This is the “accusation” which angers me, the most. Because it has been overly exaggerated and “hyped” up by the media. The result has been a hostile backlash on the Church, and our priests… in particular.
From reading and research, viewing on EWTN and other sources… I’ve discovered that the percentage of abuse among Catholic clergy is miniscule (very small)… compared to abuse in other areas of society. Of course, if even ONE priest or other Catholic clergy has abused a child… it is too much. :sad_yes: But why isn’t the media giving EQUAL coverage to the problem of child abuse, where it is MORE rampant?
The following report from the Catholic League… puts the problem in the proper perspective…
catholicleague.org/research/abuse_in_social_context.htm
“DT” God bless you, as you discern your possible vocation. You are in my prayers, dear soul.
I know what you mean about the percentages there. I wholeheartedly agree that one child who has been abused is too much… I was betrayed the same way by a protestant minister, so when I “fight dirty” (don’t point out my personal story, but just remind them that the percentage of Protestant clergy and secular teachers (and a few people who have pointed out the priest sex abuse scandals are teachers) who abuse children in the same way is much higher percentage than Catholic priests) I do so with some statistics (though since it’s late at night, I can’t quite remember). When they protest (and most of the times, they do) I try to “come to an agreement” that statistics, on either side, don’t come up, and we’ll just pray for the victims and perpetrators. I’ve shut down a couple of people’s comments using that tactic.
Thank you so much for your prayers in regard to my vocation! I really appreciate them. My parents, who are still PC(USA), have started to warm up to the idea… to the point of “if you’re happy, I’m happy”. Though I’m not quite sure if they realize that joining a convent really means that unless they’re at their deathbed, if they want to see me, they’ll have to come visit me. And just how much I will be “giving up” (though for spending my life exclusively seeking Jesus and God, with a community of others who are trying to do the same, I’m merely making my load lighter) to do so.
I recently told my parents that I would be starting RCIA soon after 38 years in the Presbyterian Church USA. My mother’s reaction was very negative. I know many who come from very conservative denominations often face deeply negative reactions from family and friends (e.g., saying things like “you’re going to hell”). Those of us coming from the far left also experience negativity, though usually it doesn’t take that form. For me, I have been labeled “bigoted” and “intolerant” (two favorite words of the left) for wanting to join the Catholic church. Some people look at the Church exclusively through the lens of social justice issues and ignore the underlying theology and doctrine. It’s okay, though, we’re all here because the Holy Spirit wants it that way. Stay the course.
I have a pretty good idea how this is. I, too, converted from the PC(USA). I’ve “blamed” it on my Sunday School teacher (
) since they used abridged version of the writings of the Early Church Fathers. Of course, I looked up the complete documents… and as John Cardinal Newman said… to be immersed in history is to cease to be protestant. I bet many of those 38 years were spent with comments such as “We do
x this way, because the Catholics got it wrong”. I was told many times that Catholic re-sacrificed Jesus every time they prayed Mass, that purgatory was unbiblical, that praying to Saints is necromancy… etc. The thing is, I never heard any other denominations get lambasted, nor any description of particular practices being based upon any other denomination “getting it wrong”.
Being in the South, I never really, as I was growing up, encountered many “leftists” (or whatever the term is now-a-days) in the PC(USA) around here. I only heard about those “up North” who would re-term the Holy Trinity as “Mother, Child, and Womb” and perform gay “marriages” and how if they succeded, that could affect our little church here unless we split and joined with another Presbyterian or Calvinist denomination… (another thing that got me running from the PC(USA)… and right into the arms of Mother Church).
The “bigoted” and “intolerant” labels remind me of a 5 year old… who when they get really frustrated and mad because they know the other party is right, start calling them names. Though I still get mad at people at times, I’ve gotten to the point when the name calling starts, I don’t (or rather, try not… hey, not perfect, yet!
) get in the conversations, and I offer my prayers. I truely feel sorrow and pity for those who view church and religion as just another “social club”… how unfulfilling church must be for them (as it was for me for awhile)! I pray that they completely fall in love with Jesus as I have over the past couple of years, and that His love for them will completely engulf their hearts so they can be light and salt for the world!
E
I’ve alwyas thought so too, that tolerance requires disagreement.