another scandal, more lives destroyed
[The Bible] doesn’t clean things up and give us a sanitary, Walt Disney version of what happened. It shows us, for instance, how the great King David succumbed to lust and envy and committed an atrocious act against his friend in order to steal his wife. All of this violence and sin shows why humanity needs a Savior, who is Jesus Christ.
In a recent discussion about abortion with some Christians, one of the them explained to me why he believes the brutality of the Old Testament can be reconciled with the notion of a benevolent deity and the kinder words of the character Jesus Christ. This outlook on the world sums up one of the Christian beliefs that concerns me the most, in terms of the harmful outcomes it can generate. A belief that we humans are ‘bad’ creatures who need our creator deity to ‘save’ us.
This type of attitude can only lead to a lack of a sense responsibility for our own behaviour – a kind of ‘it’s not me, I was made bad, and even the great hero King David succumbed to lust’. I’m convinced this damaging belief is a huge driver behind the many abuse scandals and the lack of responsibility that we see particularly from the Catholic Church time and time again.
In Scotland, the latest scandal (following the resignation earlier this year of the most senior UK Catholic cleric for pressurising subordinate priests to commit ‘inappropriate acts’ – link here), is a BBC investigation into allegations of sexual and physical abuse by monks at a Catholic boarding school in Scotland in the 1960s. You can read the seriously disturbing testimonies of former pupils on the BBC website – link here. I can’t even bear to paste quotes from the victims here because they’re too upsetting and shouldn’t be read out of their full context.
The men who commit these atrocities and ruin other people’s lives are victims of a belief system that denies them an outlet for their natural sex drive, then tells them sexual desire outside of marriage is evil, and finally lets them know they are bad people who may not be able to control themselves. This is not an excuse. Without exception, these men are educated adults, who should be able to recognise the absurd position those beliefs place them in or, at the very least, seek professional help before they reach out and destroy another person’s life.
Examples such as these – and the almost instantaneous dissemination of info via the internet – will,I believe, become one of the major catalysts to changing Catholic Church policy regarding celibacy.
The Church simply has to acknowledge that the sanctioning of this practice never originated with the character Jesus.
If this were the case then every non-catholic member of the christian clergy would be considered an abomination.
Ironic that it turns out the most abominable are the ones who insist it more godlike to be celibate. Maybe if it was part of church policy that upon entering the church all Priests underwent chemical castration they might think twice about giving up their lives to serve the devil..sorry I mean the Pope..again,I mean JC
Good post.
Is that trees bark?
LikeLike
Isn’t it interesting how chemical castration keeps coming up? I really think that’s a valid route for these out of control Christians. Jesus clearly said to chop stuff off if it caused them to sin, so the chemical method is even a light option.
Yes, it’s pretty tree bark. Isn’t it pretty?
LikeLike
I finished reading the links.
Horrific.
And when I consider you conversation over at that catholic woman’s blog I get nauseated thinking about anything to do with Catholicism.
Where was Jesus when the kids needed him?
I think even Silly Person is too mild.
LikeLike
It’s disgusting that they attempt some kind of ‘higher moral ground’ in the protection of innocent children when it comes the issue of abortion, yet their track record in the care of children, even in recent years, is beyond reprehensible.
LikeLike
This should be at least one part of the argument against them and their stance on abortion.
A woman succumbs to pressure to bring a child to term only to hand it over to the care of Catholics like these monsters. Are they kidding?
Have any of these crimes been heard at the Human Rights courts, do you know?
LikeLike
Would it not just be standard criminal prosecution? The BBC team tracked down a couple of monks who had returned to Australia and the Sidney police are investigating too. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-30/australian-monks-accused-of-abuse-at-scottish-boarding-school/4851966
LikeLike
I’ve found the recent attempts made by the church to excuse themselves of such abhorrent behaviour the most disgusting: claiming the clergy are not “employees” of the church.
LikeLike
Ooooh, I didn’t hear that. Here’s an extract from the latest reports on it, about the staff who were known abusers and transferred to the school, which become a ‘dumping ground’ for abusers – unbelievable!!!!
“Richard White, who was a Benedictine monk at Downside Abbey in Somerset, confessed his abuse to his abbot more than 20 years ago. He was sent to Fort Augustus in 1993, instead of being handed to police. …Former Prestwick priest Fr Paul Moore was also sent to Fort Augustus in 1997, after he confessed to child abuse dating back to 1979.”
LikeLike
Yup, its a pedophile club.
LikeLike
I think this story, of celibacy, just as most likely many others could have originated with Paul who thought the end of times were at hand and advised people if they could to stay single and serve god or some story of such kind.
Why god would need to save man from flaws s/h/it must be responsible for puts a big question on this god’s abilities and resolve.
LikeLike
You’re so right. It’s bizarre that people believe this creator did such a horrible and flawed creation, but this is a good thing – like our nature (which they view as sinful) is natural and not designed. They’re for design one minute, and natural the next. Why can they not see how ridiculous that would be?
LikeLike
Holding a consistent thought to its logical conclusion is not an easy task.
LikeLike
Pingback: Leave them kids alone! The evil wears a priest’s garb. | A Tale Unfolds
I’ve read up quite a bit on this subject since I have known two pedophile priests in my life. One of them raped a high-school buddy of mine who still has not gotten over it. Also, I used to work in a boarding school where it was always necessary to keep an eye on the older boys interacting with the younger ones.
