Scandal takes familiar trajectory in Germany

The bishops and hiearchy of the Church in every country actively protect pedophiles. This is official vatican policy, it is impossible for this world wide curse to be a coincidence. Ratzinger is up to his eyes in this scandal and so are his close lifelong friends. This outrage will continue until the laity takes matters into it's own hands.

Following a meeting of Pope Benedict with the Irish bishops, Vatican radio makes note of the “serious situation” that has emerged in the church “in Ireland.” One has to wonder, after the “serious situation” in America and the “serious situation” now coming to light in Germany, what is the full scope of secrecy and betrayal that keeps falling from the folds of Roman Catholic episcopal regalia.

The Holy Father is right that sexual abuse of children (by priests) is a “heinous crime” and a “grave sin,” but what does he have to say about the callous and systematic pastoral failure of bishops who caused the harm to be multiplied exponentially? These were “errors in judgment and omissions,” he explains, not crimes or sins but well-meaning mistakes and administrative bungles. But these shepherds, rather than caring for their sheep—their lambs!—didn’t just knowingly allow the wolves to roam freely amid the flock; they abetted the crimes by hiding the predators in sheep’s clothing, moving them again and again and again every time their real identity could no longer be concealed. By now it’s a familiar pattern.

This “grave crisis” can’t be dealt with simply by placing “trained and dedicated lay volunteers” into parishes to “ensure the safety of children in all church activities.” I am a Sunday-school teacher and was required to undergo such training through the Archdiocese of Philadelphia when the sex-abuse scandal broke here—all the while wondering, Why am I, a parent, the one being trained to look out for our kids? What about the bishops, who seem to think themselves entitled to collude and lie and cover up—not to mention intimidate and retaliate against victims and their families—with impunity? Where is the accountability? Do the bishops (or the pope) even understand what they’ve done? The evidence suggests they neither see it nor accept it. We’re still waiting to hear “through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault,” but all we get are oblique references to “mistakes were made” and “we wouldn’t do the same things today.”

After a three-year investigation into wide-spread clergy sex abuse and its cover up in Philadelphia, a grand jury concluded that “the Archdiocese’s ‘handling’ of the abuse scandal was at least as immoral as the abuse itself.” The panel stated that “prompt action and a climate of compassion for the child victims could have significantly limited the damage done. But…as abuse reports grew, the Archdiocese chose to call in the lawyers rather than confront the abusers.” Archdiocesan attorneys and officials called the grand-jury report “biased and anti-Catholic,” but in a rebuttal memo, Philadelphia’s district attorney recognized their response as part of the “all too familiar denials, deceptions and evasions” that investigators had to wade through for three years—and the laity has had to endure for far longer.

The “breakdown in trust in the church’s leadership,” which the pope alludes to, is exactly that—a deepening doubt about the integrity of authority at the highest levels, and not just in Ireland. It’s not the wolves we are suspicious of but the shepherds themselves—leaders who apply one standard to their flocks and another to themselves. “They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them” [Matt. 23:4]. The priest abusers have been outed and separated from the flock, but what about those shepherds who enabled the molestation and rape of children to build to catastrophic proportions? Their betrayal, and the far-reaching pain it has inflicted, was forced into the open by a scandal-hungry media and the criminal investigations those disclosures spawned. Only then did the hierarchy begin to face its malfeasance—reluctantly, often resentfully and not always without obstruction.

One would hope Pope Benedict’s Pastoral Letter to the People of Ireland would be clear sighted enough to address this stunning and apparently global pastoral failure, which is “at the heart of the crisis.” But given the inability of a stiff-necked episcopacy to see its ongoing sin of protecting the reputation (and the assets) of the institutional church, it’s hard to hope for much from a papal missive. Perhaps that is the real character of the breakdown in trust: The bishops are the apostolic successors, the God-appointed proclaimers of revealed truth, but except for dogmatic formulas and by now rote moral positions, they no longer seem to see the truth. Their teachings and pronouncements ring hollow, and for those of us in the pews, it’s growing harder to accept their unenlightened authority. In fact, it’s beginning to dawn on many that it might even be a mistake.

“While they were preaching at us, they were damaging our children,” an old Irish woman summarized. “What more can you say?”

I hope these eruptions of sexual scandal that happened in Germany would also happen soon here in the Philippines. Jesuit priests here are victimizers as well and the Jesuits here would rather evade the issue by just sending them to the United States or elsewhere, instead of making them face the matter head on and making them accountable. I know, these comments are based on personal knowledge of facts and circumstances and not from hearsay.

These issue is not about the victimizers only this is more about the victims. The Catholic Church should universally deal with these matters using TRUTH OF THE MATTER as BASES and LOVE for the VICTIMS FIRST and not operate on FEAR AND LIES.

IT IS VERY SAD THAT THESE THINGS HAVE TO HAPPEN. WE NEVER LEARN DO WE?

This was a painful article to read but I still hear the words of Jesus ringing loudly inside: "I will be with you until the end of time" (Matt. 28:18-20). I don't consider these words to be flowery or intend to ignore the problem; however, where trust is broken, a deeper trust must fill out hearts ... in spite of the hurt.

The Russian monk, Theophan the Recluse (1815-1894)remarked: "The principal thing is to stand before God with the intellect in the heart, and to go on standing before him unceasingly day and night, until the end of life." The words ... reflect accurately the understanding of prayer to be found ... in Greek and Syriac writers of the first eleven centuries."

Source: Bernard McGinn and John Meyendorff in collaboration with Jean Leclercq, "Preface," and "Introduction," in xi-xxv. Christian Spirituality - I: Origins to the Tweflth Century, Volume 16 of World Spirituality: An Encyclopedic History of the Religious Quest. New York: Crossroad, 1985, [502 pages], p. 395. ISBN 0-8245-0681-2

I hope the 'nightmares' keep coming until the church cleans up its act.
It was the hierarchy who created and perpetuate the nightmare.
Maybe Jesus wants to clean up the place. It's time to put an end to mandatory celibacy requirements.

You are quite correct in stating that the German scandal is following a similar trajectory to that in Ireland. However, your report is flawed in two important respects. Germany is not the first non-English speaking country to be affected: just the first where the complaints have received wide coverage. "Voices From the Desert", a website for survivors of clerical sexual abuse, contains an important article with a long list of Italian priests convicted by the courts for crimes of indecency against minors, or formally accused. (see http://reform-network.net/?p=1972).

In writing of the German bishops' 2002 policy on dealing with these cases, you completely ignore Der Spiegel's description of the two earlier directives from the Vatican, one written by Cardinal Ratzinger himself, dictating that these cases should be handled directly by Rome, and in the greatest secrecy.

As I noted at Queering the Church in my own post on the problem,(http://queeringthechurch.wordpress.com/2010/03/03/clerical-abuse-will-ge...) clerical abuse is not restricted to the English speaking world, is not restricted to minors, and has roots deeply embedded in the church's own culture and institutional rules. The Irish government, in investigating not just the abuse but the culture of secrecy and cover-ups which allowed it to flourish, provided the world with an important precedent. If the German government follows suit with a similar governmental inquiry, as now seems possible, others will soon follow suit.

We have so far seen only the tip of a vast ecclesiastical iceberg.

Again, as in the United States and Ireland, the scandal lies in the cover-up and lack of proper supervision on the part of religious authorities. Sexual abuse can be tolerated when it is a question of preserving the reputation of the clergy or religious congregations without concern for those whom the Lords calls us to protect in obedience: the poor, widows and orphans, in this case innocent children intrusted to the care of the Church. Sack cloth and ashes are appropriate.

There is one single line in this John Allen, Jr. report that is of significance, in my opinion:

"Pope Benedict XVI served as archbishop of Munich from October 1977 to February 1982 -- within the arc of time that some of the alleged abuse is believed to have occurred."

This could be the end of the Ratzinger Papacy, if this is pursued strongly. Can you imagine the ramifications? The Church in the Northern Hemishpere will dwindle to only those who are blind to injustice.

But let's not condemn... let the investigators do their job.

Ratzinger is complicit in all of this, The US, Ireland, Germany...It is truly catholic in the literal sense now. There are no man made boundaries, it is universal.
We, the people, the liturgy, are the church, not the sick magesterium, not the bloated institution itself, but we, the members. The structure has become as perverted as those who purport to be "in charge". From scripture, I don't recall jesus being in charge of anything. Hmmmmm.
I will continue to be catholic in spite of the sick and perverted way the institution has positioned itself through the centuries. Effectively and offhandedly dismissing half of it's intellectual assets (women), and perpetuating sexual frustration and abnormalities by ignoring the beauty of sex through it's celibate charade.
The credibility of the Vatican is in the toilet. The credibility of Jesus' message of love and forgiveness is not. I hope I can forgive. I will not forget. To all the priests, bishops, cardinals and yes, to you Ratzinger-and your predecessor popes, shame be on you.

