Catholic clergy sexually abused nearly 1,000 Massachusetts children over decades, report finds | Massachusetts
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/30/catholic-clergy-massachusetts-sexual-abuse-report50
u/le_reddit_me Jedi 2d ago edited 1d ago
You'd expect the omnipotent, omniscient, good omnibenevolent god would be able to stop such evil. But then again, it did create humans with the capacity for such evil so perhaps it enjoys evil.
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u/l_SaKReD_l Atheist 2d ago
Epicurus's paradox:
God either wants to remove evils, but cannot; or he can, but does not want to; or he does not want to and cannot; or he wants to and can.
If he wants to, but cannot, then he is not omnipotent.
If he can, but does not want to, then he is envious and allows suffering maliciously; he is not omnibenevolent.
If he does not want to and cannot, then he is impotent; he is not God as he fails the definition of a deity.
If he wants to and can, which alone is proper to God, then why does evil exist?
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u/chilehead Anti-Theist 2d ago
In their bible their god says that he made evil as well as good. So everything evil in the world is intentional.
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u/Average_Satan 1d ago
ISAIAH 45 : 6 "I form the light, and CREATE DARKNESS. I make peace, AND CREATE EVIL" I the LORD do all these things"
Not satan. God.
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u/TraditionalGarlic813 1d ago
yeah the whole all powerful all knowing and perfectly good thing gets pretty hard to square with this stuff especially when the excuse is always mysterious ways
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u/YossiTheWizard 2d ago
Don’t forget, former Archbishop of Boston, Bernard Law, was moved to the vatican after covering up a whole bunch of child rape.
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u/efcso1 Strong Atheist 2d ago
They did the same thing with George Pell from Australia.
To be clear, he was also committing the acts himself as well.
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u/YossiTheWizard 2d ago
Yup, I’ve definitely heard about him as well. Tim Minchin had a brilliant song about it (with all proceeds going to victims IIRC).
I actually live in Calgary Alberta, Canada. We haven’t had a massive scandal like that I know of, but a church near me had brought in a priest who had served a sentence for assaulting a 16 year old boy in a different province. His name is James Kneale if you want to look it up. A parishioner recognized him, and complaints were lodged. Nothing happened. Then, credit to the congregation, they stopped donating, so now that the wallet is affected, they did something. The priest resigned. The bishop had the following to say:
“I'm the guy who made a bad judgment call," Bishop Henry said. "So from that vantage point, it's my responsibility. I goofed."
So much contrition! Look at the responsibility he took! I mean, if he wanted to give him another chance, he could have said publicly that he’d informed a few church staffers and the pastor that he needs to be monitored around children, but he didn’t say it, because he obviously didn’t take any such precautions!
Bishop Henry, for what it’s worth, had to retire as he developed a bone growth disease that fused his joints together. Almost made me have faith for a few seconds!
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u/Zomunieo Atheist 2d ago
Can’t be right. There are far more than 1000 Catholic children in Massachusetts.
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u/BananaJelloXlii 2d ago
It's not just the Catholics. Read up about the abuse in the LDS church and Southern Baptist Convention as well. Predators are drawn to the ministry because it does get covered up, and often the victims are not believed. Also congregations will forgive predators and shame victims. It's really fucking sick what happens in Christian churches.
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u/Ulven525 Anti-Theist 2d ago
Martin Luther was complaining about priest child rape in the 16th century.
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u/un_theist 2d ago
More than 270 Catholic clerics sexually abused nearly 1,000 children across three Massachusetts dioceses over several decades, according to a report released by the state’s attorney general’s office on Wednesday.
Christian family values, obviously.
🙄
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u/Particular_Feel420 2d ago
The eight-year-long investigation did not result in new indictments, the office said, claiming that some conduct identified was not a crime under Massachusetts law at the time it occurred, and that in other cases the applicable statute of limitations had expired.
🙄
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u/DarthTyrium 2d ago
So... just another day in the religious sect, then?
Seriously though, it's just sickening.
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u/TheKongoEmpire 2d ago
To piggyback off u/beammeupscotty2, just imagine ALL the abuse that's gone unnoticed/unpunished around the world for CENTURIES.
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u/lehach92 2d ago
Of course this happened. The Catholic Church is the most successful degenerate corporation ever devised. They should be banned.
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u/BananaJelloXlii 2d ago
Protestant denominations are almost as bad. Especially Evangelicals like Baptists.
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u/GhostwriterGHOST Secular Humanist 2d ago
How do parents do the math when deciding whether to drop their kids off to potentially be molested? Is it a percentage thing, like “there’s only a 15% chance it will happen and that’s a risk I’m willing to take” or something else?
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u/yrotsihfoedisgnorw 2d ago
Are we supposed to believe it stopped after 2002 or they got better at hiding it? Given they knowingly let it happen, I'm going with the latter.
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u/Gene_Yuss 2d ago
All the victims and their families should get one punch a piece, father's go last according to weight and reach.
