Catholic Archbishop: "We had no idea sexual abuse of minors was a crime."

[LAGC]

Said Rembert G Weakland:

We all considered sexual abuse of minors as a moral evil, but had no understanding of its criminal nature.

Weakland’s words are contained in his memoir, A Pilgrim in a Pilgrim Church – and have infuriated those who suffered at the hands of the clergy.

http://freethinker.co.uk/2009/05/21/%E2%80%98we-did-not-know-that-child-abuse-was-a-crime%E2%80%99-says-retired-catholic-archbishop/

I don't care how "liberal" this guy supposedly was, but he put accused priests repeatedly back in harms way, with easy access to children in a trusted position of authority over them.

It just makes me sick.

[valerief]

1. They all use the Michael Jackson excuse. "No me!" nt

[JuniperLea]

2. The first thing I ever learned about the law...

Is that ignorance of the law is no excuse.

Pathetic.

[ejpoeta]

3. he didn't know it was a crime???? yet they moved these clowns around to different places because why

then??? why else but to cover up what was going on!!! hypocrites!!

[CoffeeCat]

4. What a fuckball...

...scumbag, moron, piece of shit, worthless, evil propagator of child molestation and protector
of child predators.

To hell with you and your nonsensical religion and all its moronic hypocrisy.

Oh yeah...and go fuck yourself!

[Kerrytravelers]

5. This is one of the many reasons we left the Catholic church.

Enough was simply enough.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

11. Good for you!

I wish more people would do what you did and punish the church for their actions. Where do you attend services now? I'm an atheist, but I attended an Episcopal church for a while and it was pretty good.

[Kerrytravelers]

12. We no longer attend church.

Espical churches are pretty good, for the most part, I think. I am also partial to Unitarian churches. There are three of those in my town. And they all have HUGE signs that say they support Marriage Equality. :thumbsup:

[EvolveOrConvolve]

13. If I wanted to attend a church

A Unitarian/Universalist church would definitely be where I would attend.

[Rob H.]

6. "...he put accused priests repeatedly back in harms way..."

Technically, he was putting children in harm's way, but yeah, it's mind-boggling that he seems to be claiming he didn't know child molestation is a crime.

[MichiganVote]

7. Who knew? Well the RCC knew, always knew and always don't give a damn.

[Odin2005]

8. Evil liars, ALL OF THEM!

[Iggo]

9. Rembert G. Weakland is an obvious liar.

Now with that said, extrapolate away...

[charlie]

10. Paid close to a half million to quash a date rape accusation against him

All around swell guy, eh?

His book is in Google Books:

http://books.google.com/books?id=_O9SSZk7SVUC&pg=PT366&lpg=PT366&dq=%22pilgrim+in+a+pilgrim+church%22+%22minors+as+a+moral+evil%22&source=bl&ots=gab3ahpsGX&sig=NuBVRhsULL7OnCnyxJeAh_2WmRE&hl=en&ei=wz2GSvT5A5OKswP2y5CTBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4#v=onepage&q=&f=false

He's a windy bastard, who portrays himself as an impotent naif. Social mores, lenient judges, the state of psychiatry, a remote and indifferent Vatican, Nazi exposes of lurid Church secrets, his head was in a different space, yadda, yadda, contrived to keep him from doing what any random goofball off the street would've done -- protect the goddamn kids.

Here's some 20-ton cluelessness for you. He expresses bewilderment at the firestorm this bit from a 1988 article caused:

In the twenty-five years I have learned one very important thing: No two cases are alike -- each is different from the other. Frequently, for example, the abuser was also abused as a child, but often not. Sometimes not all adolescent victims are so "innocent"; some can be sexually very active and aggressive and often quite streetwise. (We frequently try such adolescents for crimes as adults at that age.) Pastorally, such cases are difficult to treat: we must not imply that the abuser is not guilty of serious crime, but we could easily give a false impression that any adolescent that becomes sexually involved with an older person does so without any degree of personal responsibility. But, each case is different, we must remember.

The freak out he's experiencing right now is probably going into his next book. He's just so misunderstood.