Sex abuse reports spread in Europe; focus on pope

A married clergy is too expensive and that is the real reason the Church will never alter its position on celibacy. Consider these expenses: Higher salries; housing allowances; increased benefits and health insurance for priests and their families. Moreover, the bishops would lose some control over their priests because career decisions and assignments would necessarily involve the wives and children. Bishops forced to deal with women? OMG. Then there is the liklihood of divorced priests which would involve child support and alimony. In short, a married clergy is just impractical.

So much for the Vatican's classification of the lingering clergy sex-abuse scandal as an "American" problem !
One can not help but notice the 2 photos above with both Benedict and his confrere smiling! But,
then again we saw the "same" photo recently with the Holy Father & Irish bishops meeting at the Vatican.
Nonetheless, while Holy Mother the Church weeps, the male dominated hierarchy utilizes "smoke screens"
to distract the faithful, ie the Apostolic Visitation of Women Religious in the US & the the expelling of
children of Lesbian couples from Catholic/parochial schools in a certain Rocky mountain archdiocese.

Circle the wagons and CYA, Joseph Ratzinger....
http://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/640/505828/text/
Wie toten Sie eine Schlange?
Schneiden Sie seinen kopf ab.
Tic-toc, tic-toc.

There you have it, we now have a Pope that aids and abets the the sexual abuse of children. Some of us have believed this to be true based on his pathetic excuses in the past. The only question now for Catholics is how do we remove this pustule from the Church.

These are people who need to be prosecuted.

I think there should be studies done on child abuse. Is there more child abuse in homes with rich parents than poor parents? How many married men and women are gay? How many married men are sexual predators, compared to unmarried men? How many sexual predators over the age of fifty? Under fifty? This is a stupid analogy and only a liberal station like ABC could come up with an idea like that one. What's the next step, to stop the Catholic church from having celebate priests?

How many sexual predators are teachers? How many of them are married? How many are unmarried? A sexual predator is a sexual predator. We need to get to the root of the problem, as to why they become sexual predators. What causes this life-destoying behavior?

Tom Doyle's comment is too polite. Bu*&$H!t has the same number of syllables as "nonsense" but is more on the mark.

David Lorenz

Ahhh..........now the pieces are starting to fit into place! No wonder Ratzinger has been dragging his feet for the past 25 years over the sex scandal--------he was part of the problem when he was an Archbishop. Now things are making sense. What a pity that he is now the so-called leader of the Catholic Church. He needs to step down while there is still some part of the Catholic Church remaining, albeit in shambles! The honorable thing to do would have been to refuse the election to the papacy when it was offered. Now, since he didn't do the honorable thing at that time, he should do it now before he causes any more scandal [if such is possible!] to the Catholic Church. Disgraceful on both counts!

If this Pope can't step forward and take direct responsibility for the actions of those senior diocesan officials under his immediate supervision as Archbishop of Munich then why should his judgment be respected in any matter?

Of course the knee-jerk response that celibacy is the "ultimate commitment to God." betrays such a profound ignorance of human nature that one should really not be surprised that in addition to all his other official titles he can now add Chief of the Clueless Coverup.

"ABC News and other media reported Friday..."

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wirestory?id=10092322&page=1

"Late Friday the Vatican press office said in a brief statement that the archdiocesan official who made the decision to transfer the priest had taken 'full responsibility' for the decision, according to Catholic News Service."

Well, I guess that takes care of the matter.

Wake up and smell the coffee, folks!

TITHING = ENABLING

Stop the enabling!!!

Sadly, Pope (Joe Ratzinger) Benedict has always been one of the main problems when it comes to the Church's handling of sexual abuse of children. He likes to keep secrets, like the many of the reactionary minded bishops under his control. He is the least capable of handling this issue properly and this is but another big reason that very few Catholics (except of course the right wing elements) have any confidence in or respect for their authority. They have lost the right to our respect and this is one of the major reasons that millions of Catholics believe the imperial model of the Church must die. This is what points to the decay and corruption from the highest leadership in the Church. Benedict should resign but he is too intoxicated by power to do the right thing. Shameful.

