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Naughty Priests, Pastors, Ministers & Clergy

The Catholic Church in Italy, still reeling from the paedophile priest scandal, responded on Friday by ordering homosexual priests who are leading a double life to come out of the closet and leave the priesthood.

If they did that, there wouldn't be much left of the Catholic Church...
 
To think, once there used to be lots of young men entering the priesthood, now the priesthood are entering...
 
They are making the assumption that homosexuals are the problem. The percentage of pedophiles in the population remains roughly constant regardless of sexual preference. Sexual preference should not be a concern in a celibate priesthood - whatever you lust after, you're foreswearing it, and the oath is just as broken regardless of who (or what!) you break it with. Telling gay priests to come out so they can be fired is a stupid move - the only ones they'll get are the priests who, forced by this move to recognized just how bigoted and ignorant the church they've been serving is, do so in disgust; many of whom will be good, dedicated priests who loved the church so much they were willing to be patient with the way the Vatican marginalizes them. (Not all Catholics do; there are gay-friendly Catholic youth organizations at the parish level.)

It would be much more productive to do extensive studies and counseling among priests, uncover the factors within the subculture that either attract pedophiles or to encourage the behavior, and address them.

But that would involve taking compassionate, sensible, and effective action; and doesn't sit well with this Pope's philosophy of condemning the imperfect and making virtue harder.

I want a pope like our old Archbishop Flores. He was taken hostage one day in his office by a man with a gun. As the building was cordoned off, the SWAT teams assembled, and the hostage negotiator laid his plans, Flores talked to his captor, who turned out to be a mentally unstable family man, unemployed, barely literate, and completely stressed out by having received an unrelenting series of bureaucratic runarounds trying to get assistance. I'm sure we've all had the experience of wanting to hold somebody at gunpoint rather than try to figure out another form! This guy's internal filters gave way under the strain and he did it.

So Flores used the phone, called a few agencies, got some paperwork, helped him fill it out, found a counselor for him, and walked out in a few hours safe and sound and with a parishioner who was going to get help instead of being shot or shuffled deeper into the bureaucratic nightmare of prison and the mental health care "system."

Now that's what I call a priest!
 
Now that's what I call a priest!

Yes!

And so is Bishop Eamon Casey, given the bums rush because he had a consensual relationship with an adult woman. Casey was a tireless campaigner aganst the oppression of the struggling people of Latin America. At Archbishop Romeros funeral the El Salvador army fired on the crowd outside the church. Casey went out, putting himself in front of people as he guided them inside.
 
Priest charged after €1m found in account
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/wor ... 44840.html
DEREK SCALLY in Berlin

Wed, Feb 09, 2011

AN ELDERLY Bavarian priest has been charged with fraud after more than €1 million in church funds was found in his apartment and resting in his bank account.

The retired priest, identified only as Hans S, was arrested in May and made an immediate confession.

Now he faces 50 counts of serious fraud, according to the state prosecutor in the northern Bavarian region of Franconia.

After being questioned last May, the priest in the town of Laudenbach am Main, with 900 parishioners, was released on bail.

He is currently on retreat in a Franconian monastery.

The Bavarian state court now has to decide if it will proceed with the trial.

Police searched his apartment and said they found €1.09 million, including an “unusual amount of change”.

That was the first indication for prosecutors that the priest had held on to money from church collections.

The priest’s sacristan, Manfred Karch, said average Sunday Mass attendance was just 80, and that the collection amounted to about €50 weekly, meaning that Fr Hans amassed the €1.09 million over decades.

As well as hoarding change, he lodged large amounts to bank accounts, invested in a pension fund and, according to reports, built a house in the Bavarian town of Aschaffenburg.

“A large portion of the money was recovered,” said prosecutor Dietrich Geuder yesterday.

Several of the priest’s former flock have come forward to protest.

“There’s nothing in the charges,” said one unnamed local to Munich’s TZ newspaper.

“He was a completely modest man who drove an old Volkswagen Golf.”

Mr Karch said he was sure the priest was innocent, telling the Süddeutsche Zeitung daily: “I’d stick my hand in the fire if I’m wrong, that’s how sure I am.”

