Catholic church and the covering up of molesting of little boys

[newarkcatholicfan]

Is any one else disgusted with the way this gets handled?

[Clyde]

Is there a new report or are you talking about past accounts?

[newarkcatholicfan]

I was talking in general, after reading an article on this.

 

It's been going on for years.

 

Make me ill thinking that a church allows this to happen time and time again.

[Getslow]

What sort of answers are you expecting here? It's a strange premise.

 

I don't think anyone's not disgusted by the way things have been handled.

[JokersWild24]

What sort of answers are you expecting here? It's a strange premise.

I don't think anyone's not disgusted by the way things have been handled.

 

Yea... I don't think any users are going to advocate covering up child molestation. Even if for some sick reason they did, I don't think they'd share it.

[Wireman]

Obviously I know what folks say about this subject but I'm particularly dumb on the topic. This is probably a stupid question but why is this such an issue in the Catholic church (and not necessarily other types of churches)?

[JokersWild24]

Obviously I know what folks say about this subject but I'm particularly dumb on the topic. This is probably a stupid question but why is this such an issue in the Catholic church (and not necessarily other types of churches)?

 

I'd imagine it's a problem in a number of churches regardless of denomination considering the close contact it puts a "predator" in with potential victims.

 

I just go to a Catholic school, so maybe I'm speaking past my area of expertise, but I think that priests, nuns, etc. (i.e., higher ranking clergy members) take a vow of celibacy, which is different from some of the religions that many Kentuckians are probably more likely to be familiar with. I could see how some might think (whether it is correct or incorrect, I honestly don't know) that the vow of celibacy affects the thoughts/temptations that lead to those kinds of things.

 

Also, the Catholic church has a very well defined structure of governance/system of ranks that isn't really as prevalent in other religions that Kentuckians may be more familiar with.

[75center]

Is any one else disgusted with the way this gets handled?

 

Absolutely. I do applaud the steps that have been taken to reduce the chance of it happening in the future but past actions/inactions were most certainly disgusting and in my opinion there are still a lot of people in the Church that need to be dealt with.

[Getslow]

Obviously I know what folks say about this subject but I'm particularly dumb on the topic. This is probably a stupid question but why is this such an issue in the Catholic church (and not necessarily other types of churches)?

 

I'll have to find it again, but apparently sex abuse is just as prevalent in other denominations and religions and it isn't nearly as prevalent as it is with teachers. The main difference is a major global institutional structure that other groups don't have. Something can be said to a problem for the "Catholic Church" as a whole that simply can't be said for smaller organizations.

[75center]

New York Times had an article that referenced the priest abuse problem at 4% of priests from the 1950's to 1992. Best estimates in the at large population ranged from 10% up. I doubt if it's 10% in the general population but statistically speaking, the priests were not more likely to abuse so celibacy is probably not an issue in the problem.

[jericho]

It doesnt matter to me, any child molester (little kids) with the church or not should be shot.

[rjs4470]

The cover up part aside, whether it's Boy Scouts, Little League (or other coaches of other sports), teachers, etc, it seems like parents need to be more careful and diligent about whom they leave their kids with. It seems like almost any organization in which kids are active have some risk of being exposed. Yes, the cover up part is disgusting, but the Catholic Church is not alone in having this problem. For years, people just assumed that those who have regular contact with kids and are in leadership positions are automatically trustworthy. Obviously, this is not the case.

[Wireman]

I guess, as a father of two younger kids, it's hard for me to accept (understand?) that there are enough of these people in the world to make it a real problem. Sad stuff...

 

 

And if this ever happened to one of my kids and I find out...

[JokersWild24]

I'll have to find it again, but apparently sex abuse is just as prevalent in other denominations and religions and it isn't nearly as prevalent as it is with teachers. The main difference is a major global institutional structure that other groups don't have. Something can be said to a problem for the "Catholic Church" as a whole that simply can't be said for smaller organizations.

 

That's what I was trying to get at with my comment about the organizational structