The church isn’t a building. Jesus said, “Wherever two or three are gathered together, there I will be also.” The churches originally met in houses. If someone wants to follow a creed, it doesn’t bother me at all. What bothers me is the cover up of what has and is happening in the Catholic church. I’ve seen grown men cry about being victims of the superior priests people have trusted because they were Christians. I know for a fact the priests visit the nursing homes and get the seniors to sign over their inheritance to the church, actually preying on the old people. Then there is the history of the church, persecuting thousands if not millions of people for daring to get baptized after their Catholic baptism. It all stinks to me. Even the way the Catholic church was started is totally a matter of politics.
How many children have to be molested before parents take a stand against the church. It is evil. Like I said, indoctrination is amazing.
An Airport Encounter (Archbishop Dolan on CBS Sunday 3/20)
Archdiocese of NY | March 19, 2011
It was only the third time it had happened to me in my nearly thirty-five happy years as a priest, all three times over the last nine-and-a-half years.
Other priests tell me it has happened to them a lot more.
Three is enough. Each time has left me so shaken I was near nausea.
It happened last Friday . . .
I had just arrived at the Denver Airport, there to speak at their popular annual “Living Our Catholic Faith” conference.
As I was waiting with the others for the electronic train to take me to the terminal, a man, maybe in his mid-forties, waiting as well, came closer to me.
“Are you a Catholic priest?” he kindly asked.
“Sure am. Nice to meet you,” says I, as I offered my hand.
He ignored it. “I was raised a Catholic,” he replied, almost always a hint of a cut to come, but I was not prepared for the razor sharpness of the stiletto, as he went on, “and now, as a father of two boys, I can’t look at you or any other priest without thinking of a sexual abuser.”
What to respond? Yell at him? Cuss him out? Apologize? Deck him? Express understanding? I must admit all such reactions came to mind as I staggered with shame and anger from the damage of the wound he had inflicted with those stinging words.
“Well,” I recovered enough to remark, “I’m sure sorry you feel that way. But, let me ask you, do you automatically presume a sexual abuser when you see a Rabbi or Protestant minister?”
“Not at all,” he came back through gritted teeth as we both boarded the train.
“How about when you see a coach, or a boy scout leader, or a foster parent, or a counsellor, or physician?” I continued.
“Of course not!” he came back. “What’s all that got to do with it?”
“A lot,” I stayed with him, “because each of those professions have as high a percentage of sexual abuse, if not even higher, than that of priests.”
“Well, that may be,” he retorted. “But the Church is the only group that knew it was going on, did nothing about it, and kept transferring the perverts around.”
“You obviously never heard the stats on public school teachers,” I observed. “In my home town of New York City alone, experts say the rate of sexual abuse among public school teachers is ten times higher than that of priests, and these abusers just get transferred around.” (Had I known at that time the news in in last Sunday’s New York Times about the high rate of abuse of the most helpless in state supervised homes, with reported abusers simply transferred to another home, I would have mentioned that, too.)
To that he said nothing, so I went in for a further charge.
“Pardon me for being so blunt, but you sure were with me, so, let me ask: when you look at yourself in a mirror, do you see a sex abuser?”
Now he was as taken aback as I had been two-minutes before. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Sadly,” I answered, “studies tell us that most children sexually abused are victims of their own fathers or other family members.”
Enough of the debate, I concluded, as I saw him dazed. So I tried to calm it down.
“So, I tell you what: when I look at you, I won’t see a sex abuser, and I would appreciate the same consideration from you.”
The train had arrived at baggage claim, and we both exited together.
“Well then, why do we only hear this garbage about you priests,” he inquired, as he got a bit more pensive.
“We priests wonder the same thing. I’ve got a few reasons if you’re interested.”
He nodded his head as we slowly walked to the carousel.
“For one,” I continued, “we priests deserve the more intense scrutiny, because people trust us more as we dare claim to represent God, so, when on of us do it – even if only a tiny minority of us ever have — it is more disgusting.”
“Two, I’m afraid there are many out there who have no love for the Church, and are itching to ruin us. This is the issue they love to endlessly scourge us with.”
“And, three, I hate to say it,” as I wrapped it up, “there’s a lot of money to be made in suing the Catholic Church, while it’s hardly worth suing any of the other groups I mentioned before.”
