Posted on 03/17/2010 12:48:40 PM PDT by TSgt
VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI said Wednesday that he hoped a letter he plans to send to Irish Catholics about the child sex abuse scandal in the church would help with "repentance, healing and renewal" there. Benedict acknowledged the Irish church had been "severely shaken" as a result of the crisis and said he was "deeply concerned." However, speaking in English at his weekly general audience, the pontiff did not make any mention of the issue in his homeland, Germany. The scandal in Germany, where some 300 former Catholic students have come forward with claims of physical or sexual abuse, is particularly sensitive because it has landed the sexual abuse allegations on the doorstep of a sitting pope. In scope and numbers, however, the Irish crisis is much greater. There, three government-ordered investigations have documented a shocking catalog of child abuse and church cover-ups from the 1930s to 1990s involving more than 15,000 children.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
I am curious. What does OPEN THREAD mean?
It means you can comment however you like.
It’s a Non-Caucused thread. ;-)
where some 300 former Catholic students have come forward with claims of physical or sexual abuse,
Note first that AP conflates "physical" abuse and "sexual" abuse, without indicating which was supposedly more prevalent. By today's idiotic standards, spanking constitutes "physical abuse". No rational person thought that 40 years ago.
"Documented" could be a matter of some ACLU lawyer somewhere jotting a suspicion down on a notepad.
Don't forget Martha Coakley. She made her fortune off so-called "documented" child abuse claims. Turned out to be hysterics and witch-hunts.
He's not employed at the Vatican. Probably never was.
Probably also made the mistake, in 1975, of listening to psychiatrists who insisted that pedophiles and pederasts could be "cured". Everybody seems to forget that little bit ...
Who said “the antichrist” had to be just one person?
a) date from prior to ~1985
b) accuse a dead person
c) are unspecific as to the crime supposedly committed
d) demand immediate action without any time for impartial investigation.
There's too much money involved, and too much history of false accusations involving child abuse.
Partly, yes. And it's unwise to forget that.
So your a pedophile protector too?
No, I don't own a "pedophile protector too". In fact, I am a long time advocate of purging the priesthood of faggots, and keeping the filthy queers out of the seminaries. I'm also a long time advocate of priests and bishops basing their ministry on the Bible and the established teachings of the Church, not on psychiatry.
ANYBODY who is acquainted with my posting history on this forum knows that.
For anyone to suggest otherwise betrays mind-boggling ignorance.
BTW, your comment comes awfully close to “making it personal” ... an act which is forbidden even in “Open” threads.
The three companies that insure the majority of Protestant churches in America say they typically receive upward of 260 reports each year of young people under 18 being sexually abused by clergy, church staff, volunteers or congregation members.
260 cases a year-60 years 15600 cases Sickening
Open thread is a religion forum classification. This thread has since been moved to the religion forum.
Let's be honest here in your statements and not let your personal biases skew the information. The number 15,000 is the number of documented allegations. 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.
I would like to know the breakdown of what is considered physical abuse and if the sexual abuse was of boys by clergy or girls. Physical abuse can mean almost anything and in the private school system, corporal punishment is not unknown nor always wrong. Abuse is a matter of degree. If it is clergy sexually abusing girls, then it is a pedophilia problem but if it’s boys then it’s not only pedophilia but a matter of homosexuals infiltrating and discrediting the church and that should also be brought to light.
I find it interesting how far back these “allegations” go... especially in light of financial problems all over the world and the Catholic Church can be looked at as ‘deep pockets’ to satisfy any lawsuits over claimed abuse.
Also as pointed out before they are lumping in physical and sexual abuse allegations. I guess all those Nuns slapping student’s hands with rulers has finally caught up with the Church.
I want to make it clear that I do not condone actions of the Church, clergy or other representatives of the Church in serious, proven cases of sexual abuse.
In 1983, Ireland inserted a Pro-Life clause into its constitution, “the State recognises the right to life of the unborn child, and having regard to the equal right to life of the mother, promises to safeguard and vindicate that right”. From that moment onwards, the Catholic Church in Ireland was under siege from all sides. The Liberals, dominant in the Media and academia have assailed the Irish Consitution with the hatred of despair. Currently, they are trying to force through a “civil unions” law in the Irish Parlaiment and a Consitutional amendment on the “rights of the child”, which really means the rights of the overweaning State as against the parents. Any news you hear about clerical abuse must be seen as agit/prop to remove the major obstacle to liberal ambitions, which is the Catholic Church. The same goes for Europe. As in the case of the NAZI regime ‘Morality Trials’ in the thirties, the radiacls are using clerical scandals (some real, others exaggerated) to break the opposition of Europe’s largest Christian Church. Accept a lot of what you hear with a grain of salt. And remember too that the Irish Media in particular is now utterly corrupt and intellectually bankrupt. In Europe we conservatives are berely holding on, as in the early 1930’s. We greatly rely on you, American Conservatives to hold the line for Western civilization. God bless you all!
Do you mind telling us what country you’re posting from?
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