Posted on 03/13/2010 12:00:49 PM PST by presidio9
The Vatican on Saturday fought attempts to link Pope Benedict XVI to child sex abuse in a counteroffensive against the widening paedophilia scandals. "It is clearly evident that in the past few days there are some who have sought -- with a dogged focus on Regensburg and Munich -- elements to personally implicate the Holy Father in questions of abuse," spokesman Federico Lombardi said.
"It is clear that these efforts have failed," he said on Radio Vatican.
On Friday, the pope's former diocese of Munich confirmed a report that when he was an archbishop in 1980, he approved housing for a priest who was accused of forcing an 11-year-old boy to perform oral sex.
Six years later, the priest was given a suspended prison sentence for child sex offences. The archdiocese said the priest in question still works in Bavaria, with no known repeat violations.
The disclosure added to a growing scandal in Germany that has already come close to Pope Benedict's brother Georg Ratzinger, a former choirmaster.
The first revelations emerged in January when an elite Jesuit school in Berlin admitted systematic sexual abuse of pupils by two priests in the 1970s and 1980s.
Among other boarding schools implicated is one attached to the Domspatzen ("Cathedral Sparrows"), Regensburg cathedral's thousand-year-old choir which was run for 30 years by the pope's older brother Ratzinger, who is now 86.
Earlier this week, Ratzinger said the alleged sexual abuse in the 1950s and 60s -- which was before his time -- was "never discussed".
However, in the latest revelations, former choirboy Thomas Mayer told German magazine Der Spiegel he had been raped by older members of the choir and that Ratzinger had violent fits of outrage during rehearsals.
"Ratzinger, I saw him extremely angry and irascible during rehearsals,"
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
All your links is telling me is there are a lot of messed religions molesting children. The Catholic Church among them.
“In other words, the worst predators were apparently a group of individuals who knew each other well and traveled in a pack from one country to another.”
That sounds like a criminal enterprise; not a church.
Real leadership knows better.
And a predator, who is keenly sensitive to a normal person's rather clumsy amateur surveillance, will likely counter with a very subtly-played charade to allay that person's suspicions - to prevent them from ever becoming 100% sure.
And that's why at the slightest hint something is wrong the authorities are contacted. People holding positions of authority have to know what they are and are not capable of handling. The crime of your church isn't that predators infiltrated and abused young boys. It is the cover up, moving priests around and not calling the police.
I can give you an example from my church. We have about 1,800 members and usually 4,000 attend Sunday Service. We have a summer camp and sponsor a lot of inner city kids to go to the camp in the summer. One of our camp counselors was accused of inappropriate behavior with a first time camper. The counselor has been a member of the church for 20+ years, never any question. The police were called that day. The church was told that Sunday and prayed for the truth to be discovered.
It turns out the child had some mental issues and the man was cleared. When it was resolved the Pastor told the church during Sunday Service and we gave praise to the Lord. The point is don't cover up anything and don't assume you know better than people who have spent years in the field.
Of course he knew. Everyone knew. But with a straight face they deny the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, so why should we expect truth?
As the great Marshak said: When the truth is found to be lies and all the hope within you dies Then what?
lololol. My family just watched "A Serious Man" again last night. I've seen it three times now. It gets better with every viewing.
"Be a good boy;" do the right thing and trust God that it will all work out.
And when evil comes knocking, which it inevitably will, smash that door right in its face.
Sadly, the RCC opened the door to evil centuries ago. And they now reap what they've sown.
Did you read the actual letter in the link I posted? It said exactly that.
One out of every four Americans is Roman Catholic
That's a fairly wobbly statistic, given that the RCC keeps count through original baptisms and therefore doesn't subtract those who, like my husband, were baptized Roman Catholic and now are Protestant and have been for three decades.
I’d certainly rather folks erred on the side of reporting too quickly etc.
And that's why the pope is trouble here because not only were the police NEVER called, but a clear cover-up ensued.
Similar law suits were brought against Ratzinger in the U.S. but he claimed diplomatic immunity.
