Scharfenberger to close Buffalo's Christ the King Seminary

[ALF]

Buffalo, N.Y., Feb 4, 2020 / 02:45 pm (CNA).- The interim leader in the Diocese of Buffalo announced Tuesday that the diocesan seminary will suspend its operations at the end of the current semester.

 

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/scharfenberger-to-close-buffalos-christ-the-king-seminary-95284

 

Very sad for Catholics , as a altar boy in the early 60s our priest gave us a tour of the high school seminary on Dodge St . What have they done

[/dev/null]

Initial reaction (to thread title).  Scharfenburger, sounds like when you're in a hurry at lunch. 

 

Secondary reaction (to post)

as a altar boy in the early 60s our priest gave us a tour of the high school seminary on Dodge St

Is that what the kids called  it in the 60s

 

[LabattBlue]

That property has to be worth the some money.  For those who aren't familiar with it, it is behind Knox Farms State Park just outside of Main St in East Aurora.

 

https://goo.gl/maps/H9wTnDaANqrRSuDy6

Edited February 5, 2020 by LabattBlue

[ALF]

1 minute ago, LabattBlue said:

That property has to be worth the some money.

 

To pay some of the law suits, sad

[SDS]

2 minutes ago, ALF said:

 

To pay some of the law suits, sad

What’s the sad part?

[ALF]

3 minutes ago, SDS said:

What’s the sad part?

 

That it happened but most of all the cover up that let it continue for who knows how long. The poor victims have to be taken care of no matter what it takes.

[SDS]

4 minutes ago, ALF said:

 

That it happened but most of all the cover up that let it continue for who knows how long. The poor victims have to be taken care of no matter what it takes.

Thanks. That’s what I was hoping you were going to say.

 

As a former Catholic... ***** them. Personally, I don’t see how anybody could remain in that church. I don’t have enough cognitive dissonance  to separate what that entire institution did to kids, the resulting cover up and their current insistence that they could possibly assert any moral superiority or give moral guidance ever again. 

[ALF]

5 minutes ago, SDS said:

Thanks. That’s what I was hoping you were going to say.

 

As a former Catholic... ***** them. Personally, I don’t see how anybody could remain in that church. I don’t have enough cognitive dissonance  to separate what that entire institution did to kids, the resulting cover up and their current insistence that they could possibly assert any moral superiority or give moral guidance ever again. 

 

I'm nearing the end and just don't know what to think any more about religion . 

[SDS]

1 minute ago, ALF said:

 

I'm nearing the end and just don't know what to think any more about religion . 

there’s a difference between a belief in a higher power and organized religion. I have come to terms with that. 

[Guffalo]

My uncle used to teach there (he was a priest) when it was St. John Vienny seminary. As kids he would take us for weekends when there were breaks (no students) We would get our own dorm room, use of the facilities, the lake was awesome for a kid. After his funeral I dragged my siblings there to see it one last time. Still seemed like a huge place when we saw it back in 2000. 

 

[Augie]

10 minutes ago, SDS said:

there’s a difference between a belief in a higher power and organized religion. I have come to terms with that. 

 

Thank you! I could go on about this for hours, but I will spare you all. 

[Marv's Neighbor]

This is a society problem, not an individual religion problem.  If the Public Schools, Religious affiliated schools outside the Catholic area, and dare I say Muslims were investigated to the same levels, you would see similar results.

 

Recently the Buffalo News ran a story about alleged abuse in the local Boy Scouts.  The troop had some sort of church affiliation, but it apparently was not a Catholic church, so no other details were provided. 

 

Closing the seminary is a no brainer.  It was losing $500K a year.  Unsustainable by any standard.

[RochesterRob]

5 minutes ago, Marv's Neighbor said:

This is a society problem, not an individual religion problem.  If the Public Schools, Religious affiliated schools outside the Catholic area, and dare I say Muslims were investigated to the same levels, you would see similar results.

 

Recently the Buffalo News ran a story about alleged abuse in the local Boy Scouts.  The troop had some sort of church affiliation, but it apparently was not a Catholic church, so no other details were provided. 

 

Closing the seminary is a no brainer.  It was losing $500K a year.  Unsustainable by any standard.

  Yep, this is not just a Catholic problem but a societal problem.  The kids have not been in church for decades so the predators have moved on to other parts of society.

[SDS]

3 minutes ago, RochesterRob said:

  Yep, this is not just a Catholic problem but a societal problem.  The kids have not been in church for decades so the predators have moved on to other parts of society.

In the case of the Catholic Church, it wasn’t just a case of predators going through the steps to get access to victims. It’s that the entire church structure knew what was going on and these moral beacons of light tried to hide it at best and enabled more of it at worst. From the Pope on down. Rotten to the core. Decade after decade after decade. 