Prosecutors say Fr Hans managed to accumulate the money without attracting the attention of church auditors.

His scheme was only exposed when his successor in the parish was questioned by the tax office about the bank account, of which he knew nothing, through which large amounts of money had passed.

When challenged, Fr Hans denied the charges of fraud at first, telling investigators: “I saved all of that myself.”
 
Lapdance monastery shut after raunchy nun stunt
http://www.independent.ie/world-news/eu ... 58098.html
By Nick Squires in Rome
Thursday May 26 2011

THE Pope has shut a 500-year-old Rome monastery and kicked out its monks after it gained notoriety for hosting a performance by a lapdancer-turned-nun and welcomed celebrities such as Madonna.

Benedict XVI ordered the closure of the monastery of the Santa Croce in Gerusaleme (Holy Cross in Jerusalem), which holds some of the Roman Catholic Church's most prized relics, because of "financial and liturgical irregularities", a Vatican spokesman said.

About 20 Cistercian monks will be transferred to other monasteries around Italy, after it was found that their "lifestyles" were "not in keeping" with Church doctrine, bringing to an end a monastic presence on the site that dates back five centuries. They reportedly demonstrated "questionable behaviour and a lack of moral discipline" -- a possible allusion to homosexual relations.

The monastery is attached to the Church of the Holy Cross, which was founded in AD320 by the mother of the Emperor Constantine, St Helena, who is said to have brought back the relics from the Holy Land. In recent years it has established a reputation for publicity-seeking stunts and the courting of rich celebrities, including Gloria Estefan and Madonna.

In 2009, Anna Nobili, who spent years working as an exotic dancer and striptease artist in nightclubs before becoming a nun, performed a religious dance in front of an audience of cardinals and bishops, twirling a wooden crucifix. Calling herself a "ballerina for God", she swapped her thongs and high heels for a nun's habit after being "reborn" by her new-found faith and based her unusual form of choreography on stories from the Bible.

The Pope ordered an official investigation, known as an Apostolic Visit, into the monastery in central Rome. The scandal came under his jurisdiction because, in addition to being the leader of the world's Catholics, the church and monastery are part of his diocese.

The findings were sent to the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Pope approved a decree ordering the monastery to be dissolved. The findings have not been made public, and the Vatican refused to elaborate on exactly what misdemeanours had been committed.

Fr Ciro Benedettini, a Vatican spokesman, said the monks had been guilty of "financial irregularities and liturgical abuses". "Their lifestyles were not in keeping with what one would expect of monks," he said.

The decision to close the monastery showed that Benedict XVI "knows how to be decisive and dramatic when it comes to eliminating 'filth' in the Church", wrote Andrea Tornielli, a Vatican expert. The Pope has previously used the word "filth" to describe paedophile priests. (© Daily Telegraph, London)
 
BlackRiverFalls said:
Funnily enough, I once worked with an ex-nun turned pole dancer. :lol:

I knew a lesbian ex nun; she joined the Army Reserve. I think she had a thing about uniforms.
 
another nun gone bad:

14 November 2011, 11:52

Bad habit lands nun in trouble
Gambling nun /PA/Rex

A nun has narrowly avoided jail in the US after she admitted stealing £620,000 to gamble in slot machines.

Sister Marie Thornton, 65, took the cash from a Catholic college where she worked as a financial officer, reports The Mirror.

Manhattan federal court heard she would regularly lose more than £3,000 in one session in casinos in Atlantic City.

She submitted false invoices and arranged for Iona College in New York to pay her credit card bills. The college has clawed £300,000 back through insurance.

Thornton admitted stealing over 10 years and said she was "deeply sorry" for the embarrassment caused to her religious order and family.

A judge ordered her to complete 2,000 hours of unpaid work and pay back £217,600, saying it appeared she had been rehabilitated.

As an act of contrition, the nun now spends her days and nights in solitary confinement in a small room inside a Philadelphia convent.

http://web.orange.co.uk/article/quirkie ... in_trouble
 
Hmmm, only thing stolen laptop, hmmm.

