Why is it 99 people can spend their lives doing good but if 1 does something wrong it will wipe out the good?

Question

99% of Catholic priests do no molest children but apparently a few, 1% of them are warped and sick.Much lower than the general population. Yet everyone tries to focus on the minority here and ignore the 99% that would not harm a child.WHy is it? DO we always let the darker hide the good?

Don't get me wrong, I too am appalled and disgusted by those who do this. I believe that the punishment should fit the crime. But I do not think all of us Catholics should be branded by 1%.

Yes I agree that this holds true for others as well. I do not judge Islam for a few extremists.

Answer 1

I understand your point, but I think the problem for the catholic church is that these priests are not the general population, they are meant to be pillars of the community.

As such, people invest them with a huge degree of trust. And the nature of their profession, and the implicit trust of the catholic laity, give them a freedom to abuse that the present system can do little to prevent.

Whenever someone in a position of trust or power acts in such a manner very difficult, and legitimate, questions are raised. Catholic priests MUST abide by a higher moral standard by the general public. And the catholic laity must be able to expect 100% honesty from them.

The only equivalent example I can think of is the position of paediatric doctors. Imagine the outcry if 1% (if that is the true figure) of paediatric doctors were found to be involved in child sexual abuse. It would tear the profession apart, and the concomitant collapse in public trust would be justified. The medical profession has a moral duty to ensure that this kind of thing NEVER happens. The catholic church has the same duty.

Answer 2

You are one of my most admired person in this community. That is why I am carefull to answer your question.

I guess it's because people expects a priest or a pastor or an imam to act in a certain way because they are suppose to uphold moral values, guardians of moral virtues. It is their calling to act as models of virtue in a wicked society. You cannot save another from drawning if you are not standing on higher ground.
I agree, one bad apple don't spoil the whole bunch. I guess people would rather look for the fault rather than see the good.
Try this as an experiment: Spread a white handkerchief in front of your friend's face, put a small dot or a speck, just enought to be seen anywhere on the white cloth. Ask her what she sees. Most likely she will see the speck and not the white handkerchief.
From childhood we were train to see the bad in people more than the good. Don't talk to strangers, keep you doors locked, don't trust anyone above 30. It's getting harder to trust people. This negative feelings eats deep into our souls and psyche. And when a trust is broken, it hard to mend or recover.
Priests are humans too. They have a big responsibility to society and their accountability is also as great.
I do not condemn those who have fallen into transgression. That is Jesus' realm. But I also cannot condone the act. Innocence can not be regained.
The one avenue that is always left open is FORGIVENESS. It is what Christ would want and would do. Forgiveness requires CHARITY, and charity is the pure LOVE of Christ.

Answer 3

To me, the biggest problem is the deliberate efforts by the Catholic authorities to cover up, defend, and hide the perpetrators of these acts. For many years it was SOP to either deny that any priest could do such things, or reassign the offending priest to another location...where they would start all over again.

No recriminations, no punishment, and absolutely no help given to secular authorities who tried to bring the criminals to justice. Families who tried to speak out were "encouraged" to keep silent, and those who went public got threatened with excommunication and ostracization. The Catholic Church was more interested in its public image than protecting the children of its flock from its own predators. THAT is the great offense.

Answer 4

With all due respect, I think your attitude is partially what got the Catholic church in trouble about this.

They denied they had a problem and their denial was so bad they actually just *moved* the pedophiles to other churches. It wasn't the fact that there were only "1%", it was the fact that they tried to protect the Church at the expense of young children.

Personally, I still don't think they have fully addressed the issue, but I do see your point in that it has tarnished even the good priests, I would just add that it was by their own doing.

Answer 5

Probably because the 50 or the 99 people tried to cover up the misdeed of the 1 that did something wrong and in doing so made themselves accomplices. Sitting back and doing nothing while someone does something that is horribly wrong is almost as bad as doing the horribly wrong deed itself.

The church, as an organization, is responsible. Not every individual Catholic. Let those men get married. It's unnatural for grown men not to have sex. As long as you force these people to live in unnatural conditions you're going to end up with people that want to do unnatural things.

Answer 6

No-one really believes that all Catholics are child-molesters just because some priests are... but I think what it does do is give the lie to the idea that we need religion to have a good society - In fact, the least religious societies on Earth also tend to be the most peaceful and civilised.

Answer 7

its very sad but it has always been this way
throughout history we only get told of the " great wars " " the plague " all this negative stuff seems to be what we remember most
and in religion sadly its the same
people don't see the whole picture .. only the scandal that makes the news
no one hears of the good work done in religion .. the hospices , hospitals , refuges , soup kitchens...
maybe we need to start posting on the wonderful things that people have done and start a new trend

added note
when i couldn't be with my mum in hospital this week a wonderful priest sat with her for some time , just talking and cheering her up , saying a prayer together , not caring that she wasn't catholic .. i have a lot to thank him for xx

Answer 8

well i dont beleive in holding religions responsible for the actions of men and i will not at any cost pin point at the whole religion justbcoz of some one's perverted actions.

blame it on the media as that is the main reason for hiding the thruth and showing false dimensions to people like us. they always seem to project things that are bad deeds and hide all the good deeds of the people.

well doesn't this remind u of something else too.?

99% muslims are peace lovers but why do people blame islam and muslims across the globe just for the actions of a few perverts.

Answer 9

the first answer is that is life, because people in the Light tend to let the darkness trample on them despite all good sense and reason - and the second answer is the church is (and must before God's Eyes) be held to a higher standard - for Hope and Faith.
The overall answer is letting the world know people are people and they can only try their best, weighing their heart in sincerity.

Answer 10

Baby, I hate to see you sad. The world is like that for a reason. Goodness does not exist. The bible made it all up. Without the bible, all of mankind is insane. So if you think it's sad now, wait until people stop believing in religion. Doctors will do insane practices, scientists will live in different realities, and humans will kill each other all because they have no more trust. See the bible does serve a purpose. It creates goodness, where goodness does not exist.