Cardinal claims sex abuse scandal fabricated

[Fitz]

gilliam:

The Protestants have just as large a percentage of child molestations within their clergy. Why is it not reported nationally by CNN et al, any ideas?

I have thought about it many times. I think it because they have no Pope or person in charge. They are all just considered isolated individual cases, and are never reported as the Protestant Clergy Sex Scandal.

What I would like to see the New York Times do is an honest piece about percentage of public school teachers, doctors, etc. that are abusers or pedophiles. I think that the priests numbers are much smaller than all the rest, but then I am not saying this in any way as an excuse. I think the whole thing is very sad.

However, I do think the whole scandal has been perpetuated by the media more than it would have been if it were another group of professionals that did it. I know that it is unthinkable for an y adult to abuse a child in such a way. When a reporter/writer was the guilty party, like John Greene was in Chicago, then we heard about it for a few weeks and then it was out of the media.

Getting back to the original idea in the thread of it being fabricated, I think that is ridiculous. However, the amount of time and the nature of the reporting has been bad.

 

[Annunciata]

tuopaolo:

Yes Ted Turner is as anti-Catholic as they come. He’s made mocking statements towards the Pope and Catholicism. I believe he may have made some half-hearted apologies for some of them. Ted Turner has also financed the murder of children in the name of being “pro-choice.”

I think the Cardinal, provided he is qualified in other respects such as personal holiness, would potentially make a great successor to John Paul II.

He’s my Adoptee… Adopt a Cardinal Thread… I took him because I saw him on EWTN a few years ago when he was a fill-in guest…He happened to be in Alabama setting up the EWTN network for his country.
I thought he was awesome! He has been misquoted by the press a few times…

 

[Steven_Merten]

It is not the number of pediphiles that an organization has, it is what organization leaders do or do not do when they knowingly realize they have pediphiles harming children. It is the coverup and secretly moving known child abusers to areas where they can harm more children which is the evil in the clergy scandal and not the fact that some Church members are pediphiles.

Let us thank God that our Catholic Church has been so meticulously cleansed from such an abomination by the media. Let us go after any and all other organizations who intentionally put our children in harms way as the Catholic Church has done.

For decades Catholic Church leaders knew about such evil harming our children but it took media exposure to fix the problem. Let us wish for, pray for, and help to establish the same protection for children in all organizations.

Peace in Christ,
Steven Merten
www.ILOVEYOUGOD.com

 

[fix]

tuopaolo:

I think the Cardinal, provided he is qualified in other respects such as personal holiness, would potentially make a great successor to John Paul II.

Yes, he would probably be a good pope. The homosexual abuse scandal is taken way out of proportion. The issues are not about “pedophelia”, but decades of dissent that fostered and allowed so many homosexual priests to continue having sex with teen males.

 

[snoopy]

Thank God for the media. Thank God for the organizations that support and go to bat for the victims. Obviously the Catholic Church did a poor job of policing itself, so someone had to do it. I thank God the media kept on reporting as each new case came to light. If only one child had been saved from being abused, all the media attention and shame on the church will have been worth it.

 

[fix]

snoopy:

Thank God for the media. Thank God for the organizations that support and go to bat for the victims. Obviously the Catholic Church did a poor job of policing itself, so someone had to do it. I thank God the media kept on reporting as each new case came to light. If only one child had been saved from being abused, all the media attention and shame on the church will have been worth it.

The media does not care about any authentic victims and some of these victim groups are just shills for dissent.

 

[snoopy]

fix:

The media does not care about any authentic victims and some of these victim groups are just shills for dissent.

It doesn’t matter if the media cares or not, if they believe it or not, if they are just trying to find some news to print. The fact is, the media brought this horrible scandal to light. The Catholic Church hid it and shuffled priests from parish to parish so they could abuse over and over. The media reported each new case that came to light, so people could be aware and informed and on guard if need be. Ignorance is bliss my friend, but it can be also very dangerous. If you had a child or loved one that was abused, I guarantee that you would be grateful to the media and groups that support and go to bat for the victims. The Catholic Church was more concerned about it’s reputation than the safety of children. That makes me sick. I have been a good Catholic all my life, and I have never felt such a sense of betrayal.

 

[fix]

snoopy:

It doesn’t matter if the media cares or not, if they believe it or not, if they are just trying to find some news to print. The fact is, the media brought this horrible scandal to light. The Catholic Church hid it and shuffled priests from parish to parish so they could abuse over and over. The media reported each new case that came to light, so people could be aware and informed and on guard if need be. Ignorance is bliss my friend, but it can be also very dangerous. If you had a child or loved one that was abused, I guarantee that you would be grateful to the media and groups that support and go to bat for the victims. The Catholic Church was more concerned about it’s reputation than the safety of children. That makes me sick. I have been a good Catholic all my life, and I have never felt such a sense of betrayal.

