Nos genuflectitur ad non princeps sed Princeps Pacem!
Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)
Posted on 05/17/2012 12:34:47 PM PDT by Natural Law
The American narrative of the Catholic Church's struggles with the clerical sexual abuse of the young has been dominated by several tropes firmly set in journalistic concrete: that this was and is a "pedophilia" crisis; that the sexual abuse of the young is an ongoing danger in the Church; that the Catholic Church was and remains a uniquely dangerous environment for young people; that a high percentage of priests were abusers; that abusive behavior is more likely from celibates, such that a change in the Church's discipline of priestly celibacy would be important in protecting the young; that the Church's bishops were, as a rule, willfully negligent in handling reports of abuse; that the Church really hasn't learned any lessons from the revelations that began in the Long Lent of 2002.
But according to an independent, $1.8 million study conducted by New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice, commissioned by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and released on May 18, every one of these tropes is false.
(Excerpt) Read more at eppc.org ...
I doubt that will put the issue to rest among those who wish to believe the worst about the Church. It will be interesting to see when editorials in the New York Times and the Boston Globe demand in-depth studies of the sexual abuse of the young by members of the teachers' unions, and zero-tolerance policies for teacher/abusers.
I gather this isn’t the angle of the article but the title does suggest the tie between the condition of the Church and the condition of the ambient culture, which IMHO is causative — that is, as goes the church, so goes the culture.
In related possible news:
“A $4 million study of NAMBLA, paid for by a sub organization of NAMBLA, conducted by A, B, or C criminal justice school showed that NAMBLA just has children’s best interests at heart and there is absolutely no danger posed by anyone.”
Also:
“A $2.8 million study of Islamic men, paid for by an American Islamic organization, conducted by A, B, or C criminal justice school showed that Islamic men just have children’s best interests at heart and there is absolutely no danger posed by anyone.”
I gather this isn’t the angle of the article but the title does suggest the tie between the condition of the Church and the condition of the ambient culture, which IMHO is causative — that is, as goes the church, so goes the culture.
Thank you for proving my prediction that those who wish to believe the worst about the Church will ignore the facts. Hagiophobes are so predictable.
The John Jay College of Criminal Justice is part of the City University of New York, a public university. It’s named for one of the most anti-Catholic of the Founding Fathers.
That’s true. John Jay has always been pretty objective - I’ve always wondered how it has managed to survive in NYC’s hyper-politicized environment.
I've read it and cited it a few times in the Religion Forum. It too is dismissed by those who want to believe that Church actively promotes predation and perdition.
I'm of no false impressions. The world will always hate the Church because it hated Him. These studies and books are great for those of us who love Christ, love the Truth and love the Church and want to maintain her as the legitimate bride of Christ.
Or ... vice versa.
Why isn’t the MSM all concerned about the child sex abuse that’s been going on in all of the Public School systems in the major-metro areas of this country, for decades?
First and foremost I am equally suspicious of all denominations. I believe that there is corruption and abuse in all levels of all christian denominations and not just the catholic church. But that doesn’t let any one denomination off the hook just because there are others who do the same thing.
I’ll never hand my trust in The Father, The Creator of All Things, to any human intermediary aside from the man killed 2000 years ago. If that makes me a “hagiophobe” then so be it.
I'm not sure what point you are trying to make, but when problems are effectively dealt with the occurrences go away. No one has ever claimed that abuses never happened or that the Church mismanaged a number of them when the scandal broke. However one feels about the theology of the Church it has cleaned house to the point where the incidence of abuse within the Church is now 1/87,000 what is is in society in general. It shows a will and resolve to fix the problem and sets the standard for every other religious and secular institution.
Its probably the topic for another thread, but if you trust Jesus you ought to trust what He said about His Church.
There has been a significant problem, both in the Church (as well as in various Protestant communities), of allowing the degenerate secular culture to drive changes in the Church under the guise of "being relevant".
This trend must always be resisted and reversed. The Church must be a light to the secular culture, not the other way around.
What there is, is not ‘His’ church. It’s man’s church and man’s tradition.
no, it happens just in that order. when the church is gone altogether, the world will know utter darkness.
Yours is man's opinion. You are certainly entitled to it, but it is not infallible. I will continue to belong to the Church began by Jesus Himself.
Peace be with you.
I do believe that's some kind of law of nature.
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