Priest Denies Having Sex With FoleyBy FRANCES D’EMILIO, APROME (Oct. 19) – An elderly priest acknowledged Thursday that he was naked in saunas with Mark Foley decades ago when the former congressman was a boy in Florida, but denied that the two had sex
Lame excuse: “Yes it’s true I have sex with underage boys, but it’s not my fault. 40 years ago I was molested, so now I need to go into rehab for my alcoholism (which also caused me to be a pedophile). Please note that I am NOT responsible for my own actions”Sure, it’s possible the priest raped the congressman. Lots of kids were raped by priests (thanks Benedict), but only a select few a-holes become pedophiles. As much as I would love to pin this on the church, this is Foley’s problem. And it’s not alcoholism, it’s perversion!
What I read made me a bit sicker than that. Now, no way do I excuse this asshole Foley for his CURRENT actions.
but this:
sick.
sick.
sick.
and protected by the catholic church.
still!
Bones
I have a little spontenaeity I’d like to try on that priest.
He is very
sick.
bones and karen the priest is not sick he is evil.how can people still have any respect for the catholic church it is one scandal after another.children abused and it’s the devils fault or gods will how pathetic.yet the media fall over themselves kissing up to the pope meanwhile the inbreds think atheists
want to destroy every nation they live in.i may have to start drinking again.
“Yes it’s true I (Mark Foley) have sex with underage boys, but it’s not my fault. 40 years ago I was molested, so now I need to go into rehab for my alcoholism (which also caused me to be a pedophile).
Dave,
Please do not use misleading and innacurate language such as this. Foley NEVER had any sexual contact with the pages, only electronic communications, but even if there was sex involved it would have been legal since the page was sixteen at the time which is the age of consent in DC. Also the term pedophile is innacurate becasue it refers to adults who are sexually attracted to pre adolescents and not to teenagers who have undergone puberty. The term pedophile in regards to Mr Foley is just not correct and it fuels the notion that gay men are all boy hungry monsters. The use of this term in the media has become a huge pet peeve with me and I doubt that if the recepient of the emails had been a female page that the word pedophile would be tossed around so freely.
All this aside what Mr Foley did was underhanded, creepy, and born of shame and repression and he has done more to harm gay advances than anyone in recent memory.
alexatheist:
If I’m not mistaken, the age of consent does not apply to people over 24 (or 25, I forget) years of age. This would protect couples where one person is 16 and the other is 19, however, I don’t think that what you’re proposing would be legal. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
In the District of Colombia the age of consent for sexual relations is sixteen regardless of the difference in age between the people engaged in sex.
Also here is a definition of paedophilia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedophilia
Wow. My god. Did every pedophile in the good ol’ US of A decide to become a priest? I live near Boston, so hearing something like this is nothing new. Jeez. This is getting a bit pathetic. How ANYONE holds these people in high reguard at this point is beyond me.
I’m not excusing Foley but I feel a rant coming on. Why do Catholics perpetuate that sick system they have going with those celibate priests?
Normal people do not pledge to be celibate. The whole Catholic priesthood is set up to be a haven for social misfits and perverts. Plus, where else could gay people have an exclusive club in the Middle Ages? When are Catholics going to catch on?
What’s the worst that will happen if you mess with kids in the Catholic Church? You get sent to live on a cool island or at the Vatican palaces. Honestly they have no shame.
Notice the Father turned the blame to his own nervous breakdown and meds. They always have some excuse. Looks like Foley learned the game from the pros.
While I’m on my rant about this I?ll mention a couple other things that bother me. Why did the religious leaders have to examine the bodies of young girls accused of being witches for “devil marks?” Because they wanted an excuse to have access to naked people back then. Check out the old silent movie Haxan on this topic.
Even Galileo’s daughter, the nun, complained in a letter to her father about the unspeakable acts performed by priests. (See Galileo?s Daughter by Sobel.)
All I’m saying is this crap has been going on hundreds of years. Religious people deserve what they get because they allow it.
Phew. I feel better.
Oh…and sorry for the expression in my last comment. I’m trying to extricate that expression from my vocabulary, but its something I was raised with, unfortunately. But still, its getting ridiculous at this point. You hear so much about this. Evil men. Wolves in white robes.
The reasoning behind the celibacy clause for catholic priests has absolutely no scriptural basis and is bsed on…wait for it…greed. The church realised early on that priests who were married and had children would cost the church money in the form of support and inheritance after death so the pope decided in his infallible wisdom that priests would be subject to a lifetime of asexuality so that their meager earnings would just be enough for them to eake out a living and that all accumulated material wealth would be given to the church upon the death of the priest. This policy resulted in poor local priests and a vulgarly wealthy upper priesthood. Ever wonder why the vatican is practically dripping in gold leaf and artwork? Priestly celibacy is a large part of it.
Good point, alexatheist.
Follow the money. It usually explains everything.
Whatever happened to personal responsibility?
I like alexatheist’s point about married priests and the church losing money to inheritance and stuff. But either way, the church is losing a lot of cash with these child abuse lawsuits. Too bad they didn’t see that one coming.
As for Foley, he’s a loser. He can try to blame getting caught on alcohol and that sicko priest, or he can grow up and admit it was he who committed these vile acts.
Aaaaaah! That great American way…denial, denial and MORE denial!!! When in doubt, blame the priest, or thy father or thy mother, or alcohol or the devil and if all else fails, then get a lawyer! No one can justify, blame and dodge accountability the way a lawyer can!
Hip hip hooray! Let’s keep exporting this wonderful way of life into other countries, no doubt they can use it as much as we can – Well those that survive to enjoy it anyway!
