Why Does the Catholic Church Keep Failing on Sexual Abuse?

[AlNg]

The women I have talked who are wives of deacons to were not in a hurry to be pastor’s wives and still less in a hurry to have children who would be doomed to being the pastor’s kids.

How many women did you talk to? How many wives of Greek Orthodox priests did you talk to about this?

 

[PetraG]

How many women did you talk to? How many wives of Greek Orthodox priests did you talk to about this?

All wives of Roman Catholic deacons. I couldn’t give you a number, except that I’m sure it was less than a dozen. This wasn’t a formal poll, but the uniformity of the response has been striking to me. I don’t know that the wives of pastors who converted to Roman Catholicism and became our married priests feel this way, because we only have a few in our archdiocese and I’ve never asked any.
I think that the current practice of ordaining married men in long-standing marriages to the diaconate could be extended to the priesthood. It might work really well. Having said that, I don’t think there will be anything like a stampede, let’s just say that.
This possibility has nothing to do with preventing sexual abuse, though. In the general population, sexual abusers are often married men.

 

[AlNg]

Are you implying that satisfying a man’s violent sexual urges is a role/purpose of a wife?

As i wrote above, marriage can be a beautiful journey for both a husband and a wife. I hope you will take the time to read the many things that a wife can do to promote a happy marriage:
Love her husband unconditionally . Appreciate her husband and of course the husband should do the same. Help and support her husband always, but especially during difficult times. Protect his honor and his dignity. Provide him with advice and company. Be faithful and committed. Be responsible and patient. Etc. and similarly for the role of the husband in marriage. these are some of the things already mentioned in the article referenced above. And already, i recommend that you read your Bible especially Prov 31: 10 - 31. I hope that this will give you some idea of what a woman can do to promote a joyous, pleasant, and fabulously cool marriage.

 

[Fauken]

As i wrote above, marriage can be a beautiful journey for both a husband and a wife. I hope you will take the time to read the many things that a wife can do to promote a happy marriage:
Love her husband unconditionally . Appreciate her husband and of course the husband should do the same. Help and support her husband always, but especially during difficult times. Protect his honor and his dignity. Provide him with advice and company. Be faithful and committed. Be responsible and patient. Etc. and similarly for the role of the husband in marriage. these are some of the things already mentioned in the article referenced above. And already, i recommend that you read your Bible especially Prov 31: 10 - 31. I hope that this will give you some idea of what a woman can do to promote a joyous, pleasant, and fabulously cool marriage.

I asked a very simple and direct yes/no question. Is satisfying a husband’s violent sexual desires part of loving him? If she doesn’t satisfy them and he rapes someone, did she just not love him enough? Or did she fail to maintain his honor?

 

[stpurl]

Again, the fact that in the liturgy or sacraments the priest stands as an alter Christus In no way presupposes that the priest, upon ordination, becomes ‘perfect’.

Your logical fallacy comes in your assumption that the priest through taking on a liturgical role which is given a title of ‘another Christ’ means that the priest then BECOMES a perfect Christ.

Should the priest strive to be perfect? Of course. So should we all. We are all supposed to ‘be Christ to each other’. Hey, that makes us ‘another Christ’, right? So we should all be perfect because we all have Christ within us, right?

Do you not see where your assumptions have led you? Straight to the land of logical fail.

 

[redbetta]

I was not saying that is what I believe. My point is is that people who propose married priests as the solution to clergy sexual abuse are essentially saying that men WILL resort to predatory behavior if they do not have some socially acceptable sexual outlet. This is a pretty messed-up view of men. Not to mention, a lot of sexual predators are married and their wives are often complicit in their husband’s crimes.

 

[AlNg]

I asked a very simple and direct yes/no question.

IMHO, it is always better to rely on what the Bible says than what an anonymous internet blogger says. I have tried to provide a few snippets here and there to help you with your question and of course, further Bible study is always encouraged. I hope that reading Prov 31: 10 - 31 will give you an idea of how valuable a wife can be as she fulfills her role in promoting a joyous marriage.

 

[AlNg]

Do you not see where your assumptions have led you? Straight to the land of logical fail.

It appears that you are reading into what i have written. I have quoted the CCC and Pope Benedict for an understanding of what was mentioned.

Hey, that makes us ‘another Christ’, right?

I thought that the expression alter Christus and in persona Christi referred to a man who was ordained to the priesthood and not to lay people. At least that is how I read the CCC and the quote from His Holiness Pope Benedict.

 

[VanitasVanitatum]

Opening records when ever possible is never too late when it can help prevent something like this from happening again.

It will help but it is not the solution people make it out to be.

It can help to prevent accusation being “weaponized”. Too late, it is never too late for the facts and truth to be told.

That has more to do with punishing offenders not stopping abuse.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

IMHO, it is always better to rely on what the Bible says than what an anonymous internet blogger says. I have tried to provide a few snippets here and there to help you with your question and of course, further Bible study is always encouraged. I hope that reading Prov 31: 10 - 31 will give you an idea of how valuable a wife can be as she fulfills her role in promoting a joyous marriage.

You’re not answering Fauken’s question with all this dissembling allegedly based on Scripture.

We can therefore only assume that the answer is exactly what we think it is.

If so, that’s just sad and messed up, and no further discussion is needed.

Lord, Have mercy on us, and on the whole world.

 

[stpurl]

Neither the CCC nor Pope Benedict however support your erroneous assumption that a priest in becoming alter Christus becomes then impeccable, perfect, and sinless.

 

[stpurl]

You are exactly right. The messed up behavior of those who assume that pedophilia (mostly), not to mention adultery and rape etc by those lust-crazed priests with no ‘socially acceptable outlet’ ignores the fact, the scientific fact, that the majority of sexual abuse of all kinds is engaged in by—gasp—married men.

You know, the ones with no socially acceptable sexual outlet—oh wait.

But if we don’t ‘zero in’ on “the Catholic Church” with its celibate priests, then we have to recognize that sexual abuse is endemic and not confined to one group which we can then insist is ‘only predatory because they have no socially acceptable sexual outlet’.

People don’t want to do this. They don’t want to think that sexual abuse is something that can be done by anybody. They want to think that it is an ‘easily fixable’ issue. The added bonus that they can then ‘look down on” the Catholic Church and blame it for the whole ‘crisis’ and then piously wonder how some ‘moral highground’ can be held with such ‘terrible abusers’ is something that gets hammered in with the idea that the louder it’s yelled and the more it’s yelled, the more people will believe it.

 

[TMC]

The truth is that the Church has a centuries long history of abuse. It is unreasonable to think that a few pronouncements, and a few high profile prosecutions and defrockings, will fix a very long standing problem in a comparatively short period of time. Much more effort, more transparency, more time, and more focus is required. Some work has been done, but, in my opinion, we are at the beginning of fixing this, not the end.