Posted on 11/30/2011 1:52:20 PM PST by Alex Murphy
With all due respect, Pope Benedict XVI either lives in an alternate reality or needs better PR handlers. His comments over the weekend to U.S. bishops about the sex abuse of children showed a continued disconnect with the church’s mishandling of this ongoing scandal. The pope referenced the church’s “conscientious effort” to confront sex abuse by priests.
Uh? Perhaps the pope meant to say conscientious cover-up.
No institution has done more to deny and downplay the sexual abuse of young boys than the Catholic Church. No institution has done more to discredit victims and protect pedophile priests than the Catholic Church. And no institution has done more to avoid accountability for decisions made at the highest levels to cover up decades of sexual abuse of boys by scores of priests.
After decades of denial, it is really stunning for the pope to talk about the church’s “conscientious effort” to confront this scandal. At best, there have been some half steps brought on mainly by legal actions. If anything, the church has orchestrated a conscientious effort to minimize the scandal and hide behind any legal statute of limitations. But most everyone—including many Catholics like myself—is still waiting for church leaders to root out all the problem priests and hold others accountable for the cover-up.
The pope is right that all of society’s institutions—not just the Catholic Church—must be held to “exacting” standards in their response to sex abuse of children. He correctly called pedophilia a “scourge.” But then the pope had the gall to hold up the church as an example for how to confront the problem.
“It is my hope that the Church’s conscientious efforts to confront this reality will help the broader community to recognize the causes, true extent and devastating consequences of sexual abuse, and to respond effectively to this scourge which affects every level of society,” he said.
If other institutions follow the church’s lead regarding the handling of sex abuse by priests, well, then heaven help us all. David Clohessy, head of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said: “No public figure talks more about child safety but does little to actually make children safer than Pope Benedict.”
Of course, one can’t help but feel the pope’s recent comments were timed to coincide with the sex-abuse scandal at Penn State. In a sense he was saying: “See, the church isn’t the only institution with a pedophile problem.” At Penn State, former defensive football coordinator Jerry Sandusky has been charged with sexually abusing eight boys over a number of years. Some have said the two scandals are similar because of the cover-up that reached the top echelon of two esteemed institutions.
But that is also where the similarities end. Unlike the Catholic Church, Penn State has taken swift and decisive action, with more likely to come. Days after Sandusky’s indictment, university president Graham Spanier was forced out and legendary coach Joe Paterno was fired. Granted the university, like the church, initially did its best to cover up the abuse. But unlike the church, once the allegations came to light there were no excuses or denials or efforts to blame the media by the university trustees. Instead there has been real accountability. Those not charged with crimes were removed from power because they failed to alert law enforcement. Including JoePa, the proverbial pope of Penn State.
“The church to this day, while waving a moral flag, hasn’t even come close to the Penn State Board of Trustees response,” said Kristine Ward, chair of the National Survivor Advocates Coalition. She pointed out that no bishops have been fired. “Issuing self-satisfied pats on the back while children remain in danger only further diminishes the church’s credibility and deepens the laryngitis in its moral voice.”
The pope is correct that child sex abuse isn’t limited to the church. But no one has said as much. The reason so much attention has been paid to the church is because of the Vatican’s supposed moral authority; the abuse stretched around the world; and the cover-up was extensive. “While child sex crimes happen in every institution, in no institution are they ignored or concealed as consistently as in the Catholic Church,” Clohessy said.
Not even at Penn State.
One fact is that catholic countries are the ones that are socialist and socialists have desire for young boys. So I am not surprised that the Catholic church is involved in these things. Tell me why Catholics have this love for socialism.
The Non-Catholic Clergy accused of abuse were ARRESTED for their crimes unlike the Catholic Clergy accused who were shuffled to different parishes to continue their behavior and the victim and/or their parents were paid off to keep quiet!
Too often, problem teachers are allowed to leave quietly. That can mean future abuse for another student and another school district.It’s a dynamic so common it has its own nicknames—“passing the trash” or the “mobile molester.”
Too often, problem teachers are allowed to leave quietly. That can mean future abuse for another student and another school district.It’s a dynamic so common it has its own nicknames—“passing the trash” or the “mobile molester.”
Some were arrested, as were some of the priests. Like school teachers, boy scout leaders, college coaches and the many, many others that abuse children though, many were passed around. See the article above.
That said, if they would just let those teachers, coaches, protestant ministers get married, this tragedy could have been avoided, right?
The useful question would be the rates compared.
And if you're going to call anyone “enabler of evil” you won't have to look far since so many of the bishops covered and even gave recommendations to priests they knew were abusers.
“lazy reporters and catholic bashers”? It took them (like the Boston Globe for one) to do what the Catholic leaders would not and fought every effort to accomplish by others, that is expose the serial child molesters.
Oh...well thanks to you both then!
