So is the Roman Catholic Church actually obeying the Bible?
Pope Benedict XVI formerly Joseph Alois Ratzinger actually looked over some of the pedophile cases against priests. Nothing was done against the priests...why..?
Is it because they say they believe in God, Christ and the Holy Spirit and so ask forgiveness for their sins, and so they are forgiven told to say a few hail Mary's and get back to work.
Is that what happened in the Church, they used the Bible and did what it said they could do.
why not give the incidents of what he did , speculation is rife that he did this or didn't do that. it has been pr oven , if one cares to look , that a lot of accusations against him were taken out of context,
When we take the whole bible and sum it up, we find that all we need to do is to Love. First to love God with our whole self's and then to love one another.
Here is what the bible says love is:
1Cor:13:4 Love is patient,
love is kind.
It does not envy,
it does not boast,
it is not proud.
5 It is not rude,
it is not self-seeking,
it is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs.
6 Love does not delight in evil
but rejoices with the truth.
7 It always protects,
always trusts,
always hopes,
always perseveres.
8 Love never fails.
Actually I don't think many churches or people are obeying the Bible
actually, did you know that the bible isn't against rape or slavery? if you take the word of the Bible seriously even rape should be OK.. well, it does states than if you get caught (while raping) you have to pay the father of the girl and then marry her.. but if now one finds out, it's fair game. cool, huh?
No, the church was not obeying the Bible in this case. These priests should be prosecuted and punished to the full extent of the law. Though more children come forward now pedophiles were rarely prosecuted until the last 30 years or so. Families would would simply keep their child away from the person committing the abuse, if the child told anyone at all.
"So is the Roman Catholic Church actually obeying the Bible?"
Yes, it is the only true Bible Church as the New Testament is written about the Catholic Church.
"Pope Benedict XVI formerly Joseph Alois Ratzinger actually looked over some of the pedophile cases against priests. Nothing was done against the priests...why..?"
There are no cases that were not acted on except for those alleged perpetrators that were dead or dying. The guilty were latticed and removed from ministry.It is impossible to do anything if the person is dead.
"Is it because they say they believe in God, Christ and the Holy Spirit and so ask forgiveness for their sins, and so they are forgiven told to say a few hail Mary's and get back to work."
Obviously you do not understand reconciliation or understand the accusations.
"Is that what happened in the Church, they used the Bible and did what it said they could do."
your flippant attitude is scary because sex abuse is not something the church has taken lightly. there in only ONE documented letter in '98 that was known to be sent to the Cardinal (PB16) it was sent from the man's death bed and almost 50 years after the fact.... the statute of limitations was up and.... what was he to do, the man was about to meet his Maker. your ignorance over the Sacrament of Confession is laughable.... not all sins are forgiven in this life.... don't you read scripture?
in some of the cases you are wrong, but right.... no criminal action was taken. back in the 50's. 60's, 70's and even into the 80's people were not as informed as to the realities of what child abuse does to the victim. From a catholic church perspective these actions were sexual transgressions.
They were seen as no different from the sexual transgressions heard at confession. Two things were not well understood; the effect on the victim & the compulsion. Once a perpetrator was outed & chastised, it was assumed he was embarrassed. Discovery would be enough mortification to prevent repetition. It was not understood as child abuse, in today's terminology. Parents weren't even educated and often said nothing out of fear or shame. The church would do what the Shrinks deemed viable treatment -- removal and therapy and that's what they did in most cases.
Simply because a priest wasn't latticed in your time (that is, a time line that *you* feel is appropriate), does not mean nothing was done. The priests were given therapy and removed from active duty so as to remove them from avenues of opportunity.
If you want to blame someone for doing nothing, look to the "justice system." You know the people I mean. The ones who *actually* have the authority to convict and incarcerate people for crimes. The ones who knew of the allegations against these offenders years ago and either threw the cases out of court, or gave minimal sentences to the offenders, allowing them to roam the streets.
In 2001, Joseph Ratzinger, was concerned that it was taking too long to hear the cases of priests accused of sexual abuse, so he asked the Pope to let his office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) hear these cases. Since that time, the CDF has resolved 3000 cases of priests accused of sexual abuse with 80% of those cases resulting in conviction.
Being Thai majority of these homosexual pedophile cases happened decades ago, the church did what the medical community said to do back then. Put them in therapy and they can be cured of their homosexuality and their pedophilia. Little did the medical community or the church know that these can not be cured,
Your characterization of the issue is inaccurate, and yes of course the Church obeys its Bible. The tiny number of pedophile cases concerning the Catholic Church are news because newspapers and broadcasters know that the topic sells their advertising vehicles. The larger issue concerning pedophilia -- child abuse -- is largely ignored by the press because it is such a widespread problem among families. I'll back that up below. And families do not buy newspapers or listen to talking heads who are discussing the rampant abuse of children by them, the reader, the viewer. They WILL buy the news if you project the problem onto a target that does not hit back: priests.
