All faith communities must stop putting children at risk

I'm not aware of many Protestant clergy being given "second chances," much less multiple chances, even when the offense is "ordinary" adultery. Does Mr. Timmeus have different information?

As the recent case of the Democrat representative who resigned after "inapprpriate activity" shows is that cover-up is still the first response. How about everyone - not just faith communities - should learn the bitter lesson.

I'm familiar with a case several years ago, where a Sunday school worker in a small Protestant denomination abused a small child. Within only a few hours, the police were notified, and the perpetrator was confronted and and forbidden to return to the premises. Within a few weeks, the church adopted a new policy for screening Sunday school teachers and assistants. It did take a while for the police to do their work and arrest and arraign the perpetrator. But meanwhile, kids were protected by their church.

These people didn't have to deal with bishops-- they just applied reason and common sense and did what they had to do. No cover ups, and no second chances for perpetrators. That's a model for every church or institution to follow. How difficult is this to understand?

However, the Roman Catholic Church seems to be unique in this regard-- that, in countless cases like this, they have chosen to protect the perpetrators and their supervisors, rather than victims. That's why there are so many hurting victims out there. And, that's why it is a Catholic problem.

Thank God for the the journalists who have investigated and reported on the abuses in the RCC.

I think there are many factors in the difference:

- Evangelical churches are independent so offenders cant be transfered.

-In Hierarchial protestant churches like the Methodist, church boards have hire / fire authority over a pool of clergy. Suspected offenders dont get hired

-Decision makers in protestant chruches are far more likely to know the victim's families. This prevents a disconnect where the decision maker has never had contact with the families.

-Evangelical churches have far more potential clergy than spaces available. There is far less pressure to keep problem clergy of any kind, let alone sex offenders.

-Evangelicals can move between the lay state and the clerical state easily. There is no theological or cultural belief that once ordained, you are still inherently a priest regardless of your actions

-Evangelical churches are very intolerant of homosexual clergy. Any hint of homosexual oriented abuse gets aggresively pursued.

"I'm not aware of many Protestant clergy being given "second chances," much less multiple chances, even when the offense is "ordinary" adultery. Does Mr. Timmeus have different information?"

For ordinary adultery and theft type offenses, the Methodist church has a very effective second chance program.

The minister resigns and for a certain number of years, he cannot be in either a paid or unpaid leadership position in the church. He must find other work and must attend several "repentance work shops". After a period of time he can re apply to be a minsiter.

Because returning takes genuine effort, most un repentent , continous problem type people are not going to make the effort to return.

I have worked with sex offenders and sexual abuse victims. The first glingings of this abuse began in the Social Work profession in 1980. By 1983 my former hospital had a Sexual Abuse Unit and worked with multiple medical departments as well as County Human Services. My husband was in the seminary in the 1960's and their were subtle hints that something was asmiss.
Sexual Abuse is more a crime of power vesus sexuality. Secretcy feeds it.
The number of reported cases is much lower than the actual times the perp offended. This a slow growing and festering disorder. There are signs and symptoms before and during abuse episodes that can be picked up with approbriate knowledge. Once an offender abuses a certain type of victim ie. children, hospitalized coma patients, and the developmently disabled they can never be exposed to that population again. Treatment is precarious and sometimes results in failure. I am horrified and angry that this behavior and coverup has been so ingrained in the insitutional Church. I shudder to think how long this has been going on; hundreds of years?
Every offender needs to make amends and real amends not just confession and prayer penance. I think this includes our Pope who may not been implicit but certainly it can be construded as complicit. Present history does not wipe away the past.

As a practicing Catholic, I am ashamed of my pope and the priests defending him.
The Catholic Church should report any and every credible claim of sexual abuse to the authorities. Instead of suggesting this and other actions to prevent vulnerable children from being preyed upon by priests, they make excuses for the pope.
Priests place the privacy and protection of its own above the protection of children.
Cardinal Ratzinger, the future pope, was archbishop of Munich at the time when a priest who had molested boys was returned to pastoral work where he later was convicted of molesting boys in another parish. In Arizona, Pope Benedict XVI played a role in shielding two dangerous, sexually-abusive priests before he became pope.
Pope Benedict XVI reminds me of Pilate washing his hands. I will not throw the Church out with the filthy water. I will continue to practice my Catholic faith.

Southern Baptists are every bit as horrid as RCs. They refuse to inform their churches of minister rapists, claiming each is independent. But not so when money is involved! They're just as hypocritical and corrupt as RCs.

Christa Brown, a SB survivor of a clergy predator, has an excellent blog, www.stopbaptistpredators.org, that exposes the SB hierarchy as being just as avaricious and criminal as anything in the RCC.

I tend to think Catholics need to consider the great diversity among various parts of the Protestant traditions in making any comparisons.