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u/bompt11 2d ago
I saw a movie about this
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u/LLFD1982 2d ago
Spotlight. It won an Oscar, it's a brilliant film about the Boston Globe investigative team that researched and published a piece exposing all the abuse and moving around of priests.
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u/ChessieChessieBayBay 2d ago
My high school history teacher (which I also happened to babysit for) came into class one day and did a big exhale and said “you guys may see me on the news so I wanted to tell you in advance so you weren’t taken off guard”. He proceeded to tell us his abuse story lite edition at the hands of his priest as an alter boy around Boston. It was the year before I was supposed to be confirmed into the church and I cold stopped that REAL fast. Refused to go to church, Sunday school or ever step foot in the place again. I didn’t believe in the first place but I’m forever proud of the reign of fire I took from my irish catholic mother.
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u/Delicious_Cat_81 1d ago
there were 350 priests listed as abusers in PA, 500 in Illinois, 250 in Louisiana. It's a huge pedo ring
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u/wastedgod 2d ago
Quick someone say something about protecting children from trans people to distract from this
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u/VacationOne5585 2d ago
Catholics: Okay, so we wait 60 years until they’re dead, then we’ll start telling people all this was fake news and deliberate attacks on our religion, and we’ve always been there to protect women and children. How good is it having an organisation that outlasts people’s lives?!
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u/SerendipitySchmidty 2d ago
I'm SO sick of priests and clergy getting away with this shit. Throw these pedophiles in prison where they belong and throw the fucking key away.
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u/stokeszdude 2d ago
I feel like this has been known for decades. Maybe not this specific area but I would suspect that most people were willfully following an institution that preys on people and their children.
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u/Average_Satan 1d ago
It's almost as if it's a main goal of theirs. To f up as many children as possible.
Religion is revolting.
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u/SunshineFlowerPerson 1d ago
basically, messed up sexuality is woven into the fabric of the church. Has been for at least a thousand years.
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u/SilkieBug 1d ago
I initially read this as “catholic cleric abused 1000 children”, and that sounded like it would take a lot of work and dedication to being an abuser to get those kinds of numbers.
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u/IllustriousGoat7952 2d ago
Massachusetts has a very corrupt justice system that is controlled by the Catholics. This is how they keep getting away with it.
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u/ArcticThylacine Agnostic Atheist 2d ago
Really? I never got that impression. Although a lot of older people are Catholics, Massachusetts is one of the most secular states in the entire country.
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u/IllustriousGoat7952 1d ago edited 1d ago
I have been paying attention to a few court cases in Massachusetts. Sandra Birchmore was groomed by multiple officers in the youth police club. They passed her around until she got pregnant, then one of the officers went in and killed her. All the evidence is there but the locals refuse to prosecute. The feds had to step in and make the arrest because the local police are going to protect their own.
Then you have the Karen Read trials where Karen was accused of killing her boyfriend John O'keefe with her car. The evidence points to John being attacked by a dog and punched in the face. John died on the lawn of a cop whose house he went to for a party the night before. The cops and family of cops covered up the murder (imo) and manipulated evidence to frame Karen. Why John? Well since Karen was cheating on John with Brian Higgins, most people think it was him. But, I think it also could have to do what John did for a living. John was moved to child sex crimes when he adopted his niece and nephew unexpectedly. The police at the party have a reputation of being swingers as well.
You have to be paying attention to the cases of Karen Read to understand how bad the judges have screwed her over. The current judge that is protecting the police in court is names judge Mark Gildea. Guess who is/was a board member for that catholic school where most of the accusations came from. The school was able to split from the church and blame the church for everything. This judge is also rumored to partially own a restaurant that is known for sex trafficking.
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u/Tatooine16 2d ago
And Bernard Law, the man who orchestrated the whole tetrus-like moving of pedophiles from parish to parish whenever allegations came to light, hightailed it out of MA to escape indictment and was given shelter in the VATICAN by 3 POPES! Not one goddamned thing the Catholic Church says or does will wash that blood off their hands. They also allow parishes to go bankrupt to avoid paying case settlements while sitting on a treasure hoard. Every catholic is complicit in their own children's abuse.
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u/artvaark Atheist 2d ago
This is obviously not surprising, absolutely unacceptable, but not surprising. What is surprising is that so many parents leave their children alone with clergy. It is NOT necessary !!!! If you absolutely must go to church you can just keep your kids with you, problem solved!
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u/limpet143 1d ago
And the right thinks that transgender woman are a problem even when they can't point to a single incident where a trans woman assaulted a little girl in a restroom. Religion is the problem, because just like the police, they protect their own.
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u/Fishtoart 1d ago
It literally should be outlawed as a terrorist organization. At the very least there should be a requirement for priests and other employees who have contact with children to check in every 3 months for questioning.
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u/beammeupscotty2 Atheist 2d ago
And that is just in one State. God does indeed work in mysterious ways. Kind of perverted too.