Inquiry into gay images in doubt after theft of laptop
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ire ... 82119.html
CONOR LALLY

Fri, Apr 13, 2012

An inquiry being carried out by the Archdiocese of Armagh into how gay pornographic images were “inadvertently” shown by a priest to a group of parents and one child has apparently been derailed after the laptop at the centre of the matter was stolen from the priest’s house.

The computer is believed to have been the only item stolen and the PSNI has made a public appeal to help solve the crime.

On March 26th a number of gay images were shown during a slideshow about children’s First Confession. The priest said he had no idea where the images came from and the memory stick on which they were placed was used by a number of people.

The images, which caused concern to those present, were immediately removed from the screen. There is no suggestion they were of minors and no suggestion they were illegal.

However, an internal inquiry was established by the archdiocese to establish how the images came to be shown on the laptop. That inquiry has now been thrown into doubt.
 
Investigation into 'indecent images' priest 'not finished'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-17794663

Father Martin McVeigh has said he had no knowledge of the images

Related Stories

Priest in 'indecent images' row

The Catholic Church has described a meeting in County Tyrone about the investigation of a parish priest as "inconclusive".

Father Martin McVeigh has been under investigation after indecent images were shown during a meeting at St Mary's Primary School three weeks ago. One child was present.

Parents met representatives from the Archdiocese of Armagh on Friday.

Fr McVeigh remains parish priest but is taking a temporary leave of absence.

It is understood that parents and parishioners were read a prepared statement from the Catholic Church which said that Fr McVeigh had been exonerated.

They also heard that the PSNI had found no crime had been committed and that Social Services had informed them there were no child protection issues.

Those present were told Fr McVeigh would continue as parish priest.

However, many parishioners present were unhappy with the statement.

Shortly afterwards an official statement released to journalists said the meeting had been "inconclusive", that another would be arranged and that the investigation into the affair was not yet complete.

Memory stick
In a statement, the Archdiocese of Armagh said Fr McVeigh, at his own request, has asked for temporary leave and Cardinal Sean Brady had agreed to his request without prejudice to any of the parties involved.

An investigation was launched after the indecent pictures were "inadvertently" shown during the meeting for parents in preparation for First Holy Communion.

The parents claimed the images were projected onto the screen from a memory stick the parish priest had inserted into a computer before the presentation.

The parents said Fr McVeigh quickly removed the memory stick.

The priest said he had no knowledge of the offending imagery.

Parishioners had wanted Fr McVeigh to attend Friday's meeting.
 
"The church might have gotten away with the ruse if it had not failed to also erase the watch’s reflection, which appeared in the photo on the highly glossed table where the patriarch was seated. :oops:

The church apologized for the deception on Thursday and restored the original photo to the site, but not before Patriarch Kirill weighed in, insisting in an interview with a Russian journalist that he had never worn the watch, and that any photos showing him wearing it must have been doctored to put the watch on his wrist." :rofl:
 
Mythopoeika said:
The Catholic Church in Italy, still reeling from the paedophile priest scandal, responded on Friday by ordering homosexual priests who are leading a double life to come out of the closet and leave the priesthood.

If they did that, there wouldn't be much left of the Catholic Church...

Reminds me of what an elderly uncle of mine once said:
All this talk about letting gays marry... In my day, we'd just send them to the seminary!
 
Argentine Bishop Bargallo quits over 'amorous ties' row

The Pope has accepted the resignation of an Argentine bishop after the publication of pictures showing him embracing a woman on a Mexican beach.
Bishop Fernando Bargallo, 57, was photographed in the sea, hugging a woman in a bikini.
He initially said she was a childhood friend, but later admitted to having had "amorous ties" with her.

Bishop Bargallo was in charge of the diocese of Merlo-Moreno, in the province of Buenos Aires.
The scandal broke last week, when an Argentine television station broadcast pictures of Monsignor Bargallo on holiday at a beach resort in Mexico in the company of a woman.
In one of the pictures, he is seen half-submerged in the water, embracing a woman in a bikini.

