Last year I wrote a couple of posts about the Pedophile Enablers (aka the Catholic Church and the Boy Scouts respectively.) Well there I was this morning, looking through the news sites as I do, when I saw this article at the Lexington Herald-Leader about a priest who had been removed because of sex abuse allegations yet was basically allowed to remain in place with no one actually monitoring him or his actions:
Five years after church officials ordered Carroll Howlin to stop functioning as a missionary priest in southeastern Kentucky, leaders of the Diocese of Joliet, Ill., received a letter from a suburban pastor that illuminated just how little the diocese had done to enforce its own protective measures amid a crippling sex abuse scandal.I checked a little further when I realized the article had originated with the Chicago Tribune.
Howlin, an avuncular-looking priest who moved here more than 30 years ago, had been suspended in 2002 after he was accused of molesting a teenage boy — the second of four such allegations he would face in his career. The Joliet diocese later substantiated claims involving two other victims, including one who committed suicide at 17.
Church officials removed Howlin from public ministry, but otherwise left him alone in Kentucky with a $1,100-a-month pension. He was allowed to continue living in this community where he once helped run the Good Shepherd Catholic Chapel, providing food, clothing and other social services.
...snip...
Joliet Bishop R. Daniel Conlon believes the diocese has handled the Howlin issue correctly, Dwyer said. Conlon, who chairs the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People, has met the diocese's obligation to inform the public of Howlin's circumstances by issuing a press release in 2002 and listing his name among priests with substantiated allegations on its website, Dwyer said.
They. Just. Don't. Get. It.
I did a quick check of der Google using "sex abuse Chicago archdiocese" and got a return of 349K items. The first few headlines:
1. From wiki: "Sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic archdiocese of Chicago"
2. From Huffington Post November 2011: " Daniel McCormack Sex Abuse: Chicago Archdiocese To Pay $3.2 Million To Another Victim"
3. From Catholic News September 2008: "Chicago Archdiocese to pay $12.6 million to 16 sex abuse survivors"
4. From Chicago Sun-Times April 2013: "2 men sue Chicago archdiocese, allege priest molested them in ’60s"
5. From Chicago Tribune March 2013: "Files detail decades of abuse in Joliet Diocese"
Yes, that would be the same Joliet Diocese whose Bishop Conlon in the first article of this post is said to believe "...the diocese has handled the Howlin issue correctly" (quote is of the article, not of Bishop Donlon.)
Bishop Donlon, I do beg to differ. The church removed Father Howlin in 2002. It is fairly obvious that removing him, placing his name on a list somewhere, and leaving him with no supervision is probably not sufficient in protecting children from abuse.
I guess the Chicago Archdiocese must have a printing press or mint somewhere that allows them to continue to pay million dollar settlements or buy survivors of victims who have committed suicide a car and a house. Even after the Vatican substantiates the abuse and the perpetrator is allowed to flaunt the Vatican rulings against contact with children.
They. Just. Don't. Get. It.
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