The Unending Sex Abuse Reports About Catholic Clergy
The news story about Cardinal McCarrick was so devastating it is hard to fathom behavior this terrible. A Cardinal, of course, is among the highest ranking of Catholic clergy.
Now in his 80's, he has finally been defrocked. But for 30 years the management of the Catholic Church has know, even acknowledged by secret payments to victims, this man is a pedophile. The church kept this secret and McCarrick retained his credentials.
While people can remain members of the Catholic Church if the so desire, it is ridiculous for that institution to be advising the rest of us about sexual morality. In fact, I don't think they can advise the rest of us about morality of any kind.
It is often said by Catholics that people who prey sexually on children are found in every profession. This is true. The issue in the Catholic church is the pedophiles were not turned over to law enforcement and were transferred from parish to parish whenever things got too hot for them. On top of that, Catholic clergy continue to claim they are an authoritative voice on morals.
Cardinal Theodore McCarrick would befriend children and asked to be called "Uncle Ted." He would then work himself into the lives of families who had children he had marked for sex.
The problems the Catholic Church faces all come from the fact clergy are accountable only to themselves and not to lay control. The church needs to report to a lay board which is elected and separate from the clergy itself.
Without this improvement taking place we will seen more stories like that of Cardinal McCarrick.
Given your animosity and bigotry I doubt the Catholic Church or any church will listen to or follow your "friendly" advice.
ReplyDelete"...I doubt the Catholic Church or any church will listen to or follow your 'friendly' advice."
DeleteYou are correct, Matt. So long as there are people like you who choose to believe Jesus actually told Peter to build his church on a rock (no one wrote he was present when this was said) and, further, interpret that to mean the clergy should be all powerful and those in the pews paying the bills should accept what the clergy say without question sexual abuse within your church will continue.
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DeleteMatt--I apologize for accidently deleting your follow up comment. I was moving the curser around looking for the reply button and made a mistake. I cannot find a way to reverse it. You wrote that I did not point to Protestant churches where clergy abuse has takes place. You are correct there has been plenty of that. So far as I know, there has not been a widespread practice in Protestant denominations of cover up this abuse. In the Catholic Church there is a long history of cover up. Surely you do not deny the history of cover up.
DeleteUsing broad strokes weakens your case, Jon. The institutional cover-up in Protestant churches has been documented and publicized. Episcopal, Baptist, and Jehovah's Witness faith communities, to name a few , have their own abuse histories. The intimidation and suppression of victims--by the institution and by the lay membership alike--can be found there, too. Use of clerical authority to protect sexual predators can be found anywhere people will tolerate it. Right now, Prince Charles is being summoned to court to explain his role, along with that of a former Archbishop of Canterbury and a senior judicial official, in protecting a predator Anglican bishop who served in two dioceses and is now in prison for child sexual abuse. One of Bishop Peter Ball's victims is an Anglican priest who has described the culture within the Church of England as an “ecclesiastic protection racket – and anyone who seeks in any way to threaten the reputation of the church and institution has to be destroyed.” What's more, the evil is Jewish, Islamic, Orthodox, Buddhist circles, too, and this has been both well documented and publicized. This makes it an interfaith issue as well. Are you trying so hard to make a case against the Catholic community that you will deny the suffering and suppression of non-Catholic victims all over the world? I surely hope not.
DeleteMainstream media doesn't reveal the studies that show over 4% of the general population are pedophiles. Current studies reveal that 1.5% of priests are pedophiles, and rapidly decling under Pope Francis' zero tolerance orders. The mainstream media is obsessed with demonizing 98.5% of all priests as a result of 1.5% of priests who got through the vetting process. Where do pedophile priests come from? They come from the 4% of the general population that non clerical pedophiles come from. That includes teachers, politicians, lawyers, coach, doctors, professional of all walks of life. The mainstream media choose to ignore the problem of pedophilia in the general population. The secularists circle like futures to denigrate Catholicism.
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DeleteThe blogger for this site largely restricts replies that share views that do not agree with his personal opinions. I suggest that the Forum, unless the reply uses demeaning language, be allowed. Our freedoms assure us of right to express our views without being denied that opportunity.
ReplyDelete"The blogger for this site largely restricts replies that..do not agree with his personal opinions."
DeleteThat is an untrue statement.
My impression is that the media discuss pedophile priests for two valid reasons. 1.) Unlike the standard way of handling the problem, turning such people over to police, the church has a history of hiding them from law enforcement. 2.) Unlike other organizations, the Catholic church regards itself as a moral authority. This self assigned status is completely undermined by the presence of morally unsound clergy and of hiding them from the public.
ReplyDeleteIn short, the Catholic Church has no reason to complain about the publicity over pedophile priests. It could have avoided this situation by never saying it is the world's moral authority or that its clergy were established by Jesus to run the church. Instead it should have been more truthful from day one and said, "We are a group of men who want power over other people, especially women. We clergy operate in our own best interests. Our organization is no better nor worse than any other political or religious institution." If they had done this from the start they would be better off today.
The church didn't have ro make any claims from the start because it was the only Christian church
DeleteI don't think it is a stretch to infer man fails and God and Jesus are aware of this. He knew one of his own would betray him and knows he will return to fulfill scripture. The church has operated for 2000 years in spite of man, not because of.
The church is not full of hypocrites. People know they are sinners. They are seeking salvation and redemption. The clergy are very well aware they are fallible humans. The church is the rock that does not fall. Man is, well, man. Very fallible.
Ron, Thank you for allowing my reply! I wish you would acknowledge that pedophilia is an equally great problem in the general population, 4%. That doesn't excuse the errant 1.5% of pedophilia priests who perpetrated this horrific sexual abuse on our children. Shouldn't we also view as horrifying the abuse pedophile teachers, coaches and others perpetrated on our children. Your very astute and surely you know that pedophilia in priests is decreasing significantly, especially since Pope Francis has initiated a zero tolerance policy. Many of the priests who have been charged with pedophile abuse did not have the opportunity to defend themselves, in fact many have been dead for decades. There is evidence that more recently a significant number of priests have been exonerate. I know of two in our area in the last four months.
Deletetd 1:50 PM "The church has operated for 2000 years in spite of man, not because of."
ReplyDeleteI don't think we have a shred of evidence that is a true statement. Churches, faiths, probably existed for 200,000 years before Christianity. Were those faiths owned by a "god" or were they products of human minds? From what we actually know, Christianity is no different than the worship of hundreds of Pagan and other gods, a product of the creative human mind.
Sure, if there is no God.
DeleteExcellent article, Mr. Lindgren.
ReplyDeletell the deserved justice in the world, is too little and too late for his victims.
ReplyDeleteWhere is the rest of your thought?
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