Will the Catholic Church Fix the Problem?

[Shepherd 2]

Ok, I am now ready to address a topic that is timely, hot and truly controversial. I am tired of the daily headlines of a church and its heirarchy that is "fiddling while Rome burns" just Nero so long ago.

The so called "living saint" the priest who is most respected and influential in Santiago Chile, stands accused of being a pedophile. It is a cover-up that nauseates us beyond relief. How dare the church revictimize his innocent victims of all these years. Some say he is absolutely innocent. Enough already.

That was yesterday, so today we read of Bishop Rogeer Vangheluwe of Bruges, since 1985, who admits sadly to pedophilia even while he was a bishop and has now resigned. How long must we wait for justice from the Church? How long?
Pleas for forgiveness will not rectify this situation. How horrific.

Now is the time for an admission of incredible mismanagement of this in church life over the past years and this last century in particular. Clean house or else let our state justice system enter and do it for you. It must be done, and now.

It is small comfort to know that one day all these creeps will have to stand before the white throne of judgement and answer for their crimes against children. Sadly the tools to screen out such predators from the process to ministry have been available for over 70 years. All the fuss about abortion from a church that remains silent about child sexual abuse by the clergy and others in the church is not acceptable.

Express your outrage and name the creeps you know. The next to last straw for me was when a German Bishop stood before a packed church in Holy Week and berated all his priests, when we are talking about a small (one in maybe every three or four hundred priests) who are predators and criminals. Most priests are wonderful people who are overworked, poorly paid, living a faithful celebate life, and now humiliated by Bishops who need to face the real issues facing the Catholic Church.

But the last straw this week was when an Argentine bishop announced that the real problem was all those gay priests and gays in the church. This is a damnable lie, for 95% of all pedophiles are heterosexuals. I demand a retraction of this untruth and an apology.

A Churchman and a lover of the Church,
Shep+

 

[Críostóir]

I don't think the Church is capable of changing, any more than it's capable of policing itself. Sadly, the secular authorities appear to be too chickenshit to actually investigate and prosecute the bishops for obstruction of justice.

In fact I think that in the US all the assets and resources of the RCC should be frozen under RICO, since the entire organization is implicated in the criminal conspiracy it's been perpetrating.

 

[Críostóir]

the US Catholic Church has seen success with adopting a zero tolerance policy, training people to recognize potential abuse, and running background checks on both clergy and church employees... hopefully other branches will do the same.

When the bishops who moved these pedopriests around go to jail, I'll believe some reform has taken place. Til then they're still "protecting their own," and anyone who participates in THAT is a criminal.

 

[Shepherd 2]

▲ True, and thanks for saying so, but that has not closed the book on decades of past abuses. What must we do about that? In particular a long list I know of men here who were abused by one priest or another. It makes me sick to my stomach when I read their notes to me. Will there ever be healing for them and closure?

Shep+

 

[Críostóir]

shit, and here I thought the catholic-run soup kitchen I worked in was serving food to homeless people, not concentrated evil.

The RCC still does a lot of good in the world, it's true. But that doesn't excuse the evil they do.

 

[Nomenclature]

"The significant problems we face cannot be solved using the same thinking we used when we created them." - Albert Einstein

-----

Sinead O'Connor was a victim of sexual abuse by the Catholic Church. She tore up the picture of Pope John Paul back in the '90s to protest the fact that he was ALLOWING molestation to go on right in the Vatican. People gave her a lot of shit for it and it ruined her career, but hopefully people can finally see that she was right and had a LOT of guts for being one of the first people to speak so openly about it.


And this is coming from someone who hates her music.

 

[Glenn2507]

"would you bow before the pope and kiss his ring if given the chance ? "

No, but then again, he's no royalty. And only religious people would think about doing that.


There are priests and bishops that did awful things, but as someone pointed out, it's not all of them that do those things. There are also good ones. Most are, but of course, those you don't hear about.

Just abolish religion all together. It'll cause a lot less friction in the world.

But do realise that taking away the title of priest, doesn't make the pedophile disappear.

