Why do some of our diocese shield abusive priests?

[Thomas48]

I agree with your post, except for the last paragraph. Just because a bishop could have been gay, it does not automatically make him a pedofile. Homosexuality and pedofelia are not synonymous.

 

[iggypkrebsbach]

Hi Thomas,

You are right, and I didn’t mean to imply that he was a pedophile. However, the evidence is pretty strong that he was a practicing homosexual who preyed on young men.

 

[Ridgerunner]

The reasons for the bishops failure to protect child are numerous. Some bishops took their “kingly” role too seriously. Bernard Law comes to mind. Too lofty to be concerned with such trifles.

I don’t think we’ll ever know for sure why Cdl Law didn’t nail the pedophiles immediately upon learning of it. But I would not characterize him as “kingly” or “too lofty” to be concerned with it. He was our bishop for some time until he was moved to the Boston diocese. Ours is a rather small diocese in terms of numbers of Catholics, though it’s large geographically, consisting in about the southern 1/4 of Missouri. Because of the size of the diocese, it has two Cathedrals, one in Springfield and one in Cape Girardeau. Look at the map and you’ll see it’s a long haul, which he drove himself, constantly. Cdl Law was a very down-to-earth, very friendly, humble man here. He would frequently take telephone calls himself. He visited tiny parishes and missions in the Ozarks backwoods frequently, and most people liked him a lot. He was very supportive of church organizations, however small. Frankly, I think he was out of his depth shifting from here to a huge diocese that had all kinds of bureaucrats and structures and its “own way” of doing things in the very heart of a very liberal place. Personally, I suspect he took the advice of the long-established “experts” about “curing” the offenders, and I’m sure the offenders had relationships within the diocesan bureaucracy that went back long before Law was appointed.

I find it very hard to condemn him.

 

[Gus1]

First of all it’s important to put clerical abuse in the context of Child Sexual abuse in general.
When I First started to study this subject a couple of things jumped out at me.
There was a extensive study done at great expense by the most prestigious Criminal Justice educational institution in the US
The study comprised a 50 year period from 1952 to 2002
The first thing that struck me is compared to the publicity generated and the attempts made by certain politicians to circumvent the equal protection clause in the cases involving priests how relatively view case occurred in this period
When you consider there are about 400,000 cases of child sexual abuse annually in the US. Anyone with any criminal expertise can tell you actual molestation to reported maybe 5x or even 10x the reported cases
That’s truly epidemic
The

 

[MargaretofCortona]

I guess it is true that we are all sinners.

 

[TheHolyTrinity]

Any form of abuse of children should be repoorted to the police straight away. The police can notify the Diocese formally. As parishioners we need to protect our young.

 

[kesa82]

Weird that an all powerful god would allow a child to be raped by a priest in a Church no less.

Weird compared to what ?

Weird compared to an uncaring God , or no God, who allows an orphan to starve to death at the age of five to no purpose in North Korea ? Eh, bad luck , too bad ?

Why is a child’s life and well being so easily taken for granted.

I wonder about that every time i see someone hitting a former child over the head with a stick with obvious relish.

And certainly , even more often, when i consider all the former children stuck in pretty darn lousy jobs , with pretty darn lousy working conditions, for wages that won’t even adequately pay a grocery bill or rent bill, and that, except for a little hot air, no one really cares.

 

[kesa82]

Any form of abuse of children should be repoorted to the police straight away.

9-10ths of the abuse I see is perfectly legal.

 

[MarkInOregon]

You might as well ask why do families shield abusive family members or why schools shield abusive teachers or why the Boy Scouts shield abusive leaders, and the list could go on and on and on–it would appear that shielding as opposed to reporting has been the norm–hopefully that has changed or is changing.

This is not a defense of the Churches actions, which are indefensible, but simply the pointing out of the fact that the behavior seems to be more common than it is uncommon. One would have hoped that the Church would have done better than the society at large and it is both tragic and sad that it did not–but this could also be said about families – the place where children should feel safe, should be loved and nurtured–but are often not.

One could also ask why it is that the Catholic Church is constantly the whipping boy for this issue while other institutions seemingly get a pass–for them it’s news for a few days or weeks and then it seems to be forgotten, but the Church is still attacked quite often some 10+ years into the scandal. Perhaps this is the Churches penance for the sins of its leaders. I mean there was a series a few years ago on abuse in our public schools and the “passing of the trash” (i.e. abusive teachers) between schools. Did you read the series or even hear about it? Why the silence? Where’s the outrage? The Church should have done better, should do better, but so should our other institutions --who should not get a free pass in these matters.

As to why it happens–I’d consult Genesis and our fallen nature.

The peace of Christ,
Mark