Raping Children is God-given Religious Freedom for Pedophile Priests- Archdiocese

Catholic Church: Raping Children is Religious Freedom for Pedophile Priests Archdiocese claims sexual abuse is 'God-given liberty' By: Jay Greenberg  |@NeonNettle on 24th June 2017


© Neon Nettle

Press Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee claims child rape is 'religious freedom' In a shocking statement by one the Catholic Church's high-ranking clerics, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee has claimed that pedophilia is a "God-given liberty' for priests.

The sickening comments were made by Cardinal Timothy Dolan after he was caught allegedly transferring church funds into a separate trust in order to insulate them from clergy child abuse lawsuits.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee sought to protect $55 million of its funds from lawsuits brought by victims of priestly sexual abuse, so it transferred those funds into a separate trust set up to care for the archdiocese’s mausoleums and cemeteries, according to a letter penned by then-Archbishop of Milwaukee Timothy Dolan.

Once the sexual abuse victims sought those funds in a bankruptcy proceeding, however, the archdiocese claimed that it had a religious liberty to sexually assault children so it shouldn't have to use that money to compensate victims of abuse.

According to Church and State, the accusations against the Milwaukee Archdiocese are particularly horrific and involved 45 priests who are accused of molesting almost 200 deaf boys.

According to Think Progress, they first sealed the $55 million in funds from bankruptcy by putting it in a trust for cemeteries and mausoleums. They then tried the religious freedom defense.

That worked at first when a court ruled in 2013 that their religious freedom did shield them from paying victims.

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals overruled the first court. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the victims will see the money, though. It will likely be appealed again.

The church is claiming that because the money is in a fund for cemeteries and mausoleums, they won’t be able to fulfill their obligation of servicing dead people if they are forced to pay for the people whose lives they’ve ruined.

Religious freedom became an issue after the archdiocese claimed that it had a Canonical obligation to “properly maintain in perpetuity” the cemeteries and mausoleums funded through the trust.

If victims of sex abuse or other creditors are compensated out of these funds, the archdiocese says, “there will be no funds or, at best, insufficient funds, for the perpetual care of the Milwaukee Catholic Cemeteries,” and thus the archdiocese claims that it will be unable to fulfill a religious obligation.

In rejecting this claim that the archdiocese has a religious right to spend the trust’s funds on burial places and only on burial places, the Seventh Circuit offers several reasons why religious freedom cannot trump the rights of the archdiocese’s creditors and those of its clergy’s victims.

Perhaps most significantly, the court holds that the archdiocese’s religious liberty claim would fail even under the strictest level of constitutional scrutiny.

The court ruled that churches don’t get to opt out of paying Social Security taxes – that the public’s interest can supersede religious freedom:

 Drawing a comparison to a Supreme Court decision holding that religious objectors may not opt out of Social Security taxes, the court notes that federal bankruptcy law, like Social Security, “serves the public interest by providing a comprehensive … system with a variety of benefits available to all participants’ nationwide.” 

Just as Social Security “aids those who have reached a certain age or are disabled, the Code aids those who have reached a certain financial condition and who need assistance repaying or recovering a debt.

”The court warns that if this becomes a precedent, that there’s no telling where it will end.

Anyone at any time could join or create a cult just to “gain economic advantage”  or businesses can use their own religious beliefs, no matter how bizarre, to discriminate or to violate laws in the same way the Catholic Church has attempted to justify pedophilia.

Read more at: http://www.neonnettle.com/news/2310-catholic-church-raping-children-is-religious-freedom-for-pedophile-priests
© Neon Nettle