As an aside, now a bishop in Ireland has asked members of his diocese to pony up and pay for the monetary liabilities that the church will incur paying victims. It cannot get any more ridiculous. can it? The arrogance and audacity is over the top. James Joyce was right...a nightmare.

If the church really wants to solve this horrible problem, it must take it's head out of the sand regarding the normal sexual needs of human beings, allow marred priest and accept the reality that homosexuality is normal for those of us who were born homosexual. No one chooses to be heterosexual or homosexual. A good start would be for the Pope to fire all bishops who allowed these behaviors to be covered up.

Re: "•Pope Benedict XVI served as archbishop of Munich from October 1977 to February 1982 -- within the arc of time that some of the alleged abuse is believed to have occurred."

In his prior position as "Defender of the Faith" before becoming pope, he also is responsible for the placement of many bishops. He probably knew about the abuse situations and the cover-ups and allowed them to continue to protect the church instead of the people.

These old men in fine robes, living in palatial estates with servants and/or priest assistants at their beckoning (for all kinds of service), have little contact with people or the 'real world.' They still regard Catholics as 'clients,' receiving God through them and they believe that only they have the keys to God's kingdom and that they can do no wrong. They are like the scribes of old. This is old Church thinking - something that Vatican II was supposed to change. Since these old men in fine robes, living like kings, do not accept Vatican II, then we should reject them.

It is time to stop supporting the institutional catholic church. Give money only to the underlying charities, but not to any fund that supports the hierarchy. Let them live off the gold and large bank accounts of the Vatican, until the money runs out. Then out of the ashes a new church will form.

A piquant detail is the fact that the minister Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger attacking the Catholic Church is a member of the “Humanistische Union” that in 2000 in a proclamation criticised “the increasing tendency … to ensure the protection and promotion of children and adolescents through the use of instruments of “Kriminalpolitik” (criminal policy), and called for a “popular resistance“ against this “dangerous tendency” to turn “sexual acts and sexual perpetrators against young people into epitomes of criminal evil” (see http://www.kath.net/detail.php?id=25757).

The resolutions to the world-wide sexual abuse in the Catholic church get lost and entwined in other political needs. The heinous crime, as far as I can see, is to continue to elevate celibacy above and beyond the Body of Christ.

We must cry for JUSTICE
We are the church!
We must not loose faith but seek a way to have our voices heard.
I am committed to tithe but not to my parish which supports financially,
a priest admittedly involved in sexual abuse.
Cry out for justice for the victims and the perpatrators.

And we are to respect and obey the hierarchy of the Catholic Church! Never again will I do so.

Imagine that..... sexual abuse allegations in Benedict XVI home country AND in the dioecese where he served as Archbishop! If the course follows that of the scandals in the USA, the German Bishops involved will be given Vatican positions and soon after that Cardinal Rode will call for a "Visitation" of the German Women Religious!

And Rome wants to "investigate" women religious in the United States...how about taking responsibility for the pedophile priests first? Well over a billion dollars has been paid out to VICTIMS of these perverted priests and bishops who obstructed JUSTICE who reassigned these perverted priests.
And the Catholic Church wonders why Catholics are leaving and donations are down significantly.
Catholics unite and send a no tolerance message to Bendict XVI and his curia.
Vacant pews and a significant loss in weekly donations speaks volumes.
Thank God for the presence/ministry of women religious in the Catholic Church today spreading the gospel by word and deed!

Germany, Ireland and other countries need mandatory reporting laws, requiring church officials to report sexual abuse allegations to civil authorities, and allowing lengthy periods for discovery of violations.

The hierarchy is in no position to investigate its own clergy for possible criminal prosecution. I fail to see how it is such a "grave attack" on the Catholic church to say it has "not shown an active interest in a truly uninhibited and thorough investigation.”