To my knowledge the Catholic Church has never engaged in a serious, in depth, honest exploration of the causes of the global sexual and physical abuse of children that took place over decades, if not longer. The Church must take a long hard look at its philosphy, structure and policies that allowed abuse of minors to proliferate. Celibacy alone, i.e., sexual abstinence, did not cause this situation or create the culture or mindset that allowed the abuse to go on unchecked for so many years. There are many people who are celibate - whether by choice or circumstance - who would never think about having sex with minors or physiclly abusing children. I suspect that so many minors were abused all over the world by priests because of the Church's organizational policy of institutional silence and acceptance of abuse of minors that included some kind of institutional emotional detachment. To me, the most important question that the Church has never answered is why this detachment. Why were so many in the Church so detached from the suffering caused to children by this abuse that they participated in the abuse either by acting directly or by allowing the situation to continue and repeat itself without speaking out to stop it? Is it because these people were separated from the world by the clerical structure and philosophy? Is it because the priesthood substituted for the family structure? The issue then is not that these men are not permitted to have sex - the issue then may be that these men are not permmitted to have families and therefore live in an artificial environment so that their emotional development is crippled. I know that years ago this separation from family was even more strict than it is now. I know of one older priest who as a young seminarian was not allowed to leave the seminary to visit his dying mother.
I don't have the answers but it seems that right now neither does the Church.
The Church wants desperately to be forgiven and to move forward and put this situation behind it - but it will never be able to move forward until it understands and truly repents its past.

What ever happened to taking responsibility like the Democratic President Harry Truman said, "the buck stops here!" Maybe Benedict does not possess that deepness of character but will let or even ask others to shield him. I don't think this tactic will work. Something like “you can fool some of the people some of the time but ..........” I think the cat is now out of the bag. Rather than damage control, the church should look for better solutions and it will involve changing how the leadership is selected and how this structure works. This probably can not be accomplished with the current group in the vatican because of a lack of depth in the character (of many) at the top. With the feeling of omniscience of an authoritarian, it is hard for them to learn from the experience of their own mistakes.

R. Dennis Porch, MD

Before the studies on comparitive rates of paedophilia in different organizations are started there should be an evaluation of their skill in covering up scandals.

We now know Pope Benedict XVIth century, aka Papa Ratzi, has been instrumental in the priestly sex abuse cover-up for decades, going back to at least 1977.
He should now abdicate in shame, be arrested, prosecuted and incarcerated. The Church, i.e. the People of God, will not rest until this happens. Mary, the Mother of the Church, is not amused at what the Ratzinger Brothers have done to the children Jesus wanted to protect.

Please, oh please, there are people still surprised by this revelation?

There appears to be a systemic problem of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church going back centuries. There also appears to be a relationship between clerical celibacy and child abuse. As the article indicated more studies need to be done.

Here's how seriously the Vatican takes child abuse by priests and the bishops' complicity in it:

Bernard Francis Law is an American Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the Archbishop emeritus of Boston, member of the Roman Curia, archpriest of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, and titular Cardinal Priest of Santa Susanna, the American Catholic church in Rome.

I suggest that a resignation would be appropriate. A pope with connections to this scandal will erase any credibility the church has in the world; and damage his own credibility within the church.

The ultimate commitment to God, after Christian Initiation itself, is marriage! It is, after all, a sacrament! Neither the simple promise of celibacy nor the solemn vows of religious life can make that claim. Indeed, in Ephesians St. Paul calls marriage 'the great mystery.' Now in the East the Greek word for 'mystery' is used for what are called 'sacraments' in the West! Once again, ex Occidente LEX but ex Oriente LUX!

