Posted on 12/21/2017 10:35:03 AM PST by Morgana
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A Catholic diocese in Ohio says a parish priest under investigation for "questionable" communications with a minor and possible misuse of church funds killed himself.
The Catholic Diocese of Columbus said in a statement Thursday that the Rev. James Csaszar killed himself Wednesday in Chicago. Csaszar was pastor of Church of the Resurrection in the Columbus suburb of New Albany.
(Excerpt) Read more at wowktv.com ...
Have no idea what this is about, first am hearing about it.
When stuff like this happens, it makes me inclined to beleive that many in the field of religious leadership don’t actually believe what they’re talking about.
Distressing.
Priests are human beings too, if you think because they are ordained they are somehow above sin, temptation, and all the other failing of man you will be woefully disappointed.
Despair of the Mercy of God is a terrible thing.
Too many Priests are not taught this.
I’ll buy that answer. It was just a job.
I agree with you, but Catholic teaching is unambiguous about suicide. It’s one thing to sin (everyone does). The decision to take your own life is a particularly grave sin to a Catholic religious person. So there’s a disconnect there.
I think it’s more that according to RC doctrine that suicide is an unforgivable sin...
So, killing oneself doesn’t evade punishment.
Again, if you think that any human is beyond temptation and sin at any level you will be disappointed.
When one decides one is going to face eternal damnation anyway, killing oneself is no more of a threat than anything else.
It simply points to a troubled, conflicted and sinful individual at war with himself over his sexuality and greed.
The Church surprises no one with its rules on celibacy and homosexuality. Certainly no one in the Church forces a priest to enter. The entire seminary process is one of discerning your calling and your own true inner nature. If you don’t like it, you can leave any time. Once you are a priest, you can also leave any time you want.
Its not the Christian thing to say, but any sympathy I have for his conflicted nature is equalled by doubled over his stupidity and anger over any children he has abused
Certainly possible
But I am of the opinion that this man was in a state of panic or severe depression.
In either case he would not be able to think clearly.
I would say that those who loved this man failed him. He should not have been left alone. He should have been accompanied wherever he went.
Someone publicly accused of such things is going to be sure that his life is over regardless of his guilt or innocence.
Panic or despair is almost inevitable.
The man needed time and help to work through what was happening to him. And he need to be assured that those who loved him still loved him.
“I think it’s more that according to RC doctrine that suicide is an unforgivable sin...”
If you are sane when you kill yourself — many people who commit suicide may be mentally ill or on drugs or too distraught to fully understand what they are doing — then you die in a state of mortal sin. Anyone who dies in a state of mortal sin, goes to Hell. As society and the Church have advanced in understanding more about mental illness, the Church talks much less about the sinfulness of suicide. In my opinion, the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction. I do not say this because I want anyone to go to Hell — quite the opposite! What I would like is for people to have it ingrained in their thinking that suicide is not an escape from suffering.
Given the nature of what he was likely under investigation for, I would assume he probably felt he was already past forgiveness.
That’s the sin of despair, which can also send a person to hell.
Priests are human beings too
“So what? It’s just a hobby.” /old joke punchline
I would say that those who loved this man failed him. He should not have been left alone. He should have been accompanied wherever he went.
“I agree with you, but Catholic teaching is unambiguous about suicide. It’s one thing to sin (everyone does). The decision to take your own life is a particularly grave sin to a Catholic religious person. So there’s a disconnect there.”
Maybe a priest, knowing he is already a pedophile, decides the further sin of suicide is not that big of a deal.
It has generally been the same as all other clergy and the general population. It is just fashionable to bash the church. Here’s a report from Newsweek, hardly a Catholic publication.
The Catholic sex-abuse stories emerging every day suggest that Catholics have a much bigger problem with child molestation than other denominations and the general population. Many point to peculiarities of the Catholic Church (its celibacy rules for priests, its insular hierarchy, its exclusion of women) to infer that there’s something particularly pernicious about Catholic clerics that predisposes them to these horrific acts. It’s no wonder that, back in 2002—when the last Catholic sex-abuse scandal was making headlines—a Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll found that 64 percent of those queried thought Catholic priests “frequently’’ abused children.
Yet experts say there’s simply no data to support the claim at all. No formal comparative study has ever broken down child sexual abuse by denomination, and only the Catholic Church has released detailed data about its own. But based on the surveys and studies conducted by different denominations over the past 30 years, experts who study child abuse say they see little reason to conclude that sexual abuse is mostly a Catholic issue. “We don’t see the Catholic Church as a hotbed of this or a place that has a bigger problem than anyone else,” said Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. “I can tell you without hesitation that we have seen cases in many religious settings, from traveling evangelists to mainstream ministers to rabbis and others.”
Since the mid-1980s, insurance companies have offered sexual misconduct coverage as a rider on liability insurance, and their own studies indicate that Catholic churches are not higher risk than other congregations. Insurance companies that cover all denominations, such as Guide One Center for Risk Management, which has more than 40,000 church clients, does not charge Catholic churches higher premiums. “We don’t see vast difference in the incidence rate between one denomination and another,” says Sarah Buckley, assistant vice president of corporate communications. “It’s pretty even across the denominations.” It’s been that way for decades. While the company saw an uptick in these claims by all types of churches around the time of the 2002 U.S. Catholic sex-abuse scandal, Eric Spacick, Guide One’s senior church-risk manager, says “it’s been pretty steady since.” On average, the company says 80 percent of the sexual misconduct claims they get from all denominations involve sexual abuse of children. As a result, the more children’s programs a church has, the more expensive its insurance, officials at Guide One said.
Keep Up With This Story And More By Subscribing Now
The only hard data that has been made public by any denomination comes from John Jay College’s study of Catholic priests, which was authorized and is being paid for by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops following the public outcry over the 2002 scandals. Limiting their study to plausible accusations made between 1950 and 1992, John Jay researchers reported that about 4 percent of the 110,000 priests active during those years had been accused of sexual misconduct involving children. Specifically, 4,392 complaints (ranging from “sexual talk” to rape) were made against priests by 10,667 victims. (Reports made after 2002, including those of incidents that occurred years earlier, are released as part of the church’s annual audits.)
Experts disagree on the rate of sexual abuse among the general American male population, but Allen says a conservative estimate is one in 10. Margaret Leland Smith, a researcher at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, says her review of the numbers indicates it’s closer to one in 5. But in either case, the rate of abuse by Catholic priests is not higher than these national estimates. The public also doesn’t realize how “profoundly prevalent” child sexual abuse is, adds Smith. Even those numbers may be low; research suggests that only a third of abuse cases are ever reported (making it the most underreported crime). “However you slice it, it’s a very common experience,” Smith says.
Prayers for the soul of this priest and prayers for those who may have been victim to him.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.