TSA hired priest accused of molesting girls to do pat downs

[SecularMotion]

Source: Raw Story

The Transportation and Security Administration (TSA) didn’t bother to do a background check on a priest who had been defrocked for molesting girls before they gave him a job, which included doing pat downs on children at Philadelphia International Airport.

The Philadelphia Inquirer on Monday reported that the agency confirmed that 65-year-old Thomas Harkins had been forced out of the priesthood over allegations that he had sexually abused two grade-school girls.

But the TSA took no actions because “[a]n allegation alone does not warrant dismissal or automatically disqualify applicants from employment with the TSA,” spokesperson Ann Davis told the Inquirer.

The TSA said that they had hired Harkins without a background check because of an urgent need for agents after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Today, the agency no longer conducts mass hirings and a background check is required for every employee.

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/10/01/tsa-hired-priest-accused-of-molesting-girls-to-do-pat-downs/?

[happyslug]

1. More on Thomas Harkins, the person in question

Thomas Harkins

Ordained: 1971

Allegations: The parents of a young girl told the diocese in 1979 or 1980 that Harkins had abused their daughter after meeting her in religious instruction class, a lawsuit alleged.

The suit says that when the parents brought their complaint to another priest at Harkins' parish, that priest responded by threatening them with the loss of salvation. That priest died in 2000.

Harkins was sent away for treatment, with no public disclosure of the abuse allegation.

At about the same time, Harkins, assigned to St. Anthony of Padua Church in Hammonton, allegedly molested a second girl. When her parents complained to the diocese - not until 1986 - they were warned that pursuing the matter could damage the church's reputation, the suit said.

The church paid settlements in both cases, totaling $195,000.

Church response: Despite a state law requiring that police be notified of abuse against minors, the church never contacted authorities in the Harkins case, the suit said. From 1993 to 2000, Harkins was assigned to the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Camden; the parish apparently was chosen because it had few families, Walton said. In 2000, the church made Harkins a prison chaplain.

Bishop Joseph A. Galante criticized the church's handling of the case. "It is indefensible that the complaint was not acted on appropriately," he said.

Walton added: "He should not have been returned to ministry. Law enforcement should have been notified. This would be a serious and inexcusable failure on the part of the diocesan administration to fulfill its obligation to the community."

Status :In 2002, the church permanently removed Harkins, now 59. He could not be located.
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news/2005_10_16_Phillips_ProfilesOf.htm

[KansDem]

6. This is what really irritates me...

The suit says that when the parents brought their complaint to another priest at Harkins' parish, that priest responded by threatening them with the loss of salvation.

Oh, wow...hey! If I press charges against a fucking pedophile who abused my child, then I won't get into heaven! Oh, yeah...oh, yeah...that makes sense!!!

It's this kind of nonsense that converted me to atheism!

[FiveGoodMen]

8. Anyone who covers up such crimes while claiming to speak for god...

Should not be believed.

He can threaten all he wants but that would simply prove that he knows nothing and represents no one.

[Marrah_G]

14. This is why I hate the catholic "church"

To me it is just another organized crime syndicate.

[TahitiNut]

2. It must be nice to love your job.

[Journeyman]

5. Guess there's nothing quite like experience to recommend someone for a position. . .

Hired without a background check because of the urgent need for agents after the September 11 debacle.

Man, the incompetence of those days just continues unabated.

[central scrutinizer]

7. people paid to touch your junk

[SoapBox]

10. ROFL

[hughee99]

18. Nice Venn! n/t

[MysticLynx]

9. Smaller Governement

Except, for womens bodies, and your private parts, then we want BIG government- the bigger the better with which to probe, poke and prod you and force you to carry a pregnancy to the desired outcome of the 'state' even if your life is in danger. Oh and you must worship the "god' of our choice in the manner that we 'deem' holy. Not even sure if putting the little sarcasm smiley fits here as this is what a certain portion of US citizens really really want.

[SoapBox]

11. Maybe instead of "defrocking"...

they should be neutered.

[Marrah_G]

15. they should be jailed

[Bad_Ronald]

12. What's the old saying? "Find a job you love and youll never work a day in your life".

Leave it to the TSA to give a child molester a license to grope. I want to live in a world without the TSA. We don't need this abomination masquerading as a security administration to protect us against terrorists, especially when they can't even protect us from their own employees.

[jtuck004]

13. Remember, it's not like work if you would do it without pay... n/t

[arely staircase]

16. uh, so uh,

the response to 9/11 was hire a bunch of airport security people without background checks? they (we) are lucky all they got was a child molester and not the Haqqani network.

[Marthe48]

17. I just feel so safe

and that my young female relatives are in such good hands. *sarcasm*

[lib2DaBone]

19. Michael Chertoff, Former head of of Homeland Security....

Michael Chertoff ( Former Homeland Security) owns the company that is selling the X-ray machines worldwide at $3 Million a pop.

The American people are OK with this.

The TSA's main function is not security or safety.. it is intimidation.

The TSA will be deployed at sporting events, rest areas, train and bus stations.

The TSA's main function is to make American people come to heel.....to make people accept Nazi Checkpoints.. your papers please.....