William P. Leahy Quotes
You know how the church has been hit so hard by the sexual misconduct by clergy, and what's that's done to Catholics, especially here in Boston but elsewhere as well.
Leahy, William P. Interview. The Associated Press, 17 July 2002.
The official position of the church was against the child molestation and rape by pedophile priests as it was against artificial contraception. Harris based his conclusion on the effort the church leaders and priests were making for each of the two issues. While the Pope condemned in no uncertain terms the pedophilia of the priests, the sermons and the literature of the church dealt with contraception much more frequently. At the time, the church was still covering up the sex scandal and some church officials were still in denial as to the extent. When the Pope was a cardinal, he also contributed to the cover-up, claiming to be hamstrung by the limitations of cannon law with regard to defrocking perverted priests.
The Roman Catholic Church hierarchy had just cracked down on some nuns and their orders who were discussing and debating classic church positions, like male only priesthood, birth control, women’s roles in the society and in the search. There were many strongly worded admonishments from the Vatican. Down found it odd that the Church Fathers should be so distressed by activist nuns when their reaction to Priest sexual predation of young boys was by comparison, so mild.
William P. Leahy SJ and historical theology (1980). He was ordained a priest in 1978. He received a doctoral degree in U.S. history from Stanford University in 1986.
