Posted on 03/28/2011 3:09:36 PM PDT by presidio9
The Vatican is upset, and feeling like a victim. The Vatican is angry that the world is no longer willing to tolerate the alleged homophobia of the Catholic Church. However, not everybody is sympathetic to the Vatican's claim of victimization.
Tuesday the Vatican condemned a United Nations Human Rights Council resolution in support of gay rights. The resolution was sponsored by 85 countries including the United States. The Vatican objects to this resolution that simply and clearly states that human rights apply to everyone, no matter who they are or whom they love.
By Thursday, the Vatican's statement was being met with scorn and derision on social media sites across the web. Many are baffled at what appears to be a plea by the Catholic Church for the world to tolerate bigotry and intolerance towards the gay and lesbian community.
Apparently the U.N. resolution affirming that "gay rights are human rights and human rights are gay rights" is unacceptable to the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi, the Vatican's representative to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, explained the position of the Catholic Church:
“People are being attacked for taking positions that do not support sexual behavior between people of the same sex. When they express their moral beliefs or beliefs about human nature … they are stigmatised, and worse – they are vilified, and prosecuted.”
Adding insult to injury, Tomasi also likened being gay to pedophilia and incest:
"States can and must regulate behaviors, including various sexual behaviors. Certain kinds of sexual behaviors must be forbidden by law. Pedophilia and incest are two examples.”
A sample of Thursday's Twitter stream concerning the Vatican's reaction to
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
Many good points; the homosexual priests set up the Church as an easy target for detractors. The consensual side of many of these relationships has consistently been ignored by the media; I have no problem with ignoring that for a minor, but here in NJ we had a 53 year-old man claim he had been abused 20 years before...at the tender age of 33. The media reporting the story felt no need to question or analyze this bizarre claim.
As long as the Church was acting in a similar manner to the civil authorities in terms of treatment and return to work, it is difficult to attack them; later actions (when governments started “civilly committing” such predators - imprisoning them beyond their sentences due to their own admissions that it would happen again) were unexcusable. The number of teachers in the NYC public schools involved with these crimes was incredible, as exposed by the Catholic League in demonstrating how the Church alone was being targeted.
Some people had valid reasons to attack the Church; others saw it as a useful battering ram. Groups like Voice of the Faithful were exposed when they switched from demanding accountability from to changing the structure of the Church.
Well put; many of those Protestant denominations will split with a smaller, conservative group remaining true to some form of Christianity while the larger, “progressive” body becaomes a political shell organization with nothing that can be traced to the New Testament. The basic flaw of their model is that the diseent that created them is their undoing; permissive attitudes towards abortion/contraception, divorce, homosexuality, etc. means that NOTHING can be “off-limits”. The “religious left” is a myth because there are no 2 members that agree on anything theologically; their unity is political, as is their whole focus.
What a lovely precedent to set for suing and closing churches./s
I guess that’s why the Philadelphia just suspended 21 Priests on March 8 of this year. Also they have a Monsignor up for covering up and hiding these Priests.
Yes: I thought it was taken care of too, but it seems there are a few lingering around.
The word he is trying so desperately to avoid writing (as it would expose his true agenda) is "acceptance".
I don’t have to do any such thing. These organized perverts, under the guise of religion, need to be prosecuted.
It it telling that you do not attempt to discuss the facts; you just want to immune the character of one who is just shining a light on a very despicable practice.
The pervasive and ongoing behavior of the vilest kind, in the name of religion, should be confronted and rooted out, not given a pass by selling it as a religion.
Just do the research and do the math; what is happening is pure evil and it is systematic. The Church is being given a pass by letting it buy its way out of this mess. But, the mess goes on.
But I believe these are the end times and you WILL eventually get your wish. It won't be to your liking though.
That's right, the Archdiocese suspended 21 priests in response to a GJ report, one whose fairness is easily questioned.
These priests haven't been convicted, and only two priests and one archbishop have even been indicted, along with a former priest who was laicized before the FIRST Philadelphia GJ. And the behavior alleged took place in the 90's and earlier.
