Police: Pennsylvania priest caught with pantless 15-year-old on college campus

[HarveyDarkey]

From Kevin Conlon, CNN
updated 8:46 PM EDT, Fri September 20, 2013


The Rev. W. Jeffrey Paulish faces a count of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and a count of unlawful contact with a minor.

(CNN) -- A Catholic priest in Pennsylvania has been charged with molesting a teenage boy after police said he was found in a car on a college campus with a 15-year-old who was wearing no pants, according to a police criminal complaint filed Friday in Lackawanna County.

The Rev. W. Jeffrey Paulish was charged with one felony count of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and one felony count of unlawful contact with a minor after Dunmore police say they found him and the boy on Thursday in a car on the Worthington Scranton campus of Penn State University, according to the complaint.

Paulish, 56, of Scranton, was also charged with three misdemeanor counts -- indecent contact with a person under 16, indecent exposure and corruption of a minor. He is being held at the Lackawanna County jail on $50,000 bail.

Dunmore police officers say they discovered Paulish and the boy after responding to a call of a suspicious vehicle, according to an arrest warrant affidavit filed with the court.

Allegedly Paulish told police he was at the campus working on his homily when he met the teen, who he said was in emotional distress, and began counseling him.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/20/justice/pennsylvania-priest-sex-charges/index.html?on.cnn=1

[gopiscrap]

1. Just great....I wonder if they would allow married (same sex and hetero) priests

if some of this would stop happening

[Gravitycollapse]

2. If we see these priestly positions as magnets for pedophiles, we realize that allowing marriage...

Will not change the practice.

Priestly pedophilia is implicitly endorsed, possibly even necessitated, by the power structure of the church. To dismantle the avenues by which pedophiles come to their positions would be to dismantle the church.

[gopiscrap]

3. interesting take on it

I went to Catholic school and knew a boy who was molested by a priest. Now me on the other hand was just incessantly knocked around by the nuns.

[Gravitycollapse]

5. Look at it like this, why is corruption such a common issue in public office?

The power structure endorses it. In order to remove the corruption from public office, we would have to radically alter what it means to hold public office.

If the power structure of the church endorses pedophilia, the only way to end such offenses is by radically redefining the church. Which is a horrific thing to consider for the powers-that-be. Not that they necessarily approve of pedophilia. But it is, to them, the necessary cost of keeping their own power. Which perfectly explains the continuous, spontaneous cover ups, desire to punish from within and unwillingness, ultimately, to stop the abuse.

[nomorenomore08]

11. Never have I seen it put so starkly. But I fear you're correct.

As a "cultural Catholic" - raised and educated in the Church, but never practicing - I see the fundamental corruption of the institution. Which is one reason I've never embraced the faith.

[blueamy66]

20. I went to Catholic for 13 years and never knew one child that was molested.

So we cancel each other out, don't we?

Oh, and I was never touched by a nun either.

Love these anecdotes

[rickford66]

26. maybe so

But, I doubt a kid who was molested would broadcast it to his friends.

[blueamy66]

27. Um, these "molested" kids are broadcasting their "stories" to the rooftops....

there's a lot of $ to be made

My brother and a bunch of friends were altar boys. Nobody was touched.

Hey, I believe that some bad stuff happened, but I also believe that there are a lot of people jumping on the bandwagon just for fame and fortune.

People can post a shitload of mean stuff about the Catholic Church, but it isn't gonna change my mind about my faith.

[rickford66]

29. wrong

You're making the assumption that all kids that are molested want to make money because of it. The great majority are ashamed and keep quiet. Similar to rape. Only a small percentage gets reported.

[Aerows]

24. The nun that taught typing at my high school

went a little demented and chucked a typewriter at a student! You don't mess with nuns.

[MADem]

6. It's endorsed because those criminals have come to power.

If criminals -- and that is what a fifty six year old man is, messing with a fifteen year old child-- are held accountable, and married priests in adult relationships enter into the priesthood, then they will become the leaders one day.

They need to include women in the priesthood, though, and I think Old Frank is a bit slow outta the gate on that issue.

I don't think the head So and So in charge is a pedophile, and he's got a fair amount of clout. He can start to shift the paradigm.

[Gravitycollapse]

7. Like I said above, to change the power structure is to radically change the church.

And the powers-that-be have no interest in putting their jobs and benefits in jeopardy.

We also have to consider the possibility that there is something fundamental to Catholic church doctrine that necessitates the enlistment of pedophiles. That there is some common characteristic between the type of men called upon by church doctrine and the type of men who rape children. That's not a very comfortable thing to consider. But, considering the sheer number of cases, it is a very real possibility.

I happen to think this has a lot to do with the church's abjectification of sexuality in general. Which creates an environment conducive to sexual repression and, ultimately, as Foucault held, an explosion of sexuality between the receivers and providers of confession.

Much of modern sexuality is born of this obsession between dirtiness and confession. So it is of little wonder that the confession itself becomes eroticized. Especially by people who already have issues with the role of power in their sexuality.

What I'm saying, again, is that allowing priests to get married and women to become priests will not change the issue of pedophilia. Because agreeing with such an argument suggests that otherwise normal men, when sexually repressed, start having sex with children. That's simply not the case. If you have pedophiles as priests, offering them the chance to marry is a pointless endeavor.

[MADem]

8. Well, I think Old Frank at the top of the food chain there is making some noise....

I think he wants to get back to the whole notion of "good works" and be less about the Thou Shalt Not stuff....

