Crossposted at Scru Hoo and BlogActive.Ever wonder where all these repressed Republican sex offenders learn how to be so repressed and offensive? Well, I'm starting to get the impression that their training comes from the finest conservative institutions of higher learning.
Recently someone emailed me about predatory gays at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University in Virginia. When I posted it, I started hearing all about Patrick McHenry's alma mater, Belmont Abbey College.
Check this out:
While Congressman Pat McHenry was a student there, in the late 1990s, Belmont Abbey College officials knowingly hired as head of its theology department an accused sex offender who had been relieved of his Massachusetts responsibilities. When confronted by the press they lied about it. The truth came out in depositions by Boston's then-Cardinal Bernard Law that officials at Belmont Abbey had been informed that Geroge P. Berthold was dismissed due to such accusations. But the Abbey officials lied about this until the truth came out.
And Creative Loafing Charlotte uncovered this juicy tidbit: between 1995 and 2003, the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte paid $500,000 to local victims of sexual abuse.
So, let's recap: Paying people off, not reporting the abusers, hiring abusers from elsewhere, then lying about knowingly hiring abusers. That's the atmosphere at Pat McHenry's college, from which he was graduated not all that long ago. Gee, do you think he learned more than just history at that Benedictine Abbey in Mt. Holly, North Carolina?
Supporting material:
From Creative Loafing Charlotte:
Since 1995, the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte has paid nearly a half-million dollars to local victims of alleged sexual abuse. The carefully worded disclosure was buried in its 2001-2002 annual report at the end of a description of its policy on protecting young people from sexual abuse.By our deadline on Monday, diocese spokesperson Kevin Murray was still trying to determine how many victims had received the money and the date of the alleged incidents for which they were paid. The report, which was issued in November, states that no payments were made during the last year on behalf of victims of clergy sexual misconduct with children.Boston Globe:
The Archdiocese of Boston yesterday contradicted a statement by Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina that it was told nothing about allegations of inappropriate intimate contact against a Boston priest, the Rev. George P. Berthold, before the college hired him in 1997 to head its theology department.May 18, 2002 Boston Globe
Donna M. Morrissey, the spokeswoman for the archdiocese, said that church officials in Boston had notified the college and the Diocese of Charlotte ''verbally and in writing'' that Berthold had been accused of inappropriate physical behavior with adult seminarians when he was dean of the undergraduate college at St. John's Seminary in 1995.
The head of a Catholic college in North Carolina acknowledged yesterday that the Archdiocese of Boston did inform him of an allegation of inappropriate behavior against a priest seeking a teaching job at the school.Record of Berthold's placements.
Abbot Placid Solari, of Belmont Abbey College near Charlotte, said yesterday that the Boston Archdiocese had told him that an "allegation of improper conduct" had been lodged against the Rev. George Berthold while he was a dean at St. John's Seminary in Boston.
School officials earlier this week said that the Boston Archdiocese told them nothing about the allegation before the college hired Berthold in 1997 to head its theology department.
Berthold abuse of boys at bishop accountability data base.
Last week, CL requested police report numbers, or other evidence documenting that the diocese had reported the alleged abuse referred to in the report to civil authorities. It was also unclear Monday whether the alleged abusers are still actively working or volunteering for the diocese.Photo: Congressman Pat McHenry with Belmont Abbey College Chancellor Placid Solari.
