Posted on 04/21/2010 6:12:35 AM PDT by NYer
outpost, I certainly understand your difficulty. I was raising young kids when VAT II took place. My experience at that time with the parish I attended then and with the Catholic school our kids attended were challenging to say the least.
I understand that if that’s the climate in which you live and work that your sense of frustration and for urgency for good things to happen are realistic and even to be expected.
vladimir, I understand and care about the concerns of outpostmass2 because I have been there myself and have dealt with it.
outpost, I do agree with vlad that the most important thing you can do for the moment is to “do the right thing in your own life”. That’s exactly what we did and in our large family all the adult children have remained practicing Catholics.
We also learned that it’s counter-productive for your kids to hear all the legitimate complaints you could make.
What they need to hear is positive reinforement of their Catholic beliefs. You can do that in every aspect of family life, from dinner table conversations to times planned especially for the family to study, talk about and appreciate the teachings of the Church, the Scriptures (available to us from Daily Mass Readings and commentaries,) and from looking at our lives daily to see if we are living what we say we believe.
If you put your time and thoughts and energies into these positive actions you will find a new peace and renewed purpose.
You can be part of change for the better.
You can’t change what has happened that has devastated so many. But you can use it as a point of penance-redemption and prayer for all concerned, and as an object lesson for how you want to parent and lead your family.
Lastly, the culture we live in now is the result of generations of secular humanism and this has been brewing for a long time. We are living now the fruits of it—hedonism, nihilism, utilitarianism and many other “isms”.
We are being called out from all of that and it is by God’s grace that we are.
outpost, I ask God’s blessings on you and yours.
ROE
I am raising my children in the Catholic faith and I have not addressed this issue of scandel with them. My problem is not with Catholicism it is with the scandel here and the lack of leadership on this issue.
I am only posting on this site in reply to what I see as complete falsehoods and white-washing of events that took place. I won’t stand for it. The truth will set you free.
You wrote:
“You didn’t show me anything.”
Yes, I did.
“Just conjecture and opinions.”
Nope. You claimed, for all apparent intents and purposes, that Law moved known molesters Shanley and Geoghan around to one parish after another. That was not the case. You were also wrong about school and parish closings - as if they had only happened in the last 8 years. You deny those things now all you like, but to do so would be dishonest.
“What ever schools or churches that closed before 2002 was sparse compared to what closed afterwards.”
Irrelevant. My point was they had been closing for decades and that was a fact. Also, it is clear that Boston was due for a major series of closings as had already happened in other cities in the Northeast. Combine that with the scandals and the ridiculous hype of the scandals and those closings were increased.
“In fact because of recent immigration the church was growing in Boston before this scandel. Again I am a member of the Archdiocese of Boston you are not.”
Irrelevant. I am knowledgeable while you apparently are not. I don’t live there and yet I get my facts straight. What you posted about Law and his dealings with Geoghan and Shanley was incorrect. What you posted about the closings was incorrect. Being in Boston is clearly does not guarantee that someone knows what they’re talking about.
You wrote:
“Cardinal Law didn’t send one molester to jail.”
Last time I checked that clearly is the job of prosecutors and not bishops.
“He did not report a single one to the police.”
And again, that was not part of his job as a bishop.
“He and the rest of the leaders let these monster roam free amongst society.”
Nope. Not all bishops acted as Law did. Notice how even the bishops who did not work as Law did did not attack him, however?
“Again you know nothing about the Archdiocese of Boston and the scandel that hit here and your posts prove it over and over again.”
No, my posts prove I know more than you do. You were wrong about the facts. I was right. I am apparently better read on the subject than someone living there. No surprise there.
“The molesters kept being outed long after Law resigned even when he lied and said that there were no more molesters. The problems didn’t end in 2002 when Law left for Rome.”
Most of the cases were decades old. You will achieve nothing by nursing this obsession and you’ll never get what you want anyway. Poor choices on your part in no way alleviate poor choices on Law’s part decades ago.
Statistically unsound, I fear. There are far more "family members, babysitters, neighbours or friends" than there are priests. Children spend far more time with them than with priests. The correct question is, given the same number of opportunities for abuse, would priests commit abuse more or less often that the others? I don't know the answer, and will not engage in wild and disgraceful speculation.
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