Disgraced U.K. cardinal admits bad "sexual conduct"
Edinburgh Cardinal Keith O'Brien attends a mass held by Pope Benedict XVI with newly appointed cardinals at the St. Peter's Basilica on November 25, 2012, in Vatican City, Vatican. /Getty Images
LONDON The cardinal who until recently served as Britain's highest-ranking Catholic leader on Sunday acknowledged having engaged in unspecified sexual misbehavior and promised to play "no further part" in the public life of the church, a statement that comes at an awkward time for the Vatican.
Cardinal Keith O'Brien resigned Monday from his position as archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh after a newspaper published unnamed priests' accounts of unspecified inappropriate behavior.
O'Brien initially rejected the claims, saying he was resigning because he did not want to distract from the upcoming conclave of cardinals that is due to pick a successor to Benedict XVI, who resigned the papacy Thursday. O'Brien also said he would not attend the conclave.
But on Sunday, the Catholic church in Scotland issued a statement quoting O'Brien as saying that there had been times "that my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal."
"To those I have offended, I apologize and ask forgiveness," the statement continued. "To the Catholic church and people of Scotland, I also apologize. I will now spend the rest of my life in retirement. I will play no further part in the public life of the Catholic church in Scotland."
O'Brien gave no clue as to what exactly his sexual misbehavior consisted of, but his statement is nonetheless another reminder of the church's struggle shake off a litany of sex scandals, including those involving pedophile priests.
The claims against O'Brien were first reported by The Observer newspaper.
In its Feb. 24 edition, the British newspaper reported that O'Brien was alleged to have made what it described as "an inappropriate approach" to a seminarian after night prayers.
The paper also said another priest had reported "inappropriate contact" with O'Brien following a visit to his parish, a second priest had reported "unwanted behavior" by the archbishop following a late-night drinking session, and that a third had reported being taken advantage of when he went to the archbishop for counseling.
All four, the paper said, had sent letter of complaint to nuncio Antonio Mennini, the Vatican's ambassador to Britain, early last month.
The paper did not cite a source for its reporting last week, but in this Sunday's edition it quoted the still-unnamed former seminarian as saying that the church had failed to respond quickly and appropriately to his complaint.
O'Brien has at times had a rocky tenure as a cardinal.
In 2003, as a condition of assuming that rank, he was forced to issue a public pledge to defend church teaching on homosexuality, celibacy and contraception. He was pressured to make the pledge after he had called for a "full and open discussion" on such matters.
At the time, O'Brien said he had been misunderstood and wanted to clarify his position. But statements made last week, before the scandal over his behavior broke, suggested he never really changed his mind.
In an interview with the BBC, O'Brien said celibacy should be reconsidered because it's not based on doctrine but rather church tradition and "is not of divine origin."
Throughout the 2,000 year history of the Catholic Church, every king, emperor, ruler, people and nation that attempted to destroy the Catholic Church has failed, collapsed and been tossed onto the junk heap of history, while the church continues. Where is ancient Rome? Where is Attila the Hun? Where are the Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Vandals and the rest of the barbarians? Where is Voltaire and the other Catholic haters of 18th century France? Where is Napoleon? Where is the Soviet Union? All gone and yet the Catholic church remains. The Catholic church still stands. None of you, not a single one of you will ever bring the church to an end. You will ultimately die in your frustration as has every church hating bigot throughout history. This is the church founded by Jesus Christ, the incarnate God who died and rose from the dead. This is the church to which he promised the Holy Spirit who would be with the church until the end. This is the church that has survived every attack from both outside and inside and continues to grow throughout the world. Go ahead and waste your time, your words and your energy. You are guaranteed to fail and fail miserably. God bless the Holy Catholic church that will survive until Jesus returns at the end of time.
You don't know your history very well do you Ben? C'est dommage. The Catholic church is called in the Nicene Creed of 325 AD the "one, holy, catholic and apostolic church." You're wrong again.
The Catholic church was called Catholic almost from the very beginning during the lives of the apostles. The Council of Nicaea did not invent anything new. It only reflected and confirmed what was known and believed from the earliest days of the church. This can be seen in the letters of St. Ignatius the Catholic Bishop of Antioch that were written in 106 AD or in the Apostle's Creed which is an even earlier 1st century Roman baptismal formula. Pope St. Gregory the Great who died in 604 AD was the 64th pope, the 63rd Successor to Peter so sorry, but no he was not the first pope. From what I've seen fundamentalists have no better grasp of history than do their atheist brethren because both reject the light of Christ in favor of their own fantasy. Also the amount of sexual abuse of minors among fundamentalists and groups like the Southern Baptists is far, far greater than anything that has ever happened in the Catholic church. Please spend some time and learn some real history. When you try to learn only by reading headlines you make real idiots of yourselves.
wonder how many current cardinals are also like this one. wonder too how many popes in the last 50 to 100 years have been like this cardinal. this cardinal should be defrocked and thrown out of the church organization with the pension of the lowest ranking clergy person. the biggest blame lies with the hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil catholic congregations.
The problem is that certain forms of sexual misconduct have been going on for decades in the RCC. The problem has become instutionalized with in the whole church. The church mangement is focusing on keeping a lid on the misconduct instead of asking what needs to be changed.