The organization is not static. How many priests who left to marry might return if they had a chance? How many married people would consider joining up if the restrictions were lifted?
How many of these newcomers, men and women, would keep a weather eye on Father So and So if he seemed to be getting a little creepy with the kiddies, and how many of 'em would lecture the little ones to TELL TELL TELL if one of those guys started bothering them?

That's how you change the culture, with new blood. New blood, new rules, and severe punishment/banishment for those who break the rules.

Once upon a time, the US Army was segregated. It sure as hell ain't anymore....no one thought that culture could be changed either, but it was.

[Freddie]

13. Agree about the Pope

He sees that at least here in the USA, the Church's message has become "all abortion all the time" and he wants more emphasis on those other Catholic values like helping the poor. While not changing the "rules" about abortion, contraception, gays or women priests, I think he's trying to change the focus of the church to doing good for society. A step in the right direction.

[MADem]

18. What's funny is the baastids screaming about choice, contraception and equality are

rich as all hell and CHEAP as all hell to match. They wouldn't give a poor person a pair of mittens in a blizzard.

There are too many so-called Roman Catholic idiots who will spend a million bucks building a "monument to the unborn" and too few like Conan O'Brien (who gave a million bucks to a feeding center in an impoverished city north of Boston--I guess his college roommate was the priest there, and he was doing his old pal a solid...).

[xfundy]

9. I would guess "no."

It's a power thing, someone with "authority," no matter how dubious, will seek to use that authority over others, as has happened forever.

EG, security guards at malls using their situational authority over kids or anyone they regard as "breaking the rules" by whatever standard they make up on the spot.

[adavid]

19. The Orthodox Church...

allows married Priests.

[gopiscrap]

25. Welcome to DU

[Journeyman]

4. "…began counseling him." Is that what the older folks call it these days? . . .

[Buns_of_Fire]

10. And a new euphemism is born!

I was just getting settled in to using "snoo-snoo," and now I'm going to have to train myself not to snicker whenever someone mentions that they're going to a career counselor.

[B Calm]

12. Pope Francis wants priests to be able to marry, like that

would stop the pedophilia in the church.

[HereSince1628]

14. Agreed, it might change the profile of seminary recruits somewhat, but I doubt it would stop

sexual abuse by priests.

IMO, it might possibly move sexual abuse by priests toward a frequency of type and occurrence that reflects what goes on in the leadership of other religious organizations...which is non-zero.

More importantly, it's unclear how that change alone would extinguish the culture of denial and cover-up of wrong-doing by the clergy.

If the abuse and other lawlessness is less but it's still denied, covered-over, and facilitated to continue elsewhere it would, nonetheless, remain a problem for the relationship of a lawful society and that religious institution.

[RandiFan1290]

15. What's up with PA?

Bunch of freaks up there.

[hatrack]

17. Yeah, that's some in-depth "counseling", "Father" . . . .

[malaise]

21. Counseling now means take off your pants

he was at the campus working on his homily when he met the teen, who he said was in emotional distress, and began counseling him

[tabasco]

22. Would you trust your child with a priest? n/t

[SugarShack]

28. Well they did just bust a "rent a boy" ring in the freakin Vatican...

Pope's bank clean-up man 'found stuck in lift with rent boy' - Europe ...



www.independent.co.uk › News › World › Europe‎



Jul 19, 2013 - Pope's bank clean-up man 'found stuck in lift with rent boy' ... ushers and a member of the Vatican choir were involved in a gay prostitution ring.


TV and Mainstream Media Censor Vatican Rent Boy ... - vatican crimes



www.vaticancrimes.us/.../tv-and-mainstream-media-censor-vatican.html‎



Jul 1, 2013 - VATICAN CITY, ROME --- Reports that a former Italian priest has given ... of nine priests who operated a rent boy ring at the Vatican began circulating ... a vatican bank scandal (where a Vatican Monsignor was caught trying to ...


Vatican Officials Busted in Rent Boy Scandal | CarnalNation



carnalnation.com/content/.../10/vatican-officials-busted-rent-boy-scandal‎



Vatican Officials Busted in Rent Boy Scandal ... Thomas Ehiem have been removed from their duties for involvement in a gay prostitution ring. ... Balducci was arrested last month after being caught in an investigation of public corruption in ...


Vatican rent-a-boy prostituion ring revealed by priest : worldnews



www.reddit.com/r/.../vatican_rentaboy_prostituion_ring_revealed_by/‎



Jun 28, 2013 - Vatican rent-a-boy prostituion ring revealed by priest (cathnewsusa.com) ...... they continue to do it despite having been caught so many times?


Catholic bishop in charge of cleaning up Vatican finances 'got stuck ...



www.dailymail.co.uk/.../Catholic-bishop-charge-cleaning-Vatican-finances-...

Jul 20, 2013 - ... of cleaning up Vatican finances 'got stuck in a lift with a rent boy and ... a member of the Vatican choir were involved in a gay prostitution ring.


Vatican 'rent-boy' prostitution ring exposed: 'underage boys ...



article.wn.com/.../Vatican_rentboy_prostitution_ring_exposed_underage...‎



Aug 24, 2013 - Rent-a-boy Scandal rocks the Vatican: Convicted Priests Exposes .... OUTRAGEOUS: Catholic Priest CAUGHT MASTURBATING during mass!