Leon J. Podles :: DIALOGUE

As I noted in my book, Catholic bishops uniformly failed to get angry when they heard that a priest had defiled a child, often in the church itself. I examined this failure at length in my book Sacrilege, especially on pp. 465-471. 
The bishops have failed to heed the warning of St. John Chrysostom: “He who [...]

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Bishop Lahey, formerly bishop of Antigonish, will have his day in court. On the face of it, he is guilty of importation and possession of child pornography. Nor is his behavior that of an innocent man who has been framed. 
Archbishop Mancini of Halifax, in whose province Antigonish lies, was surprised and shocked by the news. [...]

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We shall see whether Canadian police have any record that confirms that in 1989 Earle told them about Lahey’s possession of child pornography. At that time, the possession of child pornography was not a crime in Canada, and the police may therefore not have made any record, even if Earle in fact told them.
 
Lahey’s [...]

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The Christian Brothers of Ireland ran the Mount Cashel Orphanage in Newfoundland. Some of the brothers physically and sexually abused children. The boys complained to police and social services, and both authorities covered up as much as they could for the Church. On a radio call-in talk how, Shane Earle broke the story of the [...]

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I have a section in my book (Sacrilege, pp. 71-80) on the abuse of boys at the Mount Cashel orphanage in Newfoundland. The boys had complained to the police for years, but the police and the newspapers covered up for the Church. Shane Earle finally was able to go public and there was a public [...]

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Statement by the President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop V. James Weisgerber

01 October 2009

“I have learned from media reports of the charges brought against Most Reverend Raymond Lahey, former Bishop of Antigonish, Nova Scotia.  While shocked and saddened by the accusations, as President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, [...]

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Michael Deacon unearthed Polanski comments about the crime he committed: 
Polanski told Martin Amis: 

“If I had killed somebody, it wouldn’t have had so much appeal to the press, you see? But… f—ing, you see, and the young girls. Judges want to f— young girls. Juries want to f— young girls. Everyone wants to f— young girls!”

When [...]

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The merde has hit the fan in the Canadian Church: 

An arrest warrant has been issued for a former Roman Catholic bishop from Nova Scotia charged with possession and importation of child pornography. The Chronicle Hearld reports:
The Ottawa Police Service Internet child exploitation unit charged Raymond Lahey, 69, on Sept. 25, 10 days after he was [...]

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If I may quote from my 1998 book Sacrilege: Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church:

Both literary critics for whom transgressive is a word of praise and whose hero is the Marquis de Sade, and psychologists who desire an ever-expanding field of sexual; liberation put forward the idea that sex with boys is the next area [...]

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