is anyone else REALLY sick of the childish comments about Catholic priests?

Question

I'm not Catholic but it's not hard to see that these references to paedophilia are pointless and going nowhere, quite apart from being hurtful and abusive to the vast majority of decent, devout priests.
I'm sure many of the Catholic priests could put a lot of the Protestant clergy to shame.
Are we going to see an end to this vilification?

Answer 1

I agree with you fully. Let's be honest. The attacks against the priesthood are meant to attack much more than the priesthood: they are meant to be indirect attacks on Catholicism itself. People can deny that if they will (and I am sure that some will), but that doesn't change the facts. The best way to destroy any organization or system (be it political or religious) is always to attack the higher ranks. If I wanted to destroy the credibility of, say, Microsoft, then I would not make pernicious remarks about one of its lower-level office-staff workers; I would attack Mr. Gates himself. It makes sense, because if I can get people to dislike the man who is in charge, then I have a better chance of having them remove all personal support for the organization itself.

It is similar in the case of the Church. It is possible to attack the Catholic Church itself, but many do not do that, because there is still a small amount of conscience in society that would see that as being discrimination against relation, and thus politically not very correct. However, they do attack the priests, the men responsible for bringing to the faithful the Sacraments, which are channels of grace instituted by Christ Himself for the good of souls. In doing so, they seek to discredit the Catholic Church as a whole, but in a much more indirectly, sly way than if they had attacked the Church openly. It is dishonest and unfair, to say the least.

When will we see an end to this vilification of the priesthood? I'm afraid that the answer seems to be: when we see an end to persecution of the Church. Christ promised that if we proclaim faithfully His message to the world (as He asked us to do), then we WILL face much persecution. This is not because He takes pleasure in making His Church or its members suffer. It is because the Church must live out the life of Christ in all its facets, because the Church is the continuation of the mystery of the Incarnation, in a certain sense. Christ lives today in the world in and through His Church. Persecution of the Church is a sign that the Church is being faithful to her divinely-given mandate of proclaiming the message of Christ boldly to the entire world.

Answer 2

Yes, it does get ridiculous.

I say this as a gay atheist, so I know what I'm talking about. Once people decide to pin you with a witch-hunt, nothing can make it go away. Sadly, the religious people who support the priests are the same ones that demonize me even though I'm a strictly law-abiding, strictly monogamous, strictly age-appropriate, strictly consensual, family orientated and morally upright woman.

Obviously there is a problem with *certain* priests being alone and in a position of power over children, but this does not have anything to do with being a priest, just the persons involved. Lock up the perpetrators, and free the priesthood from collective 'guilt'. Most child-abuse comes from their fathers. Do we make jokes and generalizations about all fathers being child-molesters??


It makes me sad to live and experience such ignorance, hatred and viciousness diected at groups for no reason other than bigotry..

Answer 3

Thanks for your question and your accurate comments.

Attacks on all Catholic priests for the 40-year-old crimes of a handful of defrocked priests of an earlier generation, mostly homosexuals who seduced teenage boys, show us two things.

First, they demonstrate the unreasoned hatred of Catholicism that has long plagued our nation. Many anticatholics are so prejudiced that they will latch onto something, anything to smear the men who sacrifice wealth and family to serve God in his original and only Church.

Second, probability is the Achilles' heel of human cognition. Just as some people pour money into the lottery week after week without understanding the crushing odds against winning, so some people interpret a 2% accusal rate in a past generation of priests to be a 100% conviction rate against priests today.

Two facts. First, the rates of sexual abuse by priests in the 1970s were pretty much the same as sexual abuse rates of Protestant ministers, rabbis, and teachers. Anyone who is placed in a position of trust and authority can be tempted to abuse that trust by molestation.

Second, the Catholic Church has not only cleaned house, but they have created the most stringent policies for detecting and preventing sexual abuse of any religious body. Besides the imperative of the faith, there is a very practical reason: Unscrupulous lawsuits by those with imagined memories of abuse against the largest church in the US have driven many dioceses into bankruptcy.

Cheers,
Bruce

Answer 4

I'm very tired of the stereotyping. Someone says, "priest", and people think, "child molestor". It's sick.

I am sincerely sorry for those who were victimized. I pray they are healed and those who hurt them are dealt with. People, however, use this as an excuse to vent their hatred of the Catholic Church. How fair is it to the 99% of priests who have not done this, yet they are made to bear the same accusations as those who have?

Answer 5

Sorry but no, not as far as i'm concerned. And neither will I rest till I've read up on what really happened in the Irish workhouses back in the 80's.
I don't judge Anglican gay priests. But then I wasn't raised an Anglican. I was raised a Catholic so it's personal as far as I'm concerned.
.

Answer 6

Yes I am. However, the maturity of some people may never reach full development.

It's interesting to note that these kinds of things happen more often among protestant clergy, yet there isn't much talk about it.

It's interesting to note that these kinds of things happen more in public schools, yet there isn't much talk about it.

It's interesting to note that these kinds of things happen more among family members, in the home, yet there isn't much talk about it.

But, when less than 1.5% of Catholic priests do it, suddenly every priest is guilty and the Church is judged as a whole.

Basically, this is nothing more than people using the traumatic experiences of others to help fuel their hate for the Catholic Church. Grow up folks, the truth isn't going anywhere, as Jesus promised - "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

Answer 7

No, I don't think so. In the USA there is a huge hate against Spanish, people who speak Spanish, and the Catholic Church. Bad things concerning the church are displayed from coast to coast, with colors, fanfare, etc, whereas nothing is said when it happens within another denomination.

Besides, as long as lawyers can make money by suing the church ( there is money to be made ) it won't stop

Answer 8

The truth is what it is. These ideas are not new or recent. If you watch old films, especially European productions or read classic novels you would know that these opinions have been around for decades and most likely for very good reason. Stereotypes don't just invent themselves. There is usually more than a bit of truth to them. Also, when a tendency to behave improperly exists in a group, it is usually a sign of a deep problem with most occurrences going undetected. What the Catholics need to do is examine what causes the perverted behavior in some of there clergy and start treating the problem instead of playing their usual superiority complex games.

Answer 9

I wish. I think 99% of the Catholic priests are wonderful men.
Many Christian ministers are as well.
Are you now going to start villifying Protestant ministers?
Isn't that as bad as what has been done to Catholic priests?

Answer 10

If they hadn't committed the crime in the first place, people wouldn't be talking about it. The same would go for any Protestants in high places that did this. There won't be an end to it because the crime will never end.