Have all relevant secret documents been turned over to police or prosecutors? Have clerics offered to be questioned by them, and responded forthrightly when asked? Hmm. Sounds unlikely, if a justice minister, no less, indicates otherwise. "Pledges" are cheap, actions are proof, and the minister is right to be critical if she found the proof lacking.

Also, abundant congratulations to Chancellor Angel Merkel for objecting to B16's handling of the SSPX bishops, especially Holocaust-denier Williamson. I'd wonder about any German official who did NOT criticize such action. The rank anti-Semitism of SSPX contained in its own writings (since removed from their website last I looked) deserves the widest condemnation.

It sounds as though criticism of the Catholic Church was not supposed to be countenanced. Imagine that!

What really needs to end is the government acting as a collection agency for the church, taxing those who register as Catholics. Pay a tax to the government to belong to the church? Grotesque.

I hope German authorities show more spine than many in the US who deferred to bishops for decades and got away with it. Fine for German bishops to hire independent investigators. But the real independent investigators need to be the police and civil authorities who have the power to demand compliance with criminal and civil law, and alone determine when it has been broken. Let the judicial process begin.

As for Germany being the first country outside the English-speaking world where clergy sexual abuse is exposed, well, Austria, comes to mind. A review of countries all over the world on www.BishopAccountability.org shows a wide distribution on every continent.

A major advantage though in English-speaking countries is the English common law system that allows discovery and court-ordered production of secret church archives - by judges no longer willing to hide criminality.

I only hope German and other countries' jurisprudence offers survivors the same legal remedies so necessary to bring the truth to light. The chief Boston Globe investigator said there would have been no scandal without the documents.

Are we to really think that clergy sexual abuse or indeed any sexual abuse patterns are determined by geography, instead of being part of the human condition? But it's the clerical culture with its corrosive secrecy, and sense of exemption and privilege, that has so aided the cover-up.

I read today there was a raid of a monastery's records in Bavaria. Now that is on the right track to finding the facts.

While by current appearances it seems that the German Hierarchy's response is quite similar and parallel to that in the US, Ireland, and perhaps Australia, I believe there is a very significant difference in the case of Germany that needs to be kept in mind. For in addition to the cases of abuse dating from the 60's and 80's, in the case of Germany we also have numerous complaints that date from the immediate post war period, the late 40's and 50's, many being brought forward by war orphans placed in Catholic orphanages prior to adoption, frequently international adoption.

To understand this period, you begin with the fact there was no German Government between 1945 and 1949. Government was US and Allied Military Government divided by zone. Since the US acquired the southern zone in Germany, and the neighboring zone in Austria (Salzburg was HQ) in essence it governed the most Catholic part of Germany.

Immediately on the US occupation of its zone, the Vatican through diplomatic channels submitted demands to the US Military Government requesting that they honor all of the privileges the Vatican received regarding education, operation of schools, supervision of social work, and a number of other social policy areas, through the Concordat of 1933 between the National Socialist Regime, and the Vatican. There was considerable conflict regarding this demand and it took several years to settle -- between 45 and about 48 parts of the Military Government did assert primacy (supervision of schools and curriculum, license of teachers (no former Nazi party members for example), but in 1948, as the movement toward limited German Sovereignty progressed, supervision of schools and orphanages was turned over to the reorganized Lander. In most cases the predominately Catholic Lander put the Vatican's privileges from the 1933 Concordat into state or Lander law, though with changes such as recognition of the UN Human Rights Charter, and soon after the West German Basic Law. The whole matter of jurisdiction in event of a criminal offense in a Catholic School or other youth serving institution had become the property of the Diocese, or in some cases of the Vatican in 1933, and with an indeterminate period between 45 and 48, remained church jurisdiction after 1949. Thus while in the US, for example, we find informal and extra legal agreements between the Church and DA's or Police Departments -- in Germany the matter of crime in a church institution or involving church personal always, since 1933 was purely within the jurisdiction of the Church. And I assume this may still be the case, as during the summer of 1990 as the unification of East and West Germany was under negotiation, the issue arose again, and Der Spiegel carried several articles regarding the debate during unification negotiations. As one can imagine, East Germany never handed off jurisdiction of ANY institution or social welfare function to a Church, and adopting laws that did so was strongly opposed by many former East Germans.

