Pope's brother: I ignored physical abuse reports

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Georg would have made a good concentration camp guard. What exactly does this fellow understand as the role of a priest?
 
rep140 said:
Georg would have made a good concentration camp guard. What exactly does this fellow understand as the role of a priest?
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That’s over the top.
  1. He said he was unaware of any sexual abuse.
  2. He said he was aware of corporal punishment and actually administered it.
Well, I know the CFC’s used the strap until the late 60’s and many secular schools had corporal punishment through the 60’s and some later. Whether corporal punishment rose to the level of abuse, probably needs to be looked at on a case by case basis. In any event, corporal punishment was, at the time, pretty widespread.

Nonetheless, the Nazi allusion is beyond the pale.
 
*I’m growing weary of reading all these reports of men who did absolutely nothing to protect kids…and they KNEW things were going on…the excuse…’‘I didn’t know,’’ or ‘‘I didn’t think I could do anything,’’ is why we’re in the mess we’re in now. I understand that we are all human, and we all make mistakes…but this many “mistakes”? This many people overlooking abuse, or ignoring it or not reporting it or…or…Not one report have I read, has it been reported that any Bishops have taken responsibility for what happened, once they knew about it. Not one has come out and said…’‘I am responsible for what continued to go on against children…by transferring priests around. I should have reported it…I should have done something.’’ Not one. I have read accounts however stating…’‘I didn’t know…’’ or ‘‘I didn’t think I could stop it.’’ The real answer is they didn’t want to cause a scandal back then…and that is the only way we are going to recover from this, is if we start getting REAL and truthful with what went on. This is why victims of the abuse are so outraged. They have received apologies, but they haven’t been sufficient to them…and in some ways, I can see that, when I read these accounts of ALL these people who didn’t ‘‘know anything.’’ I’m sorry, I’m angry about this.

Time to stop the excuses, apologize for what went wrong, and help to stop these problems from ever happening again. I am very tired of reading how ‘‘no one knew what was going on.’’ Maybe some didn’t…ALL didn’t? No one knew that sexually abusing kids was wrong??? No one knew that beating kids with straps or whatever was WRONG??? I don’t understand this at all. I love The Church, but I’m saddened to read these reports. 😦 I’m saddened that so many men have hurt Jesus’ Church in this way. *
 
*The apology that might fit would be…’‘I was scared to report the abuse.’’ THAT is the truth. That is a real and probably would be an acceptable apology to the victims, although no apology can erase the pain and horrors of what happened, it’s a real starting place. To keep saying…’‘I didn’t know…’’ It’s just old. When I go to confession, I have to come clean with why I did something…if I say…repeatedly…’‘well, I didn’t know,’’ or ‘‘I didn’t think I could stop it…’’ do I understand my culpability in what I did, or am I afraid to admit why I did what I did? I absolutely believe many of the hierarchy were frightened of what this would mean for the Church…without a doubt. I don’t blame them. But, by sweeping the ‘‘scandal’’ under the carpet THEN, we are NOW dealing with it. The truth doesn’t go away, just because we don’t want to deal with it. I pray very hard for the future of our Church, and that nothing like this ever happens again. We are a human church, and again, I’m not unforgiving. I just think it’s time to really put out there in the media, why all of this went on for so long…and stop making excuses. The public might still view the Church in a bad light, but maybe not. I think saying ‘‘I didn’t know to the extent of the abuse, etc etc etc…’’ is like saying to someone you’ve hurt…’‘I’m sorry you’re upset.’’ :o

‘‘I’m sorry that we did nothing to protect you…’’ would go a loooong way with these victims. *
 
When I was in school in the 60s and 70s there was corporal punishment. It needed no hearing or notification. If one teacher thought you needed a whack, that is what you got. I do not know when this sort of discipline became codified or eleminated. I am glad we are not there any longer, where physical discipline can occur without oversight, but regret that it is no longer allowed.
 
*I am glad it’s a thing of the past…I do not want strangers hitting my kids. It might instill fear, but that’s about it. It doesn’t promote responsibility…it teaches fear of authority. I think that was a very common principle back in the day. I grew up with that, my dad would spank a lot without warning. I grew up fearing his authority, not necessarily respecting it. *
 
Thankfully, the Church has turned the corner on this around the world. In the majority of cases these days, we are talking about wrongs committed decades ago by either defrocked, dead or retired priests–thank the good LORD. At present, I would submit that (at least in USA) kids are safer in a Catholic Church or school than in our Protestant brethren’s communnities due to the system and check and balances now firmly in place by decree of the bishops. Even so, there is a HUGE black eye on the Mother Church and there is no getting around it, even though there are a few fraudulent cases of "remembered’ acts that come to light because of the zeal to make money. These are few, though, and enough clerics have confessed to wrongs such that the Church must pay and take action. In terms of corporeal punishment, it seems to be it was phased out of public and private schools by the early 1980s. That was a good development, as parents should be responsible for disciplining their children in my view.
 
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