Defending Priests Against "They're all pedophiles."?

[Newbie2]

Key,

This is a filter. The mind filters with generalizations, distortion and deletions. The first thing to do is recognize this. Next you ask questions.

Do you know all priests?

How is it you came to believe this?

A continuum of questions gets to the root of the generalization and there is no argument once the generalization is dispelled.

There are also Scout masters who are pedophiles, school teachers who are pedophiles, and ministers of other faiths who are pedophiles. Does that mean that all scout masters, school teachers, and ministers of other faiths are pedophiles? Hardly.

To claim that “all priests are pedophiles” defies even natural logic. You might want to start with that.

“All scientists are mass murders because Dr. Mengele was a mass murderer.”

As soon as they refute this, problem solved

All good.

FYI there’s a pretty good book out “Before Dallas” that methinks is a fairly objective treatment of the subject. While it is impossible to be completely objective, the author goes to some degree of effort to remain so:

amazon.com/Before-Dallas-Bishops-Response-Children/dp/0809105802

 

[Inego_de_Loyola]

There are a number of reasons:

1. Priests, ministers, policemen, teachers, physicians… etc. are held to a high moral standard when dealing with people under their care. The outrage is greater, by comparison to others.
2. The number of priests was very large. That was the huge shocker. Every time that it seemed to be over, then more allegations were made. Even spanning the oceans.
3. The response of those who should have taken more preventive action was outrageous, because they were priests too, and also held to a high standard.

Response to 1. Certainly so.

Response to 2. The number of priests was by percentage smaller than teachers, ministers of other denominations, and the general population. The biggest problem was that every time a priest was accused (Not even convicted.) it was big news. Whereas if the others made the news at all, it was a side-note and only local with the exception of a few.

Response to 3. I agree that the handling of this was wretched, but this was mostly because the bishops had bought into the idea that pedophilia was simply a disease and it could be cured. The idea was that if they had undergone psychiatric care and followed the doctors orders then they would be fine to go back to work. We as a society know better now, and if we had held to the wisdom of the church from earlier ages, then the administration element of this scandal would have been removed. Even knowing this I do not think the bishops actions were right, but at least they are understandable and forgivable wrongs.

 

[Agatha813]

Well, not all of them are pedophiles. The people that say that only focus on what they’ve heard and the media tends to exaggerate things. As horrible as these cases are, they can’t just generalize a group of people based on the people that do decide to go against the teachings of God.

The priests choosing celibacy is actually really honorable! Their way of life is really respectable and it is really wrong to think that ALL of them are pedophiles.

I think a good response to this would be that not all priests are that way and that it’s wrong to generalize a group of people based on what some of them have done. A good example would be to say all men beat their wives; which we all know is not true, but it’s a generalization you can come up with if all you’re listening to in the news has to deal with men beating their wives.

 

[Giggly_Giraffe]

Always start by calming down, humble yourself and carefully ask if they are a victim of abuse or if they know someone who is suffering. If they do, then you need to help heal this. Most likely, they have not been abused nor do they know a person abused. I’ve found that they stop bullying when you start with them and why they are so aggressive on the situation.

Then get to know the personal relationships they have with Priests. How many they know, who’s there favorite, where the Priests are now. If they don’t know any, then you can share your personal experiences with the Priests you know.