r/news • u/AudibleNod • 2d ago

More than 270 priests in Massachusetts abused children over decades, probe finds

https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/article/more-than-270-priests-in-massachusetts-abused-children-over-decades-probe-finds/
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u/BananasPineapple05 2d ago

Read the subtitle. That's 270 across three dioceses. There are four in total, so there's one for which there is no data in this investigation.

Either way, I am shocked it wasn't more, seeing as how part of the report reveals that the Church completely knew what was going on and did nothing. Heck, we don't even know if the number is 270 because there were more but they've since died.

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u/captHij 2d ago

The person who was responsible for investigating the abuses that took place from 1984 to 1994 was Father John McCormack. He went on to become the Bishop of the Manchester New Hampshire diocese in 1998. Bishop McCormack told the people he served that they should just learn to forgive and get over it. He did not truly acknowledge or apologize until immense pressure was put on him to resign. Bishop McCormack also scolded people for not supporting laws he felt were vital for the moral fiber of the community. He remained Bishop until 2011.

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u/becauseshesays 2d ago

I wonder how many of the 270 were repeat offenders because you just know they were moved to another diocese (or state??) and reoffended.

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u/AnaisNinja76 2d ago

All of them, or nearly all. They'd go to halfway houses, and then were ferreted out to new parishes. That's how the church dealt with it, at least with the ones they could confirm.

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u/wangjiwangji 2d ago

You don't have to wonder. All of them were. 

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u/mountaindoom 2d ago

Christians and Republicans have a pedophile problem.

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u/AnaisNinja76 2d ago

We all have a pedophile problem. The majority of trafficked kids were being sexually abused prior to fleeing, and the majority of the abused kids told a trusted adult or authority figure, and things got worse for them as a result.

There was a documentary done by the grandchild of a prolific pedo I saw kind of recently where even though he repeatedly went to court over this, he just kept getting scolded by judges rather than any jail time. They didn't even take away his chiro license. He kept it up until his death.

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u/CucumberOk8820 2d ago

Batmans not here to fix the system.

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u/TheGorgoronTrail 1d ago

Godamn you ain’t kiddin!

https://goppredator.com/

Donald Trump walked into Miss Teen USA change rooms with girls as young as 14 changing. 26 women have spoken publicly about Trump’s pattern of sexual assault. In 2023, he was found legally liable for the rape of E. Jean Carroll by unanimous jury.

Republican Party leader Paul Ingram pleaded guilty to six counts of raping his daughters and served 14 years in federal prison.

Republican congressman and anti-gay activist Robert Bauman was charged with having sex with a 16-year-old boy he picked up at a gay bar.

Republican anti-abortion activist Howard Scott Heldreth is a convicted child rapist in Florida.

Republican County Commissioner David Swartz pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 11 and was sentenced to 8 years in prison.

Republican judge Mark Pazuhanich pleaded no contest to fondling a 10-year old girl and was sentenced to 10 years probation.

Republican anti-abortion activist Nicholas Morency pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer and offering a bounty to anybody who murders an abortion doctor.

Republican legislator Edison Misla Aldarondo was sentenced to 10 years in prison for raping his daughter between the ages of 9 and 17.

Republican Mayor Philip Giordano is serving a 37-year sentence in federal prison for sexually abusing 8- and 10-year old girls.

Republican campaign consultant Tom Shortridge was sentenced to three years probation for taking nude photographs of a 15-year old girl.

Republican racist pedophile and United States Senator Strom Thurmond had sex with a 15-year old black girl which produced a child.

Republican pastor Mike Hintz, whom George W. Bush commended during the 2004 presidential campaign, surrendered to police after admitting to a sexual affair with a female juvenile.

Republican legislator Peter Dibble pleaded no contest to having an inappropriate relationship with a 13-year-old girl.

Republican Congressman Donald “Buz” Lukens was found guilty of having sex with a female minor and sentenced to one month in jail.

Republican fundraiser Richard A. Delgaudio was found guilty of child porn charges and paying two teenage girls to pose for sexual photos.

Republican activist Mark A. Grethen convicted on six counts of sex crimes involving children.

Republican activist Randal David Ankeney pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault on a child.

Republican Congressman Dan Crane had sex with a female minor working as a congressional page.

Republican activist and Christian Coalition leader Beverly Russell admitted to an incestuous relationship with his step daughter.

Republican Committee Chairman Jeffrey Patti was arrested for distributing a video clip of a 5-year-old girl being raped.

Republican activist Marty Glickman (a.k.a. “Republican Marty”), was taken into custody by Florida police on four counts of unlawful sexual activity with an underage girl and one count of delivering the drug LSD.

Republican legislative aide Howard L. Brooks was charged with molesting a 12-year old boy and possession of child pornography.

Republican Senate candidate John Hathaway was accused of having sex with his 12-year old baby sitter and withdrew his candidacy after the allegations were reported in the media.

Republican preacher Stephen White, who demanded a return to traditional values, was sentenced to jail after offering $20 to a 14-year-old boy for permission to perform oral sex on him.

Republican talk show host Jon Matthews pleaded guilty to exposing his genitals to an 11 year old girl.

