On Deathbed, Catholic Priest Implies He Murdered Altar Boy in 1972
In 1972, a 13-year-old altar boy named Danny Croteau was found dead in a river in Massachusetts. At the time, the priest he worked for, Richard R. Lavigne, was a suspect — and for good reason, as explained by the Boston Globe:
The day after Danny's body was found, Lavigne was spotted walking alone along the riverbank as police surveyed the crime scene. When questioned, Lavigne posed a chilling question.
[...]
Law enforcement officials estimate that Lavigne molested more than 250 people from the 1960s through the 1990s, [attorney John] Stobierski said. During civil proceedings, it was revealed that secret files detailing complaints against Lavigne and other priests had been destroyed by two bishops, Thomas Dupre and Christopher Weldon, who were both later implicated in the clergy sexual abuse scandal, he said. Both men are now deceased.
https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2021...y-in-1972/
In 1972, a 13-year-old altar boy named Danny Croteau was found dead in a river in Massachusetts. At the time, the priest he worked for, Richard R. Lavigne, was a suspect — and for good reason, as explained by the Boston Globe:
The day after Danny's body was found, Lavigne was spotted walking alone along the riverbank as police surveyed the crime scene. When questioned, Lavigne posed a chilling question.
[...]
Law enforcement officials estimate that Lavigne molested more than 250 people from the 1960s through the 1990s, [attorney John] Stobierski said. During civil proceedings, it was revealed that secret files detailing complaints against Lavigne and other priests had been destroyed by two bishops, Thomas Dupre and Christopher Weldon, who were both later implicated in the clergy sexual abuse scandal, he said. Both men are now deceased.
https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2021...y-in-1972/
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"