Pope dismissed from lawsuit

[Della]

snoopy:

I did not say all the claims were true. I am only concerned about the ones that are true. What truly amazes me is that of only 4% of the clergy abusing, that there are so many victims. That means that multiple victims were abused by only a few priests.This is only possible if the heirarchy protected and allowed this to go on for years, which it did. I did not condem the entire church. Only the guilty. I love Jesus with my whole being, and I have faith that the church can redeem itself. It will take time and it will also have to spend time being compassionate and admitting mistakes and putting measures into place never to let this happen again, even if it means scandal or paying for rehabilitation. I think the church is much farther along in this endeavor than some of its followers and posters on this site.

I think it save to say that Satan found these bishops asleep at the wheel and took full advantage of it.

I do not believe the bishops understood that molesting children is a life-long illness that cannot be cured by a few weeks in a hospital or a sabbatical or time on retreat, which is the remedy they tried when they became aware of the situation. Psychologists were telling them that these men were cured, which is why they were transferred to new parishes with a supposedly clean bill of health.

The bishops were deeply concerned for these priests and thought they were doing the right thing, according to the advise they were given, which we all know now was terribly faulty. And the bishops were more concerned with exposing a scandal than in the welfare of the victims mainly because they were clueless as to the damage done to such children and because they wanted to save fellow clergy from prosecution, however wronged-headed that was, it was, as are so many decisions made by those who have forgotten that man is truly fallen and not just ill, decisions made with good intentions but very back consequences.

There truly was no criminal intent, although the lawyers certainly did their best to make it seem like there was and the bishops, finally seeing how they had made such a huge mistake and regretting it bitterly, let themselves be cast as criminals, even though they had had no criminal intentions.

The whole thing became adversarial when people began to come forward to tell what happened to them and the bishops, being pretty well clueless basically, dismissed the whole thing by advising the victims to “forgive and forget”, as if that would solve everything. Of course, it didn’t and it got worse and worse and bigger and bigger until the scandal reached epic proportions.

And with the newspapers calling for their blood and no one wanting to listen to reason, and lawsuits being filed on every side, the bishops simply bowed to public opinion and took it on the chin. You know, a lot of this is perception and not substance, but who wants to hear the whole truth when it is so much easier and juicier to make these clueless, wrong-hearted, wrong-headed bishops into deliberate, diabolical monsters?

 

[snoopy]

Della:

I do not believe the bishops understood that molesting children is a life-long illness that cannot be cured by a few weeks in a hospital or a sabbatical or time on retreat, which is the remedy they tried when they became aware of the situation. Psychologists were telling them that these men were cured, which is why they were transferred to new parishes with a supposedly clean bill of health.

The bishops were deeply concerned for these priests and thought they were doing the right thing, according to the advise they were given, which we all know now was terribly faulty. And the bishops were more concerned with exposing a scandal than in the welfare of the victims mainly because they were clueless as to the damage done to such children and because they wanted to save fellow clergy from prosecution, however wronged-headed that was, it was, as are so many decisions made by those who have forgotten that man is truly fallen and not just ill, decisions made with good intentions but very back consequences.

---

I keep saying this but no one seems to be listening. Molesting of children is a CRIME. You don’t report a crime to a psychologist, you report a crime to the police. What ever made these bishops think they were above the law and could handle it within church walls? They are not and have never been qualified to deal with it. Only police professionals could sort it out, and if there was a child who made it up, the police experts would figure it out and deal with it. Why in the name of God didn’t they call the police? You are right when you say they were more concerned with exposing a scandal than the welfare of the victims and that in itself is a scandal. I would be terribly ashamed to admit this if I were the heirarchy of the church. As a matter of fact, I am terribly ashamed as it is. That is why I am ok with helping the victims in any way that is necessary, and each case is different. If they are having trouble coping, then no one should dispute that fact. We have never walked in their shoes and have no right to judge them. They deserve compensation. If the church is truly compassionate and helpful and wanting to be kind and loving, then they should start with their own flock, especially they ones they harmed in the first place. What good does it do to send money to 3rd world countries when we turn our backs on our own parishoners who are hurting and have done nothing to deserve it. What I don’t get is why the wrath directed at victims and not at the bishops who were accessories in this horrible crime?

 

[snoopy]

cainem:

snoopy there comes a time when you have to stop being a victim and pick yourself up, it is not easy but it can be done, for those that cannot then the church should foot the bill for counselling but nothing else, the church did not molest those boys sinful men did, money will never bring back their innocence or mine, throw the priest in jail if he is guilty but leave gods church alone

How about if we throw the sinful bishops in jail also?