Shortly after the pictures were published, Monsignor Bargallo gave a public statement saying that the woman was a childhood friend, whom he had known all of his life.
He said the situation in which he had been photographed was "imprudent, as it could lead people to jump to the wrong conclusion".
He asked his flock to forgive him for "the ambiguity of the pictures" and urged them to view the photos "in the context of a long friendship".

But later that same week, Monsignor Bargallo convened the priests of his diocese and told them he had had "amorous ties" with the woman and would resign.

The Vatican said he would be replaced by Monsignor Alcides Jorge Pedro Casaretto.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-18605310
 
I met a couple of very naughty middle-aged Catholic Priests in an Essex town, in the early 1980's. (to save the ladies, I won't say which town!)

My ex husband and I ran a sports shop and they were customers. We invited them both out for drink one evening, very revealing. After a few pints one confessed to having an affair with a Pilot's wife. The other one insisted that we visit his room at the Priest's house, on our way back home. He proudly pointed out a naughty calendar on the wall and a double bed. It was an awkward moment, a bit juvenile and straight out of FATHER TED!

We later heard he had been transferred to another Parish, in a hurry, after he also transgressed with a married lady. They were both great blokes and it is a terrible situation that the heterosexual priests are the most likely to be hounded.
 
Well, it's about time the Catholic church allowed priests to marry.
 
rynner2 said:
Argentine Bishop Bargallo quits over 'amorous ties' row

The Pope has accepted the resignation of an Argentine bishop after the publication of pictures showing him embracing a woman on a Mexican beach.
Bishop Fernando Bargallo, 57, was photographed in the sea, hugging a woman in a bikini.
He initially said she was a childhood friend, but later admitted to having had "amorous ties" with her.

A sort of Argentinian Father Ted, with Bargallo playing the part of Len... :D
 
Jerry_B said:
rynner2 said:
Argentine Bishop Bargallo quits over 'amorous ties' row

The Pope has accepted the resignation of an Argentine bishop after the publication of pictures showing him embracing a woman on a Mexican beach.
Bishop Fernando Bargallo, 57, was photographed in the sea, hugging a woman in a bikini.
He initially said she was a childhood friend, but later admitted to having had "amorous ties" with her.

A sort of Argentinian Father Ted, with Bargallo playing the part of Len... :D

Now all we need is for a priest to kick him up the arse, and the picture is complete. :)
 
Mythopoeika said:
Well, it's about time the Catholic church allowed priests to marry.

Yeah, but it's the money, as usual. Anybody who says the problem is theological is a) ignorant, b) naive, or c) just plain fibbing.

The cost of paying out on lawsuits is, probably, still lower than paying a wage that will support a spouse and family plus retirement; although, someone should do the statistics on that.
 
I think the Catholic church is well able to afford it.
They're just using the money to keep the Pope in fine style.
 
Mythopoeika said:
I think the Catholic church is well able to afford it.
They're just using the money to keep the Pope in fine style.

Oh, they can probably afford it: the pain of writing the checks, however, might be too much to bear. ;)
 
They are quick to kick out a man who has a relationship with an adult woman. Yet the same urgency is lacking when it comes to child abuse.
 
ramonmercado said:
They are quick to kick out a man who has a relationship with an adult woman. Yet the same urgency is lacking when it comes to child abuse.

Lusting after an adult of the opposite gender is considered understandable and can be admitted to, even in the press.

Child abuse calls into question the existence of the institution of the Roman Church itself.
 
Somerset vicar charged with voyeurism offences

A Church of England vicar from Somerset has been charged with voyeurism and making indecent images.
The Reverend Richard Lee, the vicar of St Augustine's Church in Locking, was arrested in July. He joined the church from Kent in 2007.

Avon and Somerset Police confirmed a 49-year-old man has been charged with eight voyeurism offences and 18 offences of making indecent images.
He is due to appear at North Somerset Magistrates' Court on 11 February.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-21070495
 
Voyeurism seems rather tame compared to this fellow's extracurricular activities:

The Catholic priest busted for allegedly dealing crystal meth was suspended after church officials discovered he was a cross-dresser who was having sex in the rectory at Bridgeport's St. Augustine Cathedral.

