New Hampshire bishop accused of abusing teenage boy

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A lawsuit filed earlier this month accuses the head of the Roman Catholic Church in New Hampshire of committing sexual abuse decades ago while he served as a priest in New York.





In a lawsuit filed July 14 in state Supreme Court in Suffolk County, Bishop Peter Libasci of the Diocese of Manchester is accused of abusing a male youth on numerous occasions in 1983 and 1984. The abuse resulted in “physical, psychological and emotional injuries,” the suit says.





The Diocese said in a statement that it was aware of the lawsuit and that the matter had been reported to civil authorities. The status of Libasci remains unchanged, it said.



New Hampshire bishop accused of abusing teenage boy
 
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BrAndreyu

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Because the church believes that since they're hard up for vocations as it is, that laicizing a Bishop or a priest is the worst possible thing that they can do, so they move them to different parishes or dioceses where they can violate their oaths and prey on people again and then the church just hierarchy just throws their hands up and says "but what can we do? We're so hard up for vocations!"

I have an idea: You let priests marry again. The restriction on married priests was for a certain time and place in medieval Europe and that time and place has passed and gone. Orthodox allow their priests to marry and you almost never hear about them molesting children.

Another thing they could do, and I don't care if this is "homophobic", is not allow homosexuals to enter the clergy. Too many homosexuals are using the clergy as a means to try and run from their disorder and then you end up with incidents like this one. God says in his word that homosexuality is an abomination, so I don't understand why these celibate and chaste priests think that engaging in homosexual acts is somehow less sinful than just having illicit heterosexual sex.
 
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chevyontheriver

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Because the church believes that since they're hard up for vocations as it is, that laicizing a Bishop or a priest is the worst possible thing that they can do, so they move them to different parishes or dioceses where they can violate their oaths and prey on people again and then the church just hierarchy just throws their hands up and says "but what can we do? We're so hard up for vocations!"

I have an idea: You let priests marry again. The restriction on married priests was for a certain time and place in medieval Europe and that time and place has passed and gone. Orthodox allow their priests to marry and you almost never hear about them molesting children.
You almost never hear about it with Protestants either.

You seldom hear of it except among Catholic priests.

It is enough to make you think it is only a Catholic problem. Right?

But the reality differs a bit. The Protestants have a huge problem but lack accountability structures, lack transparency, lack accessible records, and lack attack lawyers willing to bankrupt them for small payouts. An attack lawyer can make big bucks suing the Catholic Church. They can make little bucks suing any other religious groups. They can’t make anything suing public school systems. Therefore it is a Catholic problem. Married priests won’t solve it. Celibate priests for the most part are not the problem. Just some of them, who should have been sent to the Antarctic missions.
 
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BrAndreyu

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You almost never hear about it with Protestants either

I hear about evangelical youth ministers getting teenage girls pregnant and then said girl has to disappear for a little while. It's happened no less than six times in my own town, including three times at the same church since I was in high school.


You seldom hear of it except among Catholic priests.

I don't even hear about it happening that often with Catholic priests compared to how many other weirdos are out there buggering little boys. The guy that molested me & tried to recruit me into the homosexual lifestyle was a major player at the local Southern Baptist church. It's just that when it's a priest that does it, it becomes a prominent story because of the nature of the crime. Priests aren't supposed to be preying on people, they're supposed to be shepherds that console people whom others have preyed on.


The Protestants have a huge problem but lack accountability structures, lack transparency, lack accessible records, and lack attack lawyers willing to bankrupt them for small payouts.

One of the most prominent cases in recent memory was Jack Schaap of First Baptist church of Hammond (Notorious anti Catholic Jack Hyles former church). It was a huge deal because he transported a teenage girl across state lines to have sex with her. He's doing prison time now, as he should be and the church was sued but I cannot remember if a settlement was reached or anything.


Married priests won’t solve it.

You never hear about it happening in any of the Orthodox churches though, at least I don't, because at least the priests are allowed to have wives (and their wives usually make awesome baked goods in my experience). At least a priest with a wife, you know that he's a heterosexual whereas it seems like we have a lot of homosexuals that are running to the priesthood to either cover up the fact that they're gay or you have priests thinking that sex with men is somehow not a violation of their vow of celibacy and chastity despite the bible clearly stating that it is an abomination.


Celibate priests for the most part are not the problem. Just some of them, who should have been sent to the Antarctic missions.

The problem is that the church doesn't laicize them because according to the bishops, they'd rather have priests that molest young boys than be down a priest at all. I honestly wonder how many of the Bishops have skeletons in their closet when it comes to sexual abuse, because they seem to be the ones that are the least interested in doing anything to solve the crisis. A priest has credible accusations made, the Bishops move them either to a different parish or diocese, they molest again, the USCCB throw their hands up and say "but we're so hard up for vocations! What do you expect us to do?"

I expect you to remove that priest from the priesthood since he violated his vows. It's not too much to ask, but they don't do this because they're more concerned about the church looking like it's made a mistake than doing what is right to protect parishioners, especially the most vulnerable ones among us: children.
 
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Basil the Great

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Because the church believes that since they're hard up for vocations as it is, that laicizing a Bishop or a priest is the worst possible thing that they can do, so they move them to different parishes or dioceses where they can violate their oaths and prey on people again and then the church just hierarchy just throws their hands up and says "but what can we do? We're so hard up for vocations!"

I have an idea: You let priests marry again. The restriction on married priests was for a certain time and place in medieval Europe and that time and place has passed and gone. Orthodox allow their priests to marry and you almost never hear about them molesting children.

Another thing they could do, and I don't care if this is "homophobic", is not allow homosexuals to enter the clergy. Too many homosexuals are using the clergy as a means to try and run from their disorder and then you end up with incidents like this one. God says in his word that homosexuality is an abomination, so I don't understand why these celibate and chaste priests think that engaging in homosexual acts is somehow less sinful than just having illicit heterosexual sex.

I seem to recall that the Catholic Church instituted a policy and procedures a few years back to try and weed out those candidates for ordination who have a homosexual orientation. How successful this process is may not be known for sometime yet.
 
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pdudgeon

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I seem to recall that the Catholic Church instituted a policy and procedures a few years back to try and weed out those candidates for ordination who have a homosexual orientation. How successful this process is may not be known for sometime yet.
It would certainly be a good start towards a solution.
But when you remember that there are still some homosexual bishops running around, it seems that those same bishops could use the results of that process not to weed out, but to "pack the class" so to speak.
 
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BrAndreyu

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It would certainly be a good start towards a solution.

I wholeheartedly agree. There is no reason that a homosexual should be ordained in the Catholic church. God calls homosexuality an abomination and those who practice it do not deserve to wear the cloth.


But when you remember that there are still some homosexual bishops running around

Yes, and they desperately need to be weeded out because they are bringing shame upon the office and often use their positions to molest young boys because in their reprobate minds, this is somehow not as "sinful" as having heterosexual sex when it comes to breaking their vows of celibacy and chastity. Besides, Chastity extends to the mind as well as the body.
 
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