Cardinal “Tyranny of tolerance” O’Brien is a hypocrite of the worst order

[DonViejo]

The cardinal cops to his "inappropriate" behavior toward other priests — one year after his homophobic op-ed

BY MARY ELIZABETH WILLIAMS

He was a homosexuality-condemning cardinal who is now embroiled in a tale involving his alleged “drunken fumblings” and unwanted advances toward other men. Well, at least this one’s a Catholic Church scandal that doesn’t involve children. Progress, maybe?

It’s been a week since Cardinal Keith O’Brien stepped down as the head of the Catholic Church in Scotland, amid accusations by three priests and one former priest of “inappropriate” contacts with them, some of which dated back 30 years. His resignation spared him the deeper scrutiny that would have ensued had he chosen to go to Rome to choose the next pontiff, a spotlight-shunning optimism he made obvious when he stated, “I do not wish media attention in Rome to be focused on me — but rather on Pope Benedict XVI and his successor.” Though O’Brien didn’t address the charges in his public statement of resignation, the Scottish Catholic Media Office announced that he “contests these claims and is taking legal advice.” He later dismissed “their anonymous and non-specific nature.”

But on Sunday, the Cardinal changed his story. The 74-year-old apologized to those he had “offended” and admitted, “There have been times that my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal.” He also added, conveniently for him, “I will now spend the rest of my life in retirement. I will play no further part in the public life of the Catholic Church in Scotland.”

O’Brien leaves the ministry abashed and under investigation, to be sure, but his future seems considerably less of a hardship for him than for the men who say O’Brien pursued them with “unwanted” advances, who came forward about their encounters with him despite fears that their disclosures “could ruin their lives … if the church disowned them for speaking.” One of the men, referred to in news accounts simply as “Lenny,” says while he was a seminarian, O’Brien “used bedtime prayers as an opportunity to make advances to his young student.” Another, known as “Peter,” says he’s contemplated suicide in the fallout of his experience.

more
http://www.salon.com/2013/03/04/cardinal_tyranny_of_tolerance_obrien_is_a_hypocrite_of_the_worst_order/

[GodlessBiker]

1. People like him make things get worse, not better. He is the true abomination.

[malaise]

2. Great read in the UK Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/04/scottish-catholic-obrien-scandal-authority
<snip>
Scotland's most senior Catholic has admitted that the scandal over the resignation of Cardinal Keith O'Brien has been a serious blow to the church's moral credibility and religious authority.

In a sermon in Glasgow, Archbishop Philip Tartaglia, now the de facto leader of Scotland's 760,000 Catholics, said it was obvious why O'Brien's resignation and admissions of sexual misconduct left the church open to the "most stinging charge" of hypocrisy.

Tartaglia, who also now runs the cardinal's former diocese until his successor is found, said: "I think there is little doubt that the credibility and moral authority of the Catholic church in Scotland has been dealt a serious blow, and we will need to come to terms with that.
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They have been hypocrites for centuries