More Scandal - The Worst Is Yet To Come

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Brace yourselves – we’ve now received word that the worst of the scandal is yet to hit. According to Domenico Bettinelli (courtesy of a heads-up from faithful Catholic and Dallas Morning News writer Rod Dreher), we’re looking at a new round of sexual allegations that will blow the bishops’ cover and re-ignite the scandal.

On Sunday, The Dallas Morning News will begin publishing the results of a major yearlong investigation into a largely uncovered aspect of the Catholic sex abuse scandal. The series of stories are international in scope, and will make headlines nationally and overseas. I’m not at liberty to disclose details yet, but I’ve seen advanced copies of the articles, and they are devastating. I believe at this point, more details will be available on Friday morning, when one of the reporters on the series does an interview on National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition.” The stories will be available on the dallasnews.com website starting either late Saturday night or early Sunday morning.

I expect these stories to dominate conversation among concerned American Catholics next week, and into the early summer (because there will be much more to come; next week’s series only reveals part of what our reporters have uncovered and documented). These findings give lie to the claim from Church officialdom that this scandal is over. The cover-up continues.In follow up comments, Rod notes that he’s seen “the planned cover of Sunday’s DMN. The picture they’re going to run is a jaw-dropper.”

This could be huge. I posted this in the Apologist section because we MUST be prepared to answer questions and defend the faith. As for the bishops, they can fend for themselves.
 
Big deal, this is obviously a bad thing that needs to be fixed, but this happens far more frequently in the school system. This is just another opportunity to give bad publicity to the Catholic Religion.
 
go Leafs go:
Big deal, this is obviously a bad thing that needs to be fixed, but this happens far more frequently in the school system. This is just another opportunity to give bad publicity to the Catholic Religion.
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Many people have left the Church because they cannot reconcile the failures of the shepherds with the faith those shepherds are supposed to teach.

To those of us who are strong in our faith, we won’t mind seeing a few dead branches trimmed from the tree. For those who are weak, this could be a very “big deal.” It also fuels anti-Catholicism and knocks the high ground right out from under us, at a time when we need to take and keep the moral high ground.

So it is a big deal.
 
Remember, we are not to listen to what they say, and not do as they do…or something like that from the bible. Point is that yes, this is a big problem, but Jesus warned us of these problems. Peter denied Jesus 3 times, we’ve had some pretty poor leaders in the past (I’d even venture to say corrupt popes), yet the faith remains. This is just propaganda against the Catholic church. An organization as big as this is bound to have these sorts of problems, as do many other organizations. I’m sure that there is sexual abuse in other religions too but given they are on such a smaller scale that no one makes a fuss about it.

Plus we live in an Anti-Catholic part of the world with Anti-Catholic media waiting to pounce on every negative news item that there is.
 
the_geezer said:
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I stopped reading the post at this point.
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Why?

Although we can question the source, that doesn’t necessarily mean a) the story is incorrect, or b) it will have no impact.

We’re not ostriches, and we can’t run away from the issue.
 
I truly believe that the current scandal is a great gift from Jesus to the Church. Weak and sinful bishops and priests have introduced a cancer into the body of Christ. Cancer cannot be removed without pain and scarring, but it must be removed. The Lord is purifying His One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. I returned to the Church in 2000, just as the scandal was breaking with full force. It did not deter me, and other recent reverts and converts have told me that the scandal actually helped to bring them back to the Faith. God works in mysterious ways. 👍
Paul
 
It is a big deal.

We know there is anti-Catholic bias.
We know that many will cover this with glee.

But many faithful Catholics, perhaps not the best-formed, but good people - were shaken by the scandal. Many left. Many who may have otherwise converted did not. The Priests and Bishops who played a part in causing many to lose the faith will have much to account for. They need our prayers.

But I think many now believe that it’s over.

Should “jaw-dropping” news actually break, there could be another devastating hit to the weakly-formed faithful who can’t separate the teachings from the teachers.

It also affects ALL priests, who must tolerate suspicious looks from parents because of the actions of a few.

I think it is prudent to understand that we need to be vigilant in helping people understand that more bad news still does not take away from the Church’s teachings.

That all said, hopefully this is pure sensationalism that fizzles into nothingness.
 