I think that more study needs to be done on the link between the discipline in Seminaries and later abusive behaviour of some clergy. This may be more important than any links to celibacy. Much of the old discipline was extremely harsh, violent and demeaning of the seminarians. Such regimes must have had lasting damage on many who suffered through it, so that they then became abusers themselves.

I would like to say that as a Unitarian I think Father Doyle is a credit to his faith and a gift to the Catholic Church. Many Catholics think this scandal is an attack on the Church but I do not. I think that if their had been more men like Father Doyle their might not have been the Inquisition. Men willing to stand up for what is right are not very common no mater what faith or religion one has for all religions have their problems and try to hide them.

I strongly believe that the sexual abuse of children has been going on with the Catholic church for centuries and that all Popes have been involved in a massive coverup.

I don't know anybody who trusts the Pope. NOBODY! When you destroy the trust, you destroy social cooperation.

I believe that tens of thousands of survivor's who were raped by Catholic Priests & Nuns will eventually speak out and further expose the criminal behavior of Catholic clergy. It is a long time coming.

The wheels of justice grind slowly.

good afternoon,

Wow...how our hierarchy has learned from the behavior of Cardinal Law in Boston! They should all be dismissed, and quickly, before they truly destroy the Church as an institution.

take care

The rot starts at the top: the pope. Impeach, charge, prosecute the pope.

Charge the pope with the crime of obstructing justice, of hiding and enabling priest pedophiles who went on to re-offend and victimize more children when the pope was a German archbishop.

The pope is a criminal accessory to the crime of pedophilia, both in Germany and worldwide because he enabled bishops/priests pedophiles across the world when he was Prefect of the Congregation of Doctrine. He sent out written directives to the archdioceses of the world advising silencing, stalling the victims. hiding and transferring the criminal priests/bishops pedophiles.

Fix the Church, ordain the married and ordain women too so we have a healthier, more balanced community of clergy and laity. The all male ""celibate"" cleric is NOT appropriate or safe or holy.

Too many male ""celibate"" priests/bishops/ popes/ archbishops/ cardinals are very DISORDERED ABUSERS of power and children or any vulnerable persons, such as making victims of children, youths, seminarians, other priests, schoolchildren, students, choirboys, altar servers, the disabled, depressed individuals, those in poverty, all too often chosen for predation by Catholic hierarchs.

I note that NCR has chosen not to report last week's press interview by Rev. Amorth, who has been the Vatican's chief exorcist for 25 years, though the interview has been published by many newspapers all over the world. Rev. Amorth, citing Cardinals who "do not believe in Jesus," the constant sex abuse scandals by priests, the internal power struggles in the Vatican, etc., says the Devil very active at the Vatican. Maybe NCR chooses to write off this 85 year old man as an old conservative crank long past retirement. That is one possible judgment. But, by experience and inner "seeing," it is also possible that Rev. Amorth may be right. Sure, he seems to see the Devil as a person, a mythological person of the sort no longer credible today. In that sense, he is "old fashioned" and is dated. But I would venture that the dark forces are quite real and that they operate through humans who are energetically and emotionally aligned with them -- even in Rome, and that Rev. Amnoth's specific examples and 25 years of experince are not to be discounted. Too many prelates have sold their souls for power, fame, money, or even secret sexual sins, to think otherwise. Being rather psychic myself, I have, on occasion, "seen" great evil at the heart of the institutional Church -- as have many others so gifted. After all, why not? Wouldn't controlling the Church be seen by the dark forces as their greatest coup? Wouldn't it be something they'd strive for mightily? Does anyone think they are not clever enough to very often and to some extent succeed? Some years ago, I assisted a vicar general in establishing a new diocese in the US. For some reason he consulted a very spiritual Protestant psychic, the wife of a very pious Protestant minister. She warned him to beware, that the new chancery was controlled by priests who were servants of darkness. And I "saw" it as true. I am not trying to scare anyone or make them paranoid but I am warning that any so-called angels of light, deemed such only by reason of their clerical office, may not be at all what they seem. One recent example: Rev. Maciel, head of a major religious order and pal of John Paul II, now exposed as a truly evil sociopath, one aligned with the dark forces who opposed everything of the Light. A very psychically ill man but charismatic enough to conceal his evilness during almost all of his lifetime. So, heed what Rev. Amoth says even though NCR, the quintessential love and light and rationally liberal publication, deems the man's remarks not even worthy of reporting. And, as a PS, I would say that the servants of darkness are both conservative and liberal as are the servants of light. Whereas NCR, blinded by contemporary political categories, is largely oblivious to these deeper spiritual realities and, in the main, only interested in rather superficial church politics. Go deeper. One cannot see these realities by the light of left/right reason. One must learn to see the heart per the eye of contemplation.

