Church cuts jobs amid Philadelphia child sex abuse trial
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The beleaguered Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, beset by criminal and civil lawsuits related to a child sex abuse scandal, said on Thursday it is bleeding money and will lay off 45 people and close its 117-year-old newspaper.
Archbishop Charles Chaput said the 1.5 million member archdiocese faces a $17 million shortfall in the next fiscal year, which Chaput said does not take into account another $10 million in legal and investigatory expenses over the past several months.
“The extraordinary legal and professional costs of the past 16 months, while burdensome, played little role in the current budget decisions,” Chaput said in a statement.
Among those more recent costs are the legal bills for Monsignor Charles Lynn, whose fate is now being decided by the jury presiding over his conspiracy and child endangerment trial in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia. Lynn, 61, is the most senior U.S. church official to go to trial in the Roman Catholic church’s pedophilia scandal.
The jury was scheduled to resume its deliberations for a 13th day on Friday after announcing earlier this week that it was deadlocked on all but one of five charges against Lynn and another priest, the Reverend James Brennan.
Lynn, who as secretary of the clergy oversaw hundreds of priests, is accused of covering up child sex abuse allegations, often by transferring predatory priests to unsuspecting parishes. [More]
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Reuters
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30 Comments
There are bad people in all segments of society. I fail to believe that the Catholic Church have this much abuse in the church around the world. I wonder how many acusers see our church and think dollars signs. My church is blessed no accusations so far, but I hold my breath every time I am at mass. As a cradle catholic with so many good memories, this saddens me beyond words.
I told you that my wife and my family were off base in discussion
Instead of letting 45 “innocent” employees go, who will now be on unemployment checks courtesy of the the U.S. taxpayers, wouldn’t it have been better to have just defrocked and gotten rid of Lynn in the first place? I am appalled that the fees of these four lawyers will be coming out of church collection money to defend this creep.
Didn’t you read the story, Recovering? Archbishop Chaput said the cuts would have occured with or without the legal expenses. And, BTW, to the extent that the legal fees were a factor, you can see concretely the result of your hatred of the Church: it hurts others.
So the legal fees won’t be coming out of church funds, then, Jim? Who’s going to pay them? If the church hadn’t gotten itself into so much financial difficulty up to the present, would it have had to have laid off those 45 employees? Also, please don’t assume anything about my feelings toward the church. To me, the “people” are the church, of whom I have no issue; the secretive control freaks at the hierarchy are where my issue lies.
That’s not what I said, Recovering. Go back and read my post. What I did say is that the cuts would have occurred with or without the legal expenses. And, by using your definition of church, I am a member — and you do have issues with me. And, I’m sure you’d have issues with other posters like Andrew who agree with me. Fundamentally, you don’t have issues with people in your church who agree with you. And I don’t think that says very much. And, with regard to those at the Vatican being “control freaks” — isn’t that amazing how you can know that is true when you’ve never spoken with any of them? As I’ve said before, even spouses who share a bed and their lives with each other misinterpret the motives of the other from time to time. How can you, with any rationality, claim to know what motivates the men in the Vatican? You’ve just painted men with a broad brush — we want to control and dominate women. You couldn’t possibly be happily married, Recovering — you would drive away any man with any sense of his dignity and value as a man, including his God-ordained headship over his wife (Genesis 3:16).
Jim, is it really your place to accuse me and my wife and Recovering and his wife as not being happily married. That takes chuzpa….That takes neve,
Thanks, Tony.
Recovering is a women I believe, BTW.
Yeah, Jim, you always seem to attack others when they attribute motives to the church hierarchy, but then in the same post attribute horrible motives on their part. It would be more entertaining if it wasn’t so sad.
You can interpret the motives of the bishops (and everybody) by analyzing their actions and using logic to come up with an explanation (“hypothesis”) for them. And just because you do this doesn’t mean you have made a conclusion that will never change, it is simply stating your opinion that their actions seem to indicate this about their motives.
It’s great to see you being an armchair psychologist, but I’d leave that to the professionals.
Recovering Catholic, I do really like this comment about the PEOPLE being the Church. You’re a person of faith DON’T lose it.
Yes, Chuck, she is the pope in her church. Apparently she would excommunicate me, as I don’t agree with her dogma. So, she has faith in her own church, not in the real Church.