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PaulDupre:
I truly believe that the current scandal is a great gift from Jesus to the Church. Weak and sinful bishops and priests have introduced a cancer into the body of Christ. Cancer cannot be removed without pain and scarring, but it must be removed. The Lord is purifying His One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. I returned to the Church in 2000, just as the scandal was breaking with full force. It did not deter me, and other recent reverts and converts have told me that the scandal actually helped to bring them back to the Faith. God works in mysterious ways. 👍
Paul
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I will agree with this in part. To the degree that these men were in the Church and causing harm, sin is best dealt with when confessed and confronted. Just as it is true for each individual, it is true for the church. There is a purification going on, and the sufferings now should bear fruit later.
I fear that there is more suffering to come, though, and if we look historically it has usually involved the blood of martyrs. I fear we are heading to a day where this happens again, but I think it will be the purification needed to eventually have a stronger church in the end.

However, this is only necessary because of the fact that these men are/were in the Church. Jesus certainly never willed that any Priest abuse his position, and others.
 
gomer tree:
I will agree with this in part. To the degree that these men were in the Church and causing harm, sin is best dealt with when confessed and confronted. Just as it is true for each individual, it is true for the church. There is a purification going on, and the sufferings now should bear fruit later.

I fear that there is more suffering to come, though, and if we look historically it has usually involved the blood of martyrs. I fear we are heading to a day where this happens again, but I think it will be the purification needed to eventually have a stronger church in the end.

However, this is only necessary because of the fact that these men are/were in the Church. Jesus certainly never willed that any Priest abuse his position, and others.
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Agreed. The tree definitely needs pruning - we can’t stop it, nor should we - but we must still be prepared to help those who have fallen away/will fall away due to this sore lack of leadership.

Defend the faith!
 
Barrister,

IMO, Christ is better served by a smaller, yet more faithful Church. We cannot continue the way we have for the last 30-40 years. It is all very painful, but like some surgeries the pain is much needed. I am sick of abuses at all levels, I am sick of so-called Catholics not being Catholic. In the end, what is a more greivous sin, to murder innocent unborn babies, or to mollest the young? They are both horrible events, yet the murder takes away everything from the person. Yet, a large percentage of Catholics support abortion and many, if not most, of our Bishops refuse to truly speak out against those sorts of sins–perhaps because many of them have huge planks in their own eyes.

Faithful Catholics will be tried and tested during this period of the Church, yet in the end Jesus will prevail. The Lord loves us all, and He had a special love for the young…yet the young have been under an assault across the globe and it MUST end. We collectively have allowed it all to come to this and the Holy Spirit is taking a huge broom to our Lord’s Church.

Slowly, painfully, the Catholic Church must become again the One, Holy, Roman and Apostolic Church that Christ began nearly 2,000 years ago–it will cause much pain and the Church will lose members…but later the Church will grow and flourish like never before.

Bravo to the Holy Spirit!
 
The Catholic Church has been around 2000 years despite the attempts of satan and his minions to destroy her. This is not the first scandal and will not be the last. From what little I know, this article is yet another attempt from a liberal newspaper to attack the Church.
 
ThomasJ:

Aye, but Christ would prefer that not a single sheep be lost. While a smaller Church might operate more efficiently, it will have failed in its mandate to make disciples of all nations.

Don’t get me wrong - I, too, welcome a bit of pruning. Every gardener knows that a plant cannot grow if it is entangled by sickly branches. Unless the sickness is pruned from the Church, the Church as we know it will whither and die. A well-pruned Church, on the other hand, will prosper and grow.

The point is that we should not ignore this or hide our heads in the sand - we should *embrace * it and we should be prepared to speak thoughtfully about our faith, to spread God’s Truth and to grow this beautiful Church! 👍
 
Arrrrghhhh.

Worst yet to come?

How can it get any worse?

Internet anti-Catholics will have a field day with this.

Depressed,

ZT
 
Barrister,

I disagree.

I feel the Church has large numbers today–but…and this is a bigtime large point: Aren’t a good many of those people lost? Huge percentages of Catholics thinks abortion, gay marriage, birth control, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, etc…are all acceptable pratices. Huge percentages of Catholics “never” go to confession; two-thirds of Catholics do not attend Mass regularly. Something like 70% of surveyed Catholics do NOT believe in the Real Presence. Huge percentages of Catholics think that they can make their own faith choices, that Mass is not required, on-and-on and on.