Monsignor Kevin Wallin was relieved of his duties in May, but the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport had continued to pay him a stipend until his Jan. 3 arrest -- a day he was planning to fly to London on vacation.

Now dubbed "Msgr. Meth" by some, Wallin seemed to live a life that easily could have been ripped from the script of "Breaking Bad," the popular AMC series about a high school chemistry teacher turned crystal methamphetamine producer. At one point, Wallin was selling upwards of $9,000 of meth a week, according to his indictment.

Read more: http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Sou ... z2IzTD69qS
 
The unfortunate way that's worded almost implies they were more bothered about his cross dressing than meth dealing.
 
rynner2 said:
Somerset vicar charged with voyeurism offences

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-21070495
Somerset vicar Richard Lee admits voyeurism charges

A Church of England vicar from Somerset is facing jail after admitting spying on and filming intimate pictures of three children and a woman.
The Reverend Richard Lee, 49, pleaded guilty to 26 charges of voyeurism and making indecent images.
Lee, who only spoke to confirm his name, age, address and guilty pleas at North Somerset Magistrates' Court, was granted conditional bail.
The offences took place between January 2000 and July 2012.

He was charged with eight voyeurism offences and 18 offences of making indecent images. He will be sentenced at Bristol Crown Court on 4 March.
Andrea Edwards prosecuting said: "During the course of the (police) interview he admitted that the images and film were for his own sexual gratification.
"He viewed them himself and said he did not share any of the images or video. He knew that they were wrong, but used them for his sexual gratification."
Mrs Edwards added the children shown in the images were under the age of 16.

Lee moved from Gillingham, Kent, five years ago to work at two churches near Weston-super-Mare.
He led the congregations at St Augustine's Church in Locking and St Mary's Church in Hutton.

The Diocese of Bath and Wells confirmed that in accordance with the Clergy Discipline Measure, the Bishop of Bath and Wells The Right Reverend Peter Price suspended Lee from active ministry as soon as he was arrested.
A spokesman added: "The Reverend Richard Lee pleaded guilty to all counts. We have nothing further to add whilst legal proceedings continue."

The court heard Lee installed secret cameras to spy on his victims but was found out when the pictures were spotted on his laptop.
Following police searches of the vicarage and churches, officers seized a number of items and found 400 category one images - the least serious - and 84 movies of the same category.
Examination of computers seized also revealed 51 category two images, three category three and four images and one category four movie.

He has since moved to Bodmin, Cornwall.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-21413936
 
Couldn't make this stuff up. :shock:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...3m-investment-includes-gay-sauna-8529670.html

As cardinals gather to elect Pope, Catholic officials break into a sweat over news that €23m investment includes gay sauna

The Independent. Michael Day, Milan. 11 March 2013


A day ahead of the papal conclave, faces at the scandal-struck Vatican were even redder than usual after it emerged that the Holy See had purchased a €23 million (£21 million) share of a Rome apartment block that houses Europe’s biggest gay sauna.

The senior Vatican figure sweating the most due to the unlikely proximity of the gay Europa Multiclub is probably Cardinal Ivan Dias, the head of the Congregation for Evangelisation of Peoples, who is due to participate in tomorrow’s election at the Sistine Chapel.

This 76-year-old “prince of the church” enjoys a 12-room apartment on the first-floor of the imposing palazzo, at 2 Via Carducci, just yards from the ground floor entrance to the steamy flesh pot. There are 18 other Vatican apartments in the block, many of which house priests.

The Holy See is still reeling from allegations that the previous pontiff, Benedict XVI, had quit in reaction to the presence of a gay cabal in the curia.

And with disgraced Scottish cardinal Keith O’Brien lending new weight to charges of hypocrisy against the Church’s stance on homosexuality, La Repubblica newspaper noted that the presence of “Italy’s best known gay sauna in the premises is an embarrassment”.

Cardinal Dias, who is seen as a social conservative even by the current standards of the church hierarchy, is no doubt horrified to learn of the activities taking place a floor below.

