Progressives Would Be only too Happy for Us to Throw Out Christianity along with the Pedophile Priests

AMERICA AND THE WORLD TODAY IS A DEMENTED AND SICK WORLD. And, often the sickness is the result of political positions pushed by Progressives. There are too many examples to cover each one, but here are highlights of these Progressive political agenda items. • Fox News reported on Thursday that : "President Trump fired back at New York Governor Andrew Cuomo late Wednesday, saying the Democrat was having 'a total meltdown' after he declared at an earlier bill-signing that America 'was never that great.' ” Governor Cuomo made the seemingly off-hand comment as part of his rebuke of President Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan during an event in New York. The line "drew gasps" from the crowd, says Fox News. Cuomo told the crowd : "We're not going to make America great again. It was never that great. We have not reached greatness, we will reach greatness when every American is fully engaged, we will reach greatness when discrimination and stereotyping against women, 51% of our population, is gone and every woman's full potential is realized and unleashed and every woman is making her full contribution." In response, President Trump tweeted : "Can you believe this is the Governor of the Highest Taxed State in the US, Andrew Cuomo, having a total meltdown!" Cuomo fired back at the President on Twitter shortly after : "What you say would be 'great again' would not be great at all...We will not go back to discrimination, segregation, sexism, isolationism, racism or the KKK." Following the remarks, a Cuomo spokeswoman stressed that he "believes America is great," which will become more evident "when every man, woman, and child has full equality. America has not yet reached its maximum potential....When the President speaks about making America great again -- going back in time -- he ignores the pain so many endured and that we suffered from slavery, discrimination, segregation, sexism and marginalized women's contributions." The New York Democrat Governor is currently deep in a gubernatorial primary race against actress and activist, Cynthia Nixon. He is also considered a potential White House contender in 2020. • Earlier, on Tuesday, Breitbart reported that Chris Cuomo -- Governor Cuomo's brother -- "announced Monday night that CNN will not condemn but instead justify political violence against anyone it defines as 'bigots' -- which, according to the network’s editorial tone over the past two years, signals open season on all Trump supporters for violent activists like Antifa and the Black Bloc. To legitimize political violence, Cuomo said, 'All punches are not equal morally....Drawing a moral equivalency between those espousing hate and those fighting it, because they both resort to violence emboldens hate, legitimized hateful belief and elevates what should be stamped out.' " Breitbart called the announcement "a dramatic turning point for the far left. Not only is CNN offering moral cover for those who engage in political violence, but -- thanks to the ever-widening definition of 'hate' -- CNN is also calling for the left’s political opponents to be 'stamped out.'....Cuomo continued : "Two wrongs and what is right. The bigots are wrong to hit. Antifa or whomever -- anarchists or malcontents or the misguided -- they are also wrong to hit. But fighting hate is right. And in a clash between hate and those who oppose it, those who oppose it are on the side of right." So, for CNN -- and since it is the flagship lpadog Progressive media voice, it can be taken to refelct Progressive thought on the issue -- using physical 'fighting' against political opponents. Cuome dug his hole even deeper : "Think about it : civil rights activists, were they the same morally as the bigots and the racists with whom they exchanged blows? Are people who go to war against an evil regime on the same moral ground as those they seek to stop from oppressing the weak? When you punch me in the nose for being Italian and say I’m somehow less than, am I in the same moral place when I punch you back for saying that. It’s not about being right in the eyes of the law, but you also have to know what’s right and wrong in a moral, in a good and evil sense. That’s why people who show up to fight against bigots are not to be judged the same as the bigots, even if they do resort to the same kinds of petty violence." This is pure Fascist rhetoric that urges violence to crush political oppositio -- you will find it in Hitler's words and laws? That Chris Cuome used this Fascist language, while supporting Antifa, the violent terrorist organization that has become the self-anointed but ProgDem encouraged Progressive Brownshirt arm, ignores the fact that Antifa turns its hate and violence against innocent bystanders, the police (even black police officers), the Secret Service, the government, the United States of America, and members of the media. The ProgDem media have portrayed Antifa as a virtuous but misguided organization that fights Nazis. Now, to anyone paying attention, this has always been a lie. Time and again and again we have seen Antifa use their Brownshirt tactics against everyday Trump supporters. But because the media want Antifa out there terrorizing Trump supporters, the narrative is Antifa vs. Nazis. And, Chris Cuomo used his platform to admit that the far-left CNN cable outlet is an advocate for utilizing political violence to reach its partisan goals, including violence against police officers, black-owned businesses, President Trump, and his supporters, who are, by definition for CNN and the Progressive media, "bigots" and "racists" because they disagree with the Progressive agenda. As Breitbart states : "[This] is a major turning point within an increasingly frustrated and radicalized establishment media." • And, in a dangerously Progressive move, a judge has released the Moslems who were training, and starving, children to shoot schoolchildren. Sarah Backus, a New Mexico state judge with a history of issuing low bail to violent offenders set a $20,000 bail for five defendants arrested at a remote New Mexico compound. Backus is an elected Democrat, who said at the Taos bail hearing that while she was concerned by “troubling facts” in the case and that children were living "in far from ideal circumstances," prosecutors failed to convince her the five suspects posed specific threats to the community, FoxNews.com reported. Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, the son of a notorious Brooklyn imam, was arrested August 3 along with his wife, two sisters and a friend. Prosecutors say Wahhaj sent a letter to his brother asking him to “join him and become a martyr.” And they allege he provided some of the children with firearms training such as “speed loading” guns and firing while in motion. Nevertheless, following her order, four of the defendants -- Jany Leveille, Lucas Morton, Subhannah Wahhaj and Hujrah Wahhaj -- may be released on house arrest as early as Tuesday. FoxNews.com noted that last month Backus set a $10,000 bond for Rafael Orozco, a 24-year-old Taos man accused of battering his girlfriend, his newborn child and a health care worker at a hospital, where he caused a lockdown. New Mexico’s Republican governor, Susana Martinez, said Monday she “strongly disagreed” with Backus’ decision in the Wahhaj case, saying : “Unfortunately, it highlights how extreme the New Mexico Supreme Court has been in dictating pretrial release for all kinds of dangerous criminals.” The chairman of the Republican Party of New Mexico, Ryan Cangiolosi, said Backus “has put people in danger and created the risk that they could flee and harm other children and communities as well. If New Mexico Democratic Party leaders are serious about keeping our state safe, they should join me in denouncing Judge Backus and the incredible failure of leadership and judgment demonstrated by her terrible decision." • THERE is also the story reported by the Washington Free Beacon about DNC chair Tom Perez and deputy chair Representative Keith Ellison. The Free Beacon says the Democratic National Committee has stayed silent so far on an ex-girlfriend's allegations of abuse against DNC vice chairman Ellison. Ellison's former girlfriend Karan Monahan has accused him of emotional and physical abuse during their relationship, and her son wrote on Facebook he saw a video of Ellison dragging her off the bed and cursing at her. Ellison, a Progressive favorite who won the Minnesota attorney general primary on Tuesday, said there is no such video and denied any allegations of misconduct. Another woman, Amy Alexander, accused Ellison in 2006 of emotional abuse during an affair they had and said he once grabbed and pushed her while arguing, Vox reports. Ellison said they never even had a relationship. Ellison is the first Moslem elected to Congress and is in his sixth term. He decided to forgo seeking a seventh term in his bid for Minnesota attorney general. He has already been dogged by controversy this year, dealing with his prior entanglements with the Nation of Islam and its avowedly bigoted leader Louis Farrakhan. But, Ellison beat the runner-up in the Democratic primary by at least 30 points, despite the recent allegations, according to the Washington Post. Ellison addressed the matter while speaking to supporters at the Nomad World Pub in Minneapolis : "We had a very unexpected event at the end of this campaign that happened. I want to assure you that it is not true. We are going to keep on fighting all the way through. We are going to be respectful to all, and we are going to stand like steeples, and insist upon the truth. We’re going to talk about all of this stuff in the days to come." Multiple online outlets have reported that there is a 911 phone call docket entry and Conservative Trubune at the Western Journal published a copy of it. • AND, LifeZette reported on Thursday that the Colorado Rights Panel is defying the Surpeme Court’s Cakeshop Ruling. LifeZette says : "SCOTUS 'made it abundantly clear' CRCC cannot 'target' Jack Phillips' religious beliefs....Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) officials are suing the Colorado Civil Rights Commission (CCRC) and its executive director for doing what the Supreme Court specifically barred, attorney Kristen Waggoner said Wednesday night on Fox News’ 'The Ingraham Angle.' We’re suing the executive director. I mean, the Supreme Court made it abundantly clear that the commission was wrong to target Jack’s beliefs and that they treated other cake artists differently than Jack by allowing them to decline messages but refusing Jack that same freedom.' " The Supreme Court ruled in a 7-2 decision in June that the CCRC violated Phillips’ First Amendment rights when it treated his Christianity with 'hostility' and 'bias.' Waggoner and ADF represented Phillips before the Supreme Court in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. That case was the ninth in recent years ADF has won through litigation to protect religious freedom. But on the same day in 2017 that the Supreme Court accepted Phillips’ case, a Colorado attorney called him with a request to create a customized cake celebrating a gender transition anniversary. Although Phillips explained to the attorney that he would serve “anybody who comes into the shop gladly,” he said creating a cake specifically celebrating a gender transition would violate his religious beliefs. Phillips told Ingraham that the attorney, who called and did not enter the shop, asked him to repeat his reasoning. “There are a lot of cakes that we don’t create,” Phillips explained to Ingraham, such as cakes that are “anti-American or that would disparage or denigrate other people -- including people who identify as LGBT. Those are cakes that we won’t create because [of] the message that those cakes portray,” Phillips