Thinking globally about sex abuse crisis

I feel for the abuse of the Holy Cross brother in India and admire your research into finding this single example of police corruption, Now the Church imposes many other across-the-board policies in different parts of the world, perhaps taking into account "wildly different realities" or perhaps not. Still, please tell the readers more about your "caution" against a Church-wide law requiring criminal activity to be reported to the police.

Dear John,

Are you implying that the Pope isn't exclusively concerned with things that happen in Kansas City and doesn't read NCR to find out what to do next? Your suggestion that there is a world outside the US, and that the majority of Catholics live there, is patently absurd. The Vatican should give up its foolish preoccupation with famine and fratricide and decide the really important issues, such as the cappa magna and what the Knights of Columbus are up to.

John - let's not throw the baby out with the bath water. This is merely another version of shutting down things using the tired old "slippery slope" argument.

There is a huge distinction between what has happened in India (this one event) and what is happening and has been happening for 50+ years across every dioces in terms of abuse and then the resultant cover up. The key here is "cover up" - again, we have a pope who consistently tries to ignore this fact which has very little to do with this specific Indian event.

Ideally every catholic area would declare and enforce the policy that best protected the children and exposed the pederasts, taking account of local conditions. But that wouldn't happen because it didn't happen during all the centuries that abuse and cover-up was being systematically practiced.
The catholic church is an organization that is led from the center, especially in disciplinary matters. So Benedict should issue a world-wide requirement of turning the offenders over to the secular legal system, with an indult or whatever the exception to the rule would be called where local conditions warrant it.
It is incredible that this has not alreacy been done.

I would like a response to the cover-up from the Vatican. We can have policies or we can omit them but when there is systematic evil (COVER UP OF ABUSE) then the Vatican can act without a formal, universal policy. The leaders in Rome know of Cardinal Law's cover-up but continue to refuse to punish the criminal portion of his role. There are rewards for a job well done is what the Vatican has told the world of Cardinal Law.

Perhaps a well respected, choosen catholic bishop (Burke? Wuerl?)could refuse to accept the promotion to cardinal as long as Cardinal Law has status. Groucho Marx wisely said, "I wouldn't join a club that would have me." Maybe, we need someone to decline joining a club that would have Cardinal Law.

Mr. Allen assumes the following: "In the United States and Europe, where one can generally assume a level playing field and the integrity of police and prosecutors . . ."

and one must wonder the methodological basis for such a general assumption . . .

The Pope should be making moral directives obviously to comply with "legitimate" authority, but "give us a break" not to cooperate fully with openly criminal and corrupt regimes. The Church obviously needs to rid itself of every form of involvement in criminality of any kind. That may mean standing in solidarity against corrupt governments of government agencies perhaps even in places like the "good ole" USA where you would least expect to find them. The Church must not look the other way when someone of the Church is engaging in criminal behavior. They need to repent or be excommunicated.

I personally believe that the Church should not remain silent and fail to expose and condemn sin and corruption in the world either regardless of the cost. I think it would be perfectly OK if the Vatican started to publish a public blacklist of Governments, Corporations, Non-Profits, Government officials and agencies etc. that are involved in nefarious activities as a sobering forwarning to all Catholics to watch out for who you may want to hangout with, contribute to or avoid!

John, it sounds ridiculous to have sweeping policies without flexibility. Of course the Vatican has to comply with various civil requirements and cultural norms when religious are involved in breaking the law. This does not mean that all religious cannot be held to the same high set of standards regardless of cultural norms.

As a survior of sexual abuse (not church related) I would say that our Church is no more slow at responding to this horrendous issue than general society is. In North American we still let confirmed pedaophiles out of jail back into communities when we know that there is no proven, effective method of treatment for this 'disorder'. I believe what is called for is a re-thinking of who we 'offer up' in society, the offender or the victim and potential victims.

As I expected, sadly, the comments here reflect a total hostility to the Church and her clergy.

Mr. Allen provides a real example of the problem he and others have highlighted--and the response is, shrug, oh well too bad. Or the absurd response, it's just one case--as if anyone with a straight face could really be surprised such cases happen over and over.

It would be fascinating to know where the commenters at this site live in the world--and how many live in the sort of legal and religious climate represented by the story Mr. Allen told. Are the commenters here so out of touch that they don't realize vast parts of our world do not enjoy religious freedom or the kind of rule of law--enforced by police and civil authorities that can be counted on to play fair--that folks in the developed world, including I bet 80% of the commenters here--take totally for granted?

