Catholic church can be held responsible for wrongdoing by priests

The Guardian UK ^ | November 8, 2011 | Riazat Butt

[Alex Murphy]

Victims of clerical sexual abuse will find it easier to bring compensation claims against the Catholic church after a judge ruled it can be held responsible for the wrongdoings of its priests.

[SNIP]

The judge said although there had been no formal contract between the church and the priest, the late Father Baldwin, there were "crucial features" that should be recognised.

He said: "He [Baldwin] was provided with the premises, the pulpit and the clerical robes. He was directed into the community with that full authority and was given free rein to act as a representative of the church. He had been trained and ordained for the purpose. He had immense power handed to him by the defendants [the trustees of the Roman Catholic diocesan trust]. It was they who appointed him to the position of trust, which (if the allegations be proved) he so abused."

It is the first time a court has ruled that the relationship between a Catholic priest and his bishop is akin to an employment relationship. It sets a precedent for similar cases, by providing further guidance for such trials in the future, while also putting the church in uncharted territory. The church has been granted extended leave to appeal the decision.

Lord Faulks QC, on behalf of the defendants, said the church was not seeking to evade responsibility for paedophile priests. "My clients take sexual abuse extremely seriously and are very concerned to eradicate and investigate it," he said. "This case has been brought as a point of law that has never been decided."

[BenKenobi]

“Sure it’s more lenient. That’s the problem. That’s why there were serial molesting priests.”

Blah.

It’s stricter. Most molesters are out in 2 years if they are successfully charged. The reason there are serial priest abusers is because of the bishops.

“Anyone who molests children deserves to be in jail. Indefinitely.”

Well, talk to the courts. Most are out in 2 years.

[metmom]

Ok, now how is that the same as suing McDonalds because the rapist worked there? It’s one thing not to do anything when you are right there, quite another to charge them, when they were not there at all.

You're apparently not reading my posts. It's not that it happened. It's that it happened and people knew about it and either did nothing or moved the guys to protect them. The Catholic church history is replete with examples of it happening. There have been LOTS of threads on the topic.

If McD's knew the guy was raping girls and still kept him on, yes, there would be a case.

[BenKenobi]

Ok, now what if you reported this incident which happened 20 years ago now, and tried to sue McDonald’s because he happened to work there at the time?

[metmom]

Priests are no more likely to abuse children than other occupations, including pastors.

That, then, is also part of the problem.

Does not the Catholic church take the moral high ground? Not only should priests be no more likely to molest as others, they shouldn't even be equally as likely to molest as others.

Knowing what they claim to about God and sin and Scripture, they should be FAR less likely to molest and far MORE likely to put a stop to it when it is found out. Neither of those situations seem to be the case within Catholicism.

Same for pastors.

[BenKenobi]

People shouldn’t be molested at all. But “should happen” and what does happen are sadly two different things.

[PetroniusMaximus]

“Everyone can see how well that’s worked out. It really put a stop to the abuse, didn’t it? The priests, all on their own, just decided to stop raping the kids. Right? Right?”

In a sane world, the Catholic Church, after conviction, would burn these priests at the stake.

[vladimir998]

Your view is entirely irrational. I believe evil doers should be held accountable for what they do. You apparently believe a whole body of people - innocent people - should be held responsible for what the evil doers do. That’s irrational. If a U.S. soldier rapes a South Korean woman, he should go to jail. He’s responsible. I don’t blame his fellow soldiers. They’re innocent. You apparenmtly believe otherwise.

Then, to make your post even more irrational, you post an outright falsehood: “It just staggers the imagination to consider what kind of mind would defend those priests like that and absolve the RCC from being complicit in the very crimes they were permitting and actively covering up.”

And, of course, NO ONE at FR EVER “would defend those priests like that”. Protestants would obviously lie about it, however.

[Salvation]

Does this also mean, then, that Presbyterian Church can be held responsible for wrongdoing by ministers?

Lutheran Church..............repeat the question

Baptist Church................repat the question

Etc.
Etc,
Etc.

[Gamecock]

If there is a pattern of allowing child rapists to continue in the ministry, like the Roman Catholic Church did, yes.

[Salvation]

In 2010,

seven credible cases of abuse were reported in a church that numbers over 65 million adherents.

vs>

(and these are old numbers(

ALL Protestant denominations - 838 Ministers

147 Baptist Ministers

251 "Bible" Church Ministers (fundamentalist/evangelical)

140 Anglican/Episcopalian Ministers

38 Lutheran Ministers

46 Methodist Ministers

19 Presbyterian Ministers

197 various Church Ministers

[vladimir998]

Individuals are responsible for what they do. How can a whole church be held responsible for committing a reprehensible act which the church in fact condemns? If a Presbyterian minister molests a child, then the minister is at fault, not his sect.

[Salvation]

Hammer meets nail.

Thanks!

[boatbums]

LOL

If I had to choose between living in a LEX REX or a REX LEX country, it'd be LEX REX every time! Thank God for the Reformation!!!

[boatbums]

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. -- Romans 13:1

And when the governing authorities say, "Non licet esse Christianus" what does "being subject" involve?

Acts 5:29
Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

[Mad Dawg]

Yep. A little tension there.

[Natural Law]

How many of these people yammering for the equivalent of Church burnings believe that the NFL is responsible for the illegal off field activities of players or that their local school district is responsible for the illegal out of classroom activities of teachers and staff?