So-"The Rev. Thomas P. Doyle, who once worked at the Vatican Embassy in Washington and became an early and well-known whistle-blower on sexual abuse in the church, said the claim that the vicar general allowed the abusive priest to return to pastoral work without then-Archbishop Ratzinger's knowledge was not credible, according to the Times report." Based upon this clerics opinion the Bishop of Munchen-Freising [a fairly large diocese], as a "micro manager" had to have known that the malefactor was dangerous and still let him continue in ministry. Has our judgment descended to this low a level?
Pope Benedict has not shown a "micro managing" tendency either as chief of the CDF or as pontiff. In fact he -all too often- seems to be surprised by the evolving of events [Regensburg? ] In fact, he gives the impression of a theologian who is deep into his writing and one who, rather than being confrontational,has been open to dealing with people who one would normally not expect him to interact with. [eg several hours with the dying Orianna Fallici, a whole day in private with Fr. Hans Kung] He may be a poor policeman but I don't think the malevolent judgments being afflicted on him-at this time- are justified.

Studies have already shown that child abuse thrives in authoritarian environments where people are given power without accountability. That is the only study that is relevant to this scandal.

The whole structure of the church must be changed. When there is transparency, accountability, and democracy at all levels of the church, the climate that fostered abuse and denial will be gone. There may still be isolated abusers who are caught and dealt with quickly, but there will not be a pattern of abuse and coverup that just keeps cycling.

Good grief--he spent 18 months in jail for abusing a minor and THEN they let him return to active ministry?! As a PASTOR?

There are no words........

Correction. An 18 month SUSPENDED sentence. Still, he was convicted of a CRIME.

I believe we will soon learn that this is a problem worldwide.

I am not surprised - I'm glad its finally coming out.

It is beyond my belief that people still believe that priest abuse children because they cannot marry and have sex. This is not about sex with an adult this is about someone wanting to have power over children. This would or could happen if the priest was married. That the church continues to protect these men and women is just an outrage. The lay community that work with children especially in the US have to have a backround check and sign papers that if there is every any alligations against you that the church will not back you up. No lawyer no nothing. You are hung up to dry. Shame on everyone of the priests that are trying to pass the buck to someone else.

This whole thing is disgusting. I have never respected this pope and never will. I have a strong faith in God, but by trust in the Catholic Church is gone.

I attended parochial school grades 1 - 12. ALL of my teachers for ALL of those years were priests and nuns. I loved it. I attended and graduated from a Catholic university where I received both BA and MA degress. I loved it. I have attended Mass at least every Sunday my entire life. I have been extremely involved in my parish and even held a staff position for a few years. I have read the entire Catechism cover to cover and LOVED it!

I have now stopped attending church. Every thing I ever believed is now suspect to me. I simply cannot attend a service knowing that so many priests kept quiet about all the abuse so many children suffered. It is sickening. I believe that my attendance itself will indicate that I condone their silence.

I believe the Catholic Church is finished. At least I certainly hope so.