 

[cityboy-stl]

Will the Catholic Church Fix the Problem?

No, because they don't understand the problem. They're not willing to accept fundamental change in their sexual ideology and emotional immaturity of their priests.

That's all I'm going to say. Every time I talk about it I get ripped.

 

[Críostóir]

Benedict has been a lot more aggressive than JP2 in tackling the issue. I kinda feel like he gets an overly bad rap because he's scary looking and not especially charismatic.

He's guilty of it himself!!! The coverup, I mean. When he was bishop of Munich and again as leader of the Inquisition (now renamed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith), which was in charge of this. He let one pedopriest continue serving for FOUR YEARS after he found out!

No, this asshole is part of the problem. Don't expect HIM to be part of the solution; he'd have to step down himself, and there's no precedent or procedure for a pope resigning.

But do realise that taking away the title of priest, doesn't make the pedophile disappear.

No, but it DOES take away a major tool these bastards use to get away with their crimes. People trust them. People entrust their kids to them. Kids believe them when they say "don't worry, this is how God wants us to be close" and "if you tell your parents they'll send you away and you'll never see them again."

Also, if they weren't priests they wouldn't have a different set of evil bastards protecting them and moving them to another community and another job instead of reporting their criminal behavior to the secular authorities as they're legally required to do. Not to mention threatening and bribing the families to keep quiet.

A lot of the pedopriests are now in prison or dead. I want the bishops in prison too. How about 20-to-life for EACH INSTANCE of covering up? They could also be charged with conspiracy to abuse children.

They (the bishops) should be gen pop in maximum-security prisons. They should have "I am a child molester" tattooed on their faces (since by enabling that behavior they are guilty of it).

 

[Shepherd 2]

"would you bow before the pope and kiss his ring if given the chance ? "

No, but then again, he's no royalty. And only religious people would think about doing that.


There are priests and bishops that did awful things, but as someone pointed out, it's not all of them that do those things. There are also good ones. Most are, but of course, those you don't hear about.

Just abolish religion all together. It'll cause a lot less friction in the world.

But do realise that taking away the title of priest, doesn't make the pedophile disappear.[/QUOTE]

In the red, I do not agree, the two thousand year course of Christianity is not up for grabs because of yesterday's headlines. I realize that many gays and lesbians have been unmercifully abused verbally and otherwise by the leaders of the Church. I pray for the reformation of the church where it is in error, and I still do. As Martin Luther once said, "Let us not throw out the baby with the bath."

How right you are in the green comment above. A priest who is a pedophile is still a pedophile when he is no longer a priest. This is a lesson learned the hard way. Los Pecos, NM used to be a place of treatment, and then it was hoped predators were cured and could be returned to productive life as priests. It was sadly not so. Then there was the priest in Wisconsin who preyed on deaf children, sorry, I take this personally, for I was for years a vulnerable deaf man.
After he was removed from his Church assignment, he simply went to the north woods and continued to prey on innocent children in the surrounding communities.

The priest in Chile who is so reverred is Father Fernando Karadima. One of his victims was preyed on for twenty years, from age 17 through age 37. He is a 44 years ol gastric surgeon today. I want justice, and I want it now. I do not want this brushed away and hidden in ecclesiastical courts and hidden from us.

Pedophiles are not curable by any known method, and therefore they must be warehoused in institutions until they die, all that in order to protect children. I think this is a strong case for stern methods.

Shep+

 

[Seasoned]

I have a different take on this. Not all sex abuse is pedophilia, because not all victims were children. Parents apparently let their children down by not pressing the issue. What laws weren't enforced when these matters were brought before civil authorities, if in fact they were brought forth? What role did homophobia play in keeping abuse quiet until after the gay rights movement? There is plenty of culpability to go around. And don't think for a minute this is limited to Catholic priests, or that it has stopped or ever will. Unsupervised people somehow have to be accountable and screened. Unfortunately, people who are drawn to children, whether they be clergy, doctors or teachers, need scrutiny.