In Germany, it's a different story.
That's the crime. The question will be who knew what and when, where in the chain of authority did it stop.
That is the responsibility of leadership, to make sure everyone knows what is expected of them.
Nope. Just wondering about the structure. So what's the reporting on how the Monsignor was notified of the abuse and how he was able to keep it under wraps?
That's more than just after-the-fact cover-up. That's enabling new crimes to be committed. That's an accessory to the crime.
And that's what the accusations are against Ratzinger in Germany.
If he knew and moved the predators around he should be in prison. I think the question will be how high up the chain of command the information went and what that person decided to do.
The arrogance of it is why anyone would think they have a right to keep it quiet.
Actions have consequences. Always! Actions always have consequences! In this office actions have consequences!
True. True.
"And... what happened to the goy?"
"The goy? Who cares?"
I am not saying you are a liar, but you know that to be a lie.
The Roman Catholic Church is generally seen as a monolithic organization with a clearly defined rigid hierarchy. Thus a case of abuse becomes a “Roman Catholic scandal” rather than a local parish problem. The Catholic pastor of a congregation of 3500 is likely to draw more attention than a Protestant pastor of 150, or a Boy Scout troop leader of 25, or a teacher of 20. It’s the nature of the media. A similar molestation in a Protestant church would probably be viewed as a local problem isolated to a single congregation, because of the decentralized nature of most Protestant churches. Sex scandals also affect Protestant clergy.
Penn State historian Philip Jenkins argued in his 1996 book, “Pedophiles and Priests,” that both secular and Catholic media exaggerate the extent of Catholic cases involving minors, while downplaying Protestant abuse. Jenkins, an Episcopalian, thinks a 1992 survey from the Chicago Archdiocese is more representative of the true picture in Catholicism. Among 2,252 priests serving over four decades, 39 priests (1.7 percent) apparently abused minors. Only one abuser could be termed a pedophile under the strict, clinical definition of the word — meaning the victim was prepubescent.
As reported in Presbyterians Today, (magazine of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A.). In a 1983 doctoral thesis by Richard Blackmon, 12% of the 300 Protestant clergy surveyed admitted to sexual intercourse with a parishioner and 38% admitted to other sexualized contact with a parishioner. IWhen Mentor Becomes Molester (Alexa Smith).
A 1984 Fuller Seminary survey of 1,200 ministers showed one in five theologically conservative pastors admitting to some sexual contact outside of marriage with a church member, while over two-fifths of “moderate” and half of “liberal” pastors owned up to the same. A Journal of Pastoral Care article summarizing a 1993 survey of Southern Baptist pastors showed 6 percent acknowledging sexual contact outside of marriage with someone in the congregation. Roy Woodruff, executive director of the 3,000-member Association of Pastoral Counselors, estimates that about 15 percent of pastors “either have [violated] or are violating sexual ethical boundaries.”
According to a 2000 report to the Baptist General Convention of Texas. It noted that studies conducted in the 1980s found that about 12 percent of ministers had “engaged in sexual intercourse with members” and nearly 40 percent had “acknowledged sexually inappropriate behavior.”
In Clergy Who Molest: Unique Study Reveals Epidemic, (Freethought Today, May 1990).. . . a first-of-its-kind study of recent cases of molesting clergy and church staff conducted by the Freedom From Religion Foundation found that of the accused clergy, 75 were Catholic priests (39.5%) and 111 were Protestant ministers (58%).
NATURAL LAW (to Quix): I am not saying you are a liar, but you know that to be a lie.
The sentence you quote which you're calling a "lie" was written by me, yet you don't have the courtesy to ping me.
I will do you the courtesy of over-looking that kind of behavior and also of giving you a link to the actual letter. Judge for yourself. Pay particular attention to paragraph #13 and #42a.
He sure didn't say to shoot the messenger.
In case you haven't read the many news articles concerning Ratzinger's sex abuse problems of late, the "scandal" is all his.
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