Pope Francis Outlines 8-Point Plan for ‘All-Out Battle’ Against Sexual Abuse

  • Thread starter Thread starter edwest
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
The 8 point plan details no specific administrative changes. They seem to be what should be guiding principles for changes.
 
The Church is not a corporation. Shuffling around or changing administrative functions does not change the core principles and stated approach. I experienced certain “toxic” employees first-hand over the years. Good employees need to have personal standards that make up who they are. If that changes, or other problems are revealed, they are dismissed.
 
Since His Holiness brought it up, what are his guidelines for dealing with the abuse in the family which is apparently the problem before the Church?
 
He mentioned “sexual tourism.” Also:

“The best results and the most effective resolution that we can offer to the victims, to the People of Holy Mother Church and to the entire world, are the commitment to personal and collective conversion, the humility of learning, listening, assisting and protecting the most vulnerable,” he said."

Each one of us, Catholic or not, must see what we are doing for what it is. Sexual activity in marriage and outside of it has been corrupted and further perverted by websites. For the sake of ourselves and our children, boundaries need to be established. Lines that should never be crossed.
 
Is it just me, or this an 8 point list for changing absolutely nothing? sigh I guess I was hoping for more concrete changes…
 
What about bishops who use their power to abuse not only minors but adults? Such as McCarrick… wasn’t that one of the key issues the USCCB was attempting to concretely address last November when Rome told them to hold off until this summit?
 
Wow, what an insightful and well-thought out response. What a help to a constructive dialogue!
 
Delphinus said:
Is it just me, or this an 8 point list for changing absolutely nothing? sigh I guess I was hoping for more concrete changes…
Click to expand...
Be reassured, given the circumstances of the meeting and those clerics, religious, and lay people who were in attendance, the Pope’s words were very strong. The eight points are nothing to scoff at either, given those in attendance who are now part and parcel of those eight points. The immediate results of this conference are not as benign as they seem.
 
Last edited:
adgloriam said:
40.png
Delphinus:
Is it just me, or this an 8 point list for changing absolutely nothing?
Click to expand...
It’s just you.
Click to expand...
No, it’s not.

At this point, I’d be pleasantly surprised if the pope instructed every Catholic to pray to St. Michael following every Mass to protect the Church against the evil that’s infiltrated it. And even that hasn’t happened.
 
Last edited:
gracepoole said:
And even that hasn’t happened.
Click to expand...
Indeed. My wife and I were discussing this at dinner yesterday and she made the very insightful comment (remember she’s an Anglican) that the place to start would be beefing up the Code of Canon Law. After her comment I had a look at the code concerning sexual delicts, I think the laws are far too vague.

The code needs to spell out in detail what the offenses are, and the penalties they incur including:
  1. consensual breech of chastity with an adult
  2. non-consensual breech of chastity with an adult by virtue of power inequality
  3. violation of an adult
  4. violation of a minor
  5. cover-ups and “transferring the problem” to another parish or failure to report a case
  6. what are minor delicts that are properly strictly matters for the confessional (e.g. masturbation)
These are just examples. The point is they need to be clearly spelled out as are the penalties. IMHO 2-5 should be immediate laicization upon credible proof or admission of guilt and simultaneously reporting the delict to civil authorities.

And of course you are dead right, prayer needs to be part of the solution.
 
Last edited:
OraLabora said:
Indeed. My wife and I were discussing this at dinner yesterday and she made the very insightful comment (remember she’s an Anglican) that the place to start would be beefing up the Code of Canon Law. After her comment I had a look at the code concerning sexual delicts, I think the laws are far too vague.

The code needs to spell out in detail what the offenses are, and the penalties they incur including:
  1. consensual breech of chastity with an adult
  2. non-consensual breech of chastity with an adult by virtue of power inequality
  3. violation of an adult
  4. violation of a minor
  5. cover-ups and “transferring the problem” to another parish or failure to report a case
  6. what are minor delicts that are properly strictly matters for the confessional (e.g. masturbation)
These are just examples. The point is they need to be clearly spelled out as are the penalties. IMHO 2-5 should be immediate laicization upon credible proof or admission of guilt and simultaneously reporting the delict to civil authorities.

