The Catholic Church continues to recycle pedophiles to this day

[Ken]

From today's New York Times. It seems like they have learned nothing.

In the Pacific, a ‘Dumping Ground’ for Priests Accused or Convicted of Abuse

Over a decades-long period, more than 30 Catholic priests and missionaries moved to remote island nations after they had allegedly abused children in the West, or had been found to do so.

Pope Francis will be welcomed by children bearing flowers, a 21-gun salute and a candlelight vigil after he lands in Papua New Guinea on Friday. It will be the first papal visit in three decades to the Pacific Islands, a deeply Christian region — but one that has played a little-known role in the clergy abuse scandal that has stained the Roman Catholic Church.

Over several decades, at least 10 priests and missionaries moved to Papua New Guinea after they had allegedly sexually abused children, or had been found to do so, in the West, according to court records, government inquiries, survivor testimonies, news media reports and comments by church officials.

These men were part of a larger pattern: At least 24 other priests and missionaries left New Zealand, Australia, Britain and the United States for Pacific Island countries like Fiji, Kiribati and Samoa under similar circumstances. In at least 13 cases, their superiors knew that these men had been accused or convicted of abuse before they transferred to the Pacific, according to church records and survivor accounts, shielding them from scrutiny.

It has been widely documented that the church has protected scores of priests from the authorities by shuffling them to other places, sometimes in other countries. But what sets these cases apart is the remoteness of the islands the men ended up in, making it harder for the authorities to pursue them. The relocations also gave the men access to vulnerable communities where priests were considered beyond reproach.
. . .

If you want to read the whole thing, here is a gift link to bypass the paywall: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/06/worl ... =url-share

[Josh]

Seems they took a cue from how the public school system works.

[Ken]

Seems they took a cue from how the public school system works.

Which public school system sends pedophiles to New Guinea?

[Josh]

Seems they took a cue from how the public school system works.

Which public school system sends pedophiles to New Guinea?

I am referring to quietly dismissing someone (or persuading them to resign) and then hoping they go shuffle off to a different school district or even a different state, where they will be up to the same shenanigans again.

[Ken]

Seems they took a cue from how the public school system works.

Which public school system sends pedophiles to New Guinea?

I am referring to quietly dismissing someone (or persuading them to resign) and then hoping they go shuffle off to a different school district or even a different state, where they will be up to the same shenanigans again.

Every case I am remotely aware of with credible accusations of abuse resulted in reporting to the authorities and usually a prosecution. Not the school district shuffling a teacher from one school to another to help them evade prosecution or consequences.

Every school employee including teachers, administrators, counselors, on up to superintendents are required by law to report any allegations of abuse to the police under mandatory reporting laws. They can be prosecuted themselves if they cover it up. This is drummed into you through endless inservice training every year. The Catholic Church seems to think those laws don't apply to the clergy. Apparently it depends on the jurisdiction. But they still have a moral obligation nonetheless.

[ohio jones]

I am referring to quietly dismissing someone (or persuading them to resign) and then hoping they go shuffle off to a different school district or even a different state, where they will be up to the same shenanigans again.

Every case I am remotely aware of with credible accusations of abuse resulted in reporting to the authorities and usually a prosecution. Not the school district shuffling a teacher from one school to another to help them evade prosecution or consequences.

Apparently they did it quietly enough that you weren't remotely aware of it.

I'm sure it's not as easy to do that now as it was a few years ago. But I wouldn't assume that it never happens.

[ken_sylvania]

Which public school system sends pedophiles to New Guinea?

I am referring to quietly dismissing someone (or persuading them to resign) and then hoping they go shuffle off to a different school district or even a different state, where they will be up to the same shenanigans again.

Every case I am remotely aware of with credible accusations of abuse resulted in reporting to the authorities and usually a prosecution. Not the school district shuffling a teacher from one school to another to help them evade prosecution or consequences.

Every school employee including teachers, administrators, counselors, on up to superintendents are required by law to report any allegations of abuse to the police under mandatory reporting laws. They can be prosecuted themselves if they cover it up. This is drummed into you through endless inservice training every year. The Catholic Church seems to think those laws don't apply to the clergy. Apparently it depends on the jurisdiction. But they still have a moral obligation nonetheless.

Hopefully things have gotten better since 2016.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/201 ... /95346790/

[Ken]

I am referring to quietly dismissing someone (or persuading them to resign) and then hoping they go shuffle off to a different school district or even a different state, where they will be up to the same shenanigans again.

Every case I am remotely aware of with credible accusations of abuse resulted in reporting to the authorities and usually a prosecution. Not the school district shuffling a teacher from one school to another to help them evade prosecution or consequences.

Apparently they did it quietly enough that you weren't remotely aware of it.

I'm sure it's not as easy to do that now as it was a few years ago. But I wouldn't assume that it never happens.

I expect there are still cases, especially where administrators suspect a teacher is a little "off" in some way but don't have any actual proof and so they find any excuse they can to get rid of them. That happened at a school I worked at back in Texas. There was a teacher who some girls reportedly said they found a bit "creepy" in that he would stand too close to them or some such. I only heard about it second hand. But there were no actual credible accusations of abuse against him. Personally I think he was actually on the autism spectrum and just didn't have complete social awareness of how he came across. But I have no way of knowing if he ever actually did anything inappropriate.

In any event he was on the school's radar and one day during state standardized testing there was a student who pulled out a cell phone in the test session he was proctoring. Which is a big no no and violation of state testing protocols. They scooped him up and security escorted out of the building. Someone boxed up his personal belongings and shipped them to his home and he was never seen again. I had to help the new long-term sub get up to speed. I don't think any ordinary teacher would have been fired in such a manner for the same thing. They wanted him gone and used the first excuse they had to do it. That is different from having credible accusations of actual abuse and not reporting it to the authorities.

In any event, none of this excuses what the Catholic Church is doing and apparently still doing. My wife was raised Catholic, went to 12 years of Catholic school and did her first medical residency at a Catholic university and hospital. The simple reason why she no longer considers herself Catholic is this long saga of sex abuse scandals in the early 2000s which even reached to the priest who was supposed to marry us back in Juneau in the year 2000. I know others (mostly women frankly) who feel the same exact way and who left the church over this.

[mike]

Which public school system sends pedophiles to New Guinea?

I am referring to quietly dismissing someone (or persuading them to resign) and then hoping they go shuffle off to a different school district or even a different state, where they will be up to the same shenanigans again.

Every case I am remotely aware of with credible accusations of abuse resulted in reporting to the authorities and usually a prosecution. Not the school district shuffling a teacher from one school to another to help them evade prosecution or consequences.

I know personally a former wrestling coach in a public school who was charged with sexually assaulting students and giving them drugs who lost his job but received no jail time. He pled guilty to corruption of minors, lost his teaching license, and received five years probation. It happened ten years ago and he's free as a bird.

[Ken]

I am referring to quietly dismissing someone (or persuading them to resign) and then hoping they go shuffle off to a different school district or even a different state, where they will be up to the same shenanigans again.

Every case I am remotely aware of with credible accusations of abuse resulted in reporting to the authorities and usually a prosecution. Not the school district shuffling a teacher from one school to another to help them evade prosecution or consequences.

I know personally a former wrestling coach in a public school who was charged with sexually assaulting students and giving them drugs who lost his job but received no jail time. He pled guilty to corruption of minors, lost his teaching license, and received five years probation. It happened ten years ago and he's free as a bird.

Sounds like he was, indeed, prosecuted. Not every crime committed and prosecution leads to jail time. Witness Trump.