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The pope is NOT the victim
Q:A senior Vatican priest last week compared outrage at Pope Benedict's handling of sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church to the persecution of the Jews. Church leaders disavowed the comments, but went on to complain about a "vile," anti-Vatican media campaign aimed at weakening the papacy and its authority. Is the news media being fair to the pope? Is the media biased against the Catholic Church or its hierarchy? How would you advise the pope?
The American media often shows a bias against people with strong religious beliefs or convictions, and they usually depict such individuals as being narrow minded, intolerant, etc. Generally, conservative Christians are shown in the least favorable light, unless the person or persons in the news happen to be popular in they eyes of the media. However, in the present situation, the media is doing what it should have done years ago.
For decades, there have been allegations and a growing corpus of evidence of sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests. Even today, the Church is inhibiting investigations and protecting those whose guilt is know. Although the offenders are in the extreme minority, that is no excuse for the heads of the Church to act in the callous manner that is meant to obscure the truth. Although the pope has only been in his present position for five years, he has held positions of great authority within the Church for nearly three decades. During those years, he was made aware of the problem and had ample opportunity to do something, but he did not. In short, he fell short of his responsibilities, but that is not uncommon for powerful people.
People in positions of authority tend to become attached to the power they get in those positions, are hesitant to do anything that will threaten that power, and in the process often forgo basic acts of human decency. They approach life with the attitude that "the ends justify the means," and usually the only "ends" they consider have to do with their own personal gain. This attitude leads to the justification of all sorts of dishonest, unethical actions that reveal a lack of honorable character. All one need do is look at the vast majority of our politicians. While they give lip service to honest and integrity, most have a very minimal and infrequent relationship with those terms. What is sad is that most Americans know that, overlook the situation, and continue to elect the same people over and over again.
The pope is not much different in that regards. He is head of a government, he gives lip service to honesty and integrity, but he doesn't show it in many of his actions. Those Catholics who continue to overlook how the pope has handled the sex abuse situation in the Church are just like Americans who continue to vote for dishonest politicians. They pretend there is little or nothing wrong in his actions and close their eyes to the truly despicable acts that some priests have committed while the pope looks the other way. The pope needs to understand the long-term negative effect that his lack of willingness to confront the situation is having and will likely continue to have on his organization. The current situation is symptomatic of the kinds of issues that have caused so many Catholics to leave their affiliation with the church. They deserve better.
I attended Catholic elementary school, and one of the lessons our nuns emphasized over and over again was "Honesty is the best policy." I would advise the pope to try it himself.
By
Ramdas Lamb
|
April 6, 2010; 2:14 PM ET
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Posted by: Schaum | April 8, 2010 8:58 AM
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There is no heaven of glory bright, and no hell where sinners roast. Here and now is our day of torment! Here and now is our day of joy! Here and now is our opportunity! Choose ye this day, this hour, for no redeemer liveth!
The only way to cure the cancer of catholicism, and stop the pedophilia, is to begin each ceremony of ordination to the deaconate with castration. Let any priest who wants to be celibate make a gift of his balls to jesus.
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…that tackles Church abuse, separation of Church and State, Atheism, Buddhism, Existentialism….
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MAN AND REASON, by Randall Duncan
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THE NEW BUDDHIST ATHEISM, by Mark Vernon
Posted by: Schaum | April 7, 2010 10:03 PM
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to Forgotten1:
You said " Some Western drug companies spend millions of dollars developing and marketing a new drug only to have the health authorities later discover that it has dangerous side-effects and then ban it. Needing to recover their investment and unable to sell their drug in the West some of these companies try to market their dangerous products in the Third World where public awareness of health issues is low and indifferent governments can be brought off."
I have worked for various pharmaceuticals companies for over 20 years. Can you name one medicine that was found to be dangerous by ANY country (US, EU, Japan, etc) that was then marketed to some 3rd world country just to make money?
Please don't lump the pharmaceutical industry in with organized religion. Many of us are actually trying to discover drugs that help people.
Posted by: maprik_2000 | April 7, 2010 8:24 PM
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Cigarette, Drug Companies and Christianity
Unable to sell their wares in the West - All head to The Third World
Some Western drug companies spend millions of dollars developing and marketing a new drug only to have the health authorities later discover that it has dangerous side-effects and then ban it. Needing to recover their investment and unable to sell their drug in the West some of these companies try to market their dangerous products in the Third World where public awareness of health issues is low and indifferent governments can be brought off.
Some might say that Christianity is a bit like this. Having lost much of their following in the West, churches are now beginning to look for opportunities elsewhere. Of course the Islamic world is out of the question. Even the most optimistic evangelist knows that the chance of spreading the Gospel amongst Muslims is nil. The obvious targets are Africa, India and the Buddhist countries of Asia . In China today Christianity is growing so fast that they can hardly build the churches quick enough to hold all the new converts. The gentle hill tribes people of Thailand and Laos are falling prey to the missionaries one by one.
But does Christianity really do a better job of solving social problems? The evidence that it does is very thin. Christianity failed miserably to bring peace to northern Ireland, in fact, it was the main cause of the problem. Germany 's long tradition of Catholicism and Protestantism did not prevent Nazism taking root there. South Africa 's Dutch Reformed Church was an ardent supporter of apartheid and all its oppression and cruelty. The prevalence of evangelical Christianity in the southern United States , the so-called 'Bible Belt,' has not prevented it being the poorest and most raciest part of that country. And the racial segregation in the south is never more obvious than on Sunday morning when black and white people still go to separate churches; 'Hallelujha and praise the Lord but worship him in your own church!'
With evangelical Christianity comes Sexual abuse in India's Churches.
http://myexperimentsagainstprejudice.blogspot.com/2009/02/church-sex-and-scandals.html
This very Christian disease is spreading like wildfire.
http://myexperimentsagainstprejudice.blogspot.com/2009/03/sins-of-fathers.html
Priest accused of US abuse still working in India
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100405/ap_on_re_us/church_abuse
Posted by: futuralogic | April 7, 2010 7:47 PM
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Sir. You look like Jesus. And I would like to know, talking about victims:
He said, when on the cross, "Forgive the perpetrators." Would he forgive the Church today?
Remember the Church, unlike a Pagan Roman Empire, did not exist yet.
Posted by: forgotten1 | April 7, 2010 6:54 PM
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VATICAN CONFIRMS REPORTS OF SEXUAL ABUSE AND RAPE OF NUNS BY PRIESTS IN 23 COUNTRIES
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“The only way to cure the cancer of catholicism, stop the pedophilia, and end the rape of nuns by priests is to begin each ceremony of ordination to the deaconate with castration. Let any priest who wants to be celibate make a gift of his balls to jesus.