“Faith is believing something you know ain’t true”
Congress passed the Military Commissions Act that screwed every US Citizen in the ass much worse than Foley’s notes to pages.
They have eliminated our right to Habeous Corpus and due process oflaw. Anyone of us can and probably will be incarcerated as “enemy combatants.”
KBR is building my retirement gulag at a secret site, and the other 534 members of Congress and the President of the US just signed the order to send me there. I am really looking forward to my old age home while my government applies an electrode to each testacle.
I mean when examining the morals of our elected leaders, let us not forget who is really screwing us.
I agree that the church bears a great responsibility here. I do not think it lets Foley off the hook in any way.
Celebacy is a ROMAN tradition, not a jewish or christian one. Many pagan cults required it of their priests. Catholics have just stolen alot of pagan practices.
If Foley knew he had a problem that could cost him his job, why did he not get help before taking the job? Why did he parrot the Republican ideaology if he was not Really in that flock? Could his home state not find a better representative? Foley has messed up in so many ways. He put his own greed for money and power, above the needs of the people. Give him prison. Give all representatives prison if they have lied publicly or put themselves above those they represent. Real prison, not a country club. Make those in power responsible. A very simple solution to corruption of all types. If I break the law I know where I will go, why are these guys above the law? They have higher responsibility and should have more to loose. Foley has commited a more serious crime than writing a sixteen year old gay boy. He has lied about his theology and morals to the folks that elected him. A crime that hurt many more people, and one that is unexcusable in my opinion.
Comment from reason:
bones and karen the priest is not sick he is evil.how can people still have any respect for the catholic church it is one scandal after another.children abused and it’s the devils fault or gods will how pathetic.yet the media fall over themselves kissing up to the pope meanwhile the inbreds think atheists want to destroy every nation they live in.i may have to start drinking again.
reason: Whoa, wait a minute. In another post didn’t you claim to have prophetic dreams, and now you’re saying you used to drink? I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m making a connection here…
alexatheist: I never thought about greed playing a part in Catholic celibacy, but after reading your comment it DOES make a lot of sense. But no matter what the reason, we’re still left with a bunch of sexually repressed priests molesting children.
Alex is right — celibacy is nothing bore than an inheritance tool for the church. And the people go for it.
As to Mr. Foley being a pedophile, well, I’m sorry, I think he is. To think this only happened once, or with one teen, or that there was never anything physical, or even that he cared about the legality of the age of consent is naive.
No, he didn’t rape pre-adolescents as far as I know, and maybe that makes my wording too strong. I’ll give you that, but my underlying point is still valid.
As an aside, I don’t think this ever was a gay issue, it’s a sex-with-kids issue. Nobody should infer that gays are all pedophiles. Republican Congressmen, however…
Does anyone else feel that this is repulsive gay-bashing on the part of Democrats? The initial reports were that the pages were underage. I haven’t heard any confirmation recently of any sexual contact at all, let alone with minors. I didn’t expect this of Democrats. As far as I can see, there was no reason for the man to resign. Democrats are the party that supports a man’s right to have sex with another man. I’m quite disillusioned that they would stoop to rank discrimination for political advantage. It’s not worth taking over the house at the expense of gay men and women’s rights. Is there no principle?
Ron
Dave,
How do any of us know if Mr Foley is attracted to pre pubscent kids thus fitting the definition of a paedophile? His behaviour certainly doesn’t make me leap to that conclusion. The fact of the matter is that the USA is hysterical when it comes to young people and sex but a sixteen year old is a functional adult capable of making informed decisions about sexual activity and in DC it is the lawful age of consent. Let’s all pull our heads out of the sand and stop acting like teenagers are not having sex-they are. Would people have got into a panic if this had been a sixteen year old boy and an eighteen year old girl? or a sixteen year old boy and a twenty year old man? at what point in age difference after the age of consent is reached do we say that is disturbing? does there need to be more than ten years age difference to make people freak out? fifteen?
This whole scandal is much ado about nothing and just dirty politics taking advantage of Americas collective homophobia and unease with teenage sexuality.
I’m with alexatheist here; I’d add that Foley seems to be doing a George Michael on the gay angle — stay closeted, but when you’re caught doing something sexually questionable, play the minority card for sympathy.
Dave — I’d agree that Foley was probably not too concerned about the age of consent… but I think it’s “naive” of *you* to assume that the congressman must have made physical sexual contact with a page. E-intercourse is probably much more prevalent than most people would want to acknowledge. And admit it — haven’t you ever had sex to mental images of people you know? (I can’t imagine most boys getting beyond the age of 16 without doing that. Unfortunately, Mark Foley never got beyond the age of 16.)
alexandra they were pathetic not prophectic dreams.
on a serious note alex i don’t think most sixteen or seventeen yr olds are mentally mature.that said until
someone can show that a law was broken we should not rush to judgement.but no doubt about a fifty something and a teen is icky.
speaking of prophesy let me try my hand.i can feel it, yes gas prices will go up.
Hey, reason, from where I’m standing, that sounds awful sexual to me….”let me try my hand” “I can feel it, yes” “will go up” – hummmmm…Mighty suspicious choice of words there…
“If atheists are deaf to the word of god, then theists are blind to the ways of man”
Foley is the tip of the perfurbial iceberg.If the CATHOLIC CHURCH DISSAPPEARED TOMMORROW WE BE BETTER OFF.
darwinluvsu that was a good reply i really left myself open didn’t i. what where the laws on sex back in your native land.my understanding is communists nations were pretty strict
is that correct?