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A year after his resignation plunged Belgium’s Roman Catholic Church into a crisis, the former bishop of Bruges provoked almost universal condemnation on Friday, this time by admitting that he had abused a second nephew – and insisting that he was not a pedophile.
In a television interview late Thursday that reopened deep wounds, the bishop, Roger Vangheluwe, 74, recounted with apparent lack of contrition events leading up to his resignation as bishop of Bruges last year, when it emerged that nearly 25 years ago he had abused a boy who was later revealed to be one of his nephews.
Those revelations prompted hundreds of people to come forward, claiming that they, too, had been victims of priests, and forced Belgium’s Roman Catholic Church into its deepest crisis of recent times.
In a broadcast from a location in France, Bishop Vangheluwe, dressed in an open-neck shirt, suggested that the 13-year relationship revealed last year had not been opposed by his nephew, and, in an unexpected new twist, he admitted having abused a second nephew for a much shorter period…
Bishop Vangheluwe is not facing criminal charges because of Belgium’s 10-year statute of limitations, and the Vatican says he is receiving “spiritual and psychological treatment” outside Belgium…
During the interview, to which Bishop Vangheluwe had agreed only on the condition that it would be broadcast live, he denied that he had been driven by sexual motives…the abuse had been restricted to the touching of genitals…
Um, the Pope said – well, the Pope said nothing. When the abuse became public he condemned the police for searching church property and took the Bishop’s fate into his own hands. Since then – the Pope said nothing.
>> Taxed Enough Already Dude said, on April 16th, 2011 at 12:32 pm
>> You progressives are inconsistent, if this were not a religious man, you’d be in his corner defending his right to gay sex.
>> NAMBLA is a progressive organization.
What a load of crap. It’s _YOU_ conservatives who confuse pedophilia with homosexuality. Like you just did in your bogus counter-attack on progressives.
We liberals are smart enough to know that pedophilia comes in both gay and straight.
Is NAMBLA a progressive organization? Says who? I suspect that NAMBLA is mostly “family values” conservatives.
But _if_ NAMBLA is progressive, it’s in the same way that the Westboro Baptist Church is conservative.
#21 So, a guy that has sex with kids of his same sex is not homosexual? How can you rationalize that? Inquiring minds want to know.
#9
Off your meds again? This man would get universal condemnation regardless of what clothes he wears. However, on top of being a pedophile, he’s also a hypocrite to his religion (as are most Christians). He deserves his savior’s punishment and just in time for Easter!
# 22 pedro said, “So, a guy that has sex with kids of his same sex is not homosexual? How can you rationalize that? Inquiring minds want to know.:
Somehow, Pedro, I never thought of you as having an inquiring mind. There are homosexual pedophiles. There are heterosexual pedophiles. But, statistically, homosexual pedos usually do not assault children of their own sex. Odd, I know, but true. Pedophiles are attracted to prepubescent children, gender aside. (By the way, those attracted to pubescent children are known as hebephiles. There’s even a subset of this paraphilia for lovers of older adolescents but I forget the term.) I’m not a psychiatrist but I think you’d find the reason so many priests are attracted to boys is not because they are homosexual but because these are the kids which are available to them.
And isn’t there a bit of pedo in Pedro? Do you like your porn stars to shave their pubes? Was it Australia that decided photos of small-breasted women was child porn? How much does that subscription to Barely Legal cost per month?
# 2 McCullough said, on April 16th, 2011 at 10:55 am
One question: Why isn’t this piece of shit behind bars?
That is a good question, however, we should also be asking why aren’t this piece of shits “Superiors”, the bishops and all the the rest of the hierarchy like the pope, all locked away from society?
Jesus Christ…
#24 Last time I checked a dictionary, nephew is male and the gay priest is being accused of molesting 2.
On top of that, I guess that after 13 years of abuse, the victim ceased to be prepubescent.
Sad that a person that claims to be academically prepared doesn’t even read the article being commented. I guess those facts scape the reality of your backyard (since your brain was unable to understand the question posed, I’ll have to explicitly tell you that the pun came from taking a stab at your nickname “A NIMBY”; I’ll let you search what does NIMBY means by yourself)
You also know what a pun is, right? Or do I have to tell you what that is too?
#24 You seem to be an expert on this subject…I’ll be watching you.
#23 I cited the progressive gay organization that does not condemn such acts, therefore your claim there is universal condemnation is incorrect.
I am confident any survey of their voting preferences would reveal a solidly Democratic constituency, on the Liberal/Progressive side.