We both by then had our luggage, and headed for the door. He then put his hand out, the hand he had not extended five minutes earlier when I had put mine out to him. We shook.
“Thanks. Glad I met you.”
He halted a minute. “You know, I think of the great priests I knew when I was a kid. And now, because I work in IT at Regis University, I know some devoted Jesuits. Shouldn’t judge all you guys because of the horrible sins of a few.”
“Thanks!,” I smiled.
I guess things were patched-up, because, as he walked away, he added, “At least I owe you a joke: What happens when you can’t pay your exorcist?”
“Got me,” I answered.
“You get ‘re-possessed’!”
We both laughed and separated.
Notwithstanding the happy ending, I was still trembling . . . and almost felt like I needed an exorcism to expel my shattered soul, as I had to confront again the horror this whole mess has been to victims and their families, our Catholic people like the man I had just met . . . and to us priests.
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In closing, why not look into what the church has done to improve their procedures and protections against abuse? People in the church have done terrible wrongs, and in many cases the church’s response was terrible. We learn, we are in sorrow, and we do everything possible to prevent it from ever happening again.
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http://site.adw.org/qanda-allegations-and-clergy
Is the Catholic Church any different from other organizations?
Yes, in that dioceses today have some of the most comprehensive prevention programs in the nation. No, in that sex abuse occurs in every segment of society. Every organization that works with children should have the same type of stringent protections the archdiocese has put in place.
The Church has learned from the past, has taken responsibility for the wrongs committed, and is committed to the healing of those harmed and the protection of children into the future. Catholic dioceses have arguably the most comprehensive child protection policies in the nation. A national charter passed by the US bishops in 2002 publicly commits the Church to report allegations to civil authorities; to reach out to victims/survivors and their families; to have prevention and reporting programs, including background checks for those working with children; to have lay advisory boards and more. Results of annual compliance audits are made public and, in 2004, the USCCB published an accounting of the prior 50 years. No other organization in the nation has shown such transparency.
What does the archdiocesan Child Protection Policy say?
Policy Essentials
•Mandated reporting to civil authorities
•Immediate reporting of allegations and support for victims in pursuing criminal prosecution
•Fingerprinting for FBI and state criminal background checks (clergy, and employees and volunteers who have substantial contact with children)
•Safe environment training for all children in our care and for adults who work or volunteer with children
•Prompt investigation and permanent removal from ministry if credible
•Accountability: Child Protection Advisory Board/Case Review Board of lay experts (includes at least one victim-survivor) whose members advise and monitor compliance, advise the archbishop should an allegation be made against a priest in ministry, and publish and annual public report on child protection efforts and victim assistance
•Outreach and assistance for as long as is needed to heal
Do you think that Catholics don't know this?
Jesus said, “Wherever two or three are gathered together, there I will be also.”
Yes. But what does this prove regarding the visible church that He founded?
Look at His statement again, and consider what follows with logical necessity.
"...if he will not listen to the church, treat him as a pagan or tax collector."
1) Since Jesus could have said, "if he will not listen to ME," "the church" must teach with Christ's authority.
2) Christ's Church must be visible. A disagreement cannot be settled by an invisible institution.
3) The Church must possess a coherent, non-contradictory body of teaching, since disagreements cannot be settled otherwise.
4) "The church" referred to by Christ must be the church that He founded.
5) Christ promised that "the gates of hell" would not prevail against his church. So the church that Christ founded, and which was in existence when He was on earth, could never have passed out of existence, and must still be in existence.
Who are you serving with your forked tongue?
You think you know what you’re doing... You don’t.
This is not a game and it’s not about you.
God will not be mocked.
Don’t you know every time you do this you victimize those abused... not the abusers? You can’t even let the abused have their faith to get through? And you aim to take the faith of others.
I know of what I speak.
You’re diabolic, attempting to tear apart the body of Christ even more than it’s been torn.
Korah, Dathan, Abiram or Balaam have nothing on you.
What did Christ say to the people regarding the priests?
Do what? But not what?
God, Jesus, the Pope or Catholics here did not abuse.
So what is your purpose on this thread re: Catholic Education?
For the sake of your soul... take it to the Lord... go pray.
I’m doing the same.