Friar Apologizes For Saying Children Sometimes Seduce Priests

Two noted Catholic organizations and a prominent New York friar are backpeddling as quickly as possible after a new interview was published that seems to express sympathy for pedophiles. The entire chat has since been removed, three separate apologies issued and the religious figure in question relieved of his duties, but the controversy still shows no signs of letting up.

The mess started earlier this week when Father Benedict Groeschel was asked about his thoughts on sexual abuse. In a rambling, longwinded answer, he somehow managed to blame children for seducing priests, sympathize with Jerry Sandusky and recommend probation for adults who only have sex with children once. You can take a look at an excerpt below, courtesy of The New York Daily News

”Suppose you have a man having a nervous breakdown, and a youngster comes after him. A lot of the cases, the youngster - 14, 16, 18 - is the seducer. It's not so hard to see - a kid looking for a father and didn't have his own - and they won't be planning to get into heavy-duty sex, but almost romantic, embracing, kissing."

Not surprisingly, the Catholic Church went into damage control mode almost immediately. A statement was put out detailing Groeschel’s numerous mental and physical issues over the past few years, apologies from everyone involved were released and the friar was immediately transferred to a facility where he will receive medical care and live out the rest of his life. That might sound harsh, but best case scenario, this guy’s brain is not operating effectively at all. No matter how many homeless people he fed over the last few decades, he’s become a liability.

Editor In Chief

Mack Rawden is the Editor-In-Chief of CinemaBlend. He first started working at the publication as a writer back in 2007 and has held various jobs at the site in the time since including Managing Editor, Pop Culture Editor and Staff Writer. He now splits his time between working on CinemaBlend’s user experience, helping to plan the site’s editorial direction and writing passionate articles about niche entertainment topics he’s into. He graduated from Indiana University with a degree in English (go Hoosiers!) and has been interviewed and quoted in a variety of publications including Digiday. Enthusiastic about Clue, case-of-the-week mysteries, a great wrestling promo and cookies at Disney World. Less enthusiastic about the pricing structure of cable, loud noises and Tuesdays.