Billyman
04-27-2002, 04:52 PM
Cardinal's Comments on Priests Anger Feminists
NewsMax.com Wires
Saturday, April 27, 2002
CHICAGO – Comments by Cardinal Francis George on priests who engage in sexual encounters with teen-age girls stirred the ire of feminists and others.
After a meeting earlier this week at the Vatican between U.S. cardinals and the pope, George said sanctions against priests who violated celibacy and chastity vows should distinguish between sexual predators who prey on young children and the priest who gets drunk and engages in a sex act "with a 17- or 16-year-old young woman who returns his affection."
"He's saying that there's a difference between sexual abuse of a young child and a priest getting a little drunk and having sex with a 16- or 17-year-old girl," Catherine Caporusso Hartman, vice president of the Chicago chapter of National Organization for Women, told the Chicago Sun-Times Friday.
"He's trying to minimize things when he should be showing that he takes all of this seriously. Now he's trying to make a subset of sexual abuse not as serious as another."
She called for his resignation but later changed her mind after he apologized, Fox News Channel reported Friday evening.
Earlier, Hartman said that when it comes to laws on statutory rape, George "doesn't seem to understand why there are stiffer penalties in case of a person in authority like a priest."
The cardinals were summoned to the Vatican to talk about ways of dealing with homosexual and pedophile priests in light of recent revelations about defrocked Boston priest John Goeghan. In the past, the church has shipped problem clerics from diocese to diocese, in many instances without revealing the nature of the problem behind the transfer.
The scandal prompted Massachusetts to pass legislation that would require church officials to tell police about suspicions of clergy abusing children. Similar legislation is under consideration in New York and Colorado. Lawmakers in Illinois, Wisconsin and Vermont have indicated they might consider similar action. Grand jury investigations of priests are under way or planned in Philadelphia, Cincinnati and Long Island, N.Y.
In making his remarks about Geoghan, whom George described as a "moral monster," the cardinal also acknowledged a man engaging in sex with an underage girl was still a crime. But, he said, that when it comes to reforming one's life, it's "different" for the serial sexual abuser than it is for someone who has made just one mistake.
In a telephone interview from Rome, George told WMAQ-TV he understood why some people were upset at him.
"If I really did think that it didn't matter about abusing young women, I should resign," he said. "I don't think I said that. I know I didn't mean it."
NewsMax.com Wires
Saturday, April 27, 2002
CHICAGO – Comments by Cardinal Francis George on priests who engage in sexual encounters with teen-age girls stirred the ire of feminists and others.
After a meeting earlier this week at the Vatican between U.S. cardinals and the pope, George said sanctions against priests who violated celibacy and chastity vows should distinguish between sexual predators who prey on young children and the priest who gets drunk and engages in a sex act "with a 17- or 16-year-old young woman who returns his affection."
"He's saying that there's a difference between sexual abuse of a young child and a priest getting a little drunk and having sex with a 16- or 17-year-old girl," Catherine Caporusso Hartman, vice president of the Chicago chapter of National Organization for Women, told the Chicago Sun-Times Friday.
"He's trying to minimize things when he should be showing that he takes all of this seriously. Now he's trying to make a subset of sexual abuse not as serious as another."
She called for his resignation but later changed her mind after he apologized, Fox News Channel reported Friday evening.
Earlier, Hartman said that when it comes to laws on statutory rape, George "doesn't seem to understand why there are stiffer penalties in case of a person in authority like a priest."
The cardinals were summoned to the Vatican to talk about ways of dealing with homosexual and pedophile priests in light of recent revelations about defrocked Boston priest John Goeghan. In the past, the church has shipped problem clerics from diocese to diocese, in many instances without revealing the nature of the problem behind the transfer.
The scandal prompted Massachusetts to pass legislation that would require church officials to tell police about suspicions of clergy abusing children. Similar legislation is under consideration in New York and Colorado. Lawmakers in Illinois, Wisconsin and Vermont have indicated they might consider similar action. Grand jury investigations of priests are under way or planned in Philadelphia, Cincinnati and Long Island, N.Y.
In making his remarks about Geoghan, whom George described as a "moral monster," the cardinal also acknowledged a man engaging in sex with an underage girl was still a crime. But, he said, that when it comes to reforming one's life, it's "different" for the serial sexual abuser than it is for someone who has made just one mistake.
In a telephone interview from Rome, George told WMAQ-TV he understood why some people were upset at him.
"If I really did think that it didn't matter about abusing young women, I should resign," he said. "I don't think I said that. I know I didn't mean it."