Is Wempe a victim?
Homosexual predators' lawyers really should quit practicing law and enter the arts. That's because nobody is gifted with more creativity.
Take Leonard Levine, who is defending Michael Wempe against charges that the ex-priest molested a boy after Cardinal Mahony made Wempe, a known molester who had received "therapy," a chaplain at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Wempe has admitted molesting 13 boys years earlier, but Levine says one of them who is now describing those crimes is lying. Why? To get even with Wempe for past crimes against the victim's two brothers, whose cases the U.S. Supreme Court torpedoed in a 2003 ruling that struck down a California law allowing prosecution of decades-old sex crimes.
"He wanted to make sure Michael Wempe went to prison, and he wanted to increase the price the defendant and the Church would have to pay," Levine informed the world. The victim, a former altar boy at St. Elizabeth's Mission in Lake Hughes, told the court Wempe committed sex crimes against him on 100-plus occasions.
Eight victims are now revealing what Wempe did to them, although thanks to the Supremes the ex-priest cannot be prosecuted in those cases.
But Cardinal Mahony's creativity matches even lawyer Levine's.
Incredibly, the Cardinal's newspaper, The Tidings (January 20), asserts that in the past "society at large," including our bishops, simply did not know about the "compulsive nature of the sexual abuse of minors." The poor bishops, you see, were innocent victims of those darned therapists who assured the shepherds that they could send "treated" sex criminals back into the ministry. (If the bishops really think therapists were guilty of malpractice, why don't they sue them?)
The article, Treating Priests Who Abuse: Then and Now, goes on to rap Catholic therapists for not telling the world that things are different now.
Anything, it seems, to deflect the blame away from the hierarchy.
Take Leonard Levine, who is defending Michael Wempe against charges that the ex-priest molested a boy after Cardinal Mahony made Wempe, a known molester who had received "therapy," a chaplain at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Wempe has admitted molesting 13 boys years earlier, but Levine says one of them who is now describing those crimes is lying. Why? To get even with Wempe for past crimes against the victim's two brothers, whose cases the U.S. Supreme Court torpedoed in a 2003 ruling that struck down a California law allowing prosecution of decades-old sex crimes.
"He wanted to make sure Michael Wempe went to prison, and he wanted to increase the price the defendant and the Church would have to pay," Levine informed the world. The victim, a former altar boy at St. Elizabeth's Mission in Lake Hughes, told the court Wempe committed sex crimes against him on 100-plus occasions.
Eight victims are now revealing what Wempe did to them, although thanks to the Supremes the ex-priest cannot be prosecuted in those cases.
But Cardinal Mahony's creativity matches even lawyer Levine's.
Incredibly, the Cardinal's newspaper, The Tidings (January 20), asserts that in the past "society at large," including our bishops, simply did not know about the "compulsive nature of the sexual abuse of minors." The poor bishops, you see, were innocent victims of those darned therapists who assured the shepherds that they could send "treated" sex criminals back into the ministry. (If the bishops really think therapists were guilty of malpractice, why don't they sue them?)
The article, Treating Priests Who Abuse: Then and Now, goes on to rap Catholic therapists for not telling the world that things are different now.
Anything, it seems, to deflect the blame away from the hierarchy.
posted by Quintero at 8:26 PM
6 Comments:
Another great post, Q.
Yeah Q in all honesty this place is always worth a daily look and you're doing a great service... good for you-
Hey Q, I visited the Taj Mahony last week. It had all the beauty you've been warning about. Loved the downstairs Mausoleum bit. That's probably going to be the main stumbling block in turning the building into a concert hall at some future stage. We tried to find the scary angels but they eluded us.
Enjoyed the Catholic Resource Centre conference at Pomona.
I hear the conference was great. Some of my barrio friends attended it. There was a great talk, they said, by Brad Pitre (spelling?)
Hey Venerable-
You should have told me you were in town. I would have given you a personal tour of Roger Stadium.
Maybe next time.
Sorry, I should have been more organised and let you know in advance. We should catch up next time. The Cathedral visit was immediately followed by a couple of hours at the LA Motor Show and I don't need to tell you which one was the highlight of the day!
The talk on Sunday morning by Brant Petre was apparently amazing (I was outside checking all the bookstalls and missed it). Everyone was talking about it, and I bought a copy of it on CD and will hopefully get around to listening to it in the next few days (we only arrived back here yesterday). This guy is going to go a long way. Email me if you want a copy and I'll see what I can do.
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