Why did the church cover up and house known pedofile priests?

Question

Its sick and the church has to be held responsible for so many evil doings without justice

Answer 1

The accusation that the Church covered up for erring priests must first be proven in a court of law.
Let's just wait for that court decision.

Peace and blessings!

Answer 2

I just can't get over how people are so blind. The reason the Catholic Church is picked on because of things like this is because it is a UNIFIED institution. Turn on the News, do you see Catholics beeing slammed or Protestants. It is like 10 to 1 or even more!

The fact of the matter is, is that pedophilia goes on in ALL Christian denominations, probably even moreso. They are not unified, so they don't get the flack. Just think about it, do you hear things on the News about Wal-Mart or Mom and Pop's Dime Store? It is just a matter of using one's brain. Just research the subject and the answer is there. Also the fact that the media is anti-Catholic and Satan influenced helps tremendously to lead souls to destruction. Satan will continue to use whatever means he can to harm the Church.

The Bible states that God's judgement begins in His Church!
--- "For it is the time of judgement to begin with the household of God; if it begins with us, how will it end for those who fail to obey the gospel of Christ?" (1 Peter 4:17) The household of God = The Catholic Church
The Apocolypse (Revelation) also speaks of this.

This is God's judgement on clergy who have fallen into homosexuality and apostosy. But, if you think that this is exclusive to the Catholic Church, you are gravely mistaken.

Answer 3

WHY did they do it? Probably because they didn't want to admit their faults.

Yes, they should be held responsible, but the Catholic church has suffered tremendously for it. They will forever have that stigma, never mind the fact that it is/was a VERY small percentage of priests who are/were pedophiles.

Answer 4

Coming from a family of seven where three of my four brothers were molested, I understand more than you can imagine. I have seen my brothers suffer and more so than just at the hands of an evil man, but at the hands of themselves. They have turned their lives into caves of alcohol and drug abuse. It is a very sad situation, I wasn't born yet when all of this happened but I do wear the scars. The priest that molested my brothers conned my dying mother years later into believing one of my brothers was just "attention seeking" when he first came out about the abuse. When I was eleven my Mom passed and at the alter giving her farewell mass was none other than the sick sick man.

To the previous answerer, the church has admitted to covering up, in our case alone, after aligations of abuse years earlier by other boys in another parish the Archdiocese relocated this priest to the parish were he met my Mom and her children before she married my father. Both of my parents are dead now but the saddest part for me is knowing that my brother felt our Mom thought he was nothing more than a problem starting brat. This man (I can't respectively use the word priest) helped my Mom after her ex-husband, my siblings biological fathter, abandoned them. My Mom met and married my father a few years after the abuse had begun and my Dad adopted them but before he took them as his own they had Earl Bierman as a father figure. He preyed on my Mom's vulnerability and used it to fulfill his own personal and disgusting desires through her children.

But even after having dealt with all of this, I still love my Church. I understand that every now and then an apple has a bad seed. I just feel that the Catholic Church has always been my backbone. It is what I know and what I believe in. Maybe it was one of God's tests. A sick one, but one that I have no doubt will serve a purpose in the long run. I ran from my church when it all came out, I buried my head in shame as the news hit the airways when I was just a sophmore in high school, but now I know I can't bury my head anymore. I can be an advocate, I can support my brothers (who are all much older than I) and continue to educate others. I send my son to a Catholic school and often get the question Why? My answer is simple, my God is a loving God, he is righteous and is the only person who I will have to answer to on my judgement day. Unfortunately for Earl Bierman he too had to answer to God, who I have no doubt had no mercy on his evil soul.

For more information or to read an acurate account of one man's struggle with the abuse and the aftermath please read my brothers story. Although sad it provides an amazing realization of the suffering one victim alone has gone through. It is very hard to read but gives a perspective into abuse many people don't see. The man who wrote the story had actually broke the story the first time almost 10 years earlier. When he broke it, Earl Bierman threatened to kill my brother and the reporter, he made one mistake. He left this threat on an answering machine.When my brother got the message he took it to the police immediately. They staged a set up for Rich and the report, upon entering the apartment he had a 9mm aimed at the door. To his surprise though it was the police who barged through not my brother, thank god.

To read my brother's story you can go to Citybeat.com and search Richard Strunck. Please read it with an open mind though, his story his heartbreaking and hard to understand at times. My brother is a great person with a huge heart but unfortunetly had to suffer at the hands of someone portraying to be called to life of God.

Answer 5

An embarrassing dillema. Makes me laugh.

Answer 6

Money.

Look how much the church has lost since their crimes were exposed.

Answer 7

Being sexually repressed is not normal even with religious standards, its an abnormality

Answer 8

i remember southpark's easter special... where priests are on a meeting and some of them have a little boy on a leash

Answer 9

Who knows, who cares, next! Its all about Money.