You wrote, “Catholics have repeatedly come out and condemned this abuse but you act as if this condemnation has never happened.”
Again, my point is that the FIRST response in this discussion, and discussions like it, is “everyone’s doing it” and “stop picking on the Catholics” and “it’s not as bad as everyone says” and so on. Instead, the FIRST RESPONSE should be humility, acknowledging that a minority of priests are pedophiles, and that such sickness should be rooted out from the Roman Catholic Church.
Is what I’m saying really that hard to understand?
I’m not saying anyone is “defending these crimes.” I’m saying that the first response is defensiveness: to defend the Roman Catholic Church. Do you see the difference?
The problem here is that the Roman Catholic Church claims to be the only legitimate denomination, the implication being that they’ve got it right and non-Roman Catholics have got it wrong. Another implication is that only Roman Catholic priests are qualified to interpret Scripture, and that if I try to do so, then I’m engaging in “YOPIOS” (your own personal interpretation of Scripture). How is a pedophile (there are some pedophile priests, you know) more qualified than I am to interpret Scripture? Why am I to be mocked because I strive to practice discernment as I interpret Scripture, rather than leave all that up to a priest, whose character may be entirely corrupted?
Such a context is fertile ground for critique. Claiming to be THE ONLY VALID CHURCH, and claiming that its priests are more qualified than I to interpret Scripture, is just begging for critique.
You should not be surprised, then, when some people point out the corruption within your denomination, a denomination Roman Catholics exalt over any other.
Me? I exalt Christ over all denominations. Sure, I say, “May Rome decrease and Christ increase.” I also say, “May Protestantism decrease and Christ increase.” I don’t care if you try to critique my denomination, because I don’t claim that it’s THE ONLY LEGITIMATE EXPRESSION of the Body of Christ. Christ is the cornerstone of His Church, the family of all those whom He has adopted.
So we have at least two things going on here — a knee-jerk defensiveness that Roman Catholic FReepers often express (kinda like the defensiveness Mormon FReepers seem to feel), and the arrogant position that many RC FReepers posit that God loves their denomination more than He loves other denominations. I find both attitudes offensive.
My advice to you is to stop digging. You’re making the point you’re arguing against.
As your post reveals, the point here is to attack the Church and attack faithful Catholics. It’s even the point of your profile page.
And you say you wonder why Catholics are defensive. Naivé? No, I think this is too coy for that word.