Of course, I guess the 4 indictments justifies taking another bite at the GJ apple, since the 2006 GJ returned ZERO indictments.
As for the suspensions, I suppose you could criticize that, but I thought people wanted the Church to act on any allegation, no matter how spurious.
I'll wait for convictions, myself.
What? Unconstitutional? All I’m saying is prosecute, using the Law under the Constitution to purge the Church of the sickest and most vile of perps. If there is enough left to have a church, so be it. That church doesn’t have just one Elmer Gantry, Swaggert, or Baker, it is rife with pedophiles. Why are you defending that mess?
Open your eyes.
This is just one source.
BishopAccountability.org
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), a volunteer self-help organization of survivors of clergy sexual abuse and their supporters.
The Catholic Church and Sex Abuse NPR Coverage, Commentary on the Church in Crisis
The Catholic Church and the Clergy Abuse Scandal
Sat 8/23/2003 John Geoghan, former priest at the center of Boston archdiocese’s sex abuse scandal was killed in in the protective custody unit at at Souza-Baranowski Correction Center, NW of Boston. Geoghan was followed into his cell after lunch by a fellow inmate, Joseph L. Druce, who bound and gagged him before strangling him with a bed sheet, then repeatedly jumped from the bed onto Geoghan’s motionless body and beat the defrocked priest with his fists Geoghan died shortly after being taken to Leominster Hospital. Joseph L. Druce, 37, (born Darrin Smiledge) is serving life sentence for strangling a man in 1988 will be charged with murder. He was convicted while in prison of attempting an anthrax scare by sending envelopes of white powder covered in Swastikas to about 30 Jewish lawyers nationwide in 2001. Druce was born Darrin Smiledge but changed his name while in prison. Druce’s father, Dana Smiledge, said his son hated Jews, blacks and gays. Massachusetts does not have a death penalty.
Jay R. Feierman, a psychiatrist for 20 years at the Servants of the Paraclete in New Mexico, which treated abusive priests around the country, said 4 of the 750 priests he treated were killed after they left the program. He said, ``their behavior probably contributed to their murder.’’
On Jan. 6-7, 2002, The Boston Globe revealed the Archdiocese of Boston shuttled defrocked priest John Geoghan from parish to parish for decades, despite extensive evidence he was sexually abusing children. Geoghan’s admissions of molesting children, his lack of concern for his victims and his tendency to blame them was evidence he was not a candidate for rehabilitation. In civil lawsuits, more than 130 people claimed Geoghan sexually abused them as children during his 3 decades as a priest at Boston-area parishes. In September 2002, the archdiocese settled with 86 Geoghan victims for $10 million, after backing out of an earlier settlement of about $30 million. Richard Sipe, a former Benedictine monk and psychiatrist who worked with abuse victims and priest offenders, said Geoghan had been through many treatment programs. ``If anyone had the opportunity for treatment, it’s John Geoghan,’’ Sipe said.
More than 325 priests of 46,000 American clergy were either dismissed or resigned from their duties the following year.
A report by state Attorney General Thomas Reilly estimated more than 1,000 children were abused by priests in the Boston archdiocese in the last 60 years. The Boston Archdiocese has offered $65 million to settle cases filed by more than 540 alleged victims.
Abuse in the Catholic Church
Forcing the Pope’s Hand — The American people have achieved a triumph in the pedophilia scandal — The US is the most populist democracy on Earth. Now they’ve beaten the pope.
The ultimate weapon — Pederastic priests, molesting fathers — charges of sexual abuse are everywhere. But a growing movement of aggrieved men claim the accusations have gotten out of hand.
Betrayal: The Crisis in the Catholic Church - Book Excerpt
Agony in the garden — A California diocese recovers from a sex-abuse scandal, and finds that healing comes through facing the truth.
