Posted on 04/05/2002 8:45:54 PM PST by Brian Kopp DPM
So in a sense this is good.We know that they know that Catholics and Americans are waking up and with a little luck citizens will start looking at government funded health grants and programs and education classes and textbooks and say "no more money"for useless programs that promote and enable sick behaviors.God works in mysterious ways.
My understanding was that in some cases the church tried to get some of these priests therapy and it failed immensely.
There are some bent people in the church. Probably to a lesser degree than most other lets-say most other employers in the world. Buy servicing faith is a zero tolerance profession. To betray that is about as bad as it gets.
I do think there are a bunch of cons waiting with lawyers to jump the victim band wagon in search of a fine pay day.
My point is that arguably pedophilia is a psychological disease and a crime, and needs to be dealt with by law enforcement as well as the Church and that the Church has been more concerned about their image than the victims. That's bad enough.
But what gets to me is that when I was the Catholic defenders answer their critics they admit that 35% to 60% of the Catholic priesthood is homosexual or homosexually oriented. That may be a defense against the impression that all priests aren't criminals, but doesn't give much comfort that most priests aren't gay and hypocrites before God and their congregation.
Then if we include the priests who are hetersexual, and have girlfriends, mistresses, pseudo-wives, or otherwise engage in sexual activity, how many priests have strictly observed their sacred covenant of chasty? How many priests have any sincere claim to being righteous? Is it more or less that the estimated percentage of pedophiles?
In my mind the cisis in the Catholic Church goes way beyond the criminal and legal problems of the pedophiles. It must also face the problem of massive hypocrisy before God and man, explain its culture of coverup and raw power and denial over its victims, and most of all justify and explain why anyone should think that the LORD should have anything to do with such an evil band of men who mock God by every hypocrital and impious act they claim to do in the LORD'S name.
And we haven't even mentioned the intellectual and doctrinal controversies that rip the Church apart. How many of them also have an element of priestly corruption as part of their problem. I would think that a homosexual priest would have very a un-holy belief about the the sanctity of the Host and of Jesus when he gives the sacrement to a kneeling young seminarian who later that day gives the priest a bl__j_b. That is a sick and disgusting image, but that is also part of the reality of priestly corruption.
I fear that we are at the point of another Reformation - Counter Reformation that will leave little left of the Catholic Church. And if the Church cannot give a better account of itself than it has done, then perhaps it is God's will that it should collapse and that the faithful and unChurched find the solace of God's love and trust of them in other congregations of the faithful.
Leave the Cathederals and Churches to the hierarchy, bishops and priest for their unholy sexual practices, their lawsuits and arrogant hypocrisy and mockery of God.
We will find Christ in our hearts and in our homes, knowing that the Lord will not abandoned his sheep and will lead us kindly to His green pasture, even greener and richer than we have ever known before, by a path that we did not know. We are united in our love of Christ and hope and believe that He will lead us to a true congregation of the faithful, where the priests are as pure and innocent as the children we entrust to their care. Oh, God, let it be so now. Come, oh Lord, lead thy Sheep and we will follow.
That is probably a fairly consistant number actoss the whole world.
But in an area of serving the faith of people there is zero tolerance.
I think there are additional bunk claims piling on by people who don't like Christianity or are simply hoping for a pay day. There certainly is no shortage of lawyers looking for a pay day.
My understanding is there were attempts to get counseling for these priests with problems and that failed badly.
The Catholic Church has a ton of bucks, so you see litigation against them more. But being humans are used in the clergy of all faiths, you are going to find bad or weak ones equally in all faiths.
Being you can't read hearts and minds easily, there willalways be some bad apples who get into where they shouldn't be.
The issue here is that any church handle these perverts better when they come to light quickly. Counseling didn't work.
I've always thought this was a not exactly true. The Church's primary assets are "tons of" real estate, buildings and art work. I know here in St. Louis, the Archdiocese sold the Archbishop's residence in the county along with other properties to help get the Archdiocese back in the black. But there are some properties that simply cannot be "sold."
And while the Church universal may have "money," many, many parishes have been closed not just because of a lack of priests, but also because they and especially their schools, can no longer be supported financially by the people of the parish. Upkeep is very expensive and quite a few parishes are well over 100 years old. Most are at least 50 years old.
The expense of building new churches and schools as the Catholic populace grows and moves to outlying areas is enormous. It explains why those parishes are so huge. My nephew lives in a parish that has 24,000 members. They celebrate 12 Masses each weekend, some of them simultaneously, in the church and in the gym.
Ministering to the spiritual and educational needs of over 1 billion people is costly. So when you write that the Church as "tons of money," you must realize that those lawyers and others are lining up to take what should be spent to spread and sustain the word and the work of Jesus Christ.
In a way it's a good issue even if it hurts the Church a bit. What they are accusing the Catholic Church of is allowing homosexuals to be around teenage boys and not putting teen molestors in prison ---which is something secular courts also don't do. The Catholic Church didn't encourage the homosexuals to molest the teens, it's something homosexuals do on their own.
The whole issue is really about the safety of kids around homosexuals ----and should end the talk of gay adoption and allowing homosexuals to teach in public schools. If the Church can be sued for what homosexuals do on their own, so can all other institutions including the government. It's time to admit there should be no homosexuals where children and teenagers are.
So?
I'm disgusted too ---but you have to admit that our entire society has accepted homosexuality as perfectly normal and even good. It's all over our televisions and the Church is doing what Washington did in accepting Barney Frank even though he was prostituting the young pages. It's time to admit the Church was dead wrong to allow homosexuals near teenage boys ---and it's just as wrong to allow homosexuals in schools and in the Boy Scouts. NO HOMOSEXUALS SHOULD BE ANYWHERE NEAE TEENAGE BOYS ----it's proven they prey on them.
Ever read Canon XXXIII of the Council of Elvira, 295-302 AD?
Just heard a report on ABC radio news that this woman has released a statement saying that the Cardinal actually never touched her.
53 posted on 4/6/02 8:08 AM Pacific by Orual
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No, I haven't. Councils were a dime a dozen in those days, and whatever those people may have opined, mandatory celibacy in the west didn't happen until the counter-reformation. Remember Athanasius?
Sure there have been people talking of it all along, but they did not get their way. We can agree or disagree on the subject, but the attributing abolute authority to a trivial historical factoid doesn't help us reach an understanding. Do I think celibacy has many advantages for those who can maintain it? Sure. Is it worth having the church be run by networks of pooftahs? Hell no, imo.
Yes there is. Homosexuals have infiltrated the church, grabbed positions of power and discouraged normal men from continuing in or studying to be in the priesthood.
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