How to handle the sexual abuse issue when evangelizing?

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I recently saw a news story about a priest who has been accused of sexually abusing teenagers (many years ago). This ongoing issue seems to give many people an excuse to continue in their misconceptions, continue with their jokes, and not be open to learning about the Church.

I’m curious how others have worked through this issue in their evangelization efforts.

Thanks.
 
satan was attacking the formation of the Church while JESUS walked and taught and he will never stop until JESUS returns. It happened, it is/was horrible, it was covered up for years and the perpatrators are being caught and tried and huge settlements are being paid . . . . . but “…the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”. Paraphrase of JESUS words in Matthew 16 when HE appointed Peter as the first Pope and foundation of HIS Church.

You acknowledge it, and then you acknowledge that it is not stopping the Church, as JESUS promised, that the Church will be the entity that will break through hells gates and place the demons in submission.

Come into the Church, and share in that promise and protection from JESUS HIMSELF.
 
novusCatholic said:
I recently saw a news story about a priest who has been accused of sexually abusing teenagers (many years ago). This ongoing issue seems to give many people an excuse to continue in their misconceptions, continue with their jokes, and not be open to learning about the Church.

I’m curious how others have worked through this issue in their evangelization efforts.

Thanks.
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I say that there are evil men in all institutions and that still doesn’t lessen the thruth of the Church. (Remember the wheat and the Chaff). I say those men who are guilty will get what they deserve in this world or the next. However, as bad as it is to have happened, if you look at the actual numbers (I will see if I can find the reports later if I remember) there is actually a lower rate of abuse in the clergy than in the general population as a whole and equal if not slightly lower rate of abuse then found among Protestant ministers. As evidence of this you can also cite the insurance rate for the Churches for abuse in both Protestant and Catholic churches. Both premiums are the same because insurance companies in their risk analysis studies show that the risk of encounting this behavior is roughly the same (like I said slightly lower in Catholic Church but not by much). This is pretty reliable because insurance companies have no dog in this fight other than to make money and minimize risk so if they are seeing a substantially higher risk in one church verses another you can bet that they would increase their premiums (just like they do with multie ticket drivers). The only reason why the Church is so prevelant in the news is becasue it is precieved to have deeper pockets and thus more people go after it and it becomes more sensationalized. It has a centeralized government that you can go after whereas usually in Protestant churches each church is standing alone.

Bottom line is there are evil men and women in ever instititution and to say the Church as a monopoly on this behaior is unjustified bias given the actual data. It does not however undermine the Truth and love of Jesus and his Church that he founded. Also the church has put in place mechanims to ensure that this abomination never happens again.
 
Ironically, this never seems to be a big issue if you explain it well. I’ve only had to explain probably 3 or 4 times. But, if you do it the right way most people will agree that this doesn’t mean the Church isn’t true.

The first thing you have to establish is that it is in no way characteristic of the vast majority of Catholic priests. Over 99% of priests are never even accused. And, of those who are accused, many priests are exonerated and the charges are proven to be false.

The second thing is to address that the media is wrong. The media wants to attack the Church, so they’re still beating this dead horse. But, if you look at the numbers there’s no reason this still enters into almost every article they right about the Catholic church. In the 60’s there was a peak of maybe 400 accused priests a year. Nowadays at least in the U.S. that is below 10 priests a year. While, that’s still 10 too many… 10 priests is not characteristic 40,000 in the U.S.

And while we’re on the topic, I always love to share these every chance I get:

http://catholicvoteaction.org/blog/cva/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/30douthatblog-custom21.jpg

Bottom line, there are bad people in every institution. But, once again they aren’t characteristic of the Church as a whole. And… do those images look like the Vatican has been covering up this problem? Or does it look like they’ve been attacking it head on?
 
What I ususally hear is “if the Church let priests marry, then they wouldn’t go after kids.” Really? This would mean that the widowers and divorced men one knows in their families should not be considered safe. Beware of widowed grandpa. This is nonsense. Normal men do not go after kids because they can’t, for one reason or another, have sex with a woman.

Secondly, the idea of a cover-up and moving the priests to other areas is inexcusable.
 
aicirt said:
What I ususally hear is “if the Church let priests marry, then they wouldn’t go after kids.” Really? This would mean that the widowers and divorced men one knows in their families should not be considered safe. Beware of widowed grandpa.
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As some one who’s never married, I can tell that there are many people out there who think this already.
 
Although there are members of the Catholic Church who commit serious sin, that does not eclipse the truth of what the Church teaches. Our Lord Jesus Christ and all He gave us is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Much is being done to avoid this in the future. And, all of us need to pray for the sanctification of all priests.

I’ve heard it said that priests were moved around when this happened, because bishops thought that because the accused said “I’m sorry” that it would not happen again. It is a deep-rooted problem and needs more than a slap on the wrist.

