What is most disturbing about this report is not the fact of abuse, nor the utter failure of Guiliani to empathize with the victims of abuse, but the total failure on his part and on his friend's part to recognize the importance of a distance between the Church and society. This priest is not apart from society, a shepard of souls, but a player in the civil society he is supposed to be providing some judgment and perspective upon. he isn't an activist, protesting the immrialities of power, but a corrupt power player. The Catholic Church is authoritarian in character, which is simply its history. Modernity meant, as Max Weber discussed at length in his major work Economy and Society, that theocratic authority was to be divorced from political authority. In the US, that difference was well in the minds of the enlightened founders, many of whom were merely deist, and almost all of whom were suspicious of the Catholic Church. This article isn't so much about loyalty as it is about faith and its viscissitudes, the terrible blindness of blind faith, and the corruption of the souls of those who seek to judge all of us. It frightens me that this man is a serious candidate for president.

the politics of personal destruction at their finest.

Isn't there anything substantial you can say about or of Giuliani ?

He employs an old friend as consultant ? Who has never been even charged, not to mention convicted, of any crime ? Who is possibly anonymously mentioned in an obscure report of an institution best known for beeing able to indict ham sandwiches ?

And even assumed (a remote, slim chance) that those more than 20 years old unsubstantiated allegations are true - do you really advocate a lifelong ban on any work for anyone ever accused of something like this ?

I'm no fan of Giuliani, but this smear piece of an article, and by extension its authors, disgsts me.

For 18 years, I've been the director of the nation's largest support group for clergy molestation victims.

I can safely say that in our experience, Msgr. Alan Placa is one of the most cunning and manipulative predator priests we have ever come across.

Guiliani's continued association with him is stunningly callous and reckless.

David Clohessy

National Director, SNAP

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

7234 Arsenal Street

St. Louis MO 63143

314 566 9790 cell, 314 645 5915

the need to extend the statute of limitations for crimes such as child molestation. As the law is now, the victims do not get their day in court simply because they are minors. In a sense, they are raped twice, first by their abusers and then by the system.

Parents, who often seek only to protect their children, do not always report the abuse. It is natural that Catholics who have been taught to trust the church would report abuse to the church rather than to the police. Part of the reason is the shame surrounding the abuse and with being uncomfortable with what they wrongly think is an issue involving homosexuality.

These pedophiles are not necessarily or even often homosexuals. However, much of the general public is quite uneducated about this fact. Doesn't it strike anyone as odd that the Catholic Church is harsher to homosexuals than it is to child predators?

In any case, states should extend the statute of limitations on child molestation so that those victims whose interests were not served by the Church or the judicial system may at last have their day in court.

Also, I was a little nonplused by an earlier poster who seemed to think that the rape of a young child must necessarily be more horrendous than the ongoing abuse of an older child. The trauma of sexual abuse is not merely physical. The psychological trauma often lasts much longer. Children who are abused by people whom they would normally be able to trust -- such as parents, stepparents, teachers, and religious leaders -- struggle all their lives with the emotional damage and with issues of trust.

As to Guiliani, I have to say that even if he believes in his old friend's innocence, the fact that he employs someone of such a dubious background calls into question his judgment in matters of public trust.

This is not dredging up ancient crimes. If Placa was hiding the truth about molestation, the crime of obstruction of justice might be claimed to be much more recent. And the moral judgment that believes it's better to cover up evil, rather than expose it for what it is, is questionable to say the least. From a Catholic perspective, even if the legal statute of limitations has run out, the sin of concealment, and of hurting the victims with that concealment, is renewed every time Placa considers the issue and keeps his mouth shut.

For a public official to hold such a person so close to their hearts is questionable to say the least. Giuliani may "love the sinner and hate the sin" in the case of his long-time friend, but he should also be aware that Ceasar's wife (and by extension, best friend) should be above reproach. And if Placa is such a dear friend, should he not have long ago removed himself from all association with Giuliani in order to protect him?

Both parties' patterns of behavior seem to point to selfish motives. Placa did Giuliana the favor of having his marriage annulled. To anyone familiar with Catholicism, the idea that a marriage lasting the better part of two decades can be erased as if it never happened is ludicrous and wrong. Giuliani does Placa the favor of maintaining him on his payroll. Friendship is nice, but "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" seems to be the basis of it.

A christianly friend of a child molester would want the molester to redeem themselves, and would want truth to be part of that redemption, not cover-up. A christianly child molester (and in this case, a priest!) of a person of authority would want to do what was good for their friend, and would remove himself from all contact to protect him. Neither of these two are behaving in a Christian manner.

One wonders if both aren't doing each other the "favor" of not revealing the truths they know of each other.