The moral outrage against abuse and episcopal inaction is correct; but what appears here is something else: visceral, knee-jerk contempt for the Church and her clergy. After all, the abuse that has, sadly, happened in religious orders (but not from priests) seems not to generate anything near the interest of NCR and her bitter commenters. Stories of clergy falsely accused...do not matter at all for NCR and the SNAP crowd. The very idea of an accused priest actually being innocent? Deserving his good name back? Due process? Shouted down as evil by this crowd.

Anything it takes to bash the Church and her clergy.

I suggest that if you think the Church is guilty of a cover-up - you should all investigate your local DA's office and Dept. of Social Services. In fact, many of your private charities are guilty of the same cover-ups. Look to the professional ethics boards and see whose licenses have been dropped but who were never prosecuted for a crime. To indict the Church is to indict us. So, let's turn the tables a bit here. Let's apply the same - one size fits all scenario on all professions and corporations who have confidential personnel files,in particular, social service organizations, schools and other non-for profits. After all one size seems to fit all globally, one size should fit all locally.

Not just "this one event." True, instances of violent persecution of, e.g., Christian missionaries are few, though considerably more than make much of the the press in this country. But I served for over 40 years as a military officer and then a diplomat, most of it abroad, and most if it in third world countries -- nine of them when I count it up. In how many would I have trusted the courts and justice system in cases like the sexual abuse charges or even cases of fraud or land disputes? Perhaps one or two -- at best.

Without at all excusing the handling of sexual abuse cases in the US or Canada or Ireland, I would NEVER assume that the Holy See in its right mind would insist on a world-wide policy of automatic reporting of such charges to the police.

Do you folks not read about difficulties Catholics have with law enforcement in China, Indonesia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, Turkey. etc.?

Do you not understand that many governments are so corrupt that the people don't trust their judicial systems?

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Myanmar-and-Afghanistan-most-corrupt,-fol...

One can always count on the NCreporter commenters to be totally critical of anything and everything the Pope says or does. Why don't you people do a little soul-searching yourselves and admit that you are simply re-igniting a protestant reformation - after all, you are so much smarter, wiser, and holier, you have no need of the magisterium as Jesus planned it. It's too bad He didn't wait until you were born so he could have consulted you and gotten it right!

What does Brother Noronha's case have to do with sex abuse? This is just double talk.

Dear John,

You have failed to mention the source of this quotation:"The Holy Cross superior in the area has called those charges “unfounded infamy,” and said that police harassment amounts to “a serious violation of human rights.”

Kindly attribute sources !!!

Lone Star Vanguard - I am with you all the way.

"None of this, of course, excuses the Catholic church for having failed for so long to come to grips with the reality of sexual abuse by its clergy ..." Which he then goes on to use as the excuse - quite amazing really and impossible for him to see. Being an ex-Catholic with an understanding of how the result of unquestioning Catholic thinking achieves this through believing only that the church is being martyred for its religious practices when in fact the vast majority of murders and assault against priests are shown to be connected with the sexual abuse of children.

When your thinking allows you to minimize the more than 30 million living survivors of sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic clergy, the genocide of more than 50,000 children in Canada and the theft of native people's lands, the abuses against more than half a million Australians, 30,000 Irish children, thousands in the Philippines, Brazil Chile and on through Europe Africa and Asia and permits the incident of someone being slapped in the face in public to become the leading example of the oppression the church and its followers face.

You really do have to work hard to scour the world for these examples, however once you find them you should do some actual research before hyping up the story. Of course any opinions will have to be challenged, dissected, analyzed and religosified endlessly while amazingly the aspects pertaining to the sexual abuse of children will be minimized in passing with condescending statements such as 'while one instances of clerical sex abuse is too many' are as freely available as prayers on the wind, they are usually followed by an excuse or justification for one or more of the church's failings.

Its a familiar style and is an immediate give away as to the ability of the writer to obfuscate, avoid, diverge and digress from the reality that some genuine introspection on what these 'few' failings actually bring to the children of this world - when you see nothing but bliss and happiness in the reality of the horror of that you must write to support your own few failings of logic and perceptions of reality.

I propose not to hold back until you get enough cash to order all you need! You should just get the personal loans or college loan and feel comfortable