“One would hope that members of the Body of Christ would do better than they have ... certainly at least as well as public schools at discipling those that are caught. Shuffling people around is not good enough. Excommunication and firing are a minimum.”
The repetition of complaints about the church NOW are REPETTIVE... as the writer in this article points out the NEW facts are
“Weigel observes that priestly sex abuse is “a phenomenon that spiked between the mid-1960s and the mid-1980s but seems to have virtually disappeared,” and that in recent years the Church has gone to great lengths to punish and remove priestly predators and to protect children. The result of these measures is that “six credible cases of clerical sexual abuse in 2009 were reported in the U.S. bishops’ annual audit, in a Church of some 65,000,000 members.”
Yet your posts act like this is still an ongoing problem as it was decades ago. THAT is posting the same Mantra over and over...and that then becomes catholic “bashing’ because it serves no helpful purpose EXCEPT to reiterate the failures of the church in the past...to act like you are JUST saying that priests should not abuese children is disingenuous at best.
Your comment” the hierarchy does have some things to answer for”...Well, they have for the last 4 decades. But that is not good enough...lets just rehash the history prior to the the changes the church has made and call it your “wanting quicker action”
the facts, you ask?...read the article for “the facts” that you blythely ignore about the changes made and the issue actively and effectively addressed.
as for comparing the Catholic church problems to the schools or other churches, organizations...That is NOT dimishing bad behavior. it is a response to the ONLY FOCUSING on the Catholic church...And that IS what you do..when you refer to excommunication and also focus on the Church’s problems, while never mentioning that this is a vast problem.
I sure haven’t seen you post anything of such outrage about anyone else. You just ‘join the NY Times party” when they release another article complaining about the church.
I would have more respect for someone who is at least honest in your vitriole and not demur about “Well, i’m not asking the Pope to resign....”
I will expect you at the next thread that attempts to defend the changes the Catholic church has made...of course, those don’t count.
>> That is NOT dimishing bad behavior. it is a response to the ONLY FOCUSING on the Catholic church...And that IS what you do..when you refer to excommunication and also focus on the Church’s problems, while never mentioning that this is a vast problem. I sure haven’t seen you post anything of such outrage about anyone else. You just ‘join the NY Times party” when they release another article complaining about the church.
Should I not have greater outrage for abuse carried out by in the name of Christ than I do for abuse by your average scumbag? A child abuser harms a child. A child abuser involved with the church harms a child, and tarnishes the name of Christ and His followers. When combined with the criminality, the heresy of the latter is certainly a greater problem than just the criminality of the former. Greater outrage is warranted.
>> I will expect you at the next thread that attempts to defend the changes the Catholic church has made...of course, those don’t count.
On the contrary, earlier today, in a different thread, I spoke in favor of the pope’s plans to excommunicate abusers.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2484745/posts?page=20#20
I can give credit when due, as well as criticism when due.
SnakeDoc