 

[Críostóir]

I have a different take on this. Not all sex abuse is pedophilia, because not all victims were children. Parents apparently let their children down by not pressing the issue. What laws weren't enforced when these matters were brought before civil authorities, if in fact they were brought forth? What role did homophobia play in keeping abuse quiet until after the gay rights movement? There is plenty of culpability to go around. And don't think for a minute this is limited to Catholic priests, or that it has stopped or ever will. Unsupervised people somehow have to be accountable and screened. Unfortunately, people who are drawn to children, whether they be clergy, doctors or teachers, need scrutiny.

Parents were threatened with being cast out of the church community. Parents were bribed with hush money. That doesn't excuse them; it just makes the crimes of the bishops even worse.

In general they weren't. If I recall correctly, in a few cases the civil authorities colluded with the [STRIKE]dons[/STRIKE] bishops to get the offenders out of their community...showing no responsibility for other communities. But mostly the Church successfully hushed it up before the civil authorities ever heard anything.

It helped convince the boy victims to keep quiet, on pain of being accused of being queer. As far as I know it played no role in the cases of the female victims.

 

[Shepherd 2]

As my Blogs will show, I was abused by a pedophile cousin. I know it is not easy to report people who are trusted by our parents. He was a war hero, and I thought no one would believe me. Furthermore, for reasons not ever understood, I somehow thought it was all my fault.

If he had been a priest, it would probably have been not easier, and probably a lot more difficult.

The Church must step up and as best it can confess the nasty deeds that have been covered up, and so far as is possible make things right.

Stop blaming the victims.

Shep+

 

[frankfrank]

shit, and here I thought the catholic-run soup kitchen I worked in was serving food to homeless people, not concentrated evil.

The RCC will gladly use their soup kitchens as pawns in their anti-gay crusade. Didn't the RCC shut down all the soup kitchens in Wasnington D. C. because The District proceeded with gay marriage?

 

[Shepherd 2]

Of their own violition? No, it'll have to take some lawsuits and even then, BIG battle.

And this is another black eye for every Christian of whatever stripe around the world. I am sorry, you are probably correct in your assessment. So be it. Let the litigations and arrests begin.

Shep+

 

[SLOPPYSECONDS]

all relgions shake hands with da powers what a be evens a Prime minster go join catholic church

so no great rush many countrys systems gonna do anything about anything anyway and news media more stuff ta spin airwaves keep populations all settin up burning fires and hangin trees

but ya hopes so many millions populations gone escape their cultures apron strings and learn with all so great educations Proportion and persepective and figure fa selfs as many people doin lot countrys long time now
except them folk gone sleep with theirs news media and countrys spin machines and professions stuck up their own asses

Hey folks work fa reglions all over world leave um join just one cause ya countrys need ya fix their stupid systems run by males still in nappys

cue anime

 

[Shepherd 2]

The RCC will gladly use their soup kitchens as pawns in their anti-gay crusade. Didn't the RCC shut down all the soup kitchens in Wasnington D. C. because The District proceeded with gay marriage?

Catholic Charities are increasingly a thing of the past. The time for pulling a power play in the name of charity is ending, and people are seeing the lack of real compassion and caring in those institutions such as the soup kitchens.

Frank, thank for your contribution to this discussion.
Shep+

 

[gsdx]

For them to fix the problem, they must first admit that it exists.

 

[Críostóir]

For them to fix the problem, they must first admit that it exists.

Good point. They're still pretending it's a bunch of isolated cases, rather than a systemic issue.

 

[Toddxxx]

Finally it's being done in the USA, but probably only because of it is severely hurting their bottom line financially. The church has to wake up to the reality of its medieval concepts and doctrines about sexuality and procreation. Celibacy and virginity as positive values? You must be out of your mind! Birth control, masturbation, gay sex, etc. etc., and the list goes on about how the church is so out of touch with sexual reality. Blame Paul and Augustine perhaps, but today the church needs a return to the Jesus Before Christianity when "church" meant the people, not a bunch of old, (allegedly) celibate men decided what is right or wrong.