[ALF]

10 minutes ago, Marv's Neighbor said:

This is a society problem, not an individual religion problem.  If the Public Schools, Religious affiliated schools outside the Catholic area, and dare I say Muslims were investigated to the same levels, you would see similar results.

 

Recently the Buffalo News ran a story about alleged abuse in the local Boy Scouts.  The troop had some sort of church affiliation, but it apparently was not a Catholic church, so no other details were provided. 

 

Closing the seminary is a no brainer.  It was losing $500K a year.  Unsustainable by any standard.

 

That's the price of training priests , it's not a profit making deal. I agree it should be closed due to past accusations of abuse there.

 

Fr Gatto was my pastor here in Lockport 

 

[GoBills808]

15 minutes ago, Marv's Neighbor said:

This is a society problem, not an individual religion problem.  If the Public Schools, Religious affiliated schools outside the Catholic area, and dare I say Muslims were investigated to the same levels, you would see similar results.

 

Recently the Buffalo News ran a story about alleged abuse in the local Boy Scouts.  The troop had some sort of church affiliation, but it apparently was not a Catholic church, so no other details were provided. 

 

Closing the seminary is a no brainer.  It was losing $500K a year.  Unsustainable by any standard.

Are you suggesting that Catholic organizations in the US are more closely scrutinized than their Muslim counterparts?

[Gray Beard]

I feel like so many institutions that I grew up respecting are failing dramatically.  Church, government, schools, health care, and infrastructure (and probably others) are all in trouble.  Usually it’s due to greed and avarice. I don’t know where things are heading, but it’s not good. 

 

I was raised Catholic, but my family was pretty informal about it.  My wife’s family is hard core. It seems weird to me. 

 

I’m surprised that so many priests and bishops looked the other way and hoped it would all just go away. Totally contradicts everything they’re supposed to stand for. 

[RochesterRob]

7 minutes ago, SDS said:

In the case of the Catholic Church, it wasn’t just a case of predators going through the steps to get access to victims. It’s that the entire church structure knew what was going on and these moral beacons of light tried to hide it at best and enabled more of it at worst. From the Pope on down. Rotten to the core. Decade after decade after decade. 

  I don't think that anybody would say that bad decisions were not made by the Church.  I would say fix the problems and move on.  Let married men become priests and possibly women as well.  Some say once you pick and choose what you want to practice that you no longer have the church you started out with.  I don't know that I agree with that.  It was always said that the Church forbade marriage for priests because it would make church assets subject to divorce settlement.  I don't know how much I believe that as women had little social standing prior to the 19th Century.  Anyways, here we are in 2020 and before it gets done there will be little in the way of assets to go for divorces.  I don't know how many riches the Church needs in the 21st Century anyways.  It would be one thing if they were used for the poor or education but I see little of that done.  The existence of the Catholic Church was a bulwark that protected quite a number of traditional social ideas and actually a few modern ones.  Would they be protected in another system as well?  Would there be any less persecution?  

[Augie]

9 minutes ago, Gray Beard said:

I feel like so many institutions that I grew up respecting are failing dramatically.  Church, government, schools, health care, and infrastructure (and probably others) are all in trouble.  Usually it’s due to greed and avarice. I don’t know where things are heading, but it’s not good. 

 

I was raised Catholic, but my family was pretty informal about it.  My wife’s family is hard core. It seems weird to me. 

 

I’m surprised that so many priests and bishops looked the other way and hoped it would all just go away. Totally contradicts everything they’re supposed to stand for. 

 

All of the bad stuff is real, and I hate it. I hate the acts, I hate the damage done and I hate the coverups. Words cannot express this adequately. 

 

Another regret I have is the pain to all the very decent people who get grouped in unfairly. We have a couple dear friends who are Catholic priests. We rented a house from one while my son finished his last year of HS, and went to Spain with another last fall. Amazing people. They are extremely vocal in their feelings on this matter, but they get lumped in in the eyes of some people, and that’s just wrong. 

 

Life is complicated. 

 

 

[GoBills808]

1 minute ago, Augie said:

 

All of the bad stuff is real, and I hate it. I hate the acts, I hate the damage done and I hate the coverups. Words cannot express this adequately. 

 

Another regret I have is the pain to all the very decent people who get grouped in unfairly. We have a couple dear friends who are Catholic priests. We rented a house from one while my son finished his last year of HS, and went to Spain with another last fall. Amazing people. They are extremely vocal in their feelings on this matter, but they get lumped in in the eyes of some people, and that’s just wrong. 

 

Life is complicated. 

Personally I feel the pain of a few Catholics getting painted by too wide a brush is a pittance to the pain of priests ***** little boys who trusted them.