More Scandal - The Worst Is Yet To Come

[Southernrich]

STJOMO:

NPR exists to attack institutions like the Catholic Church. Lobby your congreesman to pull all public funding for this voice of hate.

I differ with you. I think that NPR is a good source of news, and even covers subjects that the major media don’t. I’ve never heard it attack the Church (and I listen to it daily), but yes, it does have a liberal slant. What news source isn’t slanted one way or the other editorially, even slightly?

 

[ThyKingdomCome]

So what can we do to fix this you ask?

Is not the saddest thing about the abuse the loss of faith by those who have been abused? While the Church can do its best to prove to the public and its members that it will not tolerate abuse anymore, this does not restore faith to a person. I think our most important ministry is to be a witness to the love of Christ. If we have access to people who have been abused, maybe the best thing we can do for them is to encourage them to have a relationship with God. A relative of mine was abused by a family member, and even though this had nothing to do with the Church, she has lost her faith. The failure of her parents (her representatives of God and the Church) to protect her as well as the fact that it happened at all, taught her very early all the wrong things about God and the Church. Trying to convince her that the Church isn’t bad is not the right approach for her. Showing her the constant love and presence of God is. Being healed from that wound is a precursor to her even considering the Church as an option. Even though victims of the abuse scandal may believe they have been healed (psychologically), they may need spiritual healing. When a starving child can’t read, you feed him first, then teach him how to read. Our priority is to meet the most basic need first - in this case, the need for God in their lives.

 

[Chris_C]

Without NPR we wouldn’t have Car Talk!
Chris C.

 

[OhioBob]

Southernrich:

I differ with you. I think that NPR is a good source of news, and even covers subjects that the major media don’t. I’ve never heard it attack the Church (and I listen to it daily), but yes, it does have a liberal slant. What news source isn’t slanted one way or the other editorially, even slightly?

I would agree. While I have heard some commentators on NPR that have made my blood boil, I find that their approach to news, while obviously liberal, is generally more balanced and certainly more thorough than that found in other mainstream media.

 

[Southernrich]

OhioBob:

I would agree. While I have heard some commentators on NPR that have made my blood boil, I find that their approach to news, while obviously liberal, is generally more balanced and certainly more thorough than that found in other mainstream media.

Yes, they are balanced, and I think they are marvelously thorough when they cover a topic.

And I love Clic-and Clack, the Tappet Brothers!

 

[S_Corda]

jturnbull:

This is what I would expect from NPR!This is just another round of Catholic Church bashing. The Church founded by Peter WILL SURVIVE!

I assume you listened to the report before you judged NPR’s coverage of this report.

I just listened to it.

I didn’t hear any “Catholic bashing” in this report. (It doesn’t sound like a huge new scandal either.) It sounded like pretty straightforward reporting of things that I’m not tremendously surprised to hear.

I suppose you could call it bashing, if you deny that there are priests who have been accused of sexual misconduct.

Maybe someone could give us a quote from the report that would show me where they are guilty of Catholic bashing.

Don’t kill the messenger for bringing bad news.

 

[Mystagogy]

Findnmway:

This is a “big deal” to me and it pains me to hear this news. When the scandal first started I was trying to turn my life around, but I refused to be a part of the Catholic Church any longer. Thank God I did find my way back.
It’s not so much the priest who are involved, but that the Church has covered it up. This is truly an embarrassing situation and I’m ashamed of our so called leaders.
What station will this air on?? I have satellite radio. Can I pick it up there?

Sorry you’re hurting. May I propose that your faith should rest on God and how He intended his Church to run rather than on the failings of some men – even if the men are concentrated in American episcopacy.

I’m still in the dark about how bad things “are.” Every Boston Globe article that I read up until March had a lot of negative opinion at the opening of the article, and almost every article had exculpatory facts listed at the bottom.

I most certainly can’t form my opinions on the American media – which so often are only quoting some persons high recognition, often setting off two differing opinions without much background or research in the article.

That’s often like the average joe on the street getting a quote from a nice protestant pastor of a small flock and one from Satan. My guess would be that one shouldn’t pick a position in the middle as “the best answer.” It’s entirely probable that the Truth is somewhat more Heavenward of anything you read in the article (even assuming they were fair with the pastor).

 

[maggiec]

Again I ask, and there seem to be no answers to, what are we doing for the victims and their families that have lost their faith and God only knows what else because of this abuse. Are we talking only or are we doing anything???

 

[system]

maggie,

You pose an enormously difficult problem. Families of victims, and victims themselves are not likely to be open to any healing touch from the Church or from faithful Catholics.

 

[maggiec]

thomasj317:

maggie,

You pose an enormously difficult problem. Families of victims, and victims themselves are not likely to be open to any healing touch from the Church or from faithful Catholics.

