Joe.My.God. LGBT News
The Archdiocese of New York says the accusation is “credible.” The New York Daily News reports:
A priest who once said homosexuals had to live a “celibate life” to be good Catholics has been accused of molesting a 15-year-old boy at a Bronx church about 30 years ago. But without a change to the statute of limitations on child sex abuse in New York, the alleged crimes committed by the man of the cloth will forever go unpunished.
Father Anthony Giuliano was running two parishes in Dutchess County — about 85 miles from Manhattan — on Aug. 16 when a 43-year-old man told police the priest had molested him in the late 1980s. The Archdiocese of New York immediately removed him from the two parishes as the NYPD launched an investigation.
“The allegation has been found to be credible,” Reverend Gerald Walsh, the Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of New York, to parishioners at St. John the Evangelist and St. Charles Borromeo churches, located in Pawling and Dover Plains.
In June, Albany legislators failed to vote on the Child Victims Act, which would have made it easier for child sex abuse victims to seek justice against their abusers, as well as the Catholic Church and schools. The long-stalled legislation would have created a one-year window for past victims of abuse to bring charges against their tormenters. The Catholic League called the legislation “a vindictive bill pushed by lawyers and activists out to rape the Catholic Church.”
Catholic League president Bill Donohue reacts to the above story:
Up until recently, the Daily News had no record of spewing hatred toward the Catholic Church. That all changed when it was clear that the paper was nearly bankrupt. A decision was obviously made to gin up sales by attacking the Catholic Church.
In today’s edition, there is a story about a priest who has been asked to step down pending an investigation that he molested a teenage boy 30 years ago. The priest says he is innocent.
The news story never bothers to question why three decades passed before the accuser surfaced, but it does take the opportunity to criticize those who opposed bills that would suspend the statute of limitations for such offenses. It blames the Catholic Church for campaigning against this anti-civil libertarian measure, never mentioning the role that Jews and others played in defending the constitutional rights of the accused.
The anti-Catholic animus is also evident in the paper’s treatment of the priest’s advice on homosexuality. He reportedly is known for counseling gays to be celibate. So? Would the Daily News prefer he recommend promiscuity? Why is this news at all? Orthodox Jews, evangelical Protestants, Muslims, and Mormons all share the same teachings on homosexuality. Of course, the purpose of mentioning this is to portray the priest as a hypocrite.