The problem of sex abuse among Catholic clergy is twofold: first that they do it, second that they get away with it.
The first problem is not as big as people who have an ax to grind against the Church like to claim. According to the John Jay report on sex abuse in the Catholic Church that came out after the scandals in the US, about 2% of Catholic priests had committed some kind of sexual abuse of minors, ranging from inappropriate language to sex acts. That is about the same as the general US male population. In some places it was better, in others worse: the Boston Diocese saw about 7% of its priests involved in some sort of sex abuse.
The second problem is getting away with it. Now, pedophiles are extremely manipulative people, manipulating both children for sex, and the adults who are supposed to protect those children for access. But just because pedophiles are manipulative does not excuse responsible adults from being smart and trying to protect kids. The Catholic bishops failed for a long time to take that responsibility seriously.
Catholic priests are no more likely to commit sex abuse than anyone else, but they are more likely to use their status to get away with it and abuse again. I am afraid that if we treat the abuse of minors as a Catholic problem, (or a Boy Scout problem, Hollywood problem, Greek problem, or public school problem) we might end up missing sex abuse going on right under our noses.
LikeLike
I don’t believe society treats child abuse as solely a Catholic Problem at all. In South Africa child rape is one of the highest in the world and its like a national pastime in some quarters and has almost nothing to do with the Church.
The reason abuse within the catholic system appears so much more revolting is because it goes on under the auspices of those who claim to ‘work for god’ ( I feel nauseated when I say this) and because the church has for so long been regarded as sacrosanct.
Even now, the approach to rooting out these pedophiles appears more cautious than in mainstream society.
As I stated in my first comment, I hope this laws will eventually be imitated that prevent ANY children from being given over to the care of the church and not solely to protect them from sexual abuse.
And if celibacy is such an issue then chemical castration for the clergy might be one avenue to consider.
LikeLike
The fact that the Church was held in such high regard is what gave these monsters cover. That, and Bishops wanting to protect the Church’s reputation. From my perspective in the US, the institutions that have taken the biggest steps in policing themselves have been the Boy Scouts of America, a charitable institution called Big Brothers, and (since 2003) the US Catholic Church, so change is possible. I can’t speak for the Church in other countries. But because here it is seen as “a Catholic problem”, there is only haphazard effort to bring the same kinds of reforms to schools or athletics (Here, sport coaches are the most likely candidates to be child-rapists after step-dads and uncles.)
A strange aide on your chemical castration idea (which I find repulsive): all ancient Christian Churches (Catholic, Orthodox, and various Middle Eastern churches), whether they allow married clergy or not, traditionally do not allow eunuchs to become priests.
LikeLike
Thanks for commenting, although I’m slightly confused how your points relate to specifically to this post. The two cases I cite in the post cover sexual abuse of subordinate priests by a Catholic cardinal, and sexual and physical abuse of children by Catholic monks – both in Scotland. The report you refer to looks specifically at child sex abuse by Catholic priests in the USA.
Also, although contrary to the findings of the rather irrelevant report, I stated that I believe celibacy must be a contributing factor, my main point was that an outlook that teaches that people are all innately ‘bad’ and unable to control ourselves, is undoubtedly a damaging contributory factor to people being unable to control themselves.
Finally, and I’m sure you’ll agree with this, any abuse of any person that happens in any setting is a problem. This is a Catholic problem because it happened, it still is happening, and there are unbelievable and disturbingly consistent attempts to cover up and protect the abusers, over and above any concern for the victims of abuse. (Nevermind that the criminals abusing people believe they have a personal relationship with a benevolent god who has the power to help them control their behaviour – what does it say about the god or the adherents?)
Your comment sounds like a typical attempt to downplay the seriousness of all this and avoid taking meaningful action beyond face saving – the ‘everyone else is doing it’ is not relevant and I don’t believe it’s in any way helpful to facing up the reality of the problem.
LikeLike
I believe the John Jay Study is relevant because it takes stats from a big, diverse country with the fourth biggest and most ethnically, economically and politically diverse Catholic population in the world, and looks at all reported sex abuse cases from the last 60 years. It is the broadest study of clerical abuse available. The stats suggest that Catholic priests are not more likely than other American men to abuse minors.
Which is why the real scandal is not that priests did this, but that so many of them got away with it for so long, thanks to enablers in the hierarchy. I hope this is not “downplaying the seriousness”, but being objective.
If you insist that celibacy the problem, you are basing your argument on either anecdotal evidence, or on some kind of prejudice. (Don’t be ashamed, we all have our intellectual biases.) I might ask you if it is not “downplaying” the issue by treating it as a weapon in your intellectual quarrel with Christians.
Are there serious and concrete ways to minimize risks to children in any organization? Yes: recognize the steps of the “grooming process” which sex predators use, write rules for your institute that penalize these steps, report violations, and take swift action against them. Hold people accountable for not taking action, even if he is a Bishop.
Is recommending chemical castration for Catholic clergy a serious, or even grown-up proposal?
No.
LikeLike
”A strange aide on your chemical castration idea (which I find repulsive): all ancient Christian Churches (Catholic, Orthodox, and various Middle Eastern churches), whether they allow married clergy or not, traditionally do not allow eunuchs to become priests.”
“Because it’s written, that’s why!” ( Thank you, Life of Brian)
Deuteronomy 23.
Surprised you seemed to have forgotten this? 😉
LikeLike