse

The grand jury said as many as 37 priests remained in active ministry despite credible allegations of sexual abuse.

After the release of the grand jury report, the second such investigation in the city, Rigali vowed to take its calls for further reforms seriously.

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One of my favorite song lyrics E A G L E S

All alone at the end of the of the evening

And the bright lights have faded to blue

I was thinking 'bout a woman who might have Loved me
and I never knew

You know I've always been a dreamer (spent my life running 'round)

And it's so hard to change (Can't seem to settle down)

But the dreams I've seen lately

Keep on turning out and burning out

And turning out the same

So put me on a highway

And show me a sign And take it to the limit one more time

You can spend all your time making money

You can spend all your love making time

If it all fell to pieces tomorrow

Would you still be mine?

And when you're looking for your freedom

(Nobody seems to care)

And you can't find the door

(Can't find it anywhere)

When there's nothing to believe in

Still you're coming back,
you're running back for more

So put me on a highway
And show me a sign

And take it to the limit one more time
Take it to the limit
Take it to the limit

Take it to the limit one more time

INVICTUS

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll

I am the master of my fate

I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley

John Wooden, a coach - Words Of Wisdom

1. It's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.

2. Failure is not fatal but failure to change might be.

3. What you are as a person is far more important that what you are as a basketball player.

4. Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.

5. Never mistake activity for achievement.1. It's the little details that are vital.

Little things make big things happen.

MARTIN LUTHER KING words that made a difference!

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification"

-- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.

With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.

With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

August 28, 1963