Disclaimer: Story written by an actual ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST.
Not exactly an unbiased source.
For example, the artilce states:
three major insurance companies for Protestant Churches in America say they typically receive 260 reports each year of minors being sexually abused by Protestant clergy
and then goes on to say
the Catholic Church has reported that since 1950, 13,000 “credible accusations” have been brought against Catholic clerics (about 228 per year.)
Note the difference. Insurance companies reporting claims, which may or may not be "credible." The other is the Roman Catholic Church self reporting and determining what is and is not credible. The issue is that the Roman Catholic Church has been covering this scandal up for decades, so why do we trust Rome's sudden self disclosure?
AND the issue put forth by the Prods on FR has NEVER been the rape of children by Papist clergy, but the cover-up. Had the Catholic Church conducted itself in a responsible manner and turned the priests over to the authorities as opposed to shuffling them from one unsuspecting congregation to another we wouldn't be having this ongoing discussion.
The interesting thing about these discussion is who FRoman Catholics tend to downplay this tragedy. The claim it's the homosexuals (who were ordained by Rome). It was a teenager who was molested (as if that makes it better). It's Catholic bashing (as if Prods forced the rapes).
The difference here is that the vast majority of Protestant clergy rapes on children results in the wolf in sheep's clothing receiving jail time. We rejoice that justice has been carried out. When one falls through the cracks and is allowed to remain in the pulpit we howl in protest that the entire church leadership should be held accountable.
On FR it is, and has always been, an issue of the coverup. Very few FRoman Catholics will own up to the fact.
It's not just on Free Republic either that the cover-up is the issue. Look at all the billions of dollars that have been paid out by the Catholic Church for just this reason. I dare say if the problems were not covered up and the suspects spirited away and hidden in order to avoid the publicity, consequences and embarrassment and the complicity of the hierarchy, there may not have been the grounds for such settlements.
But we know that the sexual crimes of the clergy is not a new phenomenon. Read St. Peter Damian's "Book of Gomorrah-----A Moral Blueprint for Our Times. The approximate date that Damian delivered the Book of Gomorrah to Pope Leo IX is generally held to be the second half of the first year of the pontiff's reign, i.e., mid-l049, although some writers put the date as late as 1051. Considering that the Book of Gomorrah was written in 1049 A.D. it borders on the miraculous to note how many of Damian's insights can be applied to the current pederast and homosexual debacle here in the United States and abroad, including the Vatican. His treatise certainly stands as a masterful refutation of contemporary homosexual apologists who claim that the early Fathers of the Church did not understand the nature or dynamics of homosexuality. Rather, as Damian's work demonstrates, the degradation of human nature as exemplified by sodomical acts is a universal phenomenon that transcends time, place and culture.
One of the main points of the Book of Gomorrah, is the author's insistence on the responsibility of the bishop or superior of a religious order to curb and eradicate the vice from their ranks. He minces no words in his condemnation of those prelates who refuse or fail to take a strong hand in dealing with clerical sodomical practices either because of moral indifferentism or the inability to face up to a distasteful and potentially scandalous situation. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/929551/posts
Exactly..I belonged to a church were the music director was accused of touching a pre teen girl.. the next week the pastor got up and told the church what had happened..and that the man was not allowed back into the church and police reports were made out.. simple.. church discipline , protecting the sheep, and the legal consequences..
each year of minors being sexually abused by Protestant clergy
Interesting what this really says..the protestants actually REPORTED the event ..unlike Rome who would rather cover their sin than protect the kids
Yeah, right.
But anyway, a press release from a lawyer who has a financial interest in the issue (the original post) should be taken at face value by Catholics, right? On the eve of the Obama-care birth control mandate issue?
That's why y'all get so frothing mad when people like Salvation show that your own side of the street isn't so spotless.
It also shows that protecting *the children* isn't quite at the top of your agenda.