I attended parochial school grades 1 - 12. ALL of my teachers were priests and nuns. I loved it. I attended and graduated with BA and MA degrees from Catholic universities. I loved it. I have attended Mass at least every Sunday for my entire life -- 60 years. I have been extremely involved in my parish and was even a staff member for several years. I was a volunteer catechist, minister of the Eucharist, minister of hospitality, altar server coordinator, etc... I read the Catechism cover to cover and loved it.

I can no longer remain in this church. I have stopped attending Mass. I believe that to do so indicates that I condone the cover up of the child abuse that has been going on for so many decades. It is sickening that so many priests remained silent for so, so long.

I believe the Catholic Church is finished. At least I hope so.

the pope has got himself into a lose-lose situation. either he was aware of the assignment of "H" to active parish ministry and condoned it, or he was unaware of the assignment and negligent of his oversight duties in this very sensitive area. in neither case did he report "H"'s child-abuse activities to the law-enforcement authorities.
he surely realized that this story would come to light, but never before or after he became pope did he disclose it to the public. so now no amount of vatican spokespersons or Munich fall-guys can help him.
he via his spokesmen are now busy putting the spin on his 2001 letter and on the underlying Ottaviani document. let us ask this question: if these written instructions, together with whatever verbal instructions accompanied them, did not enjoin a policy of keeping cases of priestly pederasty secret from child-protection authorities, why are there no examples of contemporary disclosure?
long live the Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

Where or were is Cardinal Law in all of this? Is he the one advising our Pope, giving PR lessons? Or where is Cardinal Foley, late of the Vatican PR apparatus? Just who is advising this 84 year old man. Or has the Vatican employed a
high-priced American PR firm. Is the old adage of "Never apologize, never explain" going to be employed.

Don't forget the scandals in Australia and elsewhere...the problem has occurred in many countries.

Don't forget the scandals in Australia and elsewhere. Sex abuse has occurred in many countries.

For some reason, not even the financial penalties have woken up the Vatican and/or Bishops to the depth of this problem.
If married men are too expensive, so is losing large pieces of property as penalties.
Something does not make sense here.

Wow!
And I thought the global banking meltdown was big. Some good thoughts above. Mostly a bit too angry - as they usually are on this blog- (but I can't blame most of them - especially the victims; dear God!).
There seems to be a lot of gritty restructuring ahead for old mother church. Hallelulia!!
Let's start with basicsl. The gospel. The good news that God almighty sent His son to bring to the world. The light of truth: The Word. LOVE! That's about it, really. Nothing about heirarchical prelatures and vicar generals. Wasn't it more about; "The last shall be first", and "I have come to serve and if you want to follow me.." " give him YOUR cloak", and utimately, "I lay down my life for my sheep"
I would like to wholeheartedly thank every spirit-filled priest, nun, and, Catholic believer in the gospel who has ever reflected the Light of Christ my way. Let these people be blessed forever, and may many others follow.
And people chose the darkness. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Now that other countries our discovering that their bishops have covered up the sexual abuse of children it will be increasingly clear that this occurred world wide as a result of obedience of bishops to the directives coming from the Vatican and transmitted by the curia through papal nuncios and papal legates whose diplomatic immunity prevents their prosecution and ensures the secrecy of the process.
The fact that the pattern of these cover-ups is so pervasive makes it an evident certitude that the entire hierarchy is culpable of being charged with aiding and abbeting felony sexual abuse of minor children for decades.The scandal and continued abuse of children will go on until the Vatican opens all its secret records, curial staff are required to testify and the pope fully confesses the Vatican's role and his role in directing the cover up.
Reform of the hierarchy must include an end to "mandatory" celibacy and lay oversight of clerical personnel records at every level of the church. The curia and the hierarchy must be reformed. Pope Benedict should resign.

Mention was made earlier in this section of the impracticabity of married priests, one reason being the possibility of divorce, scandal and litigation which might result. This along is enough reason for Rome to be apposed to married priests.
Let's consider another problem, the size of a family. Every married priest and his wife would have to consider just how many children they would, could have, and what means they would employ to preclude futher pregnancies. Would that be an eyeopener.