Posted on 08/28/2002 9:15:06 AM PDT by NYer
I AM a devout Catholic, and I love my Church. That is why I cannot shup up about this. I have NOT in any way smeared all priests. But with around 1/3 of priests being active homosexuals, and with a sizeable subset of those unable to resist the temptation of teenage boys, I cannot simply trust any priest. I have no idea who that guy is. I OBVIOUSLY cannot rely on the Church to effect some sort of quality control. And I'm not alone. I do not know of one, not one, out of some twenty or so Catholic families that I know personally and well in this town who would now let their teenage sons be alone in the presence of any priest. In almost EVERY case of abuse that we've seen, the priest in question was a friend of the family, trusted by adults and kids alike. In the Church in the town next to me in New Jersey, a priest plied six teenage boys with homosexual pornographic films for weeks, before progressing to mutual masturbation and then to anal rape - on a regular basis for several years. The families were destroyed. Their faith was destroyed. The kids' psyches and their sexual development were destroyed. And this has happened on a widespread basis throughout the Church in America (and in some other countries as well). Four BISHOPS were actually involved in homosexual molestation themselves. (And I'd bet there are some others as well.) 2/3 of them have been shuffling the molestor priests around. Don't mistake me, JMJ333. Many priests are wonderful holy men. But, as we've seen, quite a few are not - and the Church has not even bothered itself (except under the force of intense media pressure) to do anything about the homosexual rapists in its ranks. In my community, people are very wary about their priests, and they will not let their sons be alone with them. And they're right - because their job is to protect their children. The priesthood is full right now of active (sometimes very active) homosexual men - who in general have a strong sexual attraction to teenage boys. And you think I'd let my son spend an afternoon at the rectory with one of the priests? That would be crazy, given the filth that has seeped into our Church. So the deal stands - but I'll widen it. When the majority of Catholic families I know in our town feels comfortable when the local priest invites their son over to the rectory for an afternoon, I'll shut up. Because, you see, that's the way it should be. Those parents should be able to have that trust. That trust should be GREATER for a priest than just about anyone else. But right now, that trust has been destroyed. Keep those earplugs. You're going to need them.
What a great time to be catholic, what great graces Our Lord will send us in these times.
'Jesus, King of All Nations, may Your Reign be recognized on Earth'
The Son of God, who told us that children were the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Many in the Catholic Church have betrayed God's son.
You're lucky. In our Church, the evil just grows.
If you loved the Catholic church you wouldn't run around this forum calling us the "anti-church" or claiming your afraid to leave your son around all priests. I have no problem with addressing the issue, but that is completely different than purposely driving people away from the Catholic church with outright lies.
You should at least get the scandel right and phrase it as an active homosexual problem. But that wouldn't fit in with your agenda.
Only God and Christ know, but I sure don't sense repentance on the part of a lot of our current Church leaders. I actually sense disdain from many of them. And as for being a laughing stock - my kids have endured, day after day, vicious jokes about our Church at karate practice, at soccer practice, at Boy Scouts, etc. And the worst of it is, the jokes are dead on accurate.
Well, you don't have to, because I've never said that. What I said was that about 1/3 (from all the surveys and books I've read) of the priests are active homosexuals and a significant percentage of them can't keep their paws off of teenage boys. I have no idea where you get your 99% figure from.
If you are charging me with lying, please show me the statement I made that you believe is a lie. If it's incorrect, I'll honestly retract it.
I suggest you leave the church--that is if you're even a member.
This is my last post on this thread.
When 2/3 of American bishops are complicit in the psychological and spiritual rape of teenage boys, and in the allowance (and often promotion) of active homosexuality in the Church's seminaries, then I do think things have been turned on their heads. When the Catholic Church places the well-being of children on the very end of its extensive priority list, and the protection of its rapist priests and precious reputation on the top, then I think things have been turned on their heads. You have no idea how shocking and revolting a nauseating it is for me (and most I know) to discover that our children are actually being preyed upon in our Church. Again, I think things have been turned on their heads.
