Teenage Boys Seduced Priests Who Abused Them. Huh?

National Survivor Advocates Coalition
August 31, 2012

http://nationalsurvivoradvocatescoalition.wordpress.com/

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Even when the newspaper questioned his comments, he went to say that it was “an understandable thing.”

The facts remain: teenage boys are teenage boys, priests are adults – or at least they should be.

That’s not the approach Groeschel is taking. He’s positing an out for priests who sexually abuse minors.

The sad part of this is that there are many Catholics who will grab onto this reasoning and run with it because Father Groeschel said it. Groeschel is the director of the Office of Spiritual Development of the New York Archdiocese and the host of a weekly show on the television network EWTN. In addition, he has a doctorate in psychology.

This kind of thinking is what survivors are up against and it’s terrible.

Catholics: please juxtapose this thinking against the chest barrel roar of hierarchs who insist that the Roman Catholic Church is leading in the fight against the sexual abuse of children.

We have to ask how anyone who not only thinks this way but publicly speaks this way is qualified to remain the director of the Office of Spiritual Development of the Archdiocese of New York.

Between conventions, we hope Cardinal Timothy Dolan addresses this issue with firmness and the removal of Father Groeschel from this post in the Archdiocese. Disassociation by the Archdiocese of New York from Groeschel’s remarks is far from enough.

Enough is enough.