It is not known, however, if the former archbishop of Bombay has popped downstairs to give spitiual guidances to the clients of the Europa Multiclub, given his belief that gays and lesbians can be cured of their “unnatural tendencies” through the “sacrement of penance”.

The sauna’s website promotes one of its special “bear nights”, with a video in which a rotund, hairy man strips down before changing into a priest’s outfit. It says Bruno, “a hairy, overweight pastor of souls, is free to the music of his clergyman, remaining in a thong, because he wants to expose body and soul”.

There was further embarrassment for the Holy See when the press observed that thanks to generous tax breaks it received from the last Berlusconi government, the church will have avoided hefty payments to the Italian state. The properties are recognised as part of the Holy City.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Pope Emeritus Benedict’s widely disliked right-hand man, who held the Vatican’s purse strings during the last pontificate, was said to have been the brains behind the purchase of 2 Via Carduccio in 2008.

Readers on Italian gay websites were quick to make jokes at the cardinals’ expense. One on the Gay.it site quipped: “’Oops, I took the wrong door, I thought it was the chapel.'…If you can’t go to the gay sauna for fear of being seen what do you do if you have millions of Euros stolen from Italians? You buy the apartment block with the sauna inside.
Kind of puts whatever Father Ted was up to with the money just resting in his account, although it was intended for the Lourdes trip, into a bit of perspective.

;)
 
Superior general of Order of St Camillus arrested in Rome
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/eu ... -1.1587759

Fr Renato Salvatore accused with others of rigging election for his post

With the Order of Camillus superior Fr Renato Salvatore in prison, Pope Francis may decide to appoint a pontifical commissioner until a new superior can be elected. Photograph: Reuters/Tony Gentile

Paddy Agnew

Fri, Nov 8, 2013, 07:52

At this point, you would have to believe that even certain priests have been watching too many action films. Or how else do you explain the arrest in Rome on Wednesday of Fr Renato Salvatore (58), the worldwide head of the missionary and medical Order of St Camillus?

Along with five others, Fr Salvatore is now in prison accused of having sequestered two fellow order members in order to “rig” last May’s elections for the post of superior general.

Before you conclude that the Camillian fathers are suffering from an overdose of the classic Dan Brown/John Le Carrè variety, it is worth pointing that the 16th-century order controls a number of important hospitals in Campania and Sicily. Important church hospitals mean important contracts and to win those contracts, it is always better to be able to count on a helping hand from a friendly superior general.

Line of inquiry
That, at least, is the line of inquiry being pursued by investigating magistrates who believe Fr Salvatore conspired with a well known accountant, Paolo Oliverio, to ensure that two Camillians who might have voted against him would find themselves “detained” on the afternoon of the vote.

The vote in question took place on May 13th in the Casa Del Divin Maestro, a Camillian house in Arricia in the Castelli Romani hills south of Rome.

Investigators claim that Fr Rosario Messina and Fr Antonio Puca were summoned, under totally false pretences, for questioning by the finance police. Their “interrogation”, lasted from 1.30pm to 7.30pm on May 13th, thus making it impossible for the two men to vote in the election for superior general.

Missing votes
Investigators are working on the theory that the two missing votes would have gone to Irish Camillian Fr Frank Monks, perhaps tipping the balance in his favour. Fr Monks, himself a former superior general, was not available for comment last night.

They also believe that Paolo Oliverio is the real mastermind behind the operation.

Mr Oliverio is no stranger to financial controversy. One year ago, he featured in an inquiry into Lazio regional councillor Vincenzo Maruccio, accused of having stolen more than €1 million of funds from his party, Italy Of Values, largely to pay off gambling debts. Investigators found that Maruccio had made several payments to Mr Oliverio. The controversial accountant has also appeared as a financial fixer in other recent scandals including “P3” and a Sardinian wind farm investigation.

Furthermore, his name first appeared in the 1980s when he allegedly handled current accounts in Lichtenstein on behalf of judge Renato Squillante, the man accused of having taken bribes from senator Cesare Previti, working on behalf of media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi.

With the Order of Camillus superior in prison, Pope Francis may decide to appoint a pontifical commissioner until such time as a new superior can be elected.
 
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