Catholic priest Pennsylvania scandal

[graciew]

Neither do I.
But it was me who thought they would accept more candidates.I honestly believed it was a higher percentage.
I am sharing it for other persons who may have thought what I did.
I know it was seriously cared for again through Monsignor Bergoglio who once shared more details of the process.
But seminaries aren’t my world,obviously.
Nice to dialogue with you again!

 

[HarryStotle]

ConstantLearner:

I don’t think that would end harassment or abuse anywhere. Butterflies gonna fly, birds gonna sing, molesters gonna molest, no matter where they are.

We already do what you suggested. We have laws, some even carrying the death penalty, against all sorts of crimes, and people continue to commit them in ever-increasing numbers.

Of course I agree to some extent. You can’t eliminate a determined predator who is immune to the prospect of punishment. But on the other hand, let’s take another crime, say embezzlement. You don’t have a corporate culture that simply transfers an embezzler to another department or branch. You don’t have situations (I hope) where all the people in the accounting department are aware that “Steve” is embezzling, but they ignore it. And you don’t have a situation where potential, hopeful embezzlers say to themselves, “I’m going to work for Corporation X because I know I can embezzle and get away with it.” All I’m saying is you need to take immediate action as an organization to distance yourselves from criminals or all kinds.

Except for the part about the Church being a “hospital for sinners.” If Corporation X had a mandate or mission to rehabilitate embezzlers and the company merely disavowed and distanced itself from all embezzlers, treating them as untouchables, it wouldn’t be a very effective way to rehabilitate them, would it?

The world’s mandate is to write off pedophiles and be done with them. It is a modern take on the Old Testament prescription to stone those guilty of serious sin.

Where the problem really lies is with the perception that the Church not only couldn’t do much in the way of healing or saving these individuals from committing serious sin, it actually enabled those who committed serious sins to carry on without doing anything to heal or save them from themselves nor their victims from them.

The secular world’s perception of the final “solution” is a far simpler one – public exposure, trials, jailing, and compensation to the victims – the perpetrators are a lost cause that need no further attention after prosecution and trial.

For the Church, the task is not quite so simple. The eternal well-being of both the victims and the perpetrators are at stake.

Does that mean abuser priests should have been sheltered and victims left without recourse?

No. However, the solution coming from the Church should not be merely the one coming from the secular world. That simply reinforces the notion that the Church has nothing to offer beyond what the world can already provide.

As always, priests, bishops and the laity should be looking to the Holy Spirit for guidance, not relying on the world to be the infallible guide.

 

[graciew]

Except for the part about the Church being a “hospital for sinners.” If

The Church goes to jails and prisons as well.
That one may be in prison,doesn t mean that the person is forgotten and left outside our " Hospital"
We belong to the " Hospital" ,wherever we are,and as low as we may have fallen.

 

[Wannano]

Wannano:

this is really just a continuation of what happened in the early 2000s. Enemies of the Church deliberately did not launch investigations into all Diocese at the same time because they wanted this to go on for a long time.

Thank God but it gives all the rest to come clean without getting a Grand Jury involved.

if people would spend the time to investigate the public school system for the same time periods, I wonder what they would find? But no one wants to turn over that stone.

That is not material to our situation. It is like a little kid. He did it to!

this is a “perfect storm” if you will.

This is an attack by the devil against the church and he uses human weaknesses to attack. We need prayer and penance like the Pope and many others have said.

And a few others had a shaky background or simply failed.

Peter denied Christ and Thomas doubted. We all have sinned but they both repented and died for Christ.

we can be assured that at least 1374 Bishops are screwing up on a regular basis.

They all fail but it is not a numbers game.

The Catholic Church does not protect us from bad priests and bad bishops. We will always have Judases. But she does give us a standard to know the truth and to be able to recognize when our leaders fail.

Agree.

I don’t know what happened but these are not my postings!

 

[quies]

Roger Mahony?
Catholic Cemeteries still Catholic?

 

[Alvin]

To become a Deacon, Priest or Bishop is a calling and not everyone is able to fulfill that vocation. Unfortunately, some priests have failed to live out their solemn duty as Pastors and keep their religious vows.
The other 37,000 plus good priests have been hurt because of the few bad ones.
Worldwide there are over 414,000 priests helping bring the word of God, the Gospel of Jesus and lead the lay people with success and love.

Most cases are from men claiming that as teenage boys, between 14 and 18, this is Pederasty, not pedophilia which both are condemned explicitly by the church.
There are priests who have been accused and some who are guilty by association, they will be brought to justice and are innocent until proven guilty. If the facts are there, they will be punished to the full extent of the law. Also, the wrongful accusers will also be criminally charged for extortion.
There has been and always be some kind of scandal everywhere but it is worse when its discovered in our Church. It is like finding out a relative who hurt or abused a family member. But the law is the law and it has to be applied. Regardless of how who felt about that person before.
We all have to pray for the victims of this and also pray for our church to purge itself of these bad persons that have infiltrated the church.

The devil has always tried to destroy the church but has never been able to succeed.
The gates of hell have never prevailed and never will. Jesus said that himself.

