Question about ALL pedophiles that go into confession then.....?

Question

a pedophile, not a priest, but a regular old sick *** pedophile goes into confession and confesses his sin of raping boys and girls and the priest absolves him, and tells him to turn himself in to the authorties. the pedophile doesn;t do this, and he will be held accountable in the eyes of god and go to hell. Ok I get that. But what about the boys and girls that have been raped and will probably be raped by this man who has decided that he will just go to confession. Some of you feel that as long as he will be held accountable for his actions when he dies that that is enough. My question is, is it enough for those boys and girls that are being violated and scarred for life, what about the ones who have already been violated and the ones who are yet to be violated? Doesn;t the priest have some sort of responsibilty to report such crimes, and if not, why? I think it makes the priest who is receiving the pedophiles confession just as guilty and sinful.

thanks, but i was not abused as a child, i am simply a person who is concerned about children who are being abused.

not all pedophiles are victims of abuse themselves. And as we cannot know that we have caught all pedophiles we can not have an accurate number of how many have or have not been victims of abuse.

Answer 1

You are of course correct, also the whole Catholic church is guilty of condoning this behavior on a large scale, I would include also people that support it financially and condone its activities.

Answer 2

Well, I think you are right to be outraged.

However, most "confidential" relationships demand that disclosure be made if the patient is abusing a child or is dangerous to himself/others. Therapists can be disbarred, i think, if they fail to comply

The Catholic church, as far as I know, though, does NOT make allowance for this, and any priest who breaks his vow by revealing what is learned in confession is excommunicated.

He is only permitted to encourage the offender to quit and turn himself in, and will not "absolve" him until he does so.

In other words, sure, maybe a very strong, very faithful priest will stand up for the abused child by reporting the victimizer to the authorities, to stop the abuse, but this is essentially committing professional suicide. He will no longer be allowed to be a priest. This is the last act he will perform as an official Catholic priest.

Now what does he do with his life? Again, a noble priest might sacrifice himself for one child, but the cost is severe.

So I consider this stance of the Catholic church to put undue pressure on priests to allow such crimes to persist. The priest might be "guilty" in not sacrificing everything for another, but the church dogma is what is really guilty here.

[Then again, what idiot would go to confess being a pedofile if he knew the priest would report him? So it sort of is a moot point.]

Meanwhile, the government does NOT want to open a can of worms by getting embroiled in inhibiting religious freedom in any way. Legislation of this stuff would go on for decades; it would simply be a very ugly, very prolonged fight.

It's a shame, since abused children are in a world of hurt and need lots of help to get through their bad experiences.

Answer 3

>>>Doesn;t the priest have some sort of responsibilty to report such crimes, and if not, why?<<<

If he learns of such crimes in a venue outside the sacrament of penance/confession, then he can report them -- he has a responsibility to.

But, as hard as it may be for non-Catholics (or even some Catholics) to understand, the seal of the sacrament of penance/confession is inviolable. It cannot be broken for any reason.

Perhaps in this case, the priest could do all he can to encourage parents and guardians to protect their kids as much as possible from sexual predators.

He can also tell the penitent that absolution of the sin is conditional upon him either turning himself into the police, and/or seeking professional help to deal with his sexual behavior.

But he cannot reveal what is told to him during a confession, for ANY reason.

Priests who do break this seal are not only defrocked, but also excommunicated. That's how serious it is.

You can think all you want that this makes the priest just as guilty as the pedophile -- but you're still wrong, no offense.

One of the facts of life in a free society is that there are certain professionals who must hold the secrets of their clients, patients, etc. in perfect confidence.

Priests and other clergymen are one such group of professionals.

For the government to enact laws that enable it to extend its tentacles into the private conversations and confessions of penitents to their clergymen would be VERY dangerous. It would be a further eroding of our freedoms.

Answer 4

It's a moral dilemma. The RC church holds the seal of the confessional as absolute, and because in America we separate church and state, the state cannot compel a priest to testify to what is said in the confessional.