Agony in the Garden by John Van Der Zee
A monsignor, convicted of molestation, is imprisoned; a priest flees the country after repeated molestation charges; another commits suicide. A former priest and youth ministry leader is charged with rape and committing lewd acts against minors in a series of complaints dating back decades. A charismatic Bishop resigns amid charges of sexual harassment and coercion brought by a priest who had been dismissed after being accused of stealing from church collections, and a long career as a con artist. Welcome to the Catholic diocese of Santa Rosa, California.... Bishop George Patrick Ziemann’s tortured relationship with con artist priest Father Jorge Hume Salas, the sexual and financial scandal that, ironically, enabled the diocese and the church to revitalize itself.
10 years after Jay Lemberger, 21, shot himself Nancy and Pat his parents, with sisters, Tami and Heidi, gathered around a box of horrifying drawings by Jay, representing what he felt about his years of sexual abuse by a notorious former Dallas priest, Rudy Kos, who is currently serving three life sentences in prison. (Free registration is required).
Cardinal Law apologized for failing to take action against abuse. The Church paid over $40 million in settlements to victims in the Boston Archdiocese. A Connecticut priest committed suicide after being accused. Retired priest, Paul Shanley, was returned to face charges he raped boys in the 1970s - 80s.
14 more accuse priest — The latest claims bring to 39 the number of men who have filed suit against the Archdiocese of Portland OR’s Maurice Grammond.
Tired of playing games with the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Hamilton County Prosecutor, Mike Allen, warned church officials to cooperate with an investigation into whether church employees physically and sexually abused children.
SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) is a self-help organization of people abused by spiritual elders.
Using government to "purge" a church is unconstitutional. Prosecuting individuals is what is right. The people in the church forcing change is what is right. Siccing government on a church is unconstitutional.
Why are you defending that mess?
Again. Churches are under siege by the left and you are suggesting government solutions to a problem that IS being addressed. You are doing EXACTLY what the left wants.
My eyes are open. You are viewing this through the lens of the left. The left intends the destruction of the religious right and believers and you're falling for it.
We have nothing more to discuss as long as you support the government meddling in any church.
Have a nice day.
“We let them be priests and brothers and we’ve been paying for it...and paying for it...and paying for it...ever since. What do you want from us?”
If one of these morons (even take a lurker for that matter) gets his facts straight because he got baited onto this thread with the promise of unwarrented attacks against the Catholic faith, I'll take that as a win.
Right. It's happening in your own Church. You have more influence there. I wish you nothing but the best in your endevor. After you're finished wiping out sexual abuse among the clergy of your own faith, I'm sure we Catholics will welcome your help. Until then, you're a a Libyan on the UN Human Rights Conference.
It it telling that you do not attempt to discuss the facts; you just want to immune the character of one who is just shining a light on a very despicable practice.
Smells differerent from where I'm sitting. When was the last time you bathed?
Have you even the slightest idea of the massive overall size of the American Roman Catholic clergy versus the several dozen priests allagated (and falsely allegated) since the fiftees? You're wearing your ignorance (and prejudices) on your sleeve.
And people who make things up to get money, but that's not the real point here. You are borrowing a page from the liberal playbook: Namely putting a face on the crime and ignoring the statistics. Also, the Catholic Church is not the only religion charged by that group, which backs my original point. This topic is simply an excuse for you to be open about your hate for Catholicism. And your own religious inadequacies. You're overdue for a long talk with your own pastor I think. If you gave a crap about "the children" (the liberal hits just keep coming), you'd be solving the problem in your own church. Assuming you have one, that's where you have the most influence. Pointing fingers on an anonymous website gets you nowhere.
Get to the point if you have one.
When you are on the wrong side of an issue, you will engage in ad hominem attacks, two wrongs make a right, change the subject, dismiss any idea that doesn’t support you, misstate the facts, false allegations, and on and on……..
Turning a blind eye still does not solve the problem the Catholic Church has. Following one’s own advice of working within your church to clean it up should be followed.
When you get that job done, we’ll talk again.
For now, I guess we’ll agree to disagree.
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