This time in Minnesota. I took the liberty of paring this article down considerably to point out what I felt relevant, edited a lot of fluff, took some liberties with the presentation, and interjected my thoughts along the way. Link to full article forthcoming at the end of this post:

Jennifer Haselberger went public with claims of sexual abuse on children by priests in the clergy. Haselberger took on the church after she felt that: “her warnings about troubled priests were being ignored.” She resigned in April after she says Archbishop John Nienstedt and others did not respond appropriately when she found pornography, including images of possible child pornography, on computer disks that once belonged to a priest who was still in ministry. This came after she says church leaders ignored her repeated warnings dating back to 2008 about another priest who went on to molest two boys in his camper in 2010. Her reason for resigning was: “because church leaders weren’t listening, and she went to authorities and to the media because they wouldn’t change”

After she went public Nienstedt’s top deputy has stepped down, and the church set up an independent task force to review its policies. (isn’t that a bit like appointing the fox to watch the henhouse?)

Haselberger has gone to law enforcement about two priests, and she says she had brought concerns about others to church leaders. She declined to elaborate, but said she expects more details will emerge. Now…get this: Jim Accurso, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, said he could not comment on Haselberger or her resignation because it is a personnel matter. Accurso has said the information portrayed in the media is incomplete because it has been presented without context. (What? A whistleblower came forward about child raping priests, what context does one need to set this straight?)

After a lot of useless fluff and insights to our whistleblower, that lead me to believe that even though she is a church loving, god soaked, anti abortion activist type, she was capable of combating her CD long enough to do the right thing when confronted with sweeping this under the rug, or coming forward.

They end the story with this: Archdiocese attorney Tom Wieser said in a recent court hearing that Haselberger was a “disgruntled former employee” who was unauthorized to investigate allegations of child pornography but did so anyway, something he called “unsophisticated and imprudent.” According to a court transcript, Wieser said Haselberger decided for herself that the images were illegal, and went to authorities, who found no evidence of child pornography. St. Paul Police have since reopened their investigation.

All I can say about our Archdiocese attorney is, shut up you fucking douchebag! Let’s shift the blame here, yeah, make it the whistleblowers fault, and then partake of some character assassination. Oh, and then make it sound like she is a vigilante attacking their esteemed institution for some personal vendetta. Lawyers make me want to puke. Classic denial and coverup strategy. When…when will people stop assuming that they can trust their children with priests? How many children must be raped? What is that number? I want to know. Is it 100? 200? 1000? 10,000? Tell me. With all of the cases coming to light, and they are legion, when will people begin to take thier children’s personal safety seriously? 

Here are some things I have learned througout my life. Some wisdoms if you will. First, do not trust your friend with your girlfriend. Even the best of intentions often lead to places you do not want to go. Second, do not trust family members with money, odds are good you will never see it again. Third, there is no such thing as too much rope or extra tarp. And lastly, granted I do not know this one from personal experience, but the evidence is in folks… Do not trust your kids with the priest down the road. I think at this point they are all suspect, and sooner or later I am going to have to start holding the parents responsible for ignoring this one.

As promised the link with the full story and useless fluff: http://home.myhughesnet.com/news/read/category/Top%20News/article/ap-church_whistleblower_says_she_didnt_do_e-ap