Dougdingle at 5:27 PM December 03, 2013
If Mahoney truly believes in Hell, then he knows that's where he's headed. God does not forgive pederasts and their protectors, confession or not.
His enabling of those priests and then hiding them from punishment makes him as guilty as if he were touching those innocent boys' penises himself.
You're going to burn, Roger, and an endless number of people will rejoice at your pain for all etermity.
Angered by church sex abuse, readers turn against Cardinal Mahony
- Comments17
That's according to The Times' two-part series Sunday and Monday on the 23,000 pages of documents ordered released by the courts that detail Mahony's efforts to keep accusations of abuse in the Los Angeles Archdiocese from erupting into a public scandal. The stories portray Mahony, who retired as archbishop in 2011, as a politically active prelate whose behind-the-scenes maneuvering to cover up the abuse stands in stark contrast to the image of social consciousness he projected in public.
We've received more than two dozen letters on the series so far, and only two have defended Mahony. Some of the letters are from Catholics disgusted by their leaders' conduct; a handful come from readers who say they've been abused themselves.
The reaction to Times articles on abuse in the church hasn't always been this one-sided. As the scandal unfolded through the years, a good portion of the letters we received accused The Times of being too harsh on Mahony or of harboring an anti-Catholic bias. They said the cardinal possessed many redeeming qualities or did more than most bishops to rid his parish of sex abuse.
Lately, however, readers increasingly seem to see the scandal as singularly defining Mahony's legacy. Here is a selection of their letters on The Times' latest articles.
Dan Milchovich of Covina checks Mahony's ego:
"So Mahony is now being divinely called to 'something deeper,' a public display of personal humiliation rather than serving his faith in humility. Only someone as ego-driven as him would assume that the wreckage done to the lives of others, in which he was the critical enabler, was divinely orchestrated as a personal blueprint for his own redemption.
"The humiliation and pain endured by others were simply props in his own grand plan as devised by his creator. So it was all about him from the beginning."
Michael Ryan of Los Angeles reflects on his own memories of abuse:
"Whether the memory of my clergy molestation is too rusty or simply too embarrassing to acknowledge to friends and family, I had chosen, as I'm certain many have, to remain mute about the incident. "However, thanks to the media and especially The Times, I do feel relief to see Mahony and others complicit in the scandal receive their lumps. This reminds me of a teaching learned in the great Catholic tradition regarding punishment: In the end, the devil too must pay his bill.
"
Mary Dispenza of Bellevue, Wash., a victim of abuse, says the church is in big trouble:
"As a victim of child abuse at age 7 by Father George Neville Rucker in 1947, I am aware of the cover-up and betrayal caused by Mahony.
"Many of us may be guilty bystanders, dismissing, protecting, turning a deaf ear and blind eye to the most devastating tragedy and era of the Catholic Church: priest sexual abuse of children and cover-ups. Even our present Pope Francis, hailed for his love of the poor and preaching the gospel, has said very little to the victims of priest abuse.
"In my opinion, as long as Mahony remains a 'priest in good standing,' and Pope Francis and the community avoid addressing the issue of priest abuse, the church remains in serious trouble."
Virginia Uribe of Pasadena indicts Mahony with a Bible verse:
"After reading the two-part series on Mahony, I could not help but reflect on a proverb I heard long ago from the good nuns: 'Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.' (Proverbs 16:18)."
Cay Senhart of South Pasadena says Mahony still doesn't get it:
"It seems that to the tragically flawed Roger Mahony, nothing has ever been not about him. Even at this late and mournful stage of the destructive debacle for which he is responsible, his hubris knows no bounds.
"As Mahony himself observed, he could have escaped to the contemplative isolation of his cabin in the Sierras. He should do just that and commune -- perhaps for the first time -- with the concept of Christian humility.
"Those who have suffered from Mahony's ego-driven moral dysfunction are legion, and he still doesn't get that it isn't about him."
We've received more than two dozen letters on the series so far, and only two have defended Mahony. Some of the letters are from Catholics disgusted by their leaders' conduct; a handful come from readers who say they've been abused themselves.
The reaction to Times articles on abuse in the church hasn't always been this one-sided. As the scandal unfolded through the years, a good portion of the letters we received accused The Times of being too harsh on Mahony or of harboring an anti-Catholic bias. They said the cardinal possessed many redeeming qualities or did more than most bishops to rid his parish of sex abuse.
Lately, however, readers increasingly seem to see the scandal as singularly defining Mahony's legacy. Here is a selection of their letters on The Times' latest articles.
Dan Milchovich of Covina checks Mahony's ego:
"So Mahony is now being divinely called to 'something deeper,' a public display of personal humiliation rather than serving his faith in humility. Only someone as ego-driven as him would assume that the wreckage done to the lives of others, in which he was the critical enabler, was divinely orchestrated as a personal blueprint for his own redemption.
"The humiliation and pain endured by others were simply props in his own grand plan as devised by his creator. So it was all about him from the beginning."
Michael Ryan of Los Angeles reflects on his own memories of abuse:
"Whether the memory of my clergy molestation is too rusty or simply too embarrassing to acknowledge to friends and family, I had chosen, as I'm certain many have, to remain mute about the incident. "However, thanks to the media and especially The Times, I do feel relief to see Mahony and others complicit in the scandal receive their lumps. This reminds me of a teaching learned in the great Catholic tradition regarding punishment: In the end, the devil too must pay his bill.
