Has anyone heard about this case of priests "ganging up on a boy in a shower" in Cleveland?
The fact that so many, including the Catholic clergy, don't understand how big this is says volumes about just how bad things are in our day.
When you regularly slaughter defensless, unborn infants (a practice that supposedly these same clergy decry), it isn't that far to go to objectification of children, making them fair game for molestations and worse.
Thus, people like you don't see "the big deal."
My God, do you realize that we've been seeing one instance after another, all over this country, where priests were SENT TO PRISON after having repeated their offenses time and time again, and having been PROTECTED by the closed society that is the American Roman Catholic hierarchy?
At first, I thought it was only a few isolated cases. Now they're coming up with case after case after case, not just of allegations but of ACTUAL CRIMINAL INDICTMENTS, or LEGAL SETTLEMENTS, or whatever.
So, yes, this IS a "Big Story," and the fear is that, given the increasingly closed ranks on the part of that hierarchy as it seeks to protect ITSELF from the onslaught, the story is even BIGGER than anyone knows at this point!
If the Church were to fully cooperate and disclose all its records regarding these criminals, I fear the world would stand agog at the great evil that has been wrought here.
The majority of Catholic leadership is corrupt - liars, perjurers, child-molesters, or protectors of those molesters.
Yes, it's big because it demonstrates how out of touch the Catholic leadership is with the rest of the flock, of which I am one. Nowhere in this article does it address what EVERYONE knows is the real issue: homosexuality in the priesthood. Homosexuality is a perversion. It has produced an ethic that can convince a practicing homosexual priest he can attack and corrupt young men (almost exclusively the victims here) and still call himself celibate. The corruption is deep, and I grieve that the Church can cleanse itself. The meeting in Dallas will probably just produce a weak and transparent white wash. Will there ever be a day when I can return to Mass with my teenage sons? How many of those attending in Dallas are themselves guilty. Most, I must sadly conclude.
DTS, up in McKinney
ibme:
Thanks for the clarification.
Pray to St. Peter Damian for reform.
I'm sure the church leadership was more than happy to hear this as it let them avoid a scandal. But I think to describe this always as a coverup is disingenuous.
Too many FReepers make this out to be some ultra pervasive problem. While one abused child is too many here are some statistics to put things into context.
Fifteen percent of all students will be abused by a teacher before they graduate, according to studies conducted by Dr. Charol Shakeshaft, a professor at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., and a leading national authority on sexual abuse and harassment. From here.
In only one-percent of the cases where students have been sexually assaulted by teachers did school officials attempt to revoke the offender’s license. From here.
"How widespread is pedophilia among priests?: Commentators have suggested between 5 and 10 percent. That figure has been presented by various "experts" and widely used by the media. However, true pedophilia--sexual contact between an adult and pre-pubescent child--is extremely rare in the priesthood. The best estimate is "0.3 percent of the whole body of clergy." The most extensive study which considered 2,252 priests over a thirty year period found only one case of pedophilia. It involved a priest-uncle with two six-year-old nieces. The number of pederasts or ephebophiles (priests involved, usually homosexually, with an adolescent minor) was much larger, but still less than two percent. Jenkins traces how those figures were blown up and presented without nuance in the media." From here.