The church does require that the person taking confession be truly penitent; if they go to confession without an intent to give up their sin, then they don't really get absolution, so they will be judged for their sins when they die.

The church also believes suffering inflicted on the children is part of their religious experience; God sends suffering (like being raped repeated by an adult) for a reason.

I don't personally agree with this approach; I think just as a medical person is required to reveal any threat of future harm, a priest should be required to do so; but that is not the way the law works in the US. I find of all religions Roman Catholicism to be the most morally bankrupt of faiths. The concept of absolution gives repeated offenders a kind of permission to continue their behaviors, and even to be able to boast of them to a priest. That their 'soul' is in jepardy because they are not truly repentent doesn't bother them a bit. But a nice long spell in jail would. It's time the RC church changed its view on confession.

Answer 5

OK wait... you don't get it..

If someone that did what you say goes to confession in the catholic church, the priest absolves him, gives him hail mary's or whatever, tells him to go to the authoritoes and the perp chooses not to.. he won't go to hell..

When you commit a sin in any denomination in the christian faith, and you confess before God, Jesus or in the Catholic Faith to the priest... then you will be forgiven of your sin..

Doesn't mean that you wont be punished for your sin.. it just means you wont be going to hell..

Once you take the lord into your heart you can't undo it... no matter what you do..

Now.. as far as the human punishment goes... I don't think it is right that they are not reported. I think that the church needs to look at these very dangerous crimes and see the practicality and consequesnses of keeping hush..

As far as vindication for those who have been violated.. spiritually, it is enough that the perp confessed..

Humanly, in the eyes of our natural mind... physically it isn't enough.

The priest is bound by church doctrine and as I said earlier it needs to be readdressed in the church.

You are thinking on two different levels.. the natural and the spiritual.. they have to be seperated to make sense of it..

I think though that you are disenfranchised in the catholic church and you should seek another church maybe to help you through your thoughts on this.

Heres a great one.. non denominational

www.withoutwalls.org

Answer 6

Passing a law to force priests to report pedophiles would accomplish nothing, since pedophiles would subsequently never go to confession. However, if a priest believes that the person is a danger to harm anyone in the future, he does have an obligation to report it, and in fact this is probably why the pedo went to him in the first place, because he wants to stop but can't stop himself so this is they way he chooses to turn himself in.

Answer 7

The priest really has no authority to absolve anyone of their sins. God, through Jesus is the only One that can do that. Also, no matter how "forgiven" one is, there are always consequences we should face. The priest should turn the pedophile in, and he should pay for his crime. God supports human law as long as it doens't conflict with His laws, and paying for your crime is the law.

Answer 8

a minimum of she's no longer older than the guy then that could desire to b rather awkward do no longer complication as long as they do no longer do something grimy like unprotected intercourse he's no longer probable considered a pedophile 6 years isn't that super of a diffrence I mena basically look at how Hugh Hefner's life has grew to become out he's no longer a pedophile ceremony? he's basically very wealthy and the owner or founder or in spite of of playboy!

Answer 9

No, the priest is not responsible.

If the pedophile went to a psychiatrist or lawyer and told what they were doing, the psychologist and lawyer would also keep the secret. Are they just as guilty?

Answer 10

If they don't go to the police and tell what they know about a child molester, they can(or they should) get in trouble with the law. Anyways, they pedophiles should go to God, not to man. I agree with you, I think priests should report in what they know because it would somewhat free the child. Did you know that an average pedophile molests or a rapes at least 150 children in their lifetime. That's crazy!!!!!!!

Answer 11

It is the church that says he is not to tell anything that is said in the confessional. So by church law he is bound to secrecy. With that said, I totally agree with you and believe they should be held accountable as anyone else would be. Trouble is they never will as they have the power to tell the lawmakers what to do. If you do not believe it, just watch what happens in the near future.