They are fighting a rear guard action that has no chance of sucess and will cause them great damage in the end. The need to end in-church sexual molestation, not perfect the coverup.
Just those Catholics living in their little dream world. So many of their faithful still won't accept the fact that this has been going on for thousands of years and the cover-up will continue for years to come.
Beginning with his work as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and continuing as Pope Benedict XVI, former Cardinal Ratzinger put into place strict new rules and regulations and confirmed existing Canon Law in such a way that homosexuals who cannot maintain their commitment to clerical continence will not be admitted into the Catholic priesthood.
These changes have already produced dramatic results. During the years 2009, 2010 and 2011, there were a total of 4 valid complaints of sexual harassment against priests in the U.S.
Since there are some 41,000 priests in this country, this means that 99.99% of all priests remained faithful to their vow of celibacy, a number that is infinitely better than what has occurred in Protestant denominations, Jewish congregations and in the sexually notorious American public school system where sexual abuse of minors is out of control.
This is directly due to the work of Ratzinger and the other Bishops and Cardinals who have worked so hard to protect Catholic children and end this terrible scourge in the Church.
Overall, a total of 1.5% of all American Catholic priests ordained from 1960 to 2000 participated in any sort of sexual abuse, most of which was definitively identified as homosexual ephebophilia, which is known in the gay male community as being carried out by adult homosexual "chicken hawks" who favor pubescent but legally underage boys as their sexual partners.
A good book that delineates the history and clarifies the problems in the Church - and which was published before the scandal broke - is "Goodbye Good Men" by Michael Rose. Highly recommended.
What is the definition of "valid complaints"? Oh, that's right, whatever the Catholic Church says it is. So if there is no "valid complaint", according to you that means 99.99% of priests are celibate. My god, your posts are such irrational BS. But one cannot argue with someone who is brainwashed.
WHOA! When did things change. The article quotes Cardinal O'Brien as saying: "that my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal." Last I knew, ALL PRIESTS in the Roman Catholic church were supposed to ABSTAIN from ALL sex rather than have sexual standards. What's acceptable now; sex with parishioners, child molestation, but no sex with other priests? Perhaps I have it backward?
Although Cardinal O'Brien is clearly a man who has struggled with homosexual tendencies and sought out illicit homosexual sex acts with seminarians and priests, the use in this article of the word pedophilia or its cognates is entirely disingenuous.
Catholic seminarians - of the kind who accused O'Brien of unwanted advances - are typically in their early 20's and so are fully adults. And of course ordained priests are typically even older than that. Pedophilia is a word of convenience for the media but it rarely if ever describes what we have actually been dealing with in the Catholic Church.
O'Brien is a perfect example of the clerical abuse scandal that the Church has been working to resolve for more than a decade. He has an unnatural same-sex attraction and has, at least in the past, been unable to control it.
There have been many good, decent and holy priests who have dealt successfully with an innate same-sex attraction which, while it is still abnormal, they were able to fully control and remain celibate.
slow, I think by "rarely if ever", servorum means that the multitude of child abuse cases are very small in comparison with the number of priests who prey on adults.
It absolutely doesn't matter what religion men are, they are only sorry about their conduct after they have been caught. Men will try to get away with anything and if I've learned nothing else in 40 years, I have certainly learned that.
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The Catholic church is called in the Nicene Creed of 325 AD the "one, holy, catholic and apostolic church." You're wrong again.
They are fighting a rear guard action that has no chance of sucess and will cause them great damage in the end. The need to end in-church sexual molestation, not perfect the coverup.
These changes have already produced dramatic results. During the years 2009, 2010 and 2011, there were a total of 4 valid complaints of sexual harassment against priests in the U.S.
Since there are some 41,000 priests in this country, this means that 99.99% of all priests remained faithful to their vow of celibacy, a number that is infinitely better than what has occurred in Protestant denominations, Jewish congregations and in the sexually notorious American public school system where sexual abuse of minors is out of control.
This is directly due to the work of Ratzinger and the other Bishops and Cardinals who have worked so hard to protect Catholic children and end this terrible scourge in the Church.
Overall, a total of 1.5% of all American Catholic priests ordained from 1960 to 2000 participated in any sort of sexual abuse, most of which was definitively identified as homosexual ephebophilia, which is known in the gay male community as being carried out by adult homosexual "chicken hawks" who favor pubescent but legally underage boys as their sexual partners.
A good book that delineates the history and clarifies the problems in the Church - and which was published before the scandal broke - is "Goodbye Good Men" by Michael Rose. Highly recommended.
Last I knew, ALL PRIESTS in the Roman Catholic church were supposed to ABSTAIN from ALL sex rather than have sexual standards. What's acceptable now; sex with parishioners, child molestation, but no sex with other priests? Perhaps I have it backward?
Catholic seminarians - of the kind who accused O'Brien of unwanted advances - are typically in their early 20's and so are fully adults.
And of course ordained priests are typically even older than that.
Pedophilia is a word of convenience for the media but it rarely if ever describes what we have actually been dealing with in the Catholic Church.
O'Brien is a perfect example of the clerical abuse scandal that the Church has been working to resolve for more than a decade. He has an unnatural same-sex attraction and has, at least in the past, been unable to control it.
There have been many good, decent and holy priests who have dealt successfully with an innate same-sex attraction which, while it is still abnormal, they were able to fully control and remain celibate.