Posted on 03/18/2002 10:02:56 PM PST by JohnHuang2
Edited on 07/12/2004 3:52:08 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
The U.S. Catholic bishops have decided to tackle the issue of sexual abuse by priests at their regular June business meeting, but church officials say debate on the church's celibacy requirement is unlikely.
A 50-bishop administrative council for the U.S. hierarchy on Friday affirmed their 1992 guidelines to fight the problem, but said a special panel will make more recommendations when all the bishops gather in Dallas in three months.
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
You're exactly right about the money part, by the way. Sadly.
How many of you (heterosexual) guys out there, if finding yourself without a wife or sex partner for a while, would start looking to young or teenage boys to get your fix? When will people start THINKING for themselves, rather than letting the media tell you what to think - about the Catholic Church or anything else for that matter??? This is simply not logical.
As a TRUE Catholic who knows my faith, theologically and otherwise, listening to the moronic, ignorant, and ludicrous opinions and commentaries by the media on what the Church should do about this is enough to make me puke. These idiots don't know what the h*ll they're talking about, and are using this issue to simply promote and spread their religious bigotry.
And another thing - in most of these cases it's not even pedophilia. The majority of the cases involve teenage boys. Still horrible, but the word is being thrown around and overused to create more anger and rage. It's a fact that the incidence of this behavior among priests is no more than in the general population. Priests are human too and are capable of committing human sin just as much as the layperson. How priests get to the point of committing such crimes is another topic of its own.
This is the real root of the problem (article below), and YES IT NEEDS TO BE ADDRESSED AND ROOTED OUT OF THE CHURCH! As a Catholic who loves my faith I'm disgusted with this behavior, but it in NO WAY invalidates my faith or the Church itself (there will always be tares alongside the wheat). Priest: Gays Threaten Church
The problem has a lot to do with the liberal policies which came in after Vatican II which made becoming a priest a lot easier. When they actually had to study Latin, Greek, theology, and philosophy, wear clerical garb always, and actually do priestly work most of the time, it was a less attractive crash pad and cash cow for recreational homosexuals. This is the result of the infiltration of the Church by the aggressive gay subculture. Any bishop who has tolerated this or swept it under the rug should resign. I am sicked that we, as Catholic conservatives, wrote to Rome and complained and complained about all of this nonsense over twenty years ago and not only was practically nothing done about it but the gay-liberal agenda continued to be promoted at Catholic seminaries and universities in this country. Did it really take this long for the authorities to wake up? Why is there a "gay" club at the "Catholic" Georgetown University in Washington? That ought to be shut down tomorrow. Why was The Vagina Monologues monologues allowed to be shown at Holy Cross and Notre Dame? Why is a creep like Richard McBrien allowed to continue to pretend to be a "Catholic" theologian without discipline from his bishop?Why does Fordham University have an anti-Catholic professor of sociology on its faculty who writes anti-Catholic books? Why was a charlatan like Cardinal Bernardin so lionized and adored by secular liberals who hate the Church? Why has Rome tolerated the heresy, sacrilege, iconoclasm, and buffoonery of a Bishop Weakland? This queer stuff didn't happen in a vacuum. There is an entire
anti-Catholic subculture within the American Church. They should all be kicked out. Every sick liberal bastard.
One thing I often think about is how they have gone and named so-called Catholic colleges using names like "Georgetown," and "Fordham" University? Doesn't sound too Catholic to me, but that must be the idea.
BTW, a priest-friend of mine (one of the good, holy guys) once told me that a seminary of his order is known as the "Pink Palace" !!!
I think I'm going to be writing my own letter to the Vatican very soon, if for nothing else than to vent my frustrations on paper, as I'm sure it will get lost in the shuffle anyway. I really feel for the Holy Father, because I know he grieves to the bone over what is going on. I just wish he could do something in one sweeping motion.
The magesterium is pure but much of the human structure of the church has come under occupation by a hostile fource of heretics and homosexuals. Many "conservative" bishops, priests, and laymen are serving as collaborators with the enemy by their docility.