In the summer of 1960 I worked in a Quaker refugee project -- first in Berlin where the children were nearly all from East Germany or Eastern Europe, who were in transit to West Germany as their parents joined them, and then I moved to another Quaker youth center in West Germany that served children alone, and children that might be moved to international adoption status. My supervisor had been leading the project in its different forms from early 1946 onward, and I spent many hours interviewing her, and eventually did a paper based on my own research and her observations over 15 years. She identified both rough physical abuse and sexual abuse of children as a serious problem without an easy solution, particularly children who had previously been in certain Catholic youth centers or orphanages. Many children living on the streets or in refugee camps were also abused -- children leaving E. Germany had tales of abuse by Soviet Soldiers, so it was not exclusively a Religious Institutional problem. It was definately a profound fragmentation of any law of child protection, or child protection services. My Supervisor, having encountered many cases of failed adoption due to the psychological damage abuse inflicted, had come to refuse to certify children for international adoption if abuse was part of the case file, and serious psychotherapy had not been successfully provided. (She was a German immigrant to the US during the 30's, a trained psychotherapist, and fully licensed to practice in Germany.)

With respect to this history, I would suggest the source of many problems surrounding abuse is particular to Germany. The US just does not need to comprehend our situation in the context of Total War, Refugees, DP Camps, thousands of orphans, and a harshly divided country at the bullseye of the Cold War Era. We don't have an old 1933 agreement between the Nazi state and the Vatican that denies civil jurisdiction to Church Schools and Church Institutions, even though some American officials may have acted as if such law existed.

The Catholic people are not scandalized by what God does. Neither are most "scandalized" by what clerics do (E.g. the sex scandals). Most of us are amazed and angry at our "leaders!" I am always incensed when the hierarchy makes hurtful, stupid decisions and exercise power rather than true authority and say, "We are afraid that if we didn't do as we did "that the people would be scandalized."

A large part of the sex scandals arise from: 1)the official Church's inept (I would add incorrect) understanding of sex and the sexual ethic derived from it and 2) the the REQUIREMENT of celibacy of all priests (Of course with the exception of married Anglican priests and seminarians).

The struggle over birth control (basically already settled in practice), masturbation, couples sexually active outside of marriage, gay sex, love and marriage, as well as pedophilia and other sexual "deviance."

Will re-thinking of our sexual ethic (E.g. from a personalist, Biblical perspective informed by modern medical and social science input), solve all our problems? Absolutely not! There will still be adultery, pedophilia, inappropriate hetero-and homo-sexual behavior, rape, etc., etc. But I am confident that if we construct a positive Christian sexual ethic that contemporary people can understand, find credible, and commit to,we will be much better off and closer what Jesus showed us in the Gospels.

And, these are the men we are supposed to "OBEY" without questioning them. God save us all.

Allegations of abuse have also surfaced in the Netherlands, this time the alleged abusers are Salesians. Will it ever stop? What is it with the Church and its schools and seminaries that seem to create an environment conducive to abuse?

If Chancellor Angela Merkel had not rebuked Pope Benedict XVIth century, would have held him to account for his hateful discourse and actions? Certainly not Germany's conservative papist Catholics.

I doubt very much whether there is any truth to these allegations of sexual abuse in Germany. After all, it seems to be well known in high Vatican circles that the sexual abuse of minors is an Anglo-Saxon (and Celtic) problem, restricted to the Anglophone world. So how could it happen in Germany?

Or (gasp) could those high Vatican circles be wrong?

For those who say that clergy sex abuse has nothing to do with the church's insistence on clelibacy, think about this. God has made us humans to relate to one another, not just spiritually and emotionally but physically as well. Clergy who are prohibited normal relationships with one of their own preference and age, hunger for a physical human relationship nonetheles. Children seem to them a safe outlet for expressing this need. It is a perverted repsonse to a perverse rule.

Add to that now that there are too few willing to forego a normal life in order to succumb to the church in this obscene discipline. In additon to the damage to children and the scandal to the church, another consequence is that the Eucharist, adhesive that binds Catholics and all Christians together and with their founder is now denied or on the brink of denial to Catholic Christians. What more evidence is needed to show that the Catholic Hierarchy has lost its way?

Again and again the bishops insist that sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests has got nothing to do with the compulsory celibacy.
If this is true, why is it that we do not hear about such a phenomenon in a similar large dimension on the side of the married protestant/orthodox clergy?
By the way: If 50% of the priests were women, we would have at least 50% less of these cases.