continued. “It feels like [I’m] being targeted. The Colorado Civil Rights Commission is coming after me again after the United States Supreme Court has told them they are hostile to my faith and that they can’t do that. And yet here we are again in this same situation.” Ingraham said that the “goal here is to put Jack out of business.” “Oh, it absolutely is,” Waggoner agreed. • A TRANSGENDER won the Vermont Democrat govenrorship primary on Tuesday. And, the Washington Free Beacon reported on Wednesday that the Democrat Vermont gubernatorial candidate Christine Hallquist, who secured the Democratic nomination Tuesday, was forced to admit she doesn't know what socialism is during an interview Wednesday morning. CNN host John Berman mentioned a recent Gallup poll, which shows Democrats view socialism more favorably than capitalism, and asked Hallquist if she was surprised by the poll's results. The Vermont Democrat responded by focusing more on the use of the labels of socialism and capitalism, saying : "Well, you know, I'm not a person that's big on labels because I've found labels are used to separate people. You know, I look at the platform of a living wage and health care for all -- that's called civilized society. I don't even know how that became socialism or Republican or Democrat; let's be a civilized society." Berman pressed Hallquist on the issue, noting it sounded like her ideas were more in line with socialism than capitalism. Hallquist once tweeted an insinuation that “radicalized Christians” are a problem that Americans currently “tolerate,” according to a Daily Caller report. Hallquist : “And we worry about sharia law!!” Hallquist tweeted last summer, with a link to an article from “LGBTQ Nation” about a girl who was disqualified from a soccer team because she looked like a boy. “Radicalized Christians are a part of the American landscape, and we tolerate it.” There are other tweets that show Hallquist’s disdain for Christians. In January of this year she tweeted, “Some of these Christian evangelist’s [sic] are just downright crazy!” Several other tweets seemed to show a decided antipathy toward people of faith, including an assertion that people who allow children to be harassed for being gay probably “call themselves Christians.” That’s an inflammatory statement that paints a whole swath of Americans with a very ugly brush. • If all that isn't enough, let's talk about abortion. We now know the value of an unborn baby's life, thanks to Chelsae Clinton. CNSNews reported on Wednesday that Chelsea Clinton said that support for killing the unborn is actually “pro-life.” Chelsea was replying to criticism for her claim that abortion contributes to economic growth. “Pro-choice is pro-life,” Clinton tweeted on Tuesday, in response to a critical tweet citing a CNSNews.com story and video of a claim Clinton made on Saturday in which she credited the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision for helping to stimulate 3.5 trillion dollars of economic growth because more women have entered the work force, rather than staying home to care for children. CNSNews says Chelsea doubled down on her claim, replying to each by saying that “reproductive (abortion) rights have always been economic rights : “To repeat: reproductive rights have always been economic rights. A recent study found denying women -- often already mothers -- a wanted abortion results in years of less employment & more family poverty.” At a "Rise Up for Roe” event last Saturday, Chelsea Clinton credited legalized abortion for helping add trillions of dollars to the US economy because women who had abortions were more inclined to enter the labor force : "Whether you fundamentally care about reproductive rights and access right, because these are not the same thing, if you care about social justice or economic justice, agency -- you have to care about this. It is not a disconnected fact -- to address this t-shirt of 1973 -- that American women entering the labor force from 1973 to 2009 added three and a half trillion dollars to our economy. Right? The net, new entrance of women -- that is not disconnected from the fact that Roe became the law of the land in January of 1973." WELL, taking Chelsea's $3.5 trillion and the 29.3 million US abortions that the Guttmacher Institute has tracked through 2008 -- every unborn child aborted between 197" and 2008 was worth $119.45 -- not much, is it, Chelsea? Politico reported on August 3 that : "Even as recently as a decade ago, a small but influential group of anti-abortion Democrats could leverage their numbers in Congress. In 2009, Representative Bart Stupak, now retired and a member of the Democrats for Life board, led negotiations over the Affordable Care Act with then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi to get a vote on banning taxpayer-funded abortions. Today, anti-abortion Democrats on Capitol Hill don’t have much of anything to leverage. Many Democratic lawmakers who spoke out against abortion in 2009 lost their seats or retired in the 2010 conservative wave; more disappeared after the 2012 election. Since then, few have taken their place....Outside Catholic or Christian strongholds like Louisiana and South Dakota, the anti-abortion Democrat has recently become rare even at the state level....A Gallup poll conducted every few years for decades has found that roughly 50% of Americans believe it should be legal “only under certain circumstances” -- a description that would cover everything from legal only if the pregnancy threatens the woman’s life or is the result of rape or incest, to legal all the way through the first trimester. That figure has generally gone down since the late 1990s, while there is growing support for having abortion be legal under 'any circumstances.' At the institutional level, abortion rights over time have become deeply ingrained as a core, defining value of the Democratic Party -- particularly since the 2010 