To understand the relationship of Catholic priests to children, you don't have to look any farther than UNICEF. The largest supporter of UNICEF, which helps the world's children, is the Catholic Church. Without the Catholic Church, much of the food, medical supplies and one-on-one help would never reach needy children. But the main point can be better viewed just by looking at the big picture in this country alone. Cases of pedophilia are a small fraction of child abuse cases worldwide. We are talking about child abuse you know. That is the issue, and it is virtually nonexistent among Catholic priests if you compare them to society as a whole. The Roman Catholic Church worldwide is the leading force for good worldwide in helping victims of child abuse. Governments and organizations like UNICEF depend on the Catholic Church. Check the State Department link below to see how many nations the Vatican (The Holy See) sends diplomats to. The media, not so much because the Church does not need the press. You are getting a skewed perspective to believe pedophilia among Catholic priests is in any way comparable to the problems of child abuse not just in the US, but worldwide. If accurate figures could be obtained, there is a better chance that newspaper/broadcast publishers as a group contain more pedophiles than do the priesthood.
The most accurate data on child abuse by priests is the John Jay College of Criminol Justice study done by City University, New York (CUNY). Between 1950 and 2002, the total number of priests ACCUSED of committing sexual abuse is roughly 4,400 priests. That's out of a total number of 110,000 active US priests during that time period (there are more than 400,000 Catholic priests worldwide today by the way). The "new" revelations in the press include cases documented in that study. It ain't news. It's regurgitated cud the press herd uses to get you to buy their product.
Some people need to break out of their prepackaged, hypnotic hatred for Catholics and look at the hard fact the press is avoiding: child abuse is rampant, and it's not because of the Catholic Church. It bears repeating: worldwide, the Catholic Church is the biggest supporter of UNICEF, which assists millions upon millions of children every year. The numbers of children allegedly harmed by all the Catholic priests in all history doesn't make a spot on that record. If the total number of children abused this year alone was a football field-sized billboard painted white, the number of actual, real victims of any form of child abuse by all the priests in all of history would be a dot the size of a pinhead on this billboard. Get your head on straight people. Now who're the real pinheads? Who're? The press is the who're. Maybe the people who ignore the problems of child abuse by their own family members and neighbors and turn toward Catholic-bashing instead. News enables that. Child abuse is the problem, not Catholic priests.
WHAT
Children in the USA are mistreated every minute of every day. Virtually none of them are sexually abused by priests. Priests make up a tiny fraction of a fraction of a percentage point of any child abuse cases in the United States. But priests don't hit back. They are an easy target. They are a sensational target. What is shocking is that the newspaper publishers and broadcast news executives are ignoring the widespread harm done to children, the staggering number of cases referred to Health and Human Services. The press ignores the victims, the children. Unless it can use the victims to go after an interest group, in this case priests who serve Jesus Christ and our fellow man. Look here, regarding child abuse in the USA:
"During FFY 2008, 71.1 percent of victims experienced neglect, 16.1 percent were physically abused, 9.1 percent were sexually abused, 7.3 percent were psychologically maltreated, and 2.2 percent were medically neglected. In addition, 9.0 percent of victims experienced such "other" types of maltreatment as "abandonment," "threats of harm to the child," or "congenital drug addiction."
SOURCE: US Dept of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families Children's Bureau http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/pubs/cm08/chapter3.htm#factors
WHO
So who is perpetrating most of the child abuse in this country? Women. Not priests. WOMEN. More than half the time. Women. Women can't be priests by the way. But they are the largest single group of people who view TV advertising and read newspaper shopping ads. And virtually all the time (80 percent of cases), it's the child's parents, not a priest, that's guilty of pedophilia. Priests can't be parents either. Among these pedophile statistics are plenty of religious clergy outside of the Catholic Church, the ones who are allowed to be married, the ones who do NOT take vows of celibacy. Think people. Still want to get rid of the pope because of child abuse scandals? He doesn't have anything to do with pedophilia problems. Look here:
"For FFY 2008, 56.2 percent of the perpetrators were women, 42.6 percent were men and 1.1 percent were of unknown sex. Of the women who were perpetrators, more than 40 percent (45.3%) were younger than 30 years of age, compared with one-third of the men (35.2%). These proportions have remained consistent for the past few years."
"Approximately 80 percent (80.1%) of perpetrators were parents. Other relatives accounted for an additional 6.5 percent. Unmarried partners of parents accounted for 4.4 percent (figure 5?2). Of the parents who were perpetrators, more than 90 percent (90.9%) were biological parents, 4.4 percent were stepparents, and 0.7 percent were adoptive parents."
SOURCE: US Dept of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families Children's Bureau http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/pubs/?
