Just read about it on Yahoo and the accusations are disgusting. One priest has already plead guilty to sexual assault of a 10 year old boy. As Christians we know that our faith will tested. Unfortunately, most of us never thought that it would be tested by the very men who have been entrusted with guarding the flock. By the Bible speaks of men who will infiltrate the flock, posing as sheep, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. This kind are among the most evil and dangerous because their actions are being used to try and discredit the Church and shake the faith of its weaker members. Frankly, without sounding uncharitable, they need to be puniushed to the fullest extent of the law.Is anyone tracking the court case in Philadelphia that started this Monday morning? It seems to be a landmark case.
google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gEl9oyqZPvTBanuzzPsgUu6uQaoQ?docId=7612cf77739d49a786a2b8a0e76cbbfd
Ooops, linked the wrong one and now I lost the link. Anyone find any interesting details on what is happening or have a particularly enlightening article?I clicked on your link and it took me to an old NYTimes article on Kansas City.
Yes, I completely agree with you. I grew up in the diocese and personally know people who were abused by priests in the diocese, as well as knew two of the priests in the accused list from the most recent grand jury report. One of them was a teacher at my high school. Another was a pastor of my former parish. So many in the diocese have been feeling pummeled, beaten down and betrayed. When all of this first came out about 10 years ago, I refused to believe it. The Church was the place I went to for spiritual comfort when I dealt with the after affects of sexual molestation (not by a priest) as a little girl. It was difficult for me to accept that there were evil men in the Church who acted just like the pervert who destroyed my childhood innocence. But then I continued to read more, found out how many people I knew personally were directly affected and then knowing good priests who were just as outraged and disgusted, especially with the last archbishop, who was not directly involved, but did not do enough to help the situation. It got to the point within the last year of his tenure that some priests were openly outraged with him. Many people were happy that he went and Archbishop Chaput came in.Just read about it on Yahoo and the accusations are disgusting. One priest has already plead guilty to sexual assault of a 10 year old boy. As Christians we know that our faith will tested. Unfortunately, most of us never thought that it would be tested by the very men who have been entrusted with guarding the flock. By the Bible speaks of men who will infiltrate the flock, posing as sheep, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. This kind are among the most evil and dangerous because their actions are being used to try and discredit the Church and shake the faith of its weaker members. Frankly, without sounding uncharitable, they need to be puniushed to the fullest extent of the law.
what about a ‘‘go and sin no more’’ sentence? Every time i go to confession the words of christ just rings in my head he say go and sin no more. I confess all the filtiness to a priest i dont expect him to be infalliable.Yes, I completely agree with you. I grew up in the diocese and personally know people who were abused by priests in the diocese, as well as knew two of the priests in the accused list from the most recent grand jury report. One of them was a teacher at my high school. Another was a pastor of my former parish. So many in the diocese have been feeling pummeled, beaten down and betrayed. When all of this first came out about 10 years ago, I refused to believe it. The Church was the place I went to for spiritual comfort when I dealt with the after affects of sexual molestation (not by a priest) as a little girl. It was difficult for me to accept that there were evil men in the Church who acted just like the pervert who destroyed my childhood innocence. But then I continued to read more, found out how many people I knew personally were directly affected and then knowing good priests who were just as outraged and disgusted, especially with the last archbishop, who was not directly involved, but did not do enough to help the situation. It got to the point within the last year of his tenure that some priests were openly outraged with him. Many people were happy that he went and Archbishop Chaput came in.
I read the grand jury reports, but couldn’t stomach reading all the details regarding the various abuses. To me, if any of those men are truly guilty of these heinous and disgusting crimes, they do deserve to be punished. I just can’t believe that the defrocked Edward Avery will only get between 2 1/2 to 5 years in prison.
I apologise in advance if I sound a bit too emotional. I admit that this is something which hits very close to home to me. I’ve seen too many people in that diocese affected by this either directly or indirectly. In many ways, those involved in these crimes have hurt the faithful more than anyone from the outside. And those priests who are doing God’s will and doing good are very affected by it. People I have talked to have admitted that they sometimes have a difficult time trusting the priest at their parishes, especially when more news come out on it. Good priests are afraid to do things with kids for fear of being accused. Good parents look at these good priests askance asking themselves if the genuine goodness is just a cover for ulterior motives. It has angered and saddened me.
Your quote, “I think many of us know children who were raped over and over again” is a gross exageration. It suggests that these circumstances are somehow representive of the norm within the Roman Catholic Church, rather than extreme exceptions.Sarabande, thank you for your posting. Your compassion and integrity came through. I think many of us know children who raped over and over again, and now, as adults, are haunted and scarred. This trial will do two things - it will punish the guilty priests, and it will open the possibility of punishment for crimes of the men who allowed this to happen, and then covered it up. I don’t think the Bishops and their administrators have ever been challenged in the legal system before. And now they are. I don’t know what will happen. Will every Bishop who covered up criminal priests be charged and sent to prison? It is hard to imagine. We will have to see what happens in Philadelphia, and then in Kansas City.
Charitably speaking, I am incredulous at you assertions. If you are implying that your friends “in religion” are Catholic, and by extrapolation every Catholic, “just has to know”, innumerable victims of clerical sexual abuse, you are being false. I have been a Roman Catholic my entire life and I know of no one who has been molested by a priest.When I said that many of us know children who were raped over and over again, I meant it quite literally. I can count 20+ adults I know who went through years of rape. And many of my friends and colleagues in the world of religion have the same numbers. It is common to know people who went through that in their childhoods. My only concern is that this stops and that the abusers and rapists are tried and punished. AND that the system within churches no longer allow this to happen. It is time for repentance and owning up to the horrors. And I’m afraid it includes the hierarchy.
Maybe no one felt safe enough with you to share their horror stories. You sound like someone that would have ground them into the ground even further.Charitably speaking, I am incredulous at you assertions. If you are implying that your friends “in religion” are Catholic, and by extrapolation every Catholic, “just has to know”, innumerable victims of clerical sexual abuse, you are being false. I have been a Roman Catholic my entire life and I know of no one who has been molested by a priest.
There is a myth (a slander, in point of fact) which has been germinated from the false presumption promulgated by vitriolic enemies of the faith that, “every Catholic knows someone who was abused by a priest”. Wrong! That is a lie. That is an out and out slander.
Respectfully submitted, your commentary has all the earmarks of imflamatory rhetoric rather than deeply felt, empathetic, and restrained discourse. This subject has deeply affected we members of the Roman Catholic Church, but it has also cautioned us to be circumspective with regards to outsiders who seem to relish dumping salt into our open wounds.
So now you have a new name, three posts, and list as a Catholic. There is fraud going on here.Maybe no one felt safe enough with you to share their horror stories. You sound like someone that would have ground them into the ground even further.