Go to Stalking The Beast
- Add a comment
- Go to Second Largest Court Settlement In Church History
Thank you, thepoetBubbagirl...
posted by
saul_relative
on September 15, 2007 at 7:49 PM
| link to this | reply
Hear, Hear!
well put
posted by
JustJilly
on September 15, 2007 at 4:40 PM
| link to this | reply
Good to hear, cpklapper. Nothing wrong with having a conscience when
your religious organization refuses to exercise theirs.
posted by
saul_relative
on September 9, 2007 at 8:19 PM
| link to this | reply
Re: Tragic and outrageous situation, Saul
In the RCC, the parishioners have no power. Their only recourse is to vote with their feet, which they have been doing in droves. The Episcopal Church where I serve on the vestry is now mostly ex-Catholics, and we are still getting new ex-Catholics joining us.
Carl Peter
posted by
cpklapper
on September 9, 2007 at 5:32 PM
| link to this | reply
The RCC != The Church
The non-RCC Church has avoided this particular scandal. This is not to say that other denominations have not been without their own scandals. However, it is very unfair to paint all Christian churches with the same brush as the Roman Catholic Church. Clearly, the many Christians who have left the RCC for other denominations, most notably joining Anglican/Episcopal churches, have felt that they were not leaving The Church by doing so, despite the RCC rhetoric to the contrary.
The RCC has been all about power for centuries. If it dissolves, many Christians, myself included, will not mourn its loss, especially if in that dissolution, the parishioners simply change denomination. The Church can then continue its mission of serving the powerless through the Love of Christ without the distractions from Rome.
Carl Peter
posted by
cpklapper
on September 9, 2007 at 5:27 PM
| link to this | reply
The Church is doing it to save face. The justice system has tied its own
hands through statutes of limitations...
posted by
saul_relative
on September 8, 2007 at 11:02 PM
| link to this | reply
Tragic and outrageous situation, Saul
I can't understand why or how protecting, retaining abusive priests is being tolerated by the justice system and members of the church.
posted by
Katray2
on September 8, 2007 at 10:29 PM
| link to this | reply
It's a way of covering up, the slimy bastards. Settling out of court keeps
priests and church officials and employees from having to testify, thereby causing the Church much more bad publicity and grief...
posted by
saul_relative
on September 8, 2007 at 10:24 PM
| link to this | reply
Hi Saul
That's an interesting way of settling abuses out of court. Bless them!
posted by
richinstore
on September 8, 2007 at 10:17 PM
| link to this | reply
Absolutely agreed, gomedome. What has been perpetrated by the Church
in hiding and relocating these sonsofbitches is almost as criminal as the acts themselves. In some cases, moreso in that they have allowed these pedophiles to go to other dioceses and continue abusing children. And that $2 billion figure is only for the United States...
posted by
saul_relative
on September 8, 2007 at 9:58 PM
| link to this | reply
I wouldn't go that far, SoulBuilder, although there are a great many
strange and delusional people among the ranks of the religious. Some of the nicest people I know are faithful...
posted by
saul_relative
on September 8, 2007 at 9:55 PM
| link to this | reply
Unfortunately, it is this Church regulation of celibacy that has drawn
pedophiles by the hundreds to its secretive ranks. Hiding in plain sight, these bastards... and a damned shame for all those priests out there who have never harmed a soul...
posted by
saul_relative
on September 8, 2007 at 9:52 PM
| link to this | reply
saul_relative - I'm afraid that the settlements you mention are only the
ones we know about. The prverbial tip of the iceberg.
It has been a longstanding practice of the catholic church to have all records sealed in most cases and there are hundreds of them worldwide. They will break $2 billion in Canada alone, having already shelled out nearly $900 million in several cases with about a dozen more pending. Most of these cases no one will ever hear about. This comes after decades of having a built in priest inter-jurisdictional rotation system for avoiding prosecution. I have seen all of this first hand and I ask the same question that you do: why aren't some of these priests in jail? The answer is sadly that they have had their ways bought out of jail. Settlement money produces that type of leverage in legal negotiations for those doing the paying.
What they put the claiments through is also criminal, their attitude is not one of healing but of hushing everything up expediently.
posted by
gomedome
on September 8, 2007 at 9:49 PM
| link to this | reply
Saul Relative
Maybe this proves that religion is run by freaks! Take the tips and run!
posted by
Soul_Builder101
on September 8, 2007 at 9:33 PM
| link to this | reply
The Cost of Apparent Celibacy
Instead of having church leaders, who should be servants anyhow, who are faithfully married, the Roman Catholic Church has insisted on misreading Paul's advice on the marital status of bishops, that they be monogamous, and twisting it into a celibacy requirement for parish celebrants, and hence an apparent celibacy requirement. It has become quite clear that in the US, that requirement has been filled with alarming frequency by pedophiles, the more so since celibacy among typical person of whatever sexual persuasion is rare and unpopular in the US. As someone who was celibate through my early 20's, and impervious to peer pressure, such was not my choice nor my identity and I would not have seriously considered it as part of my service to God even if I were Catholic. It would be a rare and remarkable person, with a special calling, to undertake those sort of vows in truth and sincerity. To require it is to invite insincerity and falseness.
And such does the Roman Catholic Church have here and it is paying dearly for it.
Carl Peter
posted by
cpklapper
on September 8, 2007 at 9:25 PM
| link to this | reply