elections. Abortion rights groups such as NARAL, EMILY’s List and Planned Parenthood have become more powerful within the Democratic establishment -- as evidenced by the 2016 party platform’s call for the elimination of the long-running ban on federal funding of abortion. Last summer, DNC Chairman Tom Perez publicly proclaimed that 'every Democrat' should support abortion rights, prompting an outcry that the party was implementing a 'litmus test.' Democrats for Life arranged a meeting with Perez....Asked about the DNC’s abortion stance in the 2018 midterms, spokeswoman Xochitl Hinojosa said the party’s top goal this year is 'electing Democrats and stopping Republican attacks on women’s reproductive rights, workers’ rights and the middle class. There is no doubt that Republicans are the biggest threat to women’s health, and we will work with all Democrats to stop them.' ” • USA TODAY reported in June that Pope Francis labeled the use of abortion to terminate pregnancies likely to produce disabled or chronically ill children was the product of a Nazi mentality : “It is fashionable, or at least usual, that when in the first few months of a pregnancy doctors do studies to see if the child is healthy or has something, the first idea is: ‘Let’s send it away.’ We do the same as the Nazis to maintain the purity of the race, but with white gloves on.” The Pope’s remarks were strong, but clearly in line with the stance of the Catholic Church, which has always been unwaveringly opposed to all forms of abortion or birth control. The Vatican has frequently criticized the use of abortion on unborn children determined to suffer from Down syndrome or birth defects." Francis’ home country of Argentina voted in June for a proposal that legalizes abortion in that country. Ireland, one of the most Catholic countries in Europe, recently voted to overturn a national ban on abortion. A similar law is in the works in Catholic Northern Ireland, the only part of the United Kingdom where abortion is illegal. The Guardian characterized the Argentina abortion defeat shows the "enduring power of Catholic church....The failure of the bill to legalise abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy is a blow to the majority of Argentinians, who backed reform, and to thousands of women forced to resort to illegal terminations. But it will be hailed by the church, and in particular by Pope Francis, the first Argentinian pontiff. Despite Progressive views on many social justice issues, he has remained unyielding on matters relating to women’s control of their bodies....as the church’s authority wanes in western Europe, it remains a powerful influence elsewhere in the world. In the past 50 years, Catholicism has shifted southwards. More than 40% of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics live in Latin America, but sub-Saharan Africa has seen the biggest growth in Catholic congregations in recent decades -- from 45 million in 1970 to 176 million in 2012. Asia has also seen a growth in Catholicism and now represents almost 12% of the total Catholic population in the world, or 137 million people. In great swaths of the world, the Catholic church is a force to be reckoned with. The vote in the Buenos Aires senate is the latest example of that." • Pope Francis has conservative views on other key issues. SBS The Feed, a left-leaning Australian TV and radio outlet, cynically wrote in June : "Pope Francis is widely peddled as the ‘Progressive’ Pope, but his comments on Sunday regarding abortion prove the papacy is clutching onto its centuries-old conservatism....The Pope is spouting the same traditionalist messages that the Church has been serving up for centuries. The difference is, this Pope knows better than any who have come before him how to package Catholic conservatism with 21st century sensitivities....This year the Pope told Juan Carlos Cruz, a gay man and the leading whistle-blower in Chile’s clerical sex abuse case that 'God made you like this and he loves you.' When asked about ‘homosexuals’ he also said 'If they accept the Lord and have goodwill, who am I to judge?' This comment alone amassed international praise. Quotes like this have been great for the Catholic Church, giving the impression that the institution has dusted off some of its antiquated views and opened its arms up to the LGBT community. But when you strip away the feel-good sentiment of Pope Francis’ message, the Pope’s ideas about homosexuality are in line with Catechism 2359 that 'homosexual persons are called to chastity." In the church’s eyes, ‘accepting the Lord’ for gays means remaining celibate and unable to marry someone of the same sex. The Pope’s 'hate the sin, not the sinner' concept has been ripped right out of the Catechism. It’s not a radical or new idea, and he’s not 'Progressive' for suggesting gay people be accepted into the church if they alter themselves to fit." SBS also discusses the Pope's views on transgenders. : "When visiting Poland in 2016, the Pope lamented to a group of bishops 'today, in schools they are teaching this to children -- to children! That everyone can choose their gender.' The idea of being transgender, he concluded, is 'a moment of annihilation of man as image of God.'