If you want facts about child abuse, prepare to forget about Catholic priests. Priests as a group are doing brilliant work to help victims of child abuse and to help the perpetrators of child abuse get their heads on straight through repentance and obedience to Jesus Christ's way.
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Your question is confused and non-sensual. Catholics don't obey the Bible. You can't be certain of what the Bible says without interpretation of the Catholic Church.
The church is not biblical. the bible is catholic. we are the only ones who obey it. why dint you ask a diff ult question instead of the same trite nonsense. We wrote it I think we know what it means.
"Nothing was done against the priests...why..?" -- Actually, some priests have been removed from the churches, and there are actually some (when convicted) sent to state prison. I'm not sure where you are getting your facts to make your claim, but obviously, it's false.
This is nothing less than hatred of God. Find out what the facts are first before you spew your vitriol out. If you hate the Church that Jesus founded, fine. That's your prerogative, but produce any evidence that the Pope did anything wrong.
<<and so they are forgiven told to say a few hail Mary's and get back to work.>>
That is not true, that is your spin on it.
These men were dealt with, but not in the way we would deal with them today. It is complicated and much more convoluted than we'd like, certainly, but it is not as black and white as it is being made out to be.
Forgiveness is a huge part of it yes. The Church is a divine institution and sees all things through the lens of Christ's teachings. The priest offender, while sinful and criminal, is no less a loved human being by God and the Church would focus on the priests salvation first.
Also, these priests were sent to therapy, counseling etc. Most of them were given "clean slates" by nonreligious psychiatrists. Just as prisons release criminals daily on the advice of experts. Most of them are rehabilitated, and go on with their lives and we never hear of them again, but we do hear of the ones who are let go only to rape or murder again, they make the news.
The Catholic Church is a huge, global entity. Do you think every accusation made against a priest, sexual and non-sexual, is always valid? Of course not. The local bishop has to sort out what is truth and what is lies, in addition to all else he does, etc. This is not an excuse I'm just trying to infuse more of the lay of the land for you.
Here is a good overview I recently read:
To begin with, this is an extraordinarily complex problem, because the Church has at least five important traditions that make it difficult to move quickly and aggressively in response to complaints of abuse.
The first tradition involves confidentiality, particularly not exclusively the confidentiality of the priest with regard to the penitent. But there is also a wider spread tradition of confidentiality within the Church hierarchy itself.
Second, there is the tradition of forgiveness. Those of us outside the Church often think, perhaps, that the Church goes too far in forgiving. I was shocked when the previous Pope immediately forgave the man who tried to assassinate him. But this episode and other demonstrate that the tradition of forgiveness is all too real.
Third, there is the tradition of the Church regarding itself as a state. The Vatican is, after all, a nation state. The Catholic Church is not big on the separation of church and state, as are various Protestant denominations. The Catholic Church, like Orthodox Judaism, believes that matters affecting the faithful should generally be dealt within the church, without recourse to secular authorities.
Fourth, the Vatican prides itself on moving slowly and in seeing the time frame of life quite differently than the quick pace at which secular societies respond to the crisis of the day.
Fifth, the Catholic Church has long had a tradition of internal due process. Cannon Law provides for scrupulous methods of proof. The concept of the ?devil?s advocate? derives from the Church?s effort to be certain that every ?t? is crossed and every ?I? is dotted, even when it comes to selecting saints.
None of these explanations completely justify the long inaction of the Church in coming to grips with a serious problem. But they do help to explain how good people could have allowed bad things to happen for so long a period of time. Nor is the Catholic Church the only institution that has faced problems of sexual abuse. Every hierarchical body, especially but not exclusively religious ones, has faced similar problems, though perhaps on not so large a scale.
The problem of hierarchical sex abuse has only recently emerged from the shadows. Singling out the Catholic Church, and for stereotyping all priests is simply wrong.
Pope Benedict, both before he became Pope and since, has done a great deal to confront the issue. He changed the policy that kept allegations of abuse within the authority of local bishops, and he acknowledged that the local option had encouraged shifting abusive priests from parish to parish, thereby hiding their sins from potential new victims. He also met with abuse victims and recognized their victimization. Nor has he tried, as other members of the Vatican hierarchy have, to publicly blame the problem on ?the Jews?, ?the media,? and others.
It is obvious that despite Pope Benedict?s good efforts, more must be done, and not only by the Catholic Church but by all institutions that have experienced hierarchical sexual exploitation. They must create structures that assure prompt reporting, a zero tolerance policy and quick action, so long as these processes are consistent with due process and fairness, not only to alleged victims but to the accused as well. It?s easy to forget, in the face of real victims with real complaints, that there have also been false accusations as well. Processes must be put in place that distinguish true complaints from false ones.
Most important, this tragedy should not be used as an
So is the Roman Catholic Church actually obeying the Bible?
