Posted on 03/20/2010 9:35:25 AM PDT by JoeProBono
Irish victims of clerical child sexual abuse are deeply disappointed by Pope Benedict's letter of apology as it fails to address the role of senior church leaders, a group representing victims said.
"My first response was deep disappointment in the letter," said Maeve Lewis, executive director of victims group One in Four.
"We feel the letter falls far short of addressing the concerns of the victims."
She said the Pope's letter focused too narrowly on lower-rank Irish priests without recognising the responsibility of the Vatican and senior Irish clerics for protecting offenders and dealing with victims.
"There is nothing in this letter to suggest that any new vision of leadership in the Catholic church exists," she said.
The letter also does not refer to the resignation of the head of the church in Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady, which victims groups have demanded, she said.
Pope Benedict expressed his "shame and remorse" for episodes of child sex abuse, saying "serious mistakes" were made by Irish bishops in responding to allegations.
"You have suffered grievously and I am truly sorry," the Pope said in the letter signed on Friday.
He said priests and religious workers guilty of child abuse "must answer" for their crimes "before properly constituted tribunals".
"Openly acknowledge your guilt, submit yourselves to the demands of justice, but do not despair of God's mercy," he said, addressing himself to offenders.
The Pope announced a mission to Irish dioceses rocked by sex scandals to assist "the local church on her path to renewal" and said he was ready to meet again with victims of child abuse.
Predominantly Catholic Ireland has been shocked by three judicial reports in the past five years that revealed ill-treatment, abuse and cruelty by clerics and a cover-up of their activities by church authorities.
New abuse scandals have also come to light in the Pope's native Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Switzerland.
Is anyone surprised that the greatest institution for good in the history of the world is the greatest target for those who wish to eliminate God from our society? Does anyone not see that the Church was infiltrated or corrupted from within by ungodly persons and was also a victim in this?
The anti-Catholic forces will NEVER be satisfied until the Pope falls prostrate at their feet or converts to Islam.
Snarky quips and cartoons to not trump fact. What differentiates the Catholic Church from the Protest denominations on this issue is that the Catholic Church has been open and aggressive is dealing with the problem. Non-Catholic Churches and institutions continue to deny and hide behind confidential settlement agreements and malpractice insurance policy firewalls. Further Store Front Churches and minuscule denominations with no measurable assets do not attract belated claims of abuse.
There have been 15,000 documented allegations against the entire Catholic Church over the last 40 years. The data from the Church indicates that only 40% of those had any merit. The numbers also includes those who claim physical abuse for things such as having Sister Mary-Whatever slap their knuckles.
Granted that 6,000 cases is a terrible number it comes from a population of over 1.5 billion Catholics over the last 40 years. That means that less than 0.0005% of all Catholics were abused. Catholics have a greater probability of getting killed by lightening strikes. In fact your kids are 1000 times more likely to die in an auto accident than be molested by a priest, but I bet you don’t hesitate to load them in the car multiple times each week. Compare that number to any other institution and it is an impressive statistic where fallible humans are involved.
The Roman Catholic Church is in the news again for sexual and physical abuse of children after its Irish Bishops Council admitted and apologized for widespread acts of abuse of children committed and covered up by priests and nuns in Ireland during the last Century.
Can you explain, based upon your posting history on other topics, why you have you have chosen to ally yourself with the likes of the nazi and communist parties, the secular left, the homosexual community and pro-abortionists in working to undermine the moral authority of the catholic Church?
Sure. I'm an equal opportunity poster
“The Rev. Robert Carter, who in the early 1970s was one of the first Roman Catholic priests in the country to declare publicly that he was gay and who helped found the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, died on Feb. 22 in the Bronx. He was 82.” (from an earlier thread)
Or Bishops like Law, that repeatedly covered up the crimes of pedophile priests and now resides in the Vatican with a nice salary, home and servants.
Victim? Please!
I personally would appreciate a letter from the Pope telling Nancy the Red (commie) to end her lying and cheating and stealing, and all around general abuse of the Constitution. Christ NEVER set up a soup kitchen and HE said the Ten Commandments were still in effect. Something stinks to high heaven in some religious circles.