....The Pope’s fresh image has attracted a wave of support for the Catholic Church. More than 80% of American Catholics and 62% of American adults in general, view Francis favourably; which is considerably higher than his predecessor, according to research by Pew. The media sensationalism that labels the Pope as “progressive” is misleading. So please, don’t pat him on the back for being revolutionary when his views on abortion, euthanasia and homosexuality so clearly prove that he’s married to the old guard." • • • WHAT IS THE PROGRESSIVE AGENDA DOING TO CHRISTIANS? Why give such a long list of what the Democrat Party stands for and/or supports as the future of America? Because it is plainly anti-Christian. And, why would the Progressive Democrats who are leading the anti-Christian agenda in the Democrat Party want to get rid of Christians and Christianity? Because Christianity teaches that individuals have purpose and meaning, that they are sacred because created by God. That flies in the face of the Progressive statist axiom that all individuals belong to the state and that their personal value does not exist beyond what the state decides for them. That is why I see Pope Francis as a problem. He is not a Progressive. But, he likes to give a moral equivalency to issues like homosexuality and transgenderism that makes his fully-expressed proper views on abortion seem less definitive. • And, it makes his reaction to sexual abuse by priests seems less than genuine when he says "God weeps" for the sexual abuse of children. Pope Francis said that in Philadelphia, after meeting with victims of sexual abuse. In remarks to bishops following the meeting, Francis vowed “careful oversight” to ensure that youth are protected and said that those responsible for abuse would be held accountable, saying : “The people who had the responsibility to take care of these tender ones violated that trust and caused them great pain. Those who have survived this abuse have become true heralds of mercy. Humbly we owe each of them our gratitude for their great value, as they have had to suffer terrible abuse, sexual abuse of minors." Pope Francis has met with sexual abuse victims before, including at the Vatican in 2014. During a homily given during a private Mass with six victims, Francis apologized and asked for forgiveness : “I beg your forgiveness, too, for the sins of omission on the part of Church leaders who did not respond adequately to reports of abuse made by family members, as well as by abuse victims themselves,” Francis said in the 2014 homily, according to a text of the statement provided by the Vatican. In 2008, former Pope Benedict XVI met with sexual abuse victims in Washington. Victim advocates often dismiss such meetings as public relations ploys, and many were particularly upset after Francis praised US Catholics’ “courage” and “generous commitment to bring healing to victims.” BUT, in June, Francis created a church tribunal to judge bishops who fail to protect children from sexually abusive priests -- a move long sought by abuse victims and their advocates. • • • THE PENNSYLVANIA GRAND JURY REPORT. The media is full of laws about the 800-page report prepared after 18 months of investigation and deliberation. Fox News described the report's content undert he headline "Hundreds of priests sexually abused more than a thousand children, Pennsylvania attorney general says." Fox News states : "More than 300 Catholic priests in six Pennsylvania dioceses are accused of either sexually abusing children or helping others cover up abuse. Several hundred Roman Catholic priests in Pennsylvania were accused of sexually abusing more than a thousand children, a grand jury report on Tuesday said, in an alleged “cover-up” described as “sophisticated” by the state’s attorney general. Over the course of a two year investigation, launched by Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s office, a grand jury heard several witness statements and pored over documents from six dioceses in the state. Those dioceses included Allentown, Erie, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Scranton. Upwards of 300 'predator priests' stand accused of the decades-long abuse, the report said. 'The cover-up was sophisticated. And all the while, shockingly, church leadership kept records of the abuse and the cover-up,' Shapiro said at a news conference. 'These documents, from the dioceses' own 'Secret Archives,' formed the backbone of this investigation.' It’s possible that the 'real number' of abused children could be 'in the thousands' due to missing records or other victims who feared speaking about the allegations, according to the grand jury’s report. In order to prevent the Catholic Church from suffering bad publicity or financial liability, the panel claimed that a series of bishops and other diocesan leaders attempted to hide the alleged abuse. The report faulted Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the former longtime bishop of Pittsburgh who currently leads the Washington archdiocese, for what it said was his part in the concealment of clergy sexual abuse. Wuerl defended himself, releasing a statement Tuesday that said he had 'acted with diligence, with concern for the victims and to prevent future acts of abuse.' " • About half of Pennsylvania’s nearly 3 million Catholics live within these six dioceses. The 884-page report was written by 23 grand jurors, who spent some 18 months investigating the six dioceses, examining half a million pages of documents in the process. The FBI assisted with the investigative process. The report also identified a series of practices present in different ways across the dioceses which together amounted to a “playbook for concealing the truth.” These include use of phrases like “boundary issues” or ”inappropriate contact” instead of explicitly referring to rape and sexual abuse, assigning priests to investigate their peers, instead of using qualified and objective personnel, and a reliance on psychological assessments and diagnoses based upon the self-reporting of clerics. Because of statutes of limitations, nearly every abuse allegation cannot be criminally prosecuted, although two indictments have been filed. So far, one priest, Fr. John Sweeney, has been convicted of sexually assaulting a student in the early 1990s. The majority of the victims in cases examined by the grand jury were male. The ages of the victims ranged from pre-pubescent to young-adult seminarians. The offending priests are accused of a variety of crimes, including rape, molestation, and groping. The report states that some of the priests were able to manipulate their victims with alcohol and