Myself like many of my friends participated in Life Teen at the Catholic church when we were in high school. Life Teen was founded by Monsignor Dale Fushek in Arizona. The Mission of Life Teen reads: "LIFE TEEN is an international Catholic ministry that serves the Church and leads all teens closer to Christ by providing resources and training that encourage vibrant Eucharistic celebrations and opportunities for teens to grow in their faith." (from lifeteen.org)
However it has recently hit the new media that the founder of Life Teen, Fr. Fushek who is credited with numerous good things for the church - bringing America's young Catholics back to the church, and basically running the pope's youth rally visits to Tempe in 1987 and to St. Louis in 1999, also molested and abused boys who attended Life Teen at his church.
With all the boys who have come forward, there is reported to be a "pattern of recruitment and seduction of teenage boys spanning at least a decade." (from phoenixnewtimes.com)
This is shocking seeing as Life Teen has become such a national program. How many other teenagers have been abused at other parishes relating to Life Teen? I know there are many good priests out there who run parishes, but it is just shocking to realize how many "bad" priests were hidden and moved around the country. Sad too.
Here is the article about the abuse allegations on the founder of Life Teen: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1334726
Yes, so shocking. Anyways I did a new posting...go enjoy.
ReplyDelete