Sexual Abuse and Catholicism?

Question

-What do you think about this? -Are these clergy men getting off too easy?
-Does this lessen your catholic faith? (for catholics)
-What are you thoughts about catholicism? (non-catholics)
-Do you personally know anyone that has been abused by "men of the lord"?

-I have another question: -Does it not worry anyone that these are supposedly men of God, yet they are sexually abusing young boys -children? And that it is more than a small coinsidence because it has happen to so many people?

sparki777, I understand many of your statements and agree with some of them to a degree, but I never -not once suggested that the sexual abuse of a girl is not as significant as it is to a boy -so for you to just pull that out of thin air makes you look ridiculous.

-And a response to some of you, I already know that catholics aren't the only people that rape people. And many of you point out what is painfully obvious when talking about pedophilia in families -which wasn't at all the question. -The question was about catholicism and sexual abuse -I'm not implying anything... I was however inquiring.
It makes sense to mention what has happened to others and what has happened in other's churches but I wasn't asking for finger pointing -I was asking about the priests and what you personally think about people like that posing as men of god and then taking advantage of people. -Whether this could lead to loss of faith, especially if it has happened to someone close to you or yourself.

Answer 1

It is the government who punishes here on Earth and God who punishes in the after-life.

However, since "We the People" elect the government ... I guess "We the People" don't give a F -duck about pedophiles.

John Mark Karr was taken from a Thailand prison to the USA and released ... the SOB went on national TV and laughed at us all while the FBI said, "We don't have resources to follow him." WTF???

The Church calls the police and Priests go to prison ... they usually get out about the same amount of time as John Mark Karr. WTF???

The Night-Line People entrap child molesters & pedifiles red handed and they are on the streets within 1-2 months. WTF???

Then the govt. gives us a list of "Boogy-men" and says past this we relinquish responsablity ... you keep an eye on these boodymen and your kids ... sorry, they have more rights than you until they commit a crime, unfortunatly your kids will have to take it first. WTF???

Oh, and my favorite ... The USA Senitor who appointed himself to the head of an appropriations commitee to "Stop Internet Child Molestation" ... then he "Groomed" a 14-year old boy whom he chose for his study. WTF???

Answer 2

Sexual abuse is terrible anywhere.

All identified abusers have been taken out of ministry.

Some of these priests are in jail. Others are dead. Unfortunately some of the accusations were not made until after the statute of limitations was over and the abusers could not be put on trial.

This does not lessen my faith in God or the Church.

In every population of human beings are going to a few sick or evil people who commit horrible crimes, even in the Church.

These few terrible people do not negate the faith, hope and love of over one billion Catholics.

Remember that the Church is not the Church hierarchy or the priests. The Church is God and His relationship with over one billion living Catholics on Earth and God only knows how many in heaven, all of whom make up the Body of Christ.

Remember that political scandals in nations, even up to and including the highest leaders, like President Nixon and the Watergate scandal, do not make the nation as a whole wrong, immoral, or worthless. And the Catholic Church is so much holier and more important than any nation.

No one I have ever known has claimed to be abused and no priest I have ever known has been accused of abuse.

With love in Christ.

Answer 3

Catholicism does NOT teach or promote the sexual abuse of anybody.

The fact that some criminals hid their evil intentions and pretended to accept the vows of the priesthood in order to gain unfettered access to victims does NOT mean that Catholicism supports sexual abuse.

Personally, I believe that every person convicted of a sexual crime should receive the severest penalties the law affords, whether they are a cleric, a teacher, a coach, or any other profession. What their role was when they did it doesn't matter as much as what their crime was. Nobody should "get off easy" just because they pretended to be a minister or priest for a while.

No, this does not lessen my faith in Catholicism, because (a) Catholicism doesn't support the sexual abuse of minors and (b) these crimes are not limited to the Catholic Church. I used to be Assemblies of God protestant, and there were abusers pretending to be ministers in that denomination, too. These criminals have also hid under the guise of coaches, teachers, scout leaders, medical professionals, police officers, etc.

I do know somebody who was abused by a Lutheran minister. I also know a number of people who were abused by their stepfathers. And, unfortunately, there is a pedophile in my family (married with 4 kids), and I know the relatives he abused. It's a horrible, horrible betrayal, and I wish that the systematic way these criminals infiltrated the Catholic priesthood had been discovered and eliminated at once instead of taking decades to figure out. My sympathy rests fully on the victims of these crimes...and also the honest, hard-working, faithful clergy who have never committed any crime but have lost respect from society as the result of the crimes of a few.