All the saints known and unknown give us hope as to what the Lord can do when we cooperate with His grace.
 
It’s the exception that makes the news.
People don’t give the refrigerator a second thought unless their milk is frozen solid or the ice cream melts.
The media doesn’t give the Church a single thought until something happens that can be turned into scandal.
Never mind how much of an exception it is.
 
aicirt said:
What I ususally hear is “if the Church let priests marry, then they wouldn’t go after kids.” Really? This would mean that the widowers and divorced men one knows in their families should not be considered safe. Beware of widowed grandpa. This is nonsense. Normal men do not go after kids because they can’t, for one reason or another, have sex with a woman.

Secondly, the idea of a cover-up and moving the priests to other areas is inexcusable.
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The abuse scandal should have been handled much better than it was. As far as priests becoming predators because they can’t marry that’s a ridiculous statement. Over 80% of the victims were boys so unless they are allowed to marry underage boys I don’t think allowing priests to marry will help much. According to the Dept of Education’s own study done by Carol Shakeshaft you are over 100 times more likely to be abused by a teacher or coach and most of them are married so that theory really doesn’t hold water.
 
Just today a friend and I were chatting online and I was talking about Catholicism and what it’s doing in my life. She said she wouldn’t even give the Catholic Church a 2nd glance (said she ‘tried’ Catholicism once before, whatever that means) because of the abuse issues.
I told her that all churches are made up of sinful people. In every denomination there is always something that’s jaw dropping…ministers sleeping with congregation members, deacons stealing money, etc, etc. It’s just the Catholic Church always makes the limelight while the others churches and their issues don’t. No it doesn’t make it right at all. Just because some priests have issues they need to def. work on and get help with doesn’t make the church an abomination.
She said for her, she doesn’t ‘do’ church. She’d rather sit in a chair with her feet propped sipping coffee and having an open discussion about God she said and at the same time she said she’s ‘searching’…
 
Thanks everyone for the replies. I agree with all that you’ve said.

I have attempted to discuss the Church with some who are not normally willing to consider it or even talk about it. However, these same people felt the need to immediately bring up the news story that I mentioned as soon as they heard it. It can be discouraging.
 
There’s a principle involved in the following verses:

**Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. **Matt 23:1-3

Also, the doctrine of Original Sin guarantees that, if one hangs around people long enough, inside the church or outside of it, those people will let you down in one way or another, ourselves included. In fact, Jesus can’t really work with us much until we recognize our own unholiness, rather than looking around and pointing the finger at others.

Now that doesn’t mean that those involved in the scandals aren’t wrong and shouldn’t be judged accordingly-scripture tells us that those in positions of authority in the church will be held to a higher standard, in fact. And they do great harm to the Church, of course. But we don’t join a group of saints when we enter the church; we’re joining a group of admitted sinners. And Jesus came for no other reason.
 
fhansen said:
But we don’t join a group of saints when we enter the church; we’re joining a group of admitted sinners. And Jesus came for no other reason.
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Well said.

I suppose that those who are so critical of the Church today and not willing to consider it, if they had been around when the Church first began, wouldn’t have considered it then either because one of the twelve Apostles was a low life, rotten, betrayer. That’s over 8% of the group!
 
novusCatholic said:
Well said.

I suppose that those who are so critical of the Church today and not willing to consider it, if they had been around when the Church first began, wouldn’t have considered it then either because one of the twelve Apostles was a low life, rotten, betrayer. That’s over 8% of the group!
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And, Peter denied, and all the apostles except John hid in fear when Jesus was crucified.

The evil one hates the Church, and tempts and incites people to diminish what She is.
 
Hello - can I chime in? I’m an evangelical (life long protestant) just starting my search to find about Catholicism.

To be truthful, this is a topic that concerns me some. But not in the way that you might think. I’m not so concerned that instances of abuse have happened, although it is awful, but as a lot of you have stated…all men are sinners…and 99.9% (or whatever) of the priests are never accused of anything like that. What concerns me the most are the reports of covering it up and protecting the accused. This, if it is true, has always weighed heavier on my mind than the actual incident itself. Again, all I have to go by are the news reports that I can remember reading or hearing…but the ‘covering it up’ part, at least to me, brings up many more questions than just a man committing a sick crime.

I’m sorry if this is not my place, or if I have spoken out of line…but this is a question in my mind that at some point needs to be reconciled.

Thank you all for sharing on this site…what an awesome resource for people like me trying to learn what they can about the Catholic faith.

Blessings to you.
 
dal61 said:
Hello - can I chime in? I’m an evangelical (life long protestant) just starting my search to find about Catholicism.