Don’t let this hurt your faith in God and always pray for all our members, our church, and our enemies.
May God bless you and keep you. Amen

 

[Ndegwahumble]

I read malachi martin’s book hostage to the devil, and a specific passage referred this child abuse cases to satanic rituals. This makes me believe that the devil has definitely entered our church and gone for priests. As Jesus said, there will always be wolves in His church.

 

[Hope1960]

Plenty of priests in my father’s family. Yes, a priest confesses to another priest, the same one each time. That priest becomes his confessor. You are also correct. A priest’s confessor would never break the seal of the confessional, not even for child abuse or any other crime. He can’t.

If an abusive priest said in Confession to another priest that he abused a child, the Seal of Confession would still be in place and the priest hearing the Confession still couldn’t do or say anything about what the abusive priest confessed?
Not when this scandal took place or what about now? Can the priest hearing the Confession now say or do anything to break the Seal of Confession to help the child?

 

[Jeanne_S]

This is the truth.My oldest daughter was abused by a neighborhood playmates dad as her memories emerged it was revealed that the mom was involved as well.

 

[angel12]

I don’t know what happened but these are not my postings!

It looks like this is from where you were quoting someone else’s post, and that didn’t come through right when Theo2 tried to quote.

 

[ConstantLearner]

Not when this scandal took place or what about now? Can the priest hearing the Confession now say or do anything to break the Seal of Confession to help the child?

I do not think so, no. I know of no priest who would break the seal of the confessional. He could refuse absolution to an offending priest, or exhort him to confess to his bishop, or resign, but he, himself, could not break the seal of the confessional. Once the seal is broken, people would no longer trust their confessor.

This is my understanding, and if I;m wrong, I’m sure someone will be along to correct me.

 

[jfz178]

My response would include some other questions:

• Is the Church responsible for the conduct of its clergy? I say yes.
• Is it really an excuse that “other men do such things” or that “other institutions have these things happen” or should we hold our Church and its priests to a higher standard? I say no to the first part, yes to the second.
• Is even one incident of pediophila in the Church a tragedy and one too many? I say yes.
• Is pedophilia in the Church mostly preventable? I say yes.
• Is the Church doing everything it can to bring offenders to full justice? I say no.
• Is the Church doing everything it can to prevent future offenses? I say no.

We have to solve this problem, folks. Making excuses, quoting the Bible and other church documents, pointing fingers elsewhere and even apologizing will not do that.

 

[jfz178]

Agreed. If it disproved the Church, we would probably all be gone! But I see the scandal as not being about the religious, spiritual Church as much as it is about the institutional Church. It is about bad management, not bad religion.

 

[somecanadian]

I disagree with your last two points.

As someone who has seen accused priests in my diocese dealt with quickly and having seen what was implemented to prevent further abuses I think it’s clear things have gotten better and have been addressed.

We don’t see it because all these old cases continue to be brought up.

 

[jfz178]

Research has shown that, although this seems like a paradox, sexual orientation is not at the root of the problem. That peophile priest abuse boys more than girls seems to be more due to the fact that pedophiles rely heavily on victims’ cooperation and silence. They become expert at picking victims who will fulfill those needs. My daughter, who was a prosecuting attorney specializing in sexually violent predators, schooled me on this. Men tend to choose boys to prey on because generally, they can exert more control over boys and get them to be cooperative and silent, even if they would prefer girls.

This is especially true of the priest/boy relationship. So it is a control thing, more than a sexual preference thing. There are actually at least two kind of pedophilies and I think this is important to understand:

1. Classic, or "true pedopholes: These people actualy prefer children as sexual partners. They will prefer a gender, a particular age group and even characteristics like hair color. Sometimes they don’t even act on those preferences. They are actually the minority in the problem we are discussing. Actually, calling this problem pedophilia may actually not be correct.
2. Sexual predators: These people are just looking to have sex with whoever they can and the act is not as much about sex itself as it is control. They feel personally powerless and they are addicted to exerting control through sex. Most of the priests in the current scandal are probably technically “sexual predators.”

 

[jfz178]

So you are content that the Church is doing everything it can and there will be no new cases? I wish I could share your optimism. From what I see, it could be going on today and we would not know it.

 

[somecanadian]

Yes. I am certain the Church is doing all it can. I am also certain there will be more cases because there will always be corrupt people who find a way around the safeguards but there is only so much we can do. How the Church RESPONDS to future abuse WILL be better. Of that I am confident.

 

[13pollitos]

I truly wish I shared your optimism. I really do. I am lost at the moment. I am a teacher who is retiring as soon as possible so that I can homeschool my children. I do not trust the public school system and yes, I am a teacher in public schools. I regretted that I could not homeschool my nieces and nephews but at the time they were young it was not a possibility. Soon it will be for my family. I know our schools have problems and that is why I am not about to let them be in charge of my children. What this crisis has shown me is that in many ways, my girls would be safer at the school system I teach in than they are at the Catholic Churches we attend. It has been heartbreaking for me as a mother to witness this and I don’t know what I should do about it. My gut is telling me to keep them away from there too. Our priests have not even acknowledged anything.

 

[SeriousQuestion]

should we hold our Church and its priests to a higher standard?

That’s not very fair.

• Is the Church doing everything it can to bring offenders to full justice? I say no.
• Is the Church doing everything it can to prevent future offenses? I say no.

The Church has had some reforms.

 

[BlueMaxx]

You seem to assume a lot around here…