It is representatives of the non-Catholics, failed-Catholics, and anti-Catholics like you who demonstrate no comprehension of the redemption, forgiveness, charity, and salvation that Christ gave his life on the cross for that make me proud and joyous to be a Catholic.
Oh, really? What of Cardinal Mahoney's demonstrated secretivness, his shuffling 'round, re-assigning priests which he would have good reason to at the least strongly suspect were guilty, guilty, guilty?
Perhaps it had something to do with this, from Pope slams Irish church, no Vatican blame in abuse
excerpts;
While a cardinal at the Vatican, Joseph Ratzinger penned a letter instructing bishops around the world to report all cases of abuse to his office and keep them secret under threat of excommunication. Irish bishops have said the letter was widely understood to mean they shouldn't report the cases to police.
Open and aggressive in dealing with it? HA! only after they were forced to. They had to be dragged to it! Otherwise, it's very likely it would all be continued to be swept under the rug. Like the good 'ol days...
And HAS been for years and years??????????????????????
1) You do not how the Church works or know that such a message has not already been sent.
2) Christ may not have set up a soup kitchen, but he did miracles with fishes, loaves and wine.
3) Jesus summarized the original Ten Commandments into two and gave us eight more in the Beatitudes.
4) That stench began in Geneva and Worms.
I applaud all the Pope’s serious efforts at redress.
It appears that some folks seem to naturally construe it as reality that posters about such issues are as bad as the perpetrators . . .
more of that rubber dictionary and rubber history, it appears, to me.
It seems to me that the Vatican edifice has long set itself up for various levels and types of outrage at its excesses
BECAUSE
1. It has persistently distorted historical, logical and Biblical realities to hold itself out as the paragon, pristine, pure, homogeneous example and aribter of all that is good, right and holy
while
1.1 the authentic, objective realities were far the opposite far too often to far too outrageous degrees.
2. It has persistently demonstrated that it cared more about (A) political power; (B) increasing, consolodating and maintaining that political power; (C) wielding, abusing, mangling, distorting reality and history . . . with that political power
than it did
2.1 TRUTH—BIBLICAL TRUTH, HISTORICAL TRUTH, RELATIONAL TRUTH—AND AUTHENTIC RIGHTEOUSNESS AT ALL COSTS.
3. It has far too often played any number of shell games, disnfo schemes, pretentious charades, . . . and the like to perpetuate !!!!CONTROL!!!! and the organization’s proclivities and options
RATHER THAN
3.1 deal with the facts, the truth, what was right—straightforwardly, purely, simply, redemptively.
###################
No other organization I’m aware of in recorded history has behaved so much those ways for so long, so outrageously. Certainly no other Christian organization has.
The outrageous contorted rubber justifications and rationalizations hereon by SOME of the more rabid folks are stark testimony to the priorities so often historicaly demonstrated by the Vatican.
Yes, many Protty congregations have been racked with such horrid failures. Many have collapsed under the weight of their sins.
However, no Protty organization and no collection of Protty organizations has come close to the political games, rationalizations, distortions, public fancy foot-work, deceptions over such sins that the Vatican has played for centuries.
The Vatican deserves every bit of scrutiny it’s getting in this arena. Pretending otherwise is more rubber history and rubber Bible as well as rubber logic.
Nevertheless, Prottys need to be Biblical . . . haughty pointing of fingers is UNBIBLICAL and UNwise and likely to backfire in horrendous ways. No mortal can easily afford such eventualities.
We all walk about unfinished works in progress with more than sufficient residue of flesh concerns and proclivities prone to sin whether by gluttony, greed, arrogance, bitterness, unforgiveness, blame, lust, selfishness, smug self-righteousness, anger, laziness, theft, . . .
Holding folks to a higher standard of Biblical accountability is one thing.
Ranting because other folks are not any higher on behavioral righteousness scales than the ranters are is Biblically suicidal.
Defending the indefensible out of idolatry of organizations is also spiritually suicidal.
God forbid.
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