We genuine Catholics must recognize that a state of WAR now exists. We must use every weapon available including prayer, investestigation, and even street action to reclaim our Catholic institutions. If we don't, anti-Catholics are justified in blaming us for the crimes of those we allow to rule in our name.
I once saw "Father" Richard McBrien on ABC's NIGHTLINE, Ted Koppel's show that Disney/ABC may dump for Letterman. The topic was exorcism and diabolical possession. McBrien DENIED the reality of supernatural evil. He dismissed the theological category of a supernatural mystery of inquity (i.e., Satan)as mythology, etc.. This is all available on the transcripts. Now, his bishop had to have heard about that. The president of Notre Dame must have heard about this. Rome, for God's sake, must have heard of this. WHY is this guy still a priest? He's a professional heretic. This was several years ago. Why is McBrien still walking around under the delusion that he is a Catholic priest in good standing while that conservative guy Gruner is targeted for discipline, and that other orthodox conservative Fr. Fessio is being silenced by his Jesuit superiors in California? This is nutty. How many active queer priests do you think they have in California? And Fr. Joseph Fessio of Ignatius Press is the one targeted for hazing like this by liberals because he's orthodox? Who's running this circus? Fr. Fessio is reassigned while Weakland continues his iconoclastic wrecking crew? I mean, that makes me want to throw up. If JP II is the hero of orthodoxy his admirers make him out to be, get rid of Weakland. Send Law to a monastery to do penance for covering for pedophiles. Defrock Richard McBrien and hire some Catholics to teach at Notre Dame. Put Georgetown under interdict. This is just common sense.
It is clear we do have a critical moral crisis within the American Roman Catholic Church deserving the attention of Cardinal Ratzinger's commission. I have no doubt this review is taking place as you read this post. However, conveying your specific concerns to the Cardinal for his review is more than appropriate.
The following is background about the CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH provided within the above URL:
Founded in 1542 by Pope Paul III with the Constitution "Licet ab initio," the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was originally called the Sacred Congregation of the Universal Inquisition as its duty was to defend the Church from heresy. It is the oldest of the Curia's nine congregations.
The only curial organism which is older is the Secretariat of State, whose forerunner, the Apostolic Secretariat, was created by Innocent VIII on December 31, 1487, with the Constitution "Non debet reprehensibile."
Pope St. Pius X in 1908 changed the name to the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office. It received its current name in 1965 with Pope Paul VI. Today, "according to Article 48 of the Apostolic Constitution on the Roman Curia, 'Pastor Bonus,' promulgated by the Holy Father John Paul II on June 28, 1988," "the duty proper to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is to promote and safeguard the doctrine on the faith and morals throughout the Catholic world: for this reason everything which in any way touches such matter falls within its competence."
The congregation is now headed by Prefect Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. It has a secretary, Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, S.D.B., an under-secretary, P. Gianfranco Girotti, O.F.M. Conv., and a staff of 31, according to the 2001 "Annuario Pontificio" or "Pontifical Yearbook." It also has 23 members - cardinals, archbishops and bishops - and 27 consultors. Given the nature of its task, congregation work is divided into four distinct sections: the doctrinal office, the disciplinary office, the matrimonial office and that for priests.
The congregation, says the "Activity of the Holy See," in conformity with its raison d'etre, promotes in a collegial fashion encounters and initiatives to "spread sound doctrine and defend those points of Christian tradition which seem in danger because of new and unacceptable doctrines."
I agree with everything you said, howlingly...Just a note to put it over the top, were you aware that after Weakland destroyed the Cathedral, he signed his work by having a large portrait of himself put in a roundel on a side aisle? In the portrait, he's smirking. A far cry from medieval donors (and even bishops) who had themselves painted in at the far corner of an altarpiece, kneeling and begging for mercy along with all the other sinners. I guess Weakland has moved beyond pre-Vatican II things like sinfulness and humility.
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