pornography. Approximately two-thirds of the accused priests have died. The youngest offender named in the report was born in the 1990s. Overall, nearly one-third of the accused priests came from the Diocese of Pittsburgh. The second-highest by number was the Diocese of Scranton, with 55 priests within the diocese, as well as four members of the Society of St. John, identified in the report. The Dioceses of Harrisburg and Erie have already released the names of the priests, 71 and 62 respectively, who were credibly accused of sex crimes, and the remaining dioceses pledged to do so upon the release of the grand jury report. The grand jury report contained 45 names from Harrisburg, including three former seminarians. In the Diocese of Allentown, 31 priests were listed, plus two members of the Carmelites, and a lay person employed as a basketball coach at a school in the diocese. The Diocese of Greensburg had the fewest number of accused priests, with a total of 20 priests identified. The grand jury report covered all accusations of abuse during the last 70 years, from 1947 until 2017 within the dioceses subject to investigation. Data provided by the Dioceses of Greensburg and Pittsburgh showed that most of the alleged abuse occurred during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Greensburg did not list any abuse claims from the 2000s or 2010s. The Diocese of Pittsburgh saw the number of reported abuse incidents spike during the 1980s, with slightly more than 80 allegations. In the 2000s, there were fewer than 10 reported. The Dioceses of Allentown, Erie, Harrisburg, and Scranton did not provide hard numbers on the timeline of abuse incidents, but each explained how they have taken steps since the mid-80s to early 90s to implement policies within their dioceses to prevent abuse. Over the past several decades, the Church in the United States implemented a series of proactive steps intended to create a safer environment for children. These included a tougher screening process for seminarians, trainings for parish workers on how to identify and prevent abuse, and new policies on how a diocese should respond to reported misconduct. • • • PENNSYLVANIA BISHOPS REACT. Pennsylvania Bishops are reaching out. • Bishop Ronald W. Gainer of Harrisburg said in a statement that he was “saddened” by the report, “for once again we read that innocent children were the victims of horrific acts committed against them.” Gainer also apologized again to the survivors of child sex abuse and to the public, both for past abuses and for the Church officials who allowed the abuse to occur. • Bishop Joseph Bambera of Scranton released a seven-minute video in response to the grand jury report’s findings. “While this is an uncomfortable and unsettling topic, we must speak openly and frankly about it,” said Bambera. “I offer my deepest apologies for such behavior and for the consequences of this tragic reality in our Church.” Bambera described the incidents in the report as a “dark chapter” in the 150-year history of the diocese. “You have a right to be angry,” he said. “I am angry too,” noting that it was “particularly abhorrent” that abuse is alleged to have occurred in a Church environment. Bambera also outlined the steps his diocese has taken to protect children, including background checks and abuse training. • Bishop Lawrence Persico of Erie, who was the only bishop singled out for praise by the Pennsylvania attorney general, offered in a statement in an apology to the victims of abuse, saying they suffered from “unimaginably cruel behavior” for which they bore no responsibility. Perscio praised abuse survivors for having the courage to come forward with their stories, while he also acknowledged that there are others who have not yet shared their experiences. “I humbly offer my sincere apology to each victim who has been violated by anyone affiliated with the Catholic Church. I hope that you can accept it,” said Perscio. “I know that apologizing is only one step in a very long and complex process of healing.” Perscio instructed churches within his diocese to be open for a 12-hour period on September 15, the feast of Our Mother of Sorrows. He pledged to stand with the victims of abuse, and said that he was willing to meet with any survivor who wished to do so. • Bishop Alfred A. Schlert of Allentown issued an apology “for the past sins and crimes committed by some members of the clergy,” as well as “to the survivors of abuse and their loved ones,” and then to the entire diocese, for any doubts or anger the crisis has wrought. “For the times when those in the Church did not live up to Christ’s call to holiness, and did not do what needed to be done, I apologize,” he said. He reiterated that his “first priority” as a bishop was the protection of children. • Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburh said, “To those women and men and all those they have spoken for : We hear you. The Church hears you. I hear you." Zubik also apologized to victims of clerical abuse, as well as to “any person or family whose trust, faith and well-being has been devastated by men who were ordained to be the image of Christ.” He also said he is willing to meet with any victim to apologize in-person. Zubik emphasized that the “Diocese of Pittsburgh today is not the Church that is described in the Grand Jury Report,” and that “It has not been for a long time.” Data provided by the diocese showed that over 90 percent of abuse incidents occurred prior to 1990, and Zubik explained the steps the diocese has taken to prevent abuse. • Bishop Edward Malesic of Greensburg released a video homily that will be shown at each Mass in the diocese this coming weekend. In it, Malesic apologized to the victims, who were “robbed of their childhoods” by the abuse, noting that some had been “robbed of their faith” as well. The behavior in the report “cannot be accepted,” he said, and “it is a cause of shame for us.” Malesic stated he was “truly