#29 Continued. And in loose analogy to the Catholic Church, whose leaders HAVE thoroughly condemned pedophilia, I don’t recall Obama and his fellow progressives condemning NAMBLA, and am confident they didn’t return any campaign contributions from them.
#30 Continued:
Democrats’ cozy dealings with NAMBLA
Editor, Manteca Bulletin,
NAMBLA, the North American Man-Boy Love Association, is a homosexual organization for older men to follow their fiendish desires to be with young boys sexually. This organization is criminal and should be dismantled with its members and organizers thrown in jail. Yet, NAMBLA has a working relationship with the Democrat party. President Obama appointed Kevin Jennings as the Safe School Czar. Jennings expressed his admiration and praise for Harry Hay, who is a long time advocate for NAMBLA and the legalization of sexual abuse of young boys by older men.
http://mantecabulletin.com/news/archive/8094/
#27 Pedo – I was merely explaining the facts of life to you, boy. You don’t want to listen. that’s your business. He may have started out as a pedophile, matured to a hebephile and graduated to an ephebophile. I maintain this does not prove he was homosexual. He may not have been even a true pedophile. Being severely restricted in his choice of sexual releases, this may have started as the only convenient release. I’m not saying this was a good thing: kids is kids where ever you go.
Or, he may like dick in any size. I don’t know. What was it Sam Kinnison said? How can anybody look at a man’s hairy ass and fall in love? Maybe that’s why the priest started with a boy and stayed with him for a decade. The hair comes gradually.
After all this time, you finally figured out what A NIMBY is? What a maroon…
#27 – BTW, Pedro, I originally meant the A in my name to stand for Another.
Hmmm. I suddenly have a craving for tacos.
#33 Really? Who would have thunk!
Truth is, pedophiles (and all the derivations you named) had very strong bonds with the gay community (there are still some vocal support here and there), but they decided to give them the cold shoulder because it was “bad press”.
I guess the science is in on that respect. The kind that gets published after people picket.
#33 Animby and #35 pedro,
You’re playing semantics which is largely pointless here. This guy touched little boys and needs to be punished, end of story. Doesn’t matter if he’s homo, hebephile, herbivore, herb of mexico, or whatever.
This is why society is going down-hill because there are dumb conversations such as these.
#29, #30
Your citations are not from a reputable sources therefore your denial about universal condemnation is empty. Regardless, what others might think isn’t the point. This guy molested children he deserves death but I’ll settle for life in prison.
No one and especially no organization endorses pedophilia. However, the Christians are famous for covering up the activity. You want respect as a religion? Have the Church(s) release every record about every accusation and activity of every priest and work with law enforcement to put as many of these pedophiles in jail no matter the country.
#37 NAMBLA exists to promote man boy sex, therefore gays do NOT universally condemn it. Wikipedia is reputable enough, but if you dispute its accuracy, cite “reputable sources” NAMBLA does NOT exist.
THEY, politically a progressive Democratic liberal group, supporters of Obama, some of whom are praised by Obama’s appointees, do not condemn pedophilia.
The Catholic Church has, as did their pope, in the strongest terms:
“As priests we are personally and profoundly afflicted by the sins of some of our brothers who have betrayed the grace of ordination in succumbing even to the most grievous forms of the mystery of evil at work in the world,” he said.
http://telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1388552/Pope-condemns-sex-scandal-priests.html
I am not Catholic, and don’t excuse what has happened in their church. Nor do I approve of how they handled this scandal, but the allegation they are still covering this up seems weak. You want to quibble with their efforts to cleanse themselves of pedophile priests, go ahead, but it isn’t relevant to my statement.
Progressives (NAMBLA; Obama appointees) have not universally condemned pedophila, and they don’t try to hide it. They revel in it.
Progressive ideology is from the pit of hell, from abusing children, to killing them in the womb, millions of deaths are on its head.
I wouldn’t want to be a progressive, in hell.
#38 TeaDud
You’re not using the same level of standards for each group.
You claim/imply that the existence of NAMBLA means all homosexuals promote pedophilia.
By that same logic, then the existence of pedophile priests means all Christians are pedophiles.
The existence of Mark Foley, Larry Craig, Ted Haggard, Bob Allen, and Glean Murphy Jr means that all conservative republicans are closet homosexuals.
None of the above is logically sound. But I don’t expect TeaDud to comprehend that.
#39 said: “You claim/imply that the existence of NAMBLA means all homosexuals promote pedophilia.”
That’s exactly why LGBT league and others stopped supporting them. It was obvious the link between pedophilia and homosexuality.
Even though not all pedophiles (and its variants) are not homosexual, the majority of cases involve homosexuals.