That cartoon kills two birds with one stone by misrepresenting both the Catholic Church abuse scandal and the Penn State abuse scandal.
sure we did, but you must learn to differentiate between the Catholic church and individual Catholic parishes. Are the weak people within the church?, of course there are, we are all human. Is the Catholic church itself weak or evil?, of course not. Remember, when a priest is involved in this sort of thing, suit comes against the Catholic archdiocese, when the accused is a protestant minister, your only recourse is against his local congregation.....not much money there except for insurance!
With countries like Sweden and North Korea being particularly devoutly Catholic...
"So-called investigation" of what, Maciel? Are you kidding?
The LC's have been basically put under the direct supervision of the Vatican, after an "Apostolic visitation" (which is a euphemism for a official investigation). That doesn't sound like "a timid and [sic] averting of official eyes" to me. Sounds more like a takeover by the head office.
Here's what Wikipedia has to say about it:
On May 1, 2010 the Vatican said that the Pope will name a delegate and appoint a commission to review the Legionaries of Christ following revelations that the order's founder sexually abused numerous underage seminarians and fathered at least three children with two women. In a statement, the Vatican denounced the Rev. Marciel Maciel for creating a "system of power" that enabled him to lead an "immoral" double life "devoid of scruples and authentic religious sentiment" and allowed him to abuse young boys for decades unchecked. The Vatican issued the statement after Pope Benedict XVI met with five bishops who investigated the Legion to determine its future.[31] The Vatican statement was remarkable in its tough denunciation of Maciel's crimes and deception.
The "very serious and objectively immoral acts" of Fr. Marcial Maciel, which were "confirmed by incontrovertible testimonies" represent "true crimes and manifest a life without scruples or authentic religious sentiment," the Vatican said.[33] The Vatican said the Legion created a "mechanism of defense" around Maciel to shield him from accusations and suppress damaging witnesses from reporting abuse. "It made him untouchable," the Vatican said. The statement decried "the lamentable disgracing and expulsion of those who doubted" Maciel's virtue. The Vatican statement did not address whether the Legion's current leadership will face any sanctions.[34] Actions taken by the current Legion leadership will be scrutinized; but no specific sanctions were mentioned, amid suspicion that at least some of the current leaders must have been aware of Maciel's sins. The Vatican acknowledged the "hardships" faced by Maciel's accusers through the years when they were ostracized or ridiculed, and commended their "courage and perseverance to demand the truth."[35]That doesn't sound very "timid" to me.
the catholic church has set up a clearinghouse, to document this evil that exists.....where is the protestent clearinghouse???? the catholics are addressing this (albeit slowly, but addressing it nontheless )where is the protestant clearinghouse, and what are they doing about the evil that exists in their congregations? answer is plain, NOTHING.......it is far easier to deflect than to accept, it would appear
The Globe had no problem with some of those same molesters when they were heroic and charismatic "gay" priests standing up against the wicked and homophobic Roman hierarchy.
Just like they have no problem now with homosexual pederasty. They only find it convenient to be indignant about it when they can use it to take down the Catholic Church a notch. Google "Boston Globe" and "Gerry Studds" sometime. Congressmen who molest 17-year-old boys are heroes to the Globe.
O.K., the Catholic leadership is at least on a moral level of the Boston Globe. Still, what would have been the case without the Globe? It seems the “tax collectors and harlots” are going ahead of them.
“the catholic church has set up a clearinghouse, to document this evil that exists..”
I doubt the bishops and priests involved in the doing and covering up the abuse need documentation and for certain the victims do not.
If the Catholic church is the apostolic and true church of Christ should it not be held to a higher standard than the heretical and schismatic Protestants? Won’t more be demanded from those who were put in charge of much according to the rule stated at Matt. 12:48?
No deflecting now.
Just for the record, there is no such “corporate” body known as “the protestant church”.
Also for the record, “charistmatic” wasn’t even around at the time of the reformation, and many “baptistic” groups weren’t part of that historic reformation.
Also, in America any yardbird can hang out a sign and call himself a pastor, evangelist, youth leader, teacher, etc., and since the ignorant definition of “protestant” used by the uninformed in this country is usually “anything that isn’t Roman Catholic or Orthodox”, then in America any numbers you might have seen are so seriously flawed that it isn’t even worth discussing.
“The Vatican statement was remarkable in its tough denunciation of Maciel’s crimes and deception.” I'll skip the large letters, thank you.
Of course now that the stench has reached the noses of the public after Maciel is dead. And what of the enablers? Those who let the wolves feed on their sheep?
No, I'm not kidding, not at all.
“The Vatican statement was remarkable in its tough denunciation of Maciel’s crimes and deception.” I'll skip the large letters, thank you.
Of course now that the stench has reached the noses of the public after Maciel is dead. And what of the enablers? Those who let the wolves feed on their sheep?
No, I'm not kidding, not at all.
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