And of course you are dead right, prayer needs to be part of the solution.
Click to expand...
I believe the Code of Canon Law was much clearer in this regard in the previous 1917 version.
 
In retrospect . . . I wonder WHY the US Bishops were told at their recent meeting to . . .
. . . NOT come up with their own recomendations (by the Vatican a couple of months ago)?

I don’t see anything among these eight points, that would push the need to cancel our Bishops putting forth ideas for solutions.
  1. A “change of mentality” to focus on protecting children rather than “protecting the institution.”
  2. A recognition of the “impeccable seriousness” of these “sins and crimes of consecrated persons.”
  3. A genuine purification beginning with “self-accusation.”
  4. Positive formation of candidates for the priesthood in the virtue of chastity.
  5. Strengthening and reviewing of guidelines by episcopal conferences, reaffirming the need for “rules.”
  6. The accompaniment of those who have been abused with an emphasis on listening.
  7. Ensure that seminarians and clergy are not enslaved to an addiction to pornography.
  8. Combat sexual tourism around the world.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
As head of Christ’s Church on earth, Pope Francis has taken on the role of shepherd of the flock. The Holy Father is very concerned about ‘ideological colonizations.’ That is, ideas and actions that are contrary to what God told us to do regarding how to live.

www.ncregister.com

Pope Francis: Ideological Colonization is a ‘Blasphemy’

The Holy Father condemns the imposition of Western secular values on other peoples and nations, saying every time a ‘cultural and ideological colonization’ comes along, ‘it sins against God the Creator because it wants to change Creation as it was made by Him.’
www.ncregister.com www.ncregister.com
 
gracepoole said:
40.png
adgloriam:
40.png
Delphinus:
Is it just me, or this an 8 point list for changing absolutely nothing?
Click to expand...
It’s just you.
Click to expand...
No, it’s not.

At this point, I’d be pleasantly surprised if the pope instructed every Catholic to pray to St. Michael following every Mass to protect the Church against the evil that’s infiltrated it. And even that hasn’t happened.
Click to expand...
Hi @gracepoole 🙂 I was surprised the pope put a clear emphasis on the devil as an active agent of evil. A powerful choice of words without margin for doubt. @1Lord1Faith gave a good reading into it.

Haven’t we all seen enough evil operating in social actions?
 
edwest said:
The Church is not a corporation. Shuffling around or changing administrative functions does not change the core principles and stated approach. I experienced certain “toxic” employees first-hand over the years. Good employees need to have personal standards that make up who they are. If that changes, or other problems are revealed, they are dismissed.
Click to expand...
Without knowing what the Vatican has the practical ability to actually do, I would almost hope that the Church says every national church is expected to have administrative guidelines and responses that meets X, Y, and Z criteria, and for any found lacking by 2020/2022 the Vatican will run it’s own inquiry and corrective administrative protocol within the region to address cases. Include national funds for victims, certain inquiries into abuses, and disciplinary action.

But again let me stress I have no insight into what’s actually practical. This is just a “wish list” from someone who knows little.
 
irenaeus1 said:
I believe the Code of Canon Law was much clearer in this regard in the previous 1917 version.
Click to expand...
Under which code many of the crimes took place, as many happened before the '80s. So I may be all wet in saying more specific laws would help. I’m not familiar with the 1917 Code so I have no idea what specifically it says about these crimes.
 
Building upon the World Health Organization’s “Seven Strategies for Ending Violence against Children,”
Click to expand...
So the Catholic Church is just going to crib some United Nations bureaucracy’s work. They could have saved time and money by skipping the conference.
Combat sexual tourism around the world.
Click to expand...
This has nothing to do with the problem in the Catholic Church, but if you just borrow some government bureaucracy’s plan things like this work their way into your plan.

I’d say this is exactly what I expected. There are no serious plan to root out the problem. It makes you wonder why that is.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top