It seems like the Bishops/Cardinals got caught with their pants down and are simply paying off to hush victims up. If Catholics had any ethics then they would stop contributing money.
Think about it. Sure your money helps a few poor and sick people but... your money also pays for Legal fees, Priest relocations and yes...Child Abuse Insurance! Your money pays for clothes, food, shelter, travel, cars, relocation of Priests who commit pedophilia. From what I have read most Catholic always say what about Ministers of other faiths, and others who commit these horrific crimes. They also say it is just a few Priest. How many is OK?
Zero Tollerance should be the law of the land. It should start with your pocket book/wallets. If you tithe to the Caholic Church you are still supporting pedophilia. You are.
2007-07-18 07:31:30 · 10 answers · asked by Harry Merkin 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Sham on everyone who knew and didn't do want was RIGHT. And that means the pope as well. It should be Zero tolerance period. I guess that's why catholics can be forgiven of all sins at the end of their lives not matter how EVIL they are . How in the world do they ever convince someone to join their cult? "We rape children and pray to statues, would you like to give us 10 percent of all that you earn? Well put a good word in for you to the guy that wears the funny hat." It has to be the part about being able to be an EVIL scum bag and on your death bed get forgiveness and a free ticket to heaven. How awkward it must be for the raped child to see the child raping priest in heaven.
2007-07-18 07:44:41 · answer #1 · answered by FishEater 2 · 1⤊ 2⤋
You are right that zero tolerance should be the law of the land. That's how it is in the Catholic Church now.
Back when the issue first started, the bishops did not share information with each other (embarrassment, grief, confusion, whatever) and the BEST experts of the day in the 1950s and 1960s insisted that a person who had sexual thoughts about minors could just say sorry and be moved away from the object of their intentions and everything would be fine. Obviously, that's not true. But that's what the psychologists said back then and the bishops didn't know any better.
NOW we all know better. Some bishops "got it" earlier than others. Where I live, we've had a series of bishops that have booted a priest out of the priesthood for ANY sexual activity and turned them into the cops for sex with minors. So we only had 3 cases in 40 years, unlike other places that had many, many cases every year. The guys who wanted to pretend to be priests so they could victimize youth stayed away from here because they knew they would NOT be protected -- they'd go to jail!
I wish all the dioceses had handled it like ours did -- I cannot explain it and it causes me great heartache that so many children suffered. But I'm not going to hurt MORE people by denying them the things my donations to church provides, which includes free counseling (including for victims of sexual assault), help paying rent, utilities, help buying food, help paying for medicine or medical bills, etc.
Don't you think it would be unethical for me to not give my diocese money when my diocese corrected this problem right from the start?
2007-07-18 14:44:48 · answer #2 · answered by sparki777 7 · 1⤊ 2⤋
The so called priests( I call them that because these were men with an agenda, not true men of God) accused of doing these horrible acts on pre teen boys were all homosexuals, and the majority of these acts happened in the 50's and 60's. The Catholic Church did what they were supposed to do as told by the medical community in putting these men in counseling and they would be cured of this sickness of pedophilia.
The money that is offered in church does not go for any payouts to alleged victims. All money given to the church is for that church and the charities that church supports.
2007-07-18 14:46:59 · answer #3 · answered by tebone0315 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Its not just the Catholics, it is a problem in all Christian denominations. It is systematic of the types of people who want to join the seminary in the first place. Many of them are suffering from serious problems, and believe if they give their lives to God, he will heal them of their dirty desires.
They then are placed in churches and are pushed from congregation to congregation when there is a problem.
It is funny that most Christian denominations feel justified in making examples of ministers with doctrinal differences rather than exposing ministers who are hurting children.
It's not just a catholic thing, and now that lawyers have figured out that they can be paid by churches for exploiting people, the other Christian denominations should be careful. This ruling will cost all denominations a fortune, and it should.
2007-07-18 14:38:09 · answer #4 · answered by ɹɐǝɟsuɐs Blessed Cheese Maker 7 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Do you honestly believe that we Catholics were happy to learn that there had been pedophiles serving as priests?!?!
If you do, then you must have a very negative & ignorant attitude to Catholics in general!!!
Catholics were horrified everytime such a sex scandal broke out in the Church. We were even more horrified at the coverups done of such priests, by their incompatant bishops.
2007-07-18 14:36:29 · answer #5 · answered by clusium1971 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
I know Catholics who have stopped putting anything in the collection plate because of this. But if they really wanted to make a point, they shouldn't even go to mass. Are they worried that god would get mad at them for not supporting this? Even with all of this, they still cling to the fiction that it's just a few priests, or that the church is still worthy of honor and support.
2007-07-18 14:36:00 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 2⤋
We are all responsible, and we are all guilty, but if we stop paying tithes to the church, how will the victims get the recompense that they fought for? People still need to contribute so that the ruling might be fulfilled. I wish money could cure all ills, but I know it can't. It is only a tool, and you have to realize that if we stop giving, everyone suffers, and the victims will suffer twice.
2007-07-18 14:39:44 · answer #7 · answered by Shinigami 7 · 2⤊ 2⤋
Oh. Another rant with a question mark placed in it.
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.
2007-07-18 15:15:20 · answer #8 · answered by Sldgman 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I call it aiding and abetting. And why do they support the Vatican in living their gilded lifestyle while others are starving without a shelter.
2007-07-18 14:39:43 · answer #9 · answered by Lukusmcain// 7 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Very interesting point.
†
2007-07-18 14:36:59 · answer #10 · answered by Jeanmarie 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