Please - show me where I said that. I think I know where the misrepresentation is here.
Do you really beleive this? Do you think it is only a coincidence that a Catholic church was picked for this little minded stunt? People are sent into a a sacred place to perform sex for a radio show and you don't think that is an afront to the believers in that religion?
My dictionary defines Egregious as "Conspicuously bad or offensive." It certainly applies to your post.
Again, six boys were serially anally raped by the pastor at the Church where my son goes to school. In addition, the brother of my good friend, while a teenager, worked on a poverty project for a month with his priest, and then the priest physically (and sexually) assaulted him. My friend's brother left the Church as a result. While the Pope was in Montreal, the former head of Seton Hall Boys School (not far away in NJ), and a friend priest, were both arrested for soliciting sex from 14-year old teenage boy prostitues in NJ. Two priests have been removed from the Catholic high school that my older son will be attending in Sept. It was recently revealed that the good friend of my bishop, Frank Rodimer, had sexually molested a teenage boy on a regular basis that he (the friend) brought to Rodimer's summer beachhouse in the summer. Rodimer says he knew nothing. And then again, Rodimer is the guy who shuffled around the priest who anally raped the six kids mentioned above (and refused to defrock him until last month). And that's just around here. Many, many other parishes and dioceses have been affected here in NJ. But of course, compared to, say Boston (where EIGHTY priests have been implicated), NJ is nothing. Let's see. EIGHTY Boston priests, molesting say, 5 or 6 boys each over many weeks and years adds up to thousands of individual sexual molestations - just in the Boston diocese. Again, JMJ333 - I'm not indicting all priests. But I am indicting the Church leadership. It's unbelievable and shameful.
You know, JMJ333, when Christ walked into the temple and threw over the money changers' tables, he was reacting in extreme anger to the desecration of what was supposed to be holy and Godly. He embarrassed those around him; he angered those enamored of the daily routine of the temple; he upset the temple priests; he refused to be quiet about the atrocity committed in that holy place. He was NOT attacking the institution of Judaism. He was attacking what evil people had done with it. I hope and pray that you can see that distinction. By the way, what is your solution to the homosexual teenage boy rape problem in our Church?
Do you not see the irony and hypocrisy of Catholics getting their panties tied in knots over a sexual insult (perpetrated by consenting parties), while all their molester shuffler bishops remain parked in place, while many of their seminaries have been turned into homosexual brothels and while teenage boys are not necessarily safe from homosexual rape in the presence of priests? I would guess that most non-Catholics do. Sure, the insult was vile and upsetting. But shouldn't our focus be elsewhere right at the moment?
In my diocese, fully 20% of our priests are known to be active gays from our investigation so far. By 20% I mean gays who have been actively gay at some point since ordination, not just orientation. And 20% represents only the number we know about. I think the overall number is higher.
But I am in a liberal diocese. Orthodox dioceses do not suffer this problem to the extent we do.
I just don't know how many dioceses are truly orthodox, but I fear now it is a minority.
I have met too many victims now. I know too much now to believe that the homosdexual priest problem is a minor one, only involving 1-2% of all priests.
I firmly believe that 10 to 20% of all American priests are gay.
And I know that at least 1/3 of all gay men abuse teenage boys.
And of those that abuse teenage boys, they abuse multiple victims, from a handful to literally dozens and in some cases hundreds over their careers.
There have been literally thousands of innocent victims.
I know that we are finding only about 1 in 10 victims are even willing to talk about their abuse off the record in our diocese. Fewer still sue. Even fewer yet are able to press criminal charges due to statutes of limitations.
It is very bleak, JMJ333.
Different folks deal with this reality in different ways.
Some deny it.
Some accept that the crisis exists and pray earnestly for God to end it and purify it.
Some take action, either shouting from the rooftops or working behind the scenes to end it.
Some are very emotional in their outrage.
They have a right to be. Our Church is wounded and suffering, and it is because of the malfeasance of the shepherds.
Frankly I'm just as mad as yendu bwam. I'm just dealing with it differently.
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