ADDITIONAL ANSWER to your additional question: Are you suggesting that men abusing boys is somehow worse than men abusing girls? Because I don't buy that B.S. A guy abusing a girl is just as wrong as a guy abusing a boy, thanks very much, and society needs to do something to prevent BOTH hetero and homosexual abuse of minors.

Now, then, if you look at the stats of abuse by men pretending to be clerics in the Catholic Church, it was 80% homosexual abuse of adolescent boys. This number, IMHO, is directly related to a movement within the international homosexual community in which a minority of gay men have a taste for adolescent boys. Google "Man Boy Love Association" for details. They want to lower the age of consent so they can legally have sex with teenage boys. This to me is a crime (as it is when hetero men want teenage girls). Anyway, there apparently was a network of MBLA guys pretending to take the vows of the priesthood in order to gain access to their teen boys. They carefully groomed those boys until both the boy and the "priest" (not really a priest, but pretending to be one) believed that the sex act was voluntary. Horrible, horrible criminal behavior. There is no excuse for it, and as I said before, I wish it had been detected and eliminated much earlier on than it was so fewer kids were molested. However, we can't change the past, only the future.

Answer 4

I was a Catholic altar boy in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for about three years in the 1960s. I was never physically abused in any way and I don't know anyone who was with the exception of the nuns slapping kids around a bit in school -- to be fair that was considered acceptable behavior in those days.

On the other hand I remember the Catholic priests and nuns as being incredibly hostile and just plain nasty and unfriendly. Never a smile, never a kind word. No conversation or small talk. They seemed to be so miserable and unhappy.

Answer 5

>>Are these clergy men getting off too easy?<<

Many of them are dead. I'm sure God is dealing with them appropriately.

>>Does this lessen your catholic faith?<<

No. For one thing, I knew about this before I converted. For another, I converted because I came to believe the Catholic Church is the One True Church, no because of the personal holiness of her members.

>>Do you personally know anyone that has been abused by "men of the lord"?<<

No, and my numerous in-laws are all Catholic. I do personally know people who have been molested by a stepfather, however. They don't get any money.

Answer 6

Having grown up in the Roman Catholic faith, I can report no abuse by priests in my case, nor in the case of all the people with whom I went to school.

I think that the sexual abuse and Catholicism is a grand story, though. It's just the sort of thing we Americans love. We don't really like children, although we pretend to, and when we hear that children have been abused, we can posture and indulge ourselves in righteous indignation to our heart's content.

The fact that it involves the Catholic Church is the icing on the cake. We have all of these odd notions about the medieval nature of the Catholic Church, nurtured in our culture by such movies as "The Exorcist," and that sort of thing.

I wonder if we'd be as thrilled about it all if we found out that a general contractor had abused children.

Answer 7

All religions are run by men....men are imperfect beings....horrible things are sometimes done under the cloak of religion. That's true now and it's been true for centuries.

My family are all Catholics...they don't believe in Priests...they believe in God....so their faith in God through the Catholic Church has not lessened.

Answer 8

I think its an atrocity that they should be able to get away with it, if it were my son then the priest would meet G-d face to face.

I'm not a Catholic, but I would think that it should lessen someone's faith that their Lord and Saviour would grant forgiveness for this.

My thoughts on Catholicism are too numerous to put here, lets just say they are negative.

Yes, I know a few kids that have been granted a "special audience" with their priest.

Answer 9

sex abuse doesn't affect my faith in Roman Catholicism. Priests are also human and therefore, sinners like the rest of us. By the Grace of God can they do their job correctly. Alot of people in Christ's Church have betrayed him. An analogy would be Judas, who betrayed Christ, yet it doesn't mean that I would also reject the rest of the apostles. In the same way, I will not leave the Church, because some priest have betrayed Christ. PRAY for the Priests for satan is out to get them! God bless!

Answer 10

I think it was wrong to say priests should be celibate and worse for the church to cover up abuse it is unnatural to force a man to be celibate
I have never respected the catholic faith but am a strong christian.
that the pope and priests should be defrocked and forced to face the music for what they have done or hidden.

no but I can say categorically any one who has abused a child or even adult is not a man of the lord.