Think it through…those very same people are living lives in nearly full dissent against the faith and the Church has done little to nothing about that over the last 30 years or so. The abuse problems are merely a reflection of how far the Church has strayed and how much damage “hades” has done. But, hades has not prevailed and it won’t.

Therefore, if the Church becomes the Church again, even if the numbers drop dramtically, at least it will once again become the lamp of Christ for all to see. Right now the Church is not a lamp at all. Once the Church becomes the lamp of Jesus’ truth again, people will once again flock to its pews.
 
This is what I would expect from NPR!This is just another round of Catholic Church bashing. The Church founded by Peter WILL SURVIVE! :mad:
 
P. Mark Petro:
From what little I know, this article is yet another attempt from a liberal newspaper to attack the Church.
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I would agree, if the stories are lies or gross exaggerations. But, if they’re true, it wouldn’t matter if the news were revealed by L’Osservatore Romano or the Daily Worker.
 
Although much can be said for anti-Catholic bias in the media, surely if there are more legitimate allegations, it cannot just be written off as Catholic bashing right?

I am really sad about this. I personally feel that humans will sin and that the Church is full of sinful humans. But, a lot of people do take these things differently and use it as an excuse to walk away from the Church. I wish they wouldn’t but I can understand their frustration too.

I think we need to be prepared to admit when things have gone wrong and support the Church in attempts to resolve things. Yes, people will attack us because they’ll lump us, all Priests and the whole Church together. They will forget all of the wonderful things the Church does. It is a shame, but we need to ask for accountability and also to defend our Priests, who are largely good, holy men, from those who would generalize about them.

God Bless,
Nicole
 
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Southernrich:
I would agree, if the stories are lies or gross exaggerations. But, if they’re true, it wouldn’t matter if the news were revealed by L’Osservatore Romano or the Daily Worker.
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Exactly the point.
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ThomasJ:
Therefore, if the Church becomes the Church again, even if the numbers drop dramtically, at least it will once again become the lamp of Christ for all to see. Right now the Church is not a lamp at all. Once the Church becomes the lamp of Jesus’ truth again, people will once again flock to its pews.
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Look again at my post. I don’t think we disagree on this point. 🙂

On the other point:
Do we have a lot of apostates and heretics in the Church right now? Undoubtedly. Do they have to go? Undoubtedly.

My point is not that we accept apostates with open arms; rather, my point is that we not abandon Christ’s mandate that we “make disciples of every nation.”

We must not abandon apostates and heretics - we must evangelize them and bring them into the True Faith. Once they are pruned and the Church’s message becomes clear once again, we will grow and be stronger than ever.

No one is beyond salvation. Not even Gollum.
 
The Barrister:
Brace yourselves – we’ve now received word that the worst of the scandal is yet to hit. According to Domenico Bettinelli (courtesy of a heads-up from faithful Catholic and Dallas Morning News writer Rod Dreher), we’re looking at a new round of sexual allegations that will blow the bishops’ cover and re-ignite the scandal.

On Sunday, The Dallas Morning News will begin publishing the results of a major yearlong investigation into a largely uncovered aspect of the Catholic sex abuse scandal. The series of stories are international in scope, and will make headlines nationally and overseas. I’m not at liberty to disclose details yet, but I’ve seen advanced copies of the articles, and they are devastating. I believe at this point, more details will be available on Friday morning, when one of the reporters on the series does an interview on National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition.” The stories will be available on the dallasnews.com website starting either late Saturday night or early Sunday morning.

I expect these stories to dominate conversation among concerned American Catholics next week, and into the early summer (because there will be much more to come; next week’s series only reveals part of what our reporters have uncovered and documented). These findings give lie to the claim from Church officialdom that this scandal is over. The cover-up continues.In follow up comments, Rod notes that he’s seen “the planned cover of Sunday’s DMN. The picture they’re going to run is a jaw-dropper.”

This could be huge. I posted this in the Apologist section because we MUST be prepared to answer questions and defend the faith. As for the bishops, they can fend for themselves.
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You need to listen to Fr Corapi’s tape called “SCANDAL”

SV
 
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