How has the Pennsylvania scandal affected you personally?

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In fairness, after Judas’s betrayal, almost all of Jesus’ disciples abandoned Him. This is, indeed, yet another pattern that has existed since the beginning of the Church.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
Well, I’m pretty sure as a young teenager I was alone with some male who was 18, 19 or 20, probably more than once. Heck, some of them were my cousins - and we all know that family members can be predators too.

I am not going to start labeling every teenage boy or young man a potential predator if being alone with a younger girl or even a younger guy is the most he does.

When I was in high school, back in the late 70s and early 80s, it was not unheard of for a girl of 13 or 14 to date a guy who was 18 or 19, particularly if he was known to her family. Everything wasn’t viewed through a “predator” lens in the past, and not every situation was abusive.
Let’s not overreact.
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I’m not saying he was a predator. I’m saying you cannot know he wasn’t based on having been trusted at the time.

I have been saddened and shocked at the persons in my own past who did turn out to have been sexual predators. In retrospect, the red flags were there. The situations were different. Well, now we know better because we know what to look for.

Yes: That puts us in a position where we have to both (a) take these situations seriously and (b) not leap to conclusions about anyone.

I guess my biggest soapbox is that there are innocent people who have to be convinced that their actions do set a dangerous precedent with younger people, that they have a responsibility to avoid acclimating younger people to patterns of behavior that put the younger people in danger.

I mean that even those 18 year olds or 25 year olds who aren’t dangerous must be convinced that if they, the safe people, act in ways that a predator could use in imitation to his advantage, they have also put a vulnerable person at risk. A big part of the reason for these protocols is to make grooming behaviors stick out like a sore thumb, to give potential victims a more immediate feeling that “something isn’t right with this guy–he is doing things that other people do not do, and not in a good way.”
 
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And there’s literally nothing you can do to change this situation. It’s not our job. Safeguard yourself and your family and everyone should use common sense.
 
Precisely - only 2 are facing charges, which fact doesn’t register, very prominently, in the media reporting.

I’ve only skim through various links wrt this news, but what is a ‘Grand Jury ’ report, when it’s all said and done? I only read the first 2 pages of it, as it seemed non-legal and the information seemed to have been cherry-picked - I would assume from the prosecutions’’ allegations/cases - which allegations are not necessarily always true, i.e. hence the defence.

So how much is actually true and/or proven within this report - as 300 priests seems a very high number to all have been proven guilty and, assuming many are deceased, was there historical documented evidence against each priest?

But, personally, it has not affected me - as it seems to cover decades, which time period the church has already reacted to with stringent child protective policies in place now.
 
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somecanadian said:
In fairness, after Judas’s betrayal, almost all of Jesus’ disciples abandoned Him. This is, indeed, yet another pattern that has existed since the beginning of the Church.
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You know, that’s a very interesting correlation I had never considered before. 🤔
 
Yes, leaving the Church is not an answer, but it is an understandable reaction.

I am struggling with the fact that my Bishop has connections to both the McCarrick case and to St. John’s seminary in Boston, and now my own diocese is dealing with a scandal involving seminarians and sexual misconduct and abuse.
That is 3 separate cases, in 3 different cities. How does this happen that he never saw/heard anything?! How is anyone supposed to trust someone who seems to always be where there are issues that have been hidden?

I will never leave the Church but, I am not sure if I will be trusting any Bishops in the US for a long time. A purge needs to happen. The culture needs to change and we, the laity, the Church, need to demand accountability and transparency.
 
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pepipop said:
as 300 priests seems a very high number to all have been proven guilty and, assuming many are deceased, was there historical documented evidence against each priest?
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They weren’t all proven guilty. In most cases, no charges were brought. In 2/3 of the cases the accused priests are already dead. And in a number of the cases, as pointed out by the Pittsburgh Diocese, the accuser didn’t come forward until after the priest was already dead, so we have no idea if he is guilty or not as there is no chance for him to defend himself or confess or what.
 
8% of our leaders failed. I don’t understand the throw the hands in the air and walk away from the entire family because 8% were sinners.

But that’s just me.
 
No, 8% were abusers. Many more priests and bishops knew about it and failed us.
 
Yup, they made bad choices.

Doesn’t change how I feel. I don’t abandon the family because it consists of sinners.

The Church has never been only for saints. It has ALWAYS contained sinners.
 
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Dude I know we are all sinners. But we are called to repent of those sins, not cover them up and put abusers in positions of power to abuse more
 
Thanks!

So, sounds like hyperbole to keep the sex abuse scandal, in the church, alive and kicking, 10 yrs later. I still don’t understand the ‘Grand Jury’ report, but have googled what it is - i.e. lay citizens appointed to report on cases, etc… in their jurisdiction.

I found the first few pages, of the Penns report, to be very unprofessional and containing a load of unsubstantiated facts, placed throughout the pages of the report, willy nilly. I will try to read (stomach) a bit more of it.
 
Absolutely, and we need to demand more from them. But leaving won’t do that. Leaving only hurts US and those who didn’t sin, not THEM.
 
It’s not like we know the personal history of every priest and bishop out there or had any say in who got picked. This stuff is way beyond our control.

We can make our outrage publicly known and I’m sure the bishops in charge are already well aware of the upset and disappointment and number of people who will want to leave the Church over this without us having to launch an e-mail blitz or have a sit-in outside their office.
 
I think today’s Mass readings speak loudly to what is going on. If you haven’t read them or been to daily Mass today, just my opinion, but I think it might be a good idea to take a loook and read them, especially the Gospel but it is interesting how all of them go together and can be tied in to what is happening right now. They spoke pretty loud to me today.

http://www.ololourdes.org/2016_olol/Church/CatholicChurch.php?op=Mass_Readings
 
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