Do we really know that? Maybe there are catholic famlies that realize that this was not done by the church but by a few individuals, and long to come back but because of fear of the reception (or lack of) that they will be given because they’re now “different”? They are much like rape victims that are fearful of public places because they’re afraid everyone is looking at them and judging them? That if they try to recover financial aid for the mental damage done that they will be labeled as trouble makers?
I see all the posts about the attacks on the church, and how to keep more bad publicity from hitting again, thats all I see. Maybe thats why they don’t want to come back.

 

[the_geezer]

Well, I looked for headlines yesterday and again this morning about the Dallas newsrag scandal (“The Worst Is Yet To Come”), and I found no sensational and scandalous headlines.

Did the story break in Dallas as promised? Has it been delayed? Or was this hyped too much, an internet panic, as I thought it might be?

By the way, I tried to contact The_Barrister by private e-mail first to ask these questions…

 

[Tim_Hayes]

It is extremely sad that such occurs but unless you accept the full truth of it, and I mean that litterally tens of thousands of priests/bishops/cardinals aroudn the world are guilty of such crimes, then no change will ever occur.

Whom amongst you would not say that it is absolutely ghastly crimes for priests etc to take advantage of and abuse boys and children of tender years. There cannot be any, I repeat any excuse for these offenders being protected, yet that is exactly what has happened, For such large scale protections to have occurred can only mean one thing and that is that those who covered them up are guilty of similar crimes or of other crimes so great that they dare not risk punishing these offenders, that my friends is the only option open to all of us believe.

It makes me absolutely sick to hear anyone not condemning those who covered up and or committed such crimes.

Christ called us not to condemn the fate of souls, but he certainly requires us to remove and condemn those offenders to lives outside of the priestly frock at the very least.

I pray that God has mercy on us all, but somehow for some reason, when it comes to such abusers, I don’t know how much I really mean it.

 

[Irish_Melkite]

Here’s a link to the first installment of the Dallas series:

dallasnews.com/s/dws/spe/2004/runawaypriests/

Many years,

Neil

 

[the_geezer]

Tim Hayes:

It is extremely sad that such occurs but unless you accept the full truth of it, and I mean that litterally tens of thousands of priests/bishops/cardinals aroudn the world are guilty of such crimes, then no change will ever occur.

Whom amongst you would not say that it is absolutely ghastly crimes for priests etc to take advantage of and abuse boys and children of tender years. There cannot be any, I repeat any excuse for these offenders being protected, yet that is exactly what has happened, For such large scale protections to have occurred can only mean one thing and that is that those who covered them up are guilty of similar crimes or of other crimes so great that they dare not risk punishing these offenders, that my friends is the only option open to all of us believe.

It makes me absolutely sick to hear anyone not condemning those who covered up and or committed such crimes.

Christ called us not to condemn the fate of souls, but he certainly requires us to remove and condemn those offenders to lives outside of the priestly frock at the very least.

I pray that God has mercy on us all, but somehow for some reason, when it comes to such abusers, I don’t know how much I really mean it.

Whoa!

The projections of the number engaged in abuse, worst case, is about 6%, and that is probably too high. The typical number I’ve read is about 3%, and of that number, the majority did not involve the “tender, young”, but teenagers and young men. In other words, the crisis is not one of pedophilia (a term the mostly Catholic-hating press loves, since it is alliterative - “priestly pedophilia”). It is far more a homosexual problem, with homosexual priests seducing sexually-active teens and young adults. This aspect of the scandal one seldom sees, since homosexuality is currently a very fashionable immorality.

In Europe, where the age of consent is generally 16, the scandal has less sensational aspects, since the majority of victims were *consensual *participants. In those cases, the scandal has a truer sense: priests violated vows of celibacy and abused their relationship with those charged to their care.

The scandal has at its roots poor priestly formation, evidence of the modernism and post-modernism that permeated seminaries between 1960 and 1980. That is changing (and has changed in many cases), and the canon forbidding ordination of homosexual men is observed increasingly, I think.

I agree, the problem should not be glossed over with indifference. At the same time, it must not be blown out of proportion. I doubt that there were tens of thousands of offending priests and bishops, for example. Again, some might want to expect the worst is yet to come, but we need first to discern facts and not let emotions run away with speculations and innuendo.

Regards.

 

[the_geezer]

Irish Melkite:

Here’s a link to the first installment of the Dallas series:

dallasnews.com/s/dws/spe/2004/runawaypriests/

Many years,

Neil

The site is an excellent hatchet job. It is not jounalism but infotainment.