Things to consider -- Some Protestants are Hierarchial, organize their clergy within denomination wide structures, hold to common disciplines, and use some form of assignment combined with congregational consultation in placing ministers in particular churches. Other denominational traditions have the pastor hired directly by a congregation, with no particular influence from a central denominational structure, (aside, perhaps, from offering lists of job openings.) In United Church of Christ, for instance, a Pulpit Committee would look over a list of job seekers, look at congregational studies indicating what members believe a congregation needs in a minister over the next few years, research and interview likely candidates, make a short-list and then invite them to visit and offer Trial Sermons. Then the Congregation would review the candidates, and vote. Part of this process would include a background check, but also discussions with leadership in churches where a candidate previously worked. Contrast this with Methodists who have a tradition of rotating ministers after years of service, Methodists have Bishops and District Superintendents, and they make strong recommendations for assignments, though congregations have a consultative role in the process. In contrast, most of the megachurches are non-denominational, they tend to search out clergy with charismatic appeal, but because they have no particular denominational affiliation are likely to depend on networks linked to Seminaries or specialized missions in looking for junior staff, and then promote upward from within. With additional contrast, Lutherans stress solid Seminary education, but only ordain a candidate once they have a call from a parish congregation. Because many Protestant traditions ordain both men and women, it is not at all unusual for a married couple to share a pastorate, as both husband and wife are ordained, and expect a co-pastorate. In such cases, evaluating the fit between a ministeral couple and a particular congregation is part of the assignment/hiring process. Catholics have some difficulty with the fact that there are, in the US, about 400 different varieties of Protestantism, and at least some of the differences among them have to do with the role members expect a minister to play vis a vis their particular tradition and congregation. To put this in stark terms -- in the UCC churches that are "open and affirming" a joint pastorate of a Gay Couple may be a possible choice -- and as of last summer, in ELCA, (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America), a congregation might consider calling a Lesbian couple as either a pastor, or as a co-pastorate. For many Catholics just the matter of choice -- but also the nature of the choices, would be very strange.

Protestant traditions markedly differ in how they organize Religious Education for children and youth. Some simply have sunday school and junior church programs for children pre-teen, and then simply integrate kids into regular adult services after the age of about 12-14. Other traditions have something like confirmation or "joining the church" or adult baptism at the point of transition between childhood and teen years, with a formal educational program established for this initiation into the congregation. Large Congregations frequently support a Youth Ministry, with a specially trained clergy-person responsible for a range of youth and teen programs. Many of the various Baptist Congregations intensively train adult members to be "Sunday School Teachers" for both youth and adults -- and this is a quasi clerical role. Think of Jimmy Carter's identity as a Sunday School Teacher --in his Baptist tradition attending adult Sunday School is just as important as attending the service. In contrast, many of the megachurches have imported popular culture into their youth programs, fostering Christian Rock Bands and music with lazer light shows, for instance, as core activity in attracting teens to Churches. There are just too many variations as to both organizational structure and content to easily make useful comparisons leading to comprehension of the causes of sexual and emotional abuse.

Without Question Protestants have problems with abuse. I tend to think it is dependent on the degree to which congregations supervise adult-child relationships and do not easily tolerate exclusive one on one relationships between adults and children or youth. Ultimately it is the culture within a congregation that asserts what is healthy, and what can be dangerous, what is working well, and what needs supervision.

THE DICTIONARY DEFINITION OF THE WORD, "COMPASSION" IS "TO SHARE IN THE SUFFERING." ON BEHALF OF MY BROTHER PAUL G. COLEMAN, AND ALL VICTIMS OF CLERGY SEXUAL ABUSE, THANK YOU TO ALL WHO ARE SHARING IN THE SUFFERING WITH THE VICTIMS. THANK YOU FOR YOUR COURAGE, OUTRAGE, SUPPORT, DETERMINATION, AND, ABOVE ALL, YOUR WRITING LETTERS, AND SPEAKING OUT. WE NEED TO SHOW OUR OUTRAGE AND ANGER AT THIS OBSCENITY ALLOWED BY SO CALLED LEADERS OF OUR CHURCH. THESE SO CALLED LEADERS HAVE PERMITTED RAVENOUS WOLVES TO PREY UPON INNOCENT LAMBS. IF JESUS WAS SO ANGERED AT THE "MONEY CHANGERS," HOW MUCH MORE ANGER WOULD WE EXPECT JESUS TO SHOW AGAINST THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN SO VILE, INCLUDING THOSE "LEADERS" WHO HAVE LIED OR ALLOWED SUCH DECEIT TO BE PERPETRATED UPON OUR FAITH COMMUNITY.
THERESA M. COLEMAN

In the Orthodox Church, any priest found to have committed any type of sexual aggression is out of service immediately, no questions asked, no trial, no nothing; he is just out, and permanently. Even if the charges are untrue,simply to have acquired the reputation of incurred serious enough doubt is enough to disqualify a man from ever serving at Christ's altar again. It has nothing to do with punishment, only with the fact that the man has forever lost the ability to iconize Christ for his people. (In Orthodoxy, that is his main job.)

Such a person will also be barred from the sacraments for a longish period of time, even after his repentance. Longish period of time, as in years, not months.

That doesn't mean he can't be forgiven. In theory, he could even go on to become a genuine saint (person in whom Christ's living is manifest). But he knows perfectly well he has forever ruined his ability to function as a priest.