Bishops did make mistakes. The betrayal is not because of this abuse scandal. This scandal is the symptom of a greater problem. The media and so-called victim groups are using this scandal to vilify the Church.

 

[Tantum_ergo]

Any abuse of children, indeed abuse of any person, is scandalous and sinful.

But to focus on “the Catholic Church scandals” to the exclusion of both any other facet of the Church and its teachings, or indeed to the exclusion of any acknowledgment of abuse in any other person or group. . .

I find that unhealthy. May God bless the victims. . .and all abuse victims, whether they were abused by priests, family, or strangers. . .and may God lead us, under His shepherd Benedict XVI, to establish His Kingdom on earth. . .a Kingdom of justice, mercy, peace and love.

God bless Benedict XVI.
God rest John Paul II.

 

[snoopy]

fix:

Bishops did make mistakes. The betrayal is not because of this abuse scandal. This scandal is the symptom of a greater problem. The media and so-called victim groups are using this scandal to vilify the Church.

The betrayal, my betrayal, is definately because of this abuse scandal. I don’t care, and neither do the victims care if this is the symptom of a greater problem. They only care if they were abused. I also don’t care if this scandal shames the church or not. All I really care about at this point are the victims. I also believe God cares about the victims, and God allowed the media to expose his beloved church so the abuse would stop. The end justifies the means. Now people are better equipped and informed enough to protect their children. God help anyone who would abuse and sodomize my child, because I would be his worst nightmare.

 

[fix]

snoopy:

The betrayal, my betrayal, is definately because of this abuse scandal. I don’t care, and neither do the victims care if this is the symptom of a greater problem. They only care if they were abused. I also don’t care if this scandal shames the church or not. All I really care about at this point are the victims. I also believe God cares about the victims, and God allowed the media to expose his beloved church so the abuse would stop. The end justifies the means. Now people are better equipped and informed enough to protect their children. God help anyone who would abuse and sodomize my child, because I would be his worst nightmare.

Ends justify the means? Not Catholic and not true. If we care about the victims we would be careful about what is true and what is error.

 

[snoopy]

fix:

Ends justify the means? Not Catholic and not true. If we care about the victims we would be careful about what is true and what is error.

So you’re telling me that children being saved from abuse is not as important as the shame brought on the church because of the abuse. Where is your sense of compassion toward children? The priests and bishops made a choice. The children did not. You really should think long and hard about your insensitivity toward victims.

 

[fix]

snoopy:

So you’re telling me that children being saved from abuse is not as important as the shame brought on the church because of the abuse. Where is your sense of compassion toward children? The priests and bishops made a choice. The children did not. You really should think long and hard about your insensitivity toward victims.

I am not insensitive toward victims and I do not embrace the idea of ends justifying means. You may want to think long and hard about authentic charity and moral reasoning.

 

[fix]

On the Horns of a False Dilemma
Allow Reforms in the Church, or be Labeled an Accomplice to Sexual Abuse

tfp.org/TFPForum/catholic_perspective/votf.htm

This is a good piece that points out how the abuse scandal can be morphed into somthing that attacks Mother Church. The media attempt to foster these types of ideas. Authentic help for victims is good and needed, mindlessly attacking the Church is not.

 

[snoopy]

Quote from the article:

Having suffered sexual abuse is undoubtedly a traumatic experience, but it is an exaggeration to compare it with somebody who suffered immediate and serious risk of life, as in an accident or catastrophe in which others perished, as the current use of the word suggests: “Send help to the survivors of the earthquake.”10

Believe me, it is not an exaggeration when my friend’s son committed suicide after being abused by a priest. He is just as dead as if he were “in an accident or catastrophe in which others perished”. And his family suffers greatly. Do you think he will get a free pass into heaven even though he killed himself after being raped by a priest? I honestly cannot fathom turning your back on an innocent child who did nothing to deserve this. Every time I hear my parish priest try to excuse the scandals by saying “other parishes have problems too”, or only 2 percent of the priests abused, I want to be sick. What astounds me is the number of victims these 2 % of priests racked up. Geoghan raped over 87 or something like that. Unbelievable. What other walk of life would allow this to continue into the double digits. I completely agree with the idea of forgiveness, it’s just that they need to be in prison just like any other abuser would be. That would send a message to the victims like nothing else would. It would say that we as a church care that you were abused and we are willing to put the criminal in prison for what he did to you.