 

[Della]

I keep saying this but no one seems to be listening. Molesting of children is a CRIME. You don’t report a crime to a psychologist, you report a crime to the police. What ever made these bishops think they were above the law and could handle it within church walls? They are not and have never been qualified to deal with it. Only police professionals could sort it out, and if there was a child who made it up, the police experts would figure it out and deal with it. Why in the name of God didn’t they call the police?

Yes, it is a crime–a quite horrible crime. But, you forget that at that time, 20 years ago, the police simply looked the other way when clergymen, anyone’s clergymen committed crimes. The proper respect due to the clergy was overblown, particularly in communities in which there was a large population of people of faith. You know, this sort of crime isn’t reserved to the Catholic clergy, but is a problem in all churches and religions because all men are sinners.

Besides this, the bishops weren’t thinking of these acts primarily as crimes but as moral failings that could be remedied. Truly, they were that clueless. There was no deliberate effort to keep molesters in place precisely so they could go on molesting children, which is something people don’t want to acknowledge.

You are right when you say they were more concerned with exposing a scandal than the welfare of the victims and that in itself is a scandal. I would be terribly ashamed to admit this if I were the heirarchy of the church. As a matter of fact, I am terribly ashamed as it is. That is why I am ok with helping the victims in any way that is necessary, and each case is different. If they are having trouble coping, then no one should dispute that fact. We have never walked in their shoes and have no right to judge them. They deserve compensation. If the church is truly compassionate and helpful and wanting to be kind and loving, then they should start with their own flock, especially they ones they harmed in the first place. What good does it do to send money to 3rd world countries when we turn our backs on our own parishoners who are hurting and have done nothing to deserve it. What I don’t get is why the wrath directed at victims and not at the bishops who were accessories in this horrible crime?

Of course victims ought to be given money to recover, but it has gone way beyond that as is evident in this latest effort by the blood-sucking lawyers to sue the be-poopie out of anyone who wears a priestly collar, up to and including the pope. They don’t want compensation at this stage, they want to annihilate the Church itself. This isn’t about shame or compensation anymore for them, it is about revenge, sapping the Church of any shred of moral authority it has, and seeing it brought down in ruin, as if that were possible. There’s a depth of hatred here that is demonic and not merely outrage over an injustice.

 

[marvin]

snoopy:

I agree with your statement that as a parent you (and I) would make it our life’s mission to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law. Bravo for you. But that is where we part ways. For you to judge whether a person needs therapy, education or time off to rebuild their lives is wrong, as it is an individual thing. You know nothing about these victims or how much they have been hurt. Don’t be naive. Everyone is not the same and to think lives have not been destroyed is ridiculous. You can rant all you want about not wanting the church to have to pay, but the law states that it is necessary, so get used to it. The church brought this on herself.

The law doesn’t state that it is necessary for anyone to pay. Not yet anyway. I also didn’t say that noone’s lives have been damaged. I do find it strange that most of these claims are happening now that the victims are well into adulthood.

You’re the one who’s naive if you think that:

A) all claims will be legitimate
B) one person who is awarded monetary damage will actually use it for therapy.

And as for ranting, speak for yourself.

 

[TPJCatholic]

The funny thing about all of these lawsuits is, it just shows how critical the Roman Catholic faith is. Many of the lawsuits are waaaay beyond reasonable, yet huge settlements happen all the time as if the Church has some unlimited resoruce of funds.

Take away Priests, take away Churches, take away the sacraments, and satan has his largest victory…it won’t happen, cannot happen, yet it seems the gates of hades is really working overtime right now.

Makes one wonder if we are knocking on the door of the last days.

 

[marvin]

TPJCatholic:

The funny thing about all of these lawsuits is, it just shows how critical the Roman Catholic faith is. Many of the lawsuits are waaaay beyond reasonable, yet huge settlements happen all the time as if the Church has some unlimited resoruce of funds.

Take away Priests, take away Churches, take away the sacraments, and satan has his largest victory…it won’t happen, cannot happen, yet it seems the gates of hades is really working overtime right now.

Makes one wonder if we are knocking on the door of the last days.

I wonder that myself sometimes.

You know, another thought occurs. Child molesters and child rapists are the lowest of the low. How incredibly difficult it is to forgive such people. JP II wrote about how evil can be an opportunity for good to emerge and grow. Maybe this is just such an opportunity, an opportunity to dig deep and examine how much we are willing to work at forgiveness.