proud of the victims who came forward to tell their story,” and encouraged others to come forward as well, and for the faithful to be vigilant in reporting suspected abuse. “To the survivors of sexual abuse in the Church [...] I grieve for you, and I grieve with you.” • In a statement released by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, USCCB president Cardinal DiNardo and Bishop Timothy L. Doherty, chairman of the bishops’ Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People, expressed “shame” at the report’s conclusions. “As a body of bishops, we are shamed by and sorry for the sins and omissions by Catholic priests and Catholic bishops....We pray that all survivors of sexual abuse find healing, comfort and strength in God’s loving presence as the Church pledges to continue to restore trust through accompaniment, communion, accountability and justice.” • Retired Erie Bishop Donald Trautman responded Tuesday to the Pennsylvania grand jury report on allegations of clerical sex abuse of minors, saying he did not condone or enable such abuse during his tenure leading the Diocese of Erie. Abuse victims “should understand that neither this Statement nor my Response to the grand jury Report is intended to diminish the horrible abuse inflicted upon them and the immense suffering they have endured. I desire only to clarify that I neither condoned nor enabled clergy abuse. Rather, I did just the opposite,” Bishop Trautman said in his Aug. 14 statement. Trautman was Bishop of Erie from 1990 until his 2012 retirement, at the age of 76. The grand jury report's section on the Diocese of Erie recounted priests' sexual contact with minors, and said that “Diocesan administrators, including the Bishops, had knowledge of this conduct and yet priests were regularly placed in ministry after the Diocese was on notice that a complaint of child sexual abuse had been made. This conduct enabled offenders and endangered the welfare of children.” The report also said the Erie diocese made settlements with victims which contained confidentiality agreements, and that diocesan administrators, including bishops, “often dissuaded victims from reporting abuse to police, pressured law enforcement to terminate or avoid an investigation, or conducted their own deficient, biased investigating without reporting crimes against children to the proper authorities.” Bishop Trautman's statement indicated his “prayerful support to all victims of clergy sexual abuse” and “a sincere apology to all who have been harmed by clergy abuse. My time spent as Bishop of the Diocese addressing sexual abuse has been the most demoralizing, trying and pain-filled experience of my priestly life. I have seen first-hand how the terrible acts of clergy abusers devastate the lives of innocent victims,” he said. He commended the grand jury's efforts to help abuse victims, saying its report “rightfully chastises clergy who committed horrible crimes against children. Unfortunately, the grand jury Report neglects to also emphasize the concrete steps some Church leaders took to correct and curtail abuse and to help victims.” Bishop Trautman said that his record “includes disciplining, defrocking and ultimately laicizing pedophiles in the Diocese.” He added that it “also includes efforts to provide care and support for victims,” which statement he supported with appended letters from victims expressing gratitude for his pastoral care. “As a pastor of souls, I shepherd the good – the innocent victims of abuse – as well as the bad, the abusers who undeniably engaged in despicable acts and were rightfully removed from ministry,” Bishop Trautman wrote. Noting the report's lengthy discussions of three priests whose situations it called “examples of institutional failures,” the Bishop emphasized “that I removed each of them from ministry and had each laicized. All of their improper conduct with children pre-dated me becoming Bishop of Erie,” he said, maintaining his faithful fulfillment of the Charter for the Protection of Childen and Young People, adopted by the US bishops in 2002, and his faithful fulfillment of all Pennsylvania laws on sex abuse : “From the day I took office as Bishop of the Diocese of Erie, I did my best to correct the sin of sex abuse. I personally met with and counseled abuse victims. I removed sixteen offenders from active ministry....As early as 1993, I established new guidelines concerning clergy abuse....These are not the actions of a Bishop trying to hide or mask pedophile priests to the detriment of children or victims of abuse. I did not move priests from parish to parish to cover up abuse allegations or fail to take action when an allegation was raised....There simply is no pattern or practice of putting the Church’s image or a priest’s reputation above the protection of children.” • Bishop Trautman said the report “does not fully or accurately discuss my record as Bishop for twenty-two years in dealing with clergy abuse. While unfortunate, these omissions are consistent with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s findings that the grand jury process that produced the Report suffered from 'limitations upon its truth-finding capabilities' and lacked 'fundamental fairness.'” Attached to Bishop Trautman's 923-word statement were his June 20 response to the report, with several appended exhibit documents, and an August 2 joint stipulation to dismiss appeal, from the Bishop and from state attorney general Josh Shapiro, in which the attorney general agreed that several statements in the report are “not specifically directed at Bishop Trautman." The Bishop's 15-page response to the report focused on his desire “to clarify, contrary to the tenor of the Report, that he neither condoned nor enabled clergy abuse.” The response noted that “While the Grand Jury adopted and issued the Report, under typical grand jury practices, the language of the Report was drafted by the [Office of the Attorney General] not