 

[snowgarden]

I love my Church, but we’ve got to take the knocks from the world for this shameful evil that took place in our churches at the hands of those who held the Eucharist in their hands and those in positions of power that knew about it and did little to nothing about it. Those children, now broken adults, are fighting back sometimes embarrassing us in the media, but hey, I’d rather they be angry and have an outlet then have them suffer the ultimate despair and kill themselves. We can take it. I hate to think of the loss of respect the Bishops and Cardinals have suffered, but they are paying a price for the actions and lack of action of some. They are grown men and should be able to handle it…we the church are suffering for their weakened voices, but in God there is redemption for them and for us. Those who were abused are so in my prayers…I can pray for God’s grace and mercy to help them recover, but even that seems so feeble. God have mercy on their suffering souls.

 

[fix]

snoopy:

Quote from the article:

Having suffered sexual abuse is undoubtedly a traumatic experience, but it is an exaggeration to compare it with somebody who suffered immediate and serious risk of life, as in an accident or catastrophe in which others perished, as the current use of the word suggests: “Send help to the survivors of the earthquake.”10

Believe me, it is not an exaggeration when my friend’s son committed suicide after being abused by a priest. He is just as dead as if he were “in an accident or catastrophe in which others perished”. And his family suffers greatly. Do you think he will get a free pass into heaven even though he killed himself after being raped by a priest? I honestly cannot fathom turning your back on an innocent child who did nothing to deserve this. Every time I hear my parish priest try to excuse the scandals by saying “other parishes have problems too”, or only 2 percent of the priests abused, I want to be sick. What astounds me is the number of victims these 2 % of priests racked up. Geoghan raped over 87 or something like that. Unbelievable. What other walk of life would allow this to continue into the double digits. I completely agree with the idea of forgiveness, it’s just that they need to be in prison just like any other abuser would be. That would send a message to the victims like nothing else would. It would say that we as a church care that you were abused and we are willing to put the criminal in prison for what he did to you.

I agree with you. They should be in prison. They should be removed from the priesthood. All that does not mean every aspect of the Church is wrong. It also means there are folks in every area of life who commit sins.

It, also, does not mean it was the intention of every person involved to obfuscate or deny justice.

The OP here was about one cardinal saying the media took this scandal out of proportion. I think to some degree that is true. That does not mean there are not many authentic victims who have suffered along with their families.

The other issue is that every time these pieces come up it seems few are allowed to speak with differing views without being called insensitive to the plight of the abused.

 

[Gottle_of_Geer]

Peter_Atlanta:

A leading contender for the papacy, Cardinal Oscar Andrés Rodríguez of Honduras, says that the sex-abuse controversy was manufactured by the American news media. In particular, the cardinal has singled out Ted Turner, the former CNN chairman, for being ``openly anti-Catholic.’’ Link

Let us hope and pray Cardinal Rodríguez is not elected Pope.

Can you quote the article, or link to it ? The paper requires readers to register.​

I think it’s very sad if any - especially in his position - thinks the scandal was fabricated. The trouble with ignoring real evils, is that they are not reformed; so they are left to fester, and, quite possibly, erupt again later on.

Whether someone is “anti-Catholic” - a convenient term for ignoring justified criticisms, if ever there was one - is less important than whether what they say is true. The Church is concerned with truth - isn’t it ? So we keep hearing; so let’s have some consistency. Sometimes truth is inconvenient and painful - but that makes it no less truthful, and no less good: no matter what the source.

As for being fabricated - how was something so widespread so skilfully managed ? And what of the similar reports elsewhere, outside the USA; in Scotland, Ireland, Italy, Austria ? What about the similar scandals of 1984 and 1992 - were they fabricated ? If so - why ? This suggestion raises far more questions than the hypothesis that the accusations are not fabricated. If people want to harm the Church, there are far more effective, and safer, ways to do so, than to accuse hundreds of priests of thousands of crimes in a country which has laws against perjury. Especially when several years have passed since an alleged crime - why the delay in bringing accusations ?

Presumably all the African nuns who have complained of rape by priests are also lying - or not ? ##

 

[JOHNYJ]

Baloney, Its the Mantra of those who have something to hide. Every bishop who has been caught protecting pedophiles and forced to pay victims has said the same thing,its the Media. Why they keep doing it I dont know.Cardinal Law accussed the Boston Globe,he had to apologise and they won the Pulitser Prize for their exposure of the Cardinals sins.

 

[JOHNYJ]

Enough of this blame the Media. If you give your enemy a Basball bat and he hits you with it. Who’s fault is it ?
We gave the media the Basball bat and they hit us with it.We continue to give them weapons to hit us with.When are we going to stop doing that I do not know.
Lets remember that to this day.Not one priest,bishop, or Cardinal has turned any pedophile over to the authorities. On their own, its always because someone told the police or the Media discovered it. That is disgusting and a humiliation for the Catholic church.