"Free Lunch" <
lu...@nofreelunch.us> wrote
> It is not about the priests who have raped. I never blame any group for
> the actions of those who happen to be employees.
Really?
> It is about the coverup
> indulged in by bishops worldwide when they discovered that they had
> rapist priests. The coverup shows us that the bishops are immoral and
> corrupt, that the entire hierarchy is untrustworthy.
I might agree, except....
I believe the coverup really shows a bunch of incompetent
old men who were clueless about how to handle a problem
beyond their comprehension. Most decent folks cannot understand
how others can be so cruel. Since we would never do such cruel
things, it is beyond us how to correct a problem and still
be true to our own decent selves. After all, if we don't believe in
murder, how can we adequately punish a person who has
murdered? It tales an evil person to come up with some
cruel punishment that will deter another cruel person from
acting on their wishes.....
The coverup was real.
And, this is what really irritated most Catholics.
It caused a real crisis.
It caused the leaders of the church to really sit down,
evaluate what they have done, look for positive
corrective actions, and follow through - no matter what!
> We know that the
> most important bishop, the Pope, has been one of those who made the
> coverups last as long as they did.
All Church leaders followed a protocol that gave them
anonimity, and pushed the problem onto "expert" shrinks
who promised to "cure" the problem.
The Church leaders were wringing their hands and hoping
the problem would just go away.
It didn't.
> An organization that wanted to end
> the corruption would fire Benedict and then start to fire every other
> bishop who was complicit in these coverups worldwide. As long as they
> continue to make excuses, they are enemies of the Roman Catholic Church.
> I think there may be one bishop in Ireland worthy of respect of all of
> the bishops in the world.
Three other Irish bishops were summarily fired for their actions.
Catholic bishops in the 50's and 60's viewed sexual abuse by priests as "a
spiritual problem, one requiring a spiritual solution, i.e. prayer".
However, starting in the sixties, the bishops came to adopt an emerging view
based on the advice of medical personnel who recommended psychiatric and
psychological treatment for those who sexually abused minors. This view
asserted that, with proper treatment, priests who had molested children
could safely be placed back into ministry. This approach viewed pedophilia
as an addiction, such as alcoholism which many feel cannot be cured but
which can be treated and restrained.
In 1962, Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, Secretary of the Sacred Congregation of
the Holy Office, sent a letter which became known as the Crimen
sollicitationis. In this letter, the Holy Office laid down procedures to be
followed in dealing with cases of clerics (priests or bishops) of the Roman
Catholic Church accused of having used the sacrament of Penance to make
sexual advances to penitents. In addition, it reiterated the seriousness
and gravity of ever breaking the seal of confession.
In 1983, the Vatican promulgated a revised Code of Canon Law which included
a canon (1395, 2) which explicitly named sex with a minor by clerics as a
canonical crime.
The burgeoning number of scandals evoked deep concern among some Catholic
observers, and in 1985 a confidential report entitled "The Problem of Sexual
Molestation by Roman Catholic Clergy: Meeting the Problem in a Comprehensive
and Responsible Matter" was submitted to the Catholic hierarchy. The authors
included Gauthe's attorney, F. Ray Mouton, and two clerics [priests], Thomas
P. Doyle and Michael Peterson.... The group warned of the need to take
urgent action in the face of scandals, to react swiftly to complaints, and
also to avoid charges of secretive proceedings or cover-ups. (p. 37)
Tragically, either this advice was not followed, or not followed often
enough.
This approach continued to be practiced by the bishops well into the
mid-1980s, a period which characterizes as the "tipping point in the
understanding of the problem within the church and in society".
Pope John Paul II took a number of steps to address the problem of priestly
formation. On March 25, 1992, he completed the apostolic exhortation
Pastores Dabo Vobis ("I Shall Give You Shepherds"), one of the longest papal
documents in history. This explored the crisis of priestly identity, the
renewal of priestly life and the reform of seminaries in detail. Some have
attributed the scant number of abuse allegations from the 1990s as evidence
that the late Pope's reform efforts were fruitful.
In April 2001, Pope John Paul II issued Sacramentorum sanctitatis tutela
(Safeguarding the Sanctity of the Sacraments). This replaced the Crimen
sollicitationis. All priestly sex crimes cases were to be placed under the
Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith which, in most cases,
would authorize the bishops to conduct trials themselves. In May 2001, a
letter from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in line with the
1983 Code of Canon Law and the 1990 Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches,
was sent to the Catholic bishops.
Pope John Paul II declared in 2003 that "there is no place in the priesthood
and religious life for those who would harm the young". With the approval
of the Vatican, the hierarchy of the church in the United States instituted
reforms to prevent future abuse including requiring background checks for
Church employees and volunteers and, noting the preponderance of adolescent
males (teenage boys) amongst victims of abuse, warned that a more searching
inquiry is necessary for a homosexually oriented man; and the worldwide
Church also prohibited the ordination of men with "deep-seated homosexual
tendencies."
Early in 2010 Cardinal Claudio Hummes, the head of the Congregation for
Clergy, said that instances of sexual abuse by priests were "criminal facts"
as well as serious sins and required co-operation with the civil justice
system
The Pope took the extraordinary steps of ordering the retirement of Cardinal
Bernard Law Archbishop John Aloysius Ward, the most senior member of the
Roman Catholic Church in Wales, in the wake of a paedophile scandal which
rocked their dioceses to its foundations. The 72-year-old archbishop Ward,
who had been under severe criticism from clergy and congregations following
the convictions of two priests for child sexual abuse offences, was forced
to resign despite making clear his determination to stay in office. He had
been accused of repeatedly ignoring warnings about the two priests' conduct.