"
Mary Dispenza of Bellevue, Wash., a victim of abuse, says the church is in big trouble:
"As a victim of child abuse at age 7 by Father George Neville Rucker in 1947, I am aware of the cover-up and betrayal caused by Mahony.
"Many of us may be guilty bystanders, dismissing, protecting, turning a deaf ear and blind eye to the most devastating tragedy and era of the Catholic Church: priest sexual abuse of children and cover-ups. Even our present Pope Francis, hailed for his love of the poor and preaching the gospel, has said very little to the victims of priest abuse.
"In my opinion, as long as Mahony remains a 'priest in good standing,' and Pope Francis and the community avoid addressing the issue of priest abuse, the church remains in serious trouble."
Virginia Uribe of Pasadena indicts Mahony with a Bible verse:
"After reading the two-part series on Mahony, I could not help but reflect on a proverb I heard long ago from the good nuns: 'Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.' (Proverbs 16:18)."
Cay Senhart of South Pasadena says Mahony still doesn't get it:
"It seems that to the tragically flawed Roger Mahony, nothing has ever been not about him. Even at this late and mournful stage of the destructive debacle for which he is responsible, his hubris knows no bounds.
"As Mahony himself observed, he could have escaped to the contemplative isolation of his cabin in the Sierras. He should do just that and commune -- perhaps for the first time -- with the concept of Christian humility.
"Those who have suffered from Mahony's ego-driven moral dysfunction are legion, and he still doesn't get that it isn't about him."
Michael Skiendzielewski at 5:57 PM December 03, 2013
Just so we truly understand the caste system in the US Catholic Church, here are some "words of clericalism" from newly appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Minneapolis-St. Paul.
Cozzens said that marriage is something that should be valued and appreciated but stood firm in his belief that a consecrated life is superior.
“It doesn’t mean of course that a married person is automatically going to have a less relationship with Christ than a consecrated person, but the relationship is going to be different because of the necessity to give my heart to another person in marriage,” Cozzens said.
Senior seminarian Garrett Ahlers said he thought both arguments were thought provoking but said that he agreed with Cozzens more.
“I think the arguments in the tradition of the Church are in favor that the consecrated vocation is of the superior sort,” Alhers said.
On the other hand, we have the National Leadership Roundtable (Catholic Leaders) promoting a manual entitled "Co-Responsibility in the Catholic Church"When our elite leadership "shares responsibility" with the laity, yes, you've guessed it, hell will be freezing over.
Michael Skiendzielewski
Philadelphia, PA
IHateTheLATimes at 5:50 PM December 03, 2013
Anyone following this sordid crime knew that Mahoney was protecting pedophile priests. It was obvious, and because of the lack of forceful media investigation, Mahoney has been able to live out a decade or two outside of prison. The media was deliberately tame in going after this Leftwing monster and that includes the present and former editorial boards of the LA Times going back to the early 1990s.
Mahoney was deeply integrated into the fabric of the city's "Progressive" ruling class. The LA Times never put pressure on this monster because he served their agenda. "Progressives" hold that truth operates in the service of advocacy, a higher order of morality that directs communal action towards "Progressive" goals. In the case of Mahoney, it was his outspoken advocacy of illegal aliens. Take down Mahoney and you risked taking down the entire "Progressive" agenda to demographically transform Los Angeles. So Mahoney was left alone while the barrios of Los Angeles exploded in size.
As the investigation continues, it must widen and put under review the sociopaths that have run this city into the ground. That includes politicians who looked the other way and the high moral scribes at the Times who felt it wasn't in their best interest to take this criminal down. The widespread, tacit cover-up is serious and the flacks that gave aid to Mahoney need to be brought to justice.
Anyone following this sordid crime knew that Mahoney was protecting pedophile priests. It was obvious, and because of the lack of forceful media investigation, Mahoney has been able to live out a decade or two outside of prison. The media was deliberately tame in going after this Leftwing monster and that includes the present and former editorial boards of the LA Times going back to the early 1990s.
Mahoney was deeply integrated into the fabric of the city's "Progressive" ruling class. The LA Times never put pressure on this monster because he served their agenda. "Progressives" hold that truth operates in the service of advocacy, a higher order of morality that directs communal action towards "Progressive" goals. In the case of Mahoney, it was his outspoken advocacy of illegal aliens. Take down Mahoney and you risked taking down the entire "Progressive" agenda to demographically transform Los Angeles. So Mahoney was left alone while the barrios of Los Angeles exploded in size.
As the investigation continues, it must widen and put under review the sociopaths that have run this city into the ground. That includes politicians who looked the other way and the high moral scribes at the Times who felt it wasn't in their best interest to take this criminal down. The widespread, tacit cover-up is serious and the flacks that gave aid to Mahoney need to be brought to justice.
Dougdingle at 5:27 PM December 03, 2013
If Mahoney truly believes in Hell, then he knows that's where he's headed. God does not forgive pederasts and their protectors, confession or not.
His enabling of those priests and then hiding them from punishment makes him as guilty as if he were touching those innocent boys' penises himself
.
You're going to burn, Roger, and an endless number of people will rejoice at you pain for all etermity.
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