Posts by Tess Rooney
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Easter is directly from the Jewish Passover rather than from any pagan belief set. Most languages call it something derived from "Pasch" - Passover.
Hence you get all that Jesus as the lamb of sacrifice saving us from death symbolism.
The word "Easter" has pagan origins, as do all the eggs, chicks and bunnies. But the actual feast comes from the Jewish religion.
-
Warning: this link could be triggering for survivors of sexual assault and rape.
"The greatest of evils"
And there is a Bishop that needs to go, NOW.
- shakes head -
This is exactly why there is so much anger from lay Catholics, because some Bishops just persist in not getting it. I mean really, how stupid do you have to be to say this kind of thing.
So for example you get Bishops who refuse to open up the historical files, documenting the list of people trying to tell the Bishop that Fr. X kept raping boys. Rather than assisting justice, Bishops have been fighting it.
-
Yes, the Holy See does need to do more.
One of the problems (so I have heard) under John Paul II was the accusing priests of sexual misconduct was a classic way that the KGB tried to remove priests in Poland. So he didn't believe it. I just don't think JPII really believed that priests could act in such an evil way. So he never did enough. I'm not sure about Benedict. He's an academic and I think his focus is on other things. But without the Holy See really fronting up, it's not going to be dealt with.
The other thing is that Bishops are also pretty much free to do as they will within their dioceses. The hierarchical organisation isn't as tight as a lot of people expect it to be. In many ways, the Pope is a Brother Bishop, rather than an unquestioned leader.
A lot of the time the Pope has no desire or mandate to be involved in the local ecclesiastical situation. This has been criticised by the lay because it means that if you have a bad Bishop (as has happened) there does need to be some recourse.
-
Please cut them some slack, even know you most likely don't know who they are.
Oh God yes. These poor people have been damaged in ways that are likely to affect them for life and most won't have come forward.
Whilst I think certain actions are sinful, I have no idea how culpable any individual is who does them. For an individual to sin, they have to knowingly and willingly do wrong. Only God can judge something like that.
Personally I think there are a number of Bishops who should stand down and offer the rest of their lives in prayer and penance for the evil they have allowed to occur. These men knew what was happening and they just swept it under the rug. They forfeited the right to be spiritual and moral leaders when they did that.
The actual abusers need to be judged by the Courts and go to prison. Afterwards they need to be sent to a monastery somewhere out of the way of everybody else. I wouldn't defrock them, not because I think they are worthy as priests, but because then the Church can keep control on their movements and order them into safe obscurity away from children.
-
-
How about providing a link to one of these catholic blogs that offers constructive criticism of the policies of the current papacy?
http://ncronline.org/news/accountability/irish-abuse-report-demands-decisive-action
-
Diocesis of Florence mean anything to you?
No. The reports that I know of are from the English speaking Catholic world. America and Ireland for the most part. But also New Zealand and Australia. As far as I am aware, these are historical claims of abuse, especially from children's homes that have now closed.
Also I'm not sure why what I said was dodgy. It wasn't meant to be. I was just trying to say that Catholics are angry and are criticising the Bishops.
This abuse was done by people that we were supposed to trust, and then we were betrayed by our Bishops who protected the abusers and not the abused children. Of course Catholics are angry.
What more am I supposed to say to you? What are you looking for me to say now?
-
Here's an initiative to track the abuse in America:
-
Ah, so you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs then. That seems awfully cynical.
I was making an observation, not claiming it was okay.
Please, can you stop reading my words in the worst light possible.
If 'faithful' catholics were to constructively criticise the church's authority...
You obviously don't read Catholic blogs then. I assure you there's criticism, and a lot of it. Remember it's Catholic children who got abused, so your average pew sitter is NOT happy. Some Catholics have left. Some have moved to Orthodoxy, not because of the abuse, but because of the Bishop's utterly pathetic reaction to it.
I assure you, no one is happy that serial abusers were covered up for. We think of all the lives that could have been protected had the Bishops faced up to what was happening and had had the courage to deal with it.
-
If anything I think it's really hurt those priests who are good men.
I wasn't clear enough here.
The greatest harm has been those children and their families who have been so deeply wounded. This harm has been perpetrated by the abusers and then covered up by leaders who should have been protecting the vulnerable, not enabling the pedophiles.
However, an unintended consequence of this is that good priests have been tarred by the abusers brush. Which is something I don't think the Bishops thought of as they were shifting around abusive priests. The Bishops thought they were covering the Church. In reality they were just allowing the abuse to continue and for good men to be blamed as well.
really, until the Bishops can front up and quit trying to make excuses, no one can move on.