the Grand Jury.” It mentions that the report made no mention of letters sent to Bishop Trautman by abuse victims expressing appreciation for his pastoral care (which letters were provided to the grand jury), and that written testimony submitted by Bishops Trautman and Persico, his successor, “is not substantively discussed in the Report, let alone included in it in full. What these examples demonstrate is that the OAG, via the Grand Jury, with an agenda, has selectively chosen the words in the Report, what words to include in the Report, and how to portray those words in a manner -- often a misleading one -- that best suits their agenda.” The response also noted that Bishop Trautman met personally, or attempted to do so, with each abuse victim. And, “when victims would permit him, he personally provided pastoral counselling for the victims’ well-being. He also helped ensure that victims had appropriate mental health treatment paid for by the Diocese.” Bishop Trautman’s response included several examples of potentially misleading writing in the grand jury report, authored by the Pennsylvania attorney general's office. • • • DEAR READERS, reading the Pennsylvania Report is to face an onslaught of revelations of criminal predatory behavior towards mostly male minors. The Report reveals a culture of cover-up and protection by morally reprehensible bishops. It shows lengthy efforts to move guilty priests around in a diocese and from diocese to diocese in an effort to confirm that counselling and self-declarations of recovery were factual. The revelations, combined with those from other Dioceses such as Boston, call for the Church to seek full answers to this cancer that will continue to eat away at the soul of the Church until answers and concrete remedies are provided. American bishops must agree to petition the Holy See to investigate every diocese in the US to uncover sexual abuse, and to uncover financial malfeasance and the misuse of authority to protect clerical criminals from the consequences of their depredations. The Holy See should prosecute anyone found to have participated in these canonical crimes. A Vatican-appointed investigator should hire as many competent lay people with relevant expertise as is needed to carry out this huge task. • What is not required is another ambivalent tweet by Pope Francis : "Still today there are so many martyrs, so many who are persecuted for the love of Christ. They are the real strength of the Church!” We can only guess that Pope Francis was trying to give value to suffering -- but his arcane logic misses the point. Pennsylvania residents and officials, including Pennsylvania attorney general Josh Shapiro, have asked Pope Francis to weigh in on the report’s findings, including allegations of a systematic sexual abuse cover-up by top church leaders. The report names Pittsburgh bishop Cardinal Donald Wuerl, one of Pope Francis’s US advisors, claiming that while Wuerl reported priests’ abusive behavior to the Vatican, he allowed alleged offenders to continue serving in ministry. Wuerl has denounced those claims. In Philadelphia (not covered in this particular report), Archbishop Charles Chaput released on Tuesday a statement on the investigation, calling it “difficult to read” and “painful for everyone, most especially survivors of sexual abuse and their loved ones. We deeply regret their pain and remain focused on a path toward healing." • In the United States, pressure mounted for Pope Francis to address the report, which found that over 1,000 children were abused in Pennsylvania over the past 70 years. “The silence from the Vatican is disturbing,” said Massimo Faggioli, a theology professor at Villanova University in Pennsylvania. Matthew Schmitz, an editor at First Things, a conservative Catholic magazine, added: “Francis has been unfairly attacked at times for his response to clergy sexual abuse. But his response has been disappointing. I hope that enough pressure can be created that he does act to investigate these issues.” • Although the Vatican declined to comment, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Bishop Timothy L. Doherty, chair of the bishops’ Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People, issued a statement : “The report of the Pennsylvania grand jury again illustrates the pain of those who have been victims of the crime of sexual abuse by individual members of our clergy, and by those who shielded abusers and so facilitated an evil that continued for years or even decades. As a body of bishops, we are shamed by and sorry for the sins and omissions by Catholic priests and Catholic bishops.” • BUT, what we also do not need is a frontal attack on the Catholic Church, which is by far the largest Christian body of believers. It would be easy for non-Catholic Christians to say, 'See, we told you the Church is corrupt.' That will only serve to feed the already-frontal attack on Christianity by Progresives. If we as Christians lose the voice of the Catholic Church on moral issues -- abortion, euthanasia, marriage, homosexuality, transgenderism -- we will have lost the war to save moral standards. Most Protestant denominations have already fallen -- they have bought into the Progressive agenda of moral equivalency in which current social and political agendas drive the Christian agenda. That is wrong. It is backwards. The Christian moral agenda should and must provide the basis for political and social morals. Let the victims speak out. Condemn the criminal pedophile priests. Eliminate complicit Bishops. Demand righteous action from the Vatican -- and other Christian denominations. Let the media throw open the doors on the crimes. Demand prosecutions. Do not let any pedophile crime or cover-up continue. BUT, do not throw out Christianity along with the hideous abusers of its God-given message. Progressives already own the big three of the media, universities and Hollywood. Do not give them the Christian Church.