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Nixon quote describes Irish church abuse scandal
Sep. 14, 2009
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Printer-friendly versionSend to friendPDF versionDUBLIN, Ireland -- A Redemptorist priest has used a quote by the 37th president of the United States to describe the situation of the Catholic Church as the Irish clerical sex abuse scandal continues to unfold.
Writing in the current issue of the monthly Redemptorist magazine Reality, its editor, Fr. Gerry Moloney, recalled remarks former President Richard Nixon made in an interview with journalist David Frost when, admitting that he had given his enemies the ammunition that they were looking for, he said, "I gave 'em a sword."
Moloney was writing about the plight of the Catholic church in Ireland in the wake of the publication of the Ryan report, which detailed decades of abuse of children in residential institutions run by religious orders. He said the church's troubles will increase when a report is published on how the Dublin archdiocese dealt with clerical child abuse allegations.
"There is no doubt the church has brought a lot of its troubles on itself," he said.
"Like Nixon, it has given its critics plenty of ammunition. Like Nixon, you could say the church 'gave 'em a sword, and they stuck it in and they twisted it with relish.'
"The sword, of course, has been the long litany of scandals that have unfolded over the last 15 years or more," the priest wrote. "Scandals to do with the physical and sexual abuse of children; scandals to do with the breaking of vows and the breaching of a sacred trust; scandals that revealed a glaring contradiction between what some church people professed and what they practiced; scandals that have led to the publication of devastating reports into abuses in the Diocese of Ferns and Dublin and to the Ryan report, with its account of the appalling mistreatment of thousands of children by priests and religious."
The Ryan report was published in May, and the report on abuses in the Diocese of Ferns was published in 2005. The report on the Dublin archdiocese was expected earlier this year but has not yet been released.
The church's enemies have been "sticking in the sword and twisting it with relish," Moloney said, adding, "It's hard to blame them."
He Ought not talk about the
He Ought not talk about the sword given to enemies; rather talk and discern the rancid poison the leaders have given to the faithfuls to rot their trust in the Faith/Gospel/Way
These guys still don't 'get
These guys still don't 'get it."
It's not about swords, scandals, problems which the "church caused itself." Every one of those scandals is a person or more likely multiple persons -- people. Each person is a victim that has been re-victimized by the authority that rejected their pleas for help. Each person lost their innocence, their trust and possibly their belief in a God of love and peace.
They are still lost in the wilderness. They are still not embraced, affirmed and cherished. They are still being re-victimized by the silent, money motivated, scandal driven hierarchy.
Open the poor box, the diocesan bank accounts, and the papal coffers. The CHURCH should pauper itself in an exorbitant example of attempting to heal the "victims of their silence"..
But it will not. They are not capable of leaving the 99 to search for the “lost” ones.
Father Moloney still doesn't
Father Moloney still doesn't get it. He talks of "enemies of the church". The real enemy of the church is the church and its secrecy, the non-transparency of the church. Open the books on everything--the choosing of bishops, the financial dealings. Let the people of God see everything and that enemy disappears and the church gets healthy. The abuse is a cancer that still grows and destroys.
cut the self pity. boy-raping
cut the self pity.
boy-raping clergy probably exists in every religion.
"god serving" folk are no more than a cross-section of the societies from whence they come. nobody believes that the majority are sickly evil, just like it's hard to believe that all members of a society truly are.
learn and try to fix.
but most important: punish those who knew and remained silent, for they are ultimately worse than the perpetrators: most perpetrators act through illness, lack of knowledge or have some other excuse. those who stood by HAVE no excuse. they KNOW what is right and wrong, and choose to ignore the former. they are the greater sinners by far.
today, after germany has faced up to its sins of the past, one who is not personally involved tends to see those who stood by as just-as-guilty if not more so. who was the hitler in the american congress, in the british parliament and in other such places who scared the decision-makers to the point that they remained silent in the face of the holocaust?
how can one forgive a parent who stands by and allows his partner to abuse their offspring?
Judge not lest you be
Judge not lest you be judged...
Mark 9:42 42 "But anyone who
Mark 9:42 42 "But anyone who is the downfall of one of these little ones who have faith, would be better thrown into the sea with a great millstone hung round his neck. "
Abuse - people just throw the
Abuse - people just throw the word around at random. Any kind of abuse is wrong of course but there are different kinds of abuse, sexual - the usual meaning, physical & emotional. Any kind of sexual contact between an adult and a child is wrong but what exactly contacts physical or emotional abuse?
Is any use of corporal punishment physical abuse, for example? I think not. People can disagree about the use of corporal punishment and it has gone out of style so to speak but it was widely used in the Church in the 40s & 50s. So beware when you hear how the priests & nuns & lay teachers "abused" in this report.
Another factor is just how reliable are the claims of abuse. Many people who makes these claims are very sick individuals and the recalling of incidents more than 30 years ago are not very reliable.
Also, the Catholic Church seems to be fair game for any type of criticism. No one defends real abuse of any stripe whenever it occurs. But why is the Catholic Church always singled out for these type of attacks. Let us also remember that when an innocent person is accused of abuse, a very grave evil act is committed by the accuser.
When will people stop denying
When will people stop denying victims their memories and giving the Church a break? Abuse is Abuse in all shapes and forms. With it comes from a member of the clergy it is just like incest because it totally destroys the trust of the victim. Take it from one who has recovered memories of being locked in a room, beaten and raped by her college chaplain it is not just little boys who were victims, it is both genders. This is about power and the delight taken from it and the church is still in absolute denial of the total damage it has done to those who were victimized. I'll dare anyone to question what I have remembered and the hell I have been through to heal and go forward in my life, and the Church has been no help in the process!
Nixon at least had the
Nixon at least had the decency and good sense to resign. If only some of the guilty bishops had as much moral fiber as Richard Nixon.
The problem is not the Church
The problem is not the Church elite from the Pope on down, a group of secret, powerful, wealthy and corrupt men that have used and abused their positions for personal gain for hundreds of years. Men like these will always be among us.
The problem is the flock! How can a "good catholic" stand by, continue to attend church, donate money and place faith in priests and nuns, after all the evil that has happened, and continues to happen, in the name of Jesus!!!
The apple is rotten to the core. At least stop giving these rich men more money.
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