Which is? It seems to me Jim that you find such a pleasure and delight in judging your brothers and sisters for what they say or write, don’t you? And you call yourself a Christian? Wow, I wonder how many times in the Gospel did our Lord condemn his people. I wonder how many times He used harsh words to make his point. I wonder how many times he proclaimed that fearful and far off God in which you, Jim happen to believe? I’ve never seen or read in the Gospels, the God of Jesus Christ in such a judgmental roll as the one you’re having here in this website. You’re scaring people off with your comments and somehow, you’re just making a fool out of yourself. Learn how to respect people’s opinion even when they happen to be different than yours. After all, who appointed you for such a roll anyway? You got no power to do so. And just remember Jim, God is not a Church and one day when we all are placed in His hands; the only question He will ask us is not how much we fought defending our faith or our beliefs but rather, how much we loved. Jim, are you loving your neighbor?
Right on Chuck, in the end we will be judged in how much we have loved.
Well Chuck, here’s the question: what is love? If your friend wants to drive drunk, and you have to fight him for his keys and he is upset with you for doing so, did you love your friend? With regard to Jesus never condemning: I am not condemning either, but I am rebuking — at the command of Jesus (Luke 17:3 — look it up if you don’t believe me). Also, Jesus told the woman they were going to stone to “sin no more” — that is admonishing her. Further, I am taking seriously the first spiritual work of mercy, to admonish the sinner — this as taught by the Catholic Church, but not as taught by Recovering’s church that she started. Scriptural command to admonish the sinner: among other places, Ezekiel 33:7-9 — look it up and see for yourself. In Ezekiel, God is clear — if you do NOT admonish the sinner, God will hold YOU accountable for their damnation.
And with regard to Jesus using harsh words: are you kidding me? He called the Pharisees a “brood of vipers.” That wasn’t very nice now, was it?
And with regard to respecting the opinions of others, Chuck: I respect the truth. So, if someone’s opinion is wrong, indeed I do not respect it. If it is right, then I do respect it. Since I know what my Church, the Catholic Church teaches, I know which opinions are right and which are wrong.
BTW, Chuck, the correct English is “have no power”, not “got no power.” — for your future reference in making posts.
Of course we the people are the church, who the hell else is there? The guys from space?
You’ve stooped to swearing now, Tony — control yourself, please.
You are a very very sick judgemental person.
You are abusing the teachings and understandings of the church to meet the needs of your sick psychic.
If you look over the comments of most others on this site we are in agreement.
Get yourself some help.
You’re right, Tony, most posters agree with you. But, you who fancy yourself as such a bright man, with a master’s degree and all — do you really need me to point out to you that a majority opinion can easily be wrong? Look at Humane Vitae, the 1968 encyclical that reiterated the ban on artificial birth control — most people who identify themselves as Catholic oppose that teaching. Yet, that teaching is definitive and true — so, the majority (which opposes Humane Vitae) is wrong. This is why I have so much work to do on this site — there are so many bad actors here: you as the primary antagonist, then there’s Recovering, Concerned, Chuck. You should quit posting, Tony, and put yourself in front of the Blessed Sacrament daily for one hour. Fire your spiritual director and confessor who support you in your error. Pray to Padre Pio for guidance — he’ll tell you to listen to me.
To repeat, Recovering: apparently, your therapy is not yet finished. Find a therapist who knows the value of forgiveness, and doesn’t just listen sympathetically. Also, if you have girlfrieds, here’s a heads-up: my experience is that, pretty consistently, women tend to offer support to other women, which often can be damaging in the end. For example, a woman who complains about her husband to her girlfriends often will be supported and her husband denigrated. The result: she becomes more and more dissatisfied in the marriage, and eventually divorces him. Who benefits in the end? No one. Forgivenes, Recovering, forgiveness — you’ll never have peace until you can pray for the men who have hurt you.
I reall think you are a closeted Homosexual with deep seated problems with women and you twist and hide behind the teachings of our church.
Tony, you keep bringing up the issue of homosexuality. Mmmmmm, I wonder ………… Does your wife know?
All of your sins, Recovering, hurt not just you, but they hurt others, they hurt the whole body of Christ. May the Blessed Mother pray for you so that your eyes are opened and you get past your anger and hatred. BTW, a good therapist would be much more effective in helping you resolve your anger than you posting on this website.
The priests and bishops played and now the people pay. Thank God for the Nuns on the Bus who are working for and witnessing to true biblical justice.
You’re a socialist, Tony. But then, what else would I expect from a resident of MA?
Jim, let’s not stoop to personal attacks based on where somebody lives, nor on unsupported claims of people being socialist. I would also point out that Jesus was most likely a socialist, being socialist is not a sin nor a crime, and it is a perfectly acceptable political stance.
Disclosure: I am not a socialist.
Blag — being a socialist is not at all an acceptable position. The Catholic Church clearly opposes socialism. The Pope recently spoke out against it. But, I guess I should listen to you instead of the pope. Wise up.