Okay, who is “those”? Again, no one individual is being prosecute.
The cop out is in saying that others knew and were not prosecuted, therefore we should not prosecute these. It doesn’t matter that an individual was not named. It is the organization itself that is responsible. When Ford motor company is prosecuted for safety violations, it is not the individual engineers that are prosecuted.
Since there is a clear separation between church and state, why should the church or someone within the church expect civil authorities to do anything about something within the CC?? Thats kind of a double standard, No?
Yes, this is an excellent post, they go after Ford as a whole,not the individual, even though, if they wanted to, the police COULD come in, find out what person was working where at that time and probably narrow the list down to a few people, and arrest them, after all, that is criminal imo, to endanger the public safety to that degree!!
Who is “these”? The use of pronouns without antecedents should cause us a reason to think.
Considering the way that this problem has been reduced exponentially, I do not see what more could be done in this world which is fallen. It would help of the police tried to punish perpetrators of child abuse and not political targets.
Google Mike McQuery and tell me that “those who just know of some wrongdoing” shouldn’t go straight to the police.
Of course anyone who knows anything about wrongdoing ought to go to the police. But those in a position of authority over the wrongdoers have a special obligation above and beyond the general public.
Sorry. By “these” I means these that are in authority in the Church and knew and hid the information (if that is indeed what they did. I’m not accusing anybody of anything.)
But in eyes of the law they have the same responsibility.
What I want is for the alleged incidents not to have happened.
Problem is, sometimes police involvement just make things worse, In some cases, handling things ‘in house’ is the better choice, in general, police are secular authorities.
Does your dislike for police really mean that you shouldn’t report child sexual abuse? You are good with cover-ups?
I don’t understand your use of the word “within.” Child abuse, child molestation are CIVIL crimes. Covering-up a crime is also a CIVIL crime. Those are not matters “within” the Church. You seem to be saying that Catholic clergy should get the equivalent of “diplomatic immunity” and be exempt from civil prosecution for civil crimes. I wouldn’t expect the State to get involved in Church governance issues such as those covered by Canon Law. But the State has every right and interest in prosecuting those who break civil/criminal laws.
This is the U.S. law, not necessarily the one of the Church.
Yes. That is the “if” they knew of something and that something was illegal. I note that the police had made two arrests of this priest. So just nothing a general “something’s not right” would apply to law enforcement as well, which I think most people believe have the greatest burden to enforce the law, hence the name.
In some cases, they are the same, but not all. Therefore, they only have similarities. You say you want this not to have happened. But in a world where crimes still occur, the two options I gave are the only choices: transfer of charitable funds to the government or control of the Church.
Agreed. They should build the best case against those who knew the most. That would send the biggest and best message, even if they failed to convict anyone. * Individual*s who know they are going to be held accountable will not contrive to cover up.
No need to cover it up…simply tell the police “we are handling this, will call if we need you”. Police are not the only option for dealing with problems.
If a crime was indeed committed by the Church, you have to expect that the consequences for the Church would be the same as if Ford Motor Company or Wendys had done the same thing. If that means a fine, then so be it.
Except that the store is the victim. The Church is not the victim in the case of child abuse and has no right to make that decision for the victims. Child abuse is a civil issue and should be handled by the civil authorities.