Last week the NYT (Clyde Haberman) reported on “The Shame of the Church” accompanied by a video that spotlights clergymen who prey on children. We all know about the predatory priests but what about the bishops who cover their crimes – do they ever get punished? Just like the rest of the perpetrators of child rape and abuse, the bishops don’t start talking until they get caught. The Times example is Cardinal Edward M. Egan, the former Roman Catholic archbishop of New York – he wasn’t the worst one but his mind set is typical of the bishops involved in child abuse scandals.
Egan wasn’t too concerned about priestly abuses in his former Bridgeport, CT diocese and said: “If in hindsight we also discover that mistakes may have been made as regards prompt removal of priests and assistance to victims, I am deeply sorry,” he said in a letter to parishioners. So he was implying that maybe nothing happened and if anything did it was just “mistakes.” Ten years later, after Egan had retired he said, “I never should have said that, I did say if we did anything wrong, I’m sorry, but I don’t think we did anything wrong.”
This stubborn attitude of bishops and all church clergy makes it unlikely that the church will “clean house.” With the pressure on the Vatican escalating it said in January that it had defrocked 384 priests worldwide in 2011 and 2012. This may sound like a step in the right direction but a number of the cases were decades old – there are thousands of more rapist priests still running free.
The Times lists the facts: Thousands of clerics “sexually abused and emotionally scarred many more thousands of boys and girls.” The church hierarchy consists of enablers who ignored the crimes and moved abusers from one unsuspecting parish to the next. The clergy crime monitoring group BishopAccountability.org, calculates that United States dioceses and their insurers have had to pay out more than $3 billion.
The Times is correct in saying that child rape and abuse and cover-up of these crimes are not Catholic monopolies: there are other Christian denominations guilty of crimes against children as are predatory rabbis and non-religious organizations such as the Boy Scouts of America and at Penn State. The difference is that the Catholic Church has been committing these crimes all over the world for 2000 years and has no intention to change – the pope still won’t report child rape by clergy to the police (see previous blog, March 31, 2014). With such a history is another committee to study the “problem” needed or is it just another method of stalling (see blog March 28, 2014).
This is a great video, with an interview of Barbara Blaine (President of SNAP) and Times reporter Laurie Goodman who was shocked at the criminal cover-ups.
Video Link
http://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000002794204/the-shame-of-the-church.html?ref=romancatholicchurchsexabusecases
The Catholic Church will NEVER turn over the Priest and Nuns to civilian authorities for prosecution, because they truly believe that they only answer to "church law," not civil law, and yes, they believe that they are above the law!
ReplyDeleteThe Catholic Church does not have any respect for the membership, (faithful), of the Church. They consider that the faithful are there to be used and abused for "greater good" as defined by the Bishops, Cardinals and Pope! ---- The faithful are there to supply the money on a continuous basis to keep the "well oiled machine" running. ---- Money drives the Catholic Church. It is the fuel of the Catholic Church. As long as the faithful continue to give their money to the church on a weekly basis, the Catholic Church will be more than happen to continue to abuse them and their children. The management of the Catholic Church is laughing at the faithful, because the faithful are "too drunk on the Catholic Cool Aid" to realize that the Church has been lying to them and abusing them for years. The clergy abuses their children in church and in schools, and the adults continue to support the church financially. Given this as a reality, why would the church change it's "mode of operation!" ---- The Clergy of the Catholic Church have no respect for the faithful. They are pawns to be used by the clergy. If you want to get the attention of the Catholic Church, and the management of the Catholic Church, cut off the finances of the Catholic Church. Stop giving weekly donations. Stop giving donations to the Bishop's fund. If this just happen in one State, in the United States, the Pope would be all over the Bishops in that State to make things right with the people. If the faithful keep on doing the same thing that they have done in the past, they will keep on getting the same result, and that result is continued abuse from the Catholic Church, and the Clergy of the Catholic Church. Why are the Catholics so afraid to to a stand up against the criminals of the Catholic Church? If they took a stand against the criminals, they would be on God's side of the issue. The faithful of the Catholic Church are a product of years of Catholic indoctrination in Catholic Schools. They have been brainwashed into thinking that the Catholic Clergy are something special. YES, they are something special! They are criminals, and those that did not commit the crimes against children are more than happy to protect the ones who did the evil deeds, so as such, they are the enablers, and that makes them criminals. Children will continue to be abused by Catholic Priests and Nuns, because the faithful of the church are too afraid to take a stand against evil. It is time to wake up and make things right for the children who were abused. ----- Just my opinion. ---- God bless!
yes, the are definitely NOT on God's side of the issues -- there is a wall of pure evil between them and the victims
ReplyDeleteHere is some very interesting information taken from The Washington Post / Friday April 11, 2014 by David Gibson / Religion News Service dealing with Pope Francis!
ReplyDelete"In his strongest personal remarks yet on the clergy sex abuse scandal, Pope Francis on Friday April 11, 2014 asked forgiveness for the damage that abusive priests have inflicted on the children, and pledged that the Catholic Church will not take one step backwards in efforts to address the crisis. ---- I feel compelled to personally take on all the evil that some priests, --- (quite a few in number), though not compared to the total number, --- and to ask for forgiveness for the damage they have done by sexually abusing children!"
While on the surface, this seems like a major step forward in bringing justice for the abused people, in reality, it is just another "smoke screen" that the Catholic Church is putting up to try to repair their negative image. ---- This is just a "spin" that the Catholic Church is putting on the issue to buy time! ---- It is like the Nazi's apologizing to the Jews for the killing of the Jews in the Concentration Camps. The apology is nice, but the abused people want justice in the courts, which means that the Catholic Church must turn over ALL of their records, and the names of all of the Priests and Nuns to the civilian authority for investigation and prosecution, and if found guilty, they should be sent to prison. Now that is "justice!" The Pope will never take this action! He will protect these offending clergy at all cost! The only way to force him to take action is to cut off all funds to the Church! The lack of money will force him to take action, but the "faithful" have take in TOO MUCH Catholic Cool Aid, and they do not have the courage to take a stand against a Church that is "Out of Control!" The "Cool Aid Drinking Catholics" will continue to support the Church with their weekly donations, and the clergy will continue to use the faithful as their "money well!" ----- Keep supporting these criminals in luxury. ----- Just my opinion. ------ God bless.