Werner

What arrogance and spiritual incompetency! For the German Hierarchy to even suggest or "acknowledging that it may be shaking their faith and threatening their capacity to trust in God,” is totally preposterous. What it does "shake" is the German people's ability to challenge their capacity to trust the German Hierarchy and the Pope, who as Cardinal Ratzinger oversaw the Diocese of Munich for decades! Let's get real! The German Hierarchy should in no way equate themselves to a good, merciful and loving God!

"Pope Benedict XVI served as archbishop of Munich from October 1977 to February 1982 -- within the arc of time that some of the alleged abuse is believed to have occurred."
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,676497,00.html
http://www.zimbio.com/The+Roman+Catholic+Church/articles/gButcvam2oX/Hyp...

These Vatican pedophiliac enablers continue to believe they can speak credibly on issues of liturgy, female religious life, sexuality, global warming and economics?

Come on, Mr. Allen, "some of the ALLEGED abuse is BELIEVED to have occurred?" You're getting more "jesuitical" than the casuists at Canisius.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Casuists

When will the pope realize that the problem is systemic and that there is a need for a massive change in the attitudes of the so called "shepherds" of the church?
They need to read Jesus' condemnation of those who harm the most vulnerable and get rewarded by JP11 and B16. Letters of apology are not the answer; change from the top down is what is necessary. Saving the reputation of the church and reinstituting clericalism should not be the goal. Do they not see themselves in Jesus' condemnation of the Jewish religious leaders?

I pray the Holy Spirit has become a Protestant so we can have Church.

Perhaps an angel of the Lord will paint blood over the doors of the innocent and we can start again as church. I am disgusted and do not wish to dialogue anymore about evil. Perhaps the Holy Spirit is temporarily visiting the Protestants.

For centuries our bishops, like kings and lords of old, have assumed that they were not accountable to people of "lower rank" (i.e., the lowly laity) They seem to have forgotten that the American Revolution of 1776 started to change that situation. They will continue to be unaccountable only as long as we allow it. In their arrogance, they have assumed to know the structure of authority in heaven. In their arrogance, they have assumed that the structure of authority on earth should be the same as what they imagine it is in heaven. On earth, bishops put themselves in the superior position,hoping to enable themselves to act as a lord over everyone else. We should remember that they only have authority over us if we give it to them. Many of our bishops, perhaps the vast majority, have not consistently used their authority wisely. Jesus instructed them to be servants. Too many want to be rulers.

We all have feet of clay. Too much was known by too many. It is very sad - truth might be the best route to take. This is so very harmful to all the innocent, good, caring, wonderful parish priests who have served,or are still serving congregations of stricken people.

Maybe all the vestments should come off and time be spent in prayer, in talking, - perhaps in reading the Rule of St Benedict. Another photo -op is not the answer.

I will keep the entire group in my prayers.

No matter where the sexual victimization of GOD's children, young people and vulnerable adults has taken place on this earth, the similarities of the perverted acts themselves, the psyche of the clergy perpetrators and the criminal negilgence and indifference of church leaders is unmistakable. It proves that the Catholic Church has a shameful history of hundreds of thousands (who knows, perhaps millions) of tortured and sexually brutalized victims. The Roman Catholic Priests, Brothers, Deacons, Nun, Bishops and Popes who have committed these crimes, or covered up these crimes, have sold their souls and thus proven themselves Graceless Traitors to Almighty GOD. Eventually these people will stand before the ONE who will someday judge us all. What will they say to HIM, I wonder?

I am a victim of sexual assault by a priest. i am one of the survivors of this horrific crime. The spiritual injury i sustained and suffered from is amazing, the exquisite pain inside, luckily i am still alive and sane.I tell all of you out there who are interested to know, i believe these sexual abuses committed by priests(even bishops) is the worst crime in our post modern world, and it is now becoming a conspiracy- the cover up, the avoidance and evasion of truth only aggravates the crime, only adds insult to the injury, not only to mine but to all the victims out there-especially those suffering quietly still.

Please, let us all demand that all these perpetrators be held accountable, including those guilty of the sin of omission for not doing anything, all those accoplices who cover up the crimes. and Please let us all demand for the all victims to be helped- otherwise these victims will soon be victimizers, and the pain and injury would continue.

