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Posted on 06/11/2002 8:13:16 PM PDT by DallasMike
Has anyone heard about this case of priests "ganging up on a boy in a shower" in Cleveland?
The fact that so many, including the Catholic clergy, don't understand how big this is says volumes about just how bad things are in our day.
When you regularly slaughter defensless, unborn infants (a practice that supposedly these same clergy decry), it isn't that far to go to objectification of children, making them fair game for molestations and worse.
Thus, people like you don't see "the big deal."
My God, do you realize that we've been seeing one instance after another, all over this country, where priests were SENT TO PRISON after having repeated their offenses time and time again, and having been PROTECTED by the closed society that is the American Roman Catholic hierarchy?
At first, I thought it was only a few isolated cases. Now they're coming up with case after case after case, not just of allegations but of ACTUAL CRIMINAL INDICTMENTS, or LEGAL SETTLEMENTS, or whatever.
So, yes, this IS a "Big Story," and the fear is that, given the increasingly closed ranks on the part of that hierarchy as it seeks to protect ITSELF from the onslaught, the story is even BIGGER than anyone knows at this point!
If the Church were to fully cooperate and disclose all its records regarding these criminals, I fear the world would stand agog at the great evil that has been wrought here.
The majority of Catholic leadership is corrupt - liars, perjurers, child-molesters, or protectors of those molesters.
Spare me. The story is just a glorified database listing crimes that were, for the most part, already known. Bringing to light significant new crimes would have been a big story. The Morning News is desperate for readership and Nightline is desperate for viewership. The database is a very useful tool but hardly lives up to the hype.
Yes, it's big because it demonstrates how out of touch the Catholic leadership is with the rest of the flock, of which I am one. Nowhere in this article does it address what EVERYONE knows is the real issue: homosexuality in the priesthood. Homosexuality is a perversion. It has produced an ethic that can convince a practicing homosexual priest he can attack and corrupt young men (almost exclusively the victims here) and still call himself celibate. The corruption is deep, and I grieve that the Church can cleanse itself. The meeting in Dallas will probably just produce a weak and transparent white wash. Will there ever be a day when I can return to Mass with my teenage sons? How many of those attending in Dallas are themselves guilty. Most, I must sadly conclude.
DTS, up in McKinney
You got it! What I would like to see (perhaps it could be gleaned from this database) is what percentage of the victims were male. My guess would be 80% or more.
What is this, your James Carville impression?
You are correct that no new information appears in this article, except perhaps the high percentage of cover-up, and the low percentage of "getting it".
I also learned that these bishops are not only aiders and abettors of sexual perverts, they are also thieves, stealing the peoples' money to shut up the victims; and they are liars. The whole damn bunch should be defrocked!
Add to that obstruction of justice in buying airline tickets for international criminals and sending them far away from the reach of the US justice system.
Please excuse me now--I am going to throw up!
Despite pledges of openness from Bishop Wilton Gregory of Belleville, Ill., who heads the national conference of bishops, some Catholic leaders have failed to provide a complete picture of clergy abuse in their dioceses.
Did you read the RCF link on the other thread naming Wilton Gregory as one of 'Bernadin's Boys'?
Most estimates I've seen range from 90% to 99%.
And therein lies the basis of the problem.
There remain too many Catholics who simply refuse to see the depth and breadth of the problem--from predator homosexual priests to a failed leadership--and choose instead to excuse and defend the Church to the bitter end no matter how much evidence is put before them.
Blame the media, blame the pedophiles, blame the boys and blame the psychologists. Blame everybody else but leave the queer priests and their facilitators, the Bishops and Cardinals, out of it.
You don't have to turn your back on the church to see this for what it is: a perversion. You can still defend the basis tenets of the church and its teachings and yet acknowledge that this cannot be permitted to flourish as a part of that church.
If you do not condemn it--and make very effort to eradicate it--you condone it.
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