Yes, the material is serious. But the “facts” are not fleshed out, the presentation is emotional, and the website is designed not to inform but to sell papers.

The truth, being less than the hype, can’t do the job alone. So Dallas resorts to shameful infortainment.

A straight presentation would far more anxiety-provoking than this drivel.

Regards.

 

[reggie]

I returned to the church at the start of the first round of scandals three years ago. My anti-catholic husband was very nervous about letting my children attend and become catholics. I convinced him that the percentage of priests was so small that it was unlikely that my kids would encounter them. However, I am very careful who I leave them alone with but I have always been that way. I think that Catholicism has gotten a lot of publicity lately regarding politics and social issues. Some of the people connected to Catholic Answers have tried to galvanize the Catholic voters and that scares the secularists and atheists. This is just another way to say “How can the church take a holier than thou attitude on abortion, contraception and homosexuality when there is such abuse in it?” I have heard many Catholics say that priests have no business telling them anything about those issues until they clear up their own sins. That is exactly the attitude that leads people away. We faithful catholics need to continue in our faith, pray for priests and religious vocations, and trust the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. When we in the pews demand faithfulness, chasteness, and a return to authentic Catholic Spirituality we will get it. I for one thank God that I am able to practice my faith freely and that Jesus is still in our tabernacles regardless of the actions of a weak priesthood.

 

[agname]

I’ve seen numerous studies in which it shows that these bad priests make up about 3% to 4% of the clergy. This is comparable to other professions…teachers…coaches…babysitters, etc…but, you won’t see the media mentioning that fact.

 

[Ken]

the_geezer:

Whoa!

The projections of the number engaged in abuse, worst case, is about 6%, and that is probably too high. The typical number I’ve read is about 3%, and of that number, the majority did not involve the “tender, young”, but teenagers and young men. In other words, the crisis is not one of pedophilia (a term the mostly Catholic-hating press loves, since it is alliterative - “priestly pedophilia”). It is far more a homosexual problem, with homosexual priests seducing sexually-active teens and young adults. This aspect of the scandal one seldom sees, since homosexuality is currently a very fashionable immorality.

In Europe, where the age of consent is generally 16, the scandal has less sensational aspects, since the majority of victims were *consensual *participants. In those cases, the scandal has a truer sense: priests violated vows of celibacy and abused their relationship with those charged to their care.

The scandal has at its roots poor priestly formation, evidence of the modernism and post-modernism that permeated seminaries between 1960 and 1980. That is changing (and has changed in many cases), and the canon forbidding ordination of homosexual men is observed increasingly, I think.

I agree, the problem should not be glossed over with indifference. At the same time, it must not be blown out of proportion. I doubt that there were tens of thousands of offending priests and bishops, for example. Again, some might want to expect the worst is yet to come, but we need first to discern facts and not let emotions run away with speculations and innuendo.

Regards.

Most attention is paid to the percentage of priests accused of abuse. But there are three other questions which get far less attention and deserve far more.

1. What is the percentage of American dioceses in which a bishop covered up or enabled an abuser?
2. What is the percentage of American dioceses in which an abusive priest was reported to civil authorities prior to the public knowledge of the scandal.
3. What is the percentage of American priests who remained silent while they knew other priests were abusing?

 

[Tudy]

I live in the Dallas area and have read the series of articles in the Dallas Morning News. I am saddened for all victims and our Church. I have long said that you must separate the sins of human beings in the Church from the institution of the Church itself but this will never end until someone takes definitive action. Allowing bishops and others who have participated in the cover-up aspect of this scandel to remain in positions of power will only ensure that the Catholic Church remains under a cloud.
I support the Pope 100% and would never consider leaving the Catholic Church but I am finding it more and more difficult to understand why the Pope and Vatican officials haven’t taken action. We are a universal Church lead by the Pope and in a situation this serious, wide spread and far reaching it seems the beginning of the solution can only come from Rome. Why is the Pope not taking definitive action against people like Cardinal Law? When I read that he has now been given a “post of honor” in Rome after what he did in the United States I am left speechless.
I don’t see how the Church can begin to recover and rebuild unless these offending bishops are replaced, If the bishops won’t do the right thing themselves then the only authority left is the Pope. If I, a cradle Catholic, can’t understand this how can I expect non-Catholics to understand? Could someone please answer this question for me or give me some insight because I am at a loss!

 

[The_Barrister]

Since I was the one who started this thread, let me say that it now appears to be much ado about very little. The “abuse crisis” has an international flavor? You mean that the problem is not confined to a few bad dioceses in America? No kidding!

I think the story is being ignored by the press for the most part. The anti-catholics at DMN have had their say.

This too shall pass. We will weather this storm - perhaps with a few less branches, but those branches are already dead.