To be truthful, this is a topic that concerns me some. But not in the way that you might think. I’m not so concerned that instances of abuse have happened, although it is awful, but as a lot of you have stated…all men are sinners…and 99.9% (or whatever) of the priests are never accused of anything like that. What concerns me the most are the reports of covering it up and protecting the accused. This, if it is true, has always weighed heavier on my mind than the actual incident itself. Again, all I have to go by are the news reports that I can remember reading or hearing…but the ‘covering it up’ part, at least to me, brings up many more questions than just a man committing a sick crime.

I’m sorry if this is not my place, or if I have spoken out of line…but this is a question in my mind that at some point needs to be reconciled.

Thank you all for sharing on this site…what an awesome resource for people like me trying to learn what they can about the Catholic faith.

Blessings to you.
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I can understand your concern, it’s difficult for all of us. Still, you’re unlikely to find a church made up of only saints. In the long run I’d still rather worship the way the early Christians did, the ones taught by the Apostles, then a branch that came about hundreds of years later that seem to get farther and farther away from the original faith every time one breaks off.
 
Judith Reisman blew the whistle on the Alfred Kinsey cover-up of paying pedophiles to molest children, all towards the end of legalizing sex with children. Then look up the Franklin Savings & Loan sex scandal of a Republican operative providing children from Nebraska for the political elite in Washington, D.C. including a million dollar settlement to one victim. This is a systemic problem, and we were warned by Jesus Christ about wolves in sheep’s clothing. As attorney and New Age researcher Constance Cumbey notes, if you have an organization of any kind, it can be infiltrated. May God grant us goooood shepherds to eradicate the wolves in sheep’s clothing.
 
I’m not going to excuse the covering up part of the scandal. I worked with child sexual abuse cases within families. One involved a step-father who sexually abused his wife’s two children. She did not seek a divorce. So the agency was ordered by the court to supervise the home, he was to go into counseling as were the kids and the wife. Personally, I did not understand the mother. Apparently, she loved him or feared she could not financially live without him. The kids? Well when your mother wants him back what’s the message she’s giving the kids?

Another involved two low functioning people. The male picked-up the physically disabled woman and raped her. They married. They had five kids all of whom were suspected of being sexually abused at one time or another. It took many years to get a case against the father. Why? Because of the low functioning problem, the lying, and the twisted sense of loyalty.

I do not support what the superiors of these priests did in moving the offenders from place to place. However, I’ve seen strange behaviour from our courts, judges, and from child psychologists many of whom left me angry and wondering how stupid can you get.
 
Dorothy said:
Although there are members of the Catholic Church who commit serious sin, that does not eclipse the truth of what the Church teaches. Our Lord Jesus Christ and all He gave us is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Much is being done to avoid this in the future. And, all of us need to pray for the sanctification of all priests.

I’ve heard it said that priests were moved around when this happened, because bishops thought that because the accused said “I’m sorry” that it would not happen again. It is a deep-rooted problem and needs more than a slap on the wrist.

All the saints known and unknown give us hope as to what the Lord can do when we cooperate with His grace.
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At the time, pedophilia was not well understood. It is only recently that we have learned that pedophiles usually keep offending across their entire lives, no matter if they are “rehabilitated” or not. We cannot take our current knowledge backward and pretend that the people in the 1960’s and 1970’s had the same information and understanding.

I often give an example from my own life. Bear with me, it’s relevant. My mother died when I was 10, of congestive heart failure. She had been ill pretty much her whole life, had rheumatic fever and pneumonia as a child and young girl. Well, the pneumonia caused her lung tissue to scar. At some point she had at least half of one of her lungs removed, it may have been an entire lung, can’t remember now, but that was the normal treatment. So then, with half of her lung removed, the body created a natural fluid to fill in that space. The doctors did not know that is normal and actually healthy for the body to do, so she had that fluid repeatedly suctioned out. Eventually, a space was left, and her heart enlarged to fill that space, and she died of an enlarged heart. So you see, the doctors were doing the best that they knew how to do, but with further time and greater knowledge, that practice is not done any more.

The same with pedophiles, whether priests or not. With everything we know now, it seems that these people can almost never be cured. But that was not the knowledge at the time. They don’t even do well in rehabilitation, and at the time, there was no rehabilitation for pedophiles. The Church did not know that these men could not be cured. You may say, “Well they should have been de-frocked anyway,” but that is hindsight.

Also, remind them that there are many Protestant preachers and youth leaders who are pedophiles. They just don’t get the kind of press that Catholic priests do, and they can settle lawsuits more easily b/c they are free agents unlike our Church with its hierarchical structure. There are pedophiles in teaching, in coaching, in any area that puts them near their victims.

Also the seminaries were too liberal with admissions in the late 1960’s and 1970’s, so more pedophiles got in and were ordained. Now there is a much more stringent screening process. It would be difficult for a pedophile to hide his problem now.
 
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