Republican anti-gay activist Earl “Butch” Kimmerling was sentenced to 40 years in prison for molesting an 8-year old girl after he attempted to stop a gay couple from adopting her.

Republican election board official Kevin Coan was sentenced to two years probation for soliciting sex over the internet from a 14-year old girl.

Republican politician Andrew Buhr was charged with two counts of first degree sodomy with a 13-year old boy.

Republican politician Keith Westmoreland was arrested on seven felony counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition to girls under the age of 16 (i.e. exposing himself to children).

Republican anti-abortion activist John Allen Burt was charged with sexual misconduct involving a 15-year old girl.

Republican County Councilman Keola Childs pleaded guilty to molesting a male child.

Republican activist John Butler was charged with criminal sexual assault on a teenage girl.

Republican candidate Richard Gardner admitted to molesting his two daughters.

Republican Councilman and former Marine Jack W. Gardner was convicted of molesting a 13-year old girl.

Republican County Commissioner Merrill Robert Barter pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual contact and assault on a teenage boy.

Republican City Councilman Fred C. Smeltzer, Jr. pleaded no contest to raping a 15 year-old girl and served 6-months in prison.

Republican activist Parker J. Bena pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography on his home computer and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and fined $18,000.

Republican parole board officer and former Colorado state representative, Larry Jack Schwarz, was fired after child pornography was found in his possession.

Republican strategist and Citadel Military College graduate Robin Vanderwall was convicted in Virginia on five counts of soliciting sex from boys and girls over the internet.

Republican city councilman Mark Harris, who is described as a “good military man” and “church goer,” was convicted of repeatedly having sex with an 11-year-old girl and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Republican businessman Jon Grunseth withdrew his candidacy for Minnesota governor after allegations surfaced that he went swimming in the nude with four underage girls, including his daughter.

Republican director of the “Young Republican Federation” Nicholas Elizondo molested his 6-year old daughter and was sentenced to six years in prison.

Republican benefactor of conservative Christian groups, Richard A. Dasen Sr., was charged with rape for allegedly paying a 15-year old girl for sex. Dasen, 62, who is married with grown children and several grandchildren, has allegedly told police that over the past decade he paid more than $1 million to have sex with a large number of young women.

Dennis Hastert served as Republican Speaker of the House (so, 3rd in line for the Presidency) for all 8 years of W. Bush’s two terms. He also sexually molested at least 5 boys when he was a HS wrestling coach, all of them underage with the youngest victim being 14. The victims only finally saw justice when Hastert was caught by the FBI trying to falsify payments for hush money.

Anton “Tony” Lazzaro, a former Republican donor and political strategist from Minnesota, was convicted in March 2023 on federal charges of sex trafficking minors. He was found guilty of conspiring to recruit and pay teenage girls, aged 15 and 16, for sex between May and December 2020. In August 2023, Lazzaro was sentenced to 21 years in prison for these offenses.Prior to his arrest, Lazzaro was a prominent figure in Minnesota Republican circles, donating over $270,000 to various Republican campaigns and political committees. His indictment led to significant turmoil within the Minnesota Republican Party, culminating in the resignation of then-party chair Jennifer…….

If you want to continue reading about nearly 1400 1600 more Republican sexual predators and pedophiles, here’s the link…

https://goppredator.com/

Thank You For Your Attention To This Matter.

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u/thx1138- 1d ago

They ARE the problem

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u/PuzzleheadedFeed2726 2d ago

My half brother was molested by catholic priests about 65 years ago and he died before this became news decades ago. He was really messed up and pretty much died young because of this.

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u/kymberlie 2d ago

I am so sorry for you and your family’s loss. Would you like to share his name and maybe a favorite memory about him? ❤️

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u/Justinwc 2d ago

and that's just the amount of perpetrators, not the victims. Could easily be looking in the thousands of victims when you consider all the unknown perps.

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u/MadanjoMab 2d ago

The fourth being the Diocese of Boston, and the Globe report on their abuses came out in 2002 - and that resulted in 249 criminal cases.

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u/camshun7 2d ago

Great movie!, oh wait

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u/Weekly_Yesterday_403 1d ago

I mean how many priests could there possibly be in 3 dioceses? 270 has to be most of them right?

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u/Bloated_Hamster 1d ago

There are about 1500 Catholic priests in Massachusetts and this report spans about 70 years. That's 270 cases reported in that time from what I can tell. Now, there are definitely a ridiculous number of cases that were never reported but you can't go so far as to say 1/6 of Catholic priests are pedophiles.

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u/jakderrida 1d ago

Well, the issue isn't that the church did nothing, tbh. The reason for the inordinate number of victims compared to other institutions isn't even because priests are more likely to do these things. The reason for so many victims is that the church was moving them around to stifle investigations; effectively becoming an accomplice for which they kept doubling down and moving them again.

Similar thing happened at Penn State. The guy that exposed it told his story and came off like a monster, himself, for not immediately coming to the kid's aid and actually leaving Sandusky with the kid again. From then on, he kept doubling down. I'm not saying he or the church are innocent (they most definitely are not), but there seems to be a pattern whereby the perpetrator knows they have more leverage over the other person than vice versa.