Catholic priest Pennsylvania scandal

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CatholicGirl1

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Recently, 300 catholic priests in PA have been found hiding child abuse for decades and everywhere I turn people are saying to end the church because of these nonstop scandals. I know I’m going to be questioned about my faith- and I sometimes waiver why this would happen to God’s church. I know man is full of fault, but why so much in his church? What can I possibly say in reply?

Please, anyone who replies- be kind 🙂
 
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Thank you, this is what I have been taught and in reality must believe in these trying times. Already protestants on social media are attacking lay catholics as “idiots” and “abuse enablers” and touting how “Luther had this figured out over 500 years ago”.

They are using this scandalous tragedy and crime as an excuse to further attack all catholics. But the truth is many of them have always hated the church, and this is just a new convenient bludgeon to use.
 
This is a horrible scandal and horrible clergy have done horrible things.

But the Church has been through much worse. Heck, we’ve even had a Pope who exhumed his predecessor, put his corpse on trail, and then threw it into the river.
 
I feel bad for the huge majoity of priests who have never done these horrible things, we can expect them to suffer greatly because of the scandal of their brothers who betrayed their vocation and Lord.
 
Well, I didn’t pick them. Christ did.

St. Peter denied Christ three times publicly.

I just have to admit that God is in charge and He has a plan.
 
No but expect all of us to be lumped in with these horrible stewards in the eyes of the public. This is going to be a painful time. The ones who failed MUST be held to account. Do we know for absolute fact all these priests are guilty?
 
While that may be true, Catholics do not believe a scripture alone. We believe in the tradition, the dogma of the church. So where it becomes difficult is, if the tradition and dogma of the church has been entrusted to these men to interpret the Word of God and hold us to live up to those values, what will the church do to atone for it’s sins? For it is not just the case of pedophile priests who have preyed on the innocence and those most vulnerable in our society. But it is the fact that the very structural hierarchy, of which we are supposed to obey, has been corrupted. They moved priests around to get them past the the statute of limitations. They knowingly moved them from parish to parish and allowed the to abuse again and again.

I was a parishioner in the archdioceses of Washington when McCarrick was Cardinal there. And i foolishly thought he was a great man. In one of the parishes I grew up in, I found out years later that a predatory priest moved into our parish to cover up his actions from another parish. I served as an alter boy for him. What if I had been in an at risk kid?

Now I believe still in the Catholic Church. But this has to stop. These reverent men must be held accountable for what they did and what they covered up and allowed to continue. While we may pray for their souls and God may have mercy on them, they must face justice while they live their lives on this Earth. So as Jesus said, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.” This world is all God’s. Man’s righteous justice is God’s justice on Earth. Therefore, the perpetrators need to be held to account for the injustices of they flesh while they are still of flesh on Earth. At least that’s my point of view.
 
I’m already sick and tired of all the evangelicals gloating about this on twitter and facebook. They really seem to be enjoying this, well at least the ones I’ve seen comments from.
 
I’ve seen it by folks on social media (twitter, facebook, etc.) In some cases they are fundamentalists gloating and saying “told you so” and some are agonostic atheists who have ( from seing the vitriol in there language) always hated the church, long before the scandals broke.
 
Entwhistler said:
This is a horrible scandal and horrible clergy have done horrible things.

But the Church has been through much worse. Heck, we’ve even had a Pope who exhumed his predecessor, put his corpse on trail, and then threw it into the river.
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Sorry, but there is nothing worse than this kind of scandal (again and again) than the example you give as being much worse.
 
Where I differ from the point of view that celibacy is the root of this travesty is that, how many teachers have had improper sexual relations with their students? I often make the comment that, if only teachers were just allowed to marry, these types of things wouldn’t happen. There are predators in every vocation. The problem is, the leaders of the church used the sanctity of the cloth to hide these predators rather than turning them over to the authorities. God may forgive them in heaven, but if they are committing crimes of the flesh on Earth, they should have to face justice while on Earth.

And I do I hope and pray that you are correct and that the church is screening seminarians better. I know two wonderful men who has become a priest and is on his way to become a priest. But it sickens me that the integrity of the men that I know will automatically be questioned, through no fault of their own, other than because of the vocation to which they were called.
 
Os2Hugh said:
I’ve seen it by folks on social media (twitter, facebook, etc.)
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You don’t say. You mean to say that you read someone’s opinion on social media? I hope the nature of social media is apparent to anyone who engages with it. Otherwise, there will be a lot of anxious people out there.
 
CatholicGirl1 said:
What can I possibly say in reply?
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Here’s what you should say: These priests and the bishops who enabled them are evil monsters. They should be stripped of their priestly powers and denied any form of retirement pay. If their names are associated with any buildings, scholarships, etc., they should be immediately changed. If some of them are still able to be tried, let them stand trial–and provide for their own defense from their own funds.

Here’s what you should NOT say: Every organization has its bad apples. The church has seen worse. They are innocent until proven guilty. They haven’t been given due process. And anything else that seems to excuse their actions. There is absolutely, positively NO excuse, not for the actions, not for the coverup. Period.
 
I read about this, but there are things that didn’t make sense to me. If any could shed some light on this…
  1. How many of these cases actually involved pedophilia…that is a situation with pre-pubescent children. I think I read about 1 case out of 300…not that a relationship with a 15 year old is acceptable, it is just that it is a different beast.
  2. How many of these priests had only 1 single accuser?
 
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Entwhistler said:
I just have to admit that God is in charge and He has a plan.
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Yes, God is in charge, but this is not His plan. God gave us free will and some abuse it, being against His plan.
Polycarp_II said:
And I do I hope and pray that you are correct and that the church is screening seminarians better. I know two wonderful men who has become a priest and is on his way to become a priest. But it sickens me that the integrity of the men that I know will automatically be questioned, through no fault of their own, other than because of the vocation to which they were called.
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They are. Working in ministry myself, the screening goes for deacons, want-to-be deacons, lay workers and volunteers. At least that is done in my diocese. And, the background checks are required every 5 years.
I know for a fact that 4 out of 5 men who were signed up to become deacons where just denied a few months ago after their psych evaluations in my diocese. I just hope that those who enter the seminary are examined as closely as well and not just passed on because we need more priests.
 
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A child is 8 times more likely to be molested by a public school teacher than by a Catholic Priest. Should we then close all the public schools?
 
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