Posted on 01/09/2003 7:54:21 AM PST by arj
Recent revelations that at least 40 percent of Catholic nuns in the United States are victims of sexual abuse are just part of a growing sex scandal in the Church that goes far beyond the abuse of young boys by priests.
Capitol Hill Blue has learned that internal investigations by the Church have uncovered massive evidence of frequent sexual activity by both nuns and priests (often with each other), use of Church money to pay for abortions for pregnant nuns and a “casual and tolerant attitude towards sexual activity among Church leaders.”
Details of the investigations are a closely guarded secret of the Church hierarchy, but sources tell CHB that the results are being closely studied by Vatican officials who express “shock and outrage” at the high levels of sex involving priests and nuns.
“For God’s sake, this is the Church. It is not a bordello,” exclaimed one priest involved in the investigation. “This is a crime against God.”
In interviews with current nuns and priests, as well as with a number of clergy who have left the church, a disturbing portrait of immoral activity within Church walls emerges, including:
--Priests who regularly have sex with female parishioners. According to two sources, as many as 5,000 priests in the U.S. have been discovered to have had affairs with parishioners.
--At least 34,000 nuns who admit sexual abuse or activity.
--Frequent sexual contact between priests and nuns. The investigations are said to have found “dozens” of cases where nuns who became pregnant from these affairs had abortions paid for out of Church funds (even though the Church opposes abortions).
--Hundreds of confirmed reports of lesbian sexual encounters among nuns as well as homosexual contact between priests.
--Hundreds of cases where priests and nuns leave the Church and marry shortly afterwards, many having children conceived while they were still Church clergy.
“You are dealing with human beings with human failings,” admits Jonathan, an ex-priest who left the Church years ago and married a former nun. Their oldest child was conceived during an affair when both were still in the Church. Jonathan agreed to be interviewed only on condition that neither his last name nor his wife’s name be used for this article.
“Yes, we both took vows of chastity but we broke those vows,” he says. “We weren’t the only ones. I knew several priests in my diocese who broke their vows as well. My wife knew many nuns who violated their vows.”
Jonathan says stories about rampant sexual activity among priests and nuns circulated in the Church for years but that Catholic leaders looked the other way.
“There were two hypocrisies at work,” he says. “One because some of the Church leaders were, themselves, unfaithful to their vows and the other because everyone knew the damage to the church if this ever became public.”
Only when confronted with the revelations last year of widespread abuse of children and the subsequent cover up has the church taken a closer look at the sexual activity.
"The bishops appear to be only looking at the issue of child sexual abuse, but the problem is bigger than that," says St. Louis University researcher Ann Wolf, one of those who authored the study on widespread sexual abuse of nuns. "Catholic sisters are being violated, in their ministries, at work, in pastoral counseling."
St. Louis University conducted a national survey of nuns in 1996 but the Church-affiliated school never publicly released the results. The study, paid for by several of the nun orders, was turned over to the Church. Wolf and the other researchers found 34,000 nuns who had been either sexually abused or engaged in sexual activity.
“What they found were those who admitted it,” says Jonathan. “There were, and are, many others.”
Jonathan admits his wife was not his first sexual partner while he wore the robes of priesthood. He had affairs with female parishioners and other nuns.
“It was all done with a wink and a nod,” he says. “Just about everybody knew what was happening but nobody wanted to do anything about it.”
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops claims to know nothing of the studies and refuses to comment on the specifics of this article. Phone calls to various Catholic officials and Vatican offices were not returned.
Interesting that there are no sources for anything in this story, but hey! if it is about Catholicism, you can just use your imagination and go forth!
Someone should send this to William Donahue over at Catholicleague.org - he loves this stuff.
Nope. Christ spoke to St. Peter in Aramaic, not in the common Greek into which the Gospel was translated. Christ did not use the Greek words petros (petros) or petra (petra) when speaking to Peter; in Aramaic, Christ called Peter kepha, which means a large rock, a cliff, a mountain, etc.
"[T]hou art Kepha (rock), and upon this kepha (rock) I will build My Kingdom...", Our Lord said to Peter -- while standing next to the biggest "rock" in Galilee, Mt. Carmel, just to hammer His point home.
Exactly!
One dubious study of 1200 nuns (who knows if they are current or former or practicing or dissenting?) finds 40% have self reported being the victim of sexual abuse.
What is sexual abuse? A dirty joke? A pat on the back? Oggling with the eyes?
Then, this dubious 40% is extrapolated to the entire population of approx 900,000 nuns as a valid percentage, and viola' we have 34,000 sexually abused nuns in the USA.
And folks still believe Maria Monk's story in certain circles!
Is it any wonder?
What a bunch of biased bigots who put out this article and/or buy it hook line and sinker!
Sorry for the double ping, folks, but somebody must point out the blatant willful lies and bigotry underlying this agenda driven drivel.
YOU think that being whole in marriage is a more realistic goal because you are/want to be married and believe this is what Jesus is calling you to in your life. There are many good and celibate priests who are comfortable, content AND WHOLE in their celibacy.
And what is a realistic goal? As Christians, we all believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead ... many atheists think we're lunatics because we "think" someone can rise from the dead. Many atheists think we're lunatics because we believe Jesus Christ is going to come again.
"realistic" to one person is far different than to someone else. I believe God calls people into their vocations if they are listening. I believe that there are some bad priests and nuns out there who have forsaken their vows or didn't mean them in the first place. They have a far higher authority to answer to than the secular media or court system. I also know there are many wonderful, devout and holy priests and nuns and lay religious people who are called to a variety of vocations, and some of them don't include sex as a perk.
God bless.
Then why didn't He just wait until the fifth century to make His appearance?
Your explanation, with all due respect, is bizarre.
Do you have any proof for this assertion? There is nothing that stops someone from switching churches. It happens all the time. What are they going to do, lock the doors?
The secular world despises Catholics because the Catholic Church is the largest and strongest institution to stand up for the sanctity of human life and against the grave sin of homosexual activity. Any time they can point fingers to sinners in the church they will, simply in an attempt to dilute the moral authority of the Church.
Catholics have allowed this to happen for the past 30 years, and we have only ourselves to blame. Many Catholics don't believe that contraception is really a sin, some church leaders tell their parishioners contraception is a matter of "conscience"; many Catholics basically lead secular lives and go to church because they "have" to.
Jesus never said that it would be easy to follow Him. All Christians, Catholic and non-Catholic, should understand this. Conservative Christians have been vilified in the press for our pro-life views, our feelings about homosexuals, sex education in schools, you name it.
And yet we fight among each other rather than banding together where we can to fight the secular influence on our Churches.
I'm all for a good theological debate between Catholics and Protestants on a variety of issues, but we all need to realize that if we fight among each other, secular society wins.
God bless.
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.