TO ALL PRIESTS AND MEMBERS OF THE HEIRARCHY ACCEPT IT- the TRUTH, the ACCOUNTABILITY- and THE HEALING SHALL START.

Will it ever stop? Will the abuse never end? Will the secrets remain "in pectore" forever. Has our Pope been waiting for the German shoe to drop? The question is "what did he know and when did he know it". In our church the secrets have a way of going up and down the clerical ladder. Abuse starts with the individual priest and the secret begins; it travels all the way to the top and then back down again--corrupting as it goes. Distractions can be created--liturgy "reform", investigating nuns, hermeneutics of everything. What is really needed is a hermeneutic of abuse. What is really needed is a hermeneutic of celibacy

A year ago I walked away from the Roman Catholic church for just such reasons as contained in the above article, plus many more. After a year of walking in a desert of spiritual lonliness, I discoverd the Catholic Apostolic church in North America (www.cacina.org). Today I belong to the CACINA parish of St. Charles of Brazil (CACINA's founder). As an independent catholic, I continue to enjoy the mass and sacraments, but have left behind the hypocrisy and clericalism of the RC church. As a member of CACINA I can say wholeheartedly that "all are welcome" at the table, and no one is deprived of ordination due to marital status or sexual orientation. It is the most freeing place I have ever been in within the realm of organized religion. I am no longer disempowered by bitterness and anger. I am free to direct all of my energies toward the building of the kingdom.

anonymous wrote:

"Well over a billion dollars has been paid out to VICTIMS of these perverted priests and bishops who obstructed JUSTICE who reassigned these perverted priests."

By the way, why do we, the church, pay to the victims, not the offenders?

If a priest decides to marry the girl he fell in love with, Rome will automatically dismiss him. He even cannot legaly marry in the church. Those pedophile guys are only promoted by their bishop to another parish or post in the church and we pay for the compensation to the victims. At the same time the pope welcomes to serve as priests those anglican fundamentalists who like himself despise women as priests.

The entire R.C. system is sick!

Ecclesia semper reformanda est!

Werner

Why should the hierarchy concern themselves about abuse? They don't seem to mind papal hanger-ons hooking up - with men in subordinate positions. Gay marriage is a sin - gay sexual relations are ok - see http://pandagon.net/index.php/site/papal_aide_and_elite_mens_vatican_cho....

It's terribly sad but most of the hierarchy, including the pope, are so disconnected from normal reality. Look at the way they bare dressed in the photo. At least Jesus and the apostles got out and about; they dressed no differently; they claimed no fancy titles; they got their hands dirty; they did not live as lords and masters. Come on Bp Joseph Ratzinger, throw off the medieval imperial trappings.....get you and your brother bishops to follow Jesus in washing the feet of the disciples. Instead of them genuflecting to you and kissing your ring why don't you kneel before them and kiss their feet begging forgiveness? We desperately need a new cleansing of the temple. The RC Church needs pruning urgently.

"He, who is without sin, cast the first stone!"

As I read through these blogs, i begin to see how illogical and unbalanced the thinking of our people are today. The readiness to condemnis so prevalent in comments. Here are a few questions I would like you to consider:

1. What percentage of the priests in Ireland are guilty of sexual violations against youth? in Germany? in the United States?

2. When 90 to 95% of our priests are admirably innocent of such charges, are we going to condemn them because of the heinous crimes of the 5 to 10% of unfaithful cergymen. Remember there was a Judas among the twelve.

3. Why only this aspect of sexuality do you fiercely condemn when our modern day world is wallowing in sinful and illicit sexuality day after day?

4. How many children are sexually abused by their own parents or relatives?
Isn't this equally heinous? detestible? blameworthy?

5. Did you every stop to think that many of these charges may be false? unfounded? exaggerated? .....with the desire to get large sums of money?

Please, I beg of you, join me in fervent prayer, that in all this, Satan does not gain the upper hand of ruining souls by abuse, by abusing, by false accusations? and by rash decisions of abandoning what we know is right and good? Please, I beg you, join me in making reparation to Christ as Christians.
The wickedness of today's world is real! PRAY!!!

Zollitsch acknowledged that the crisis may be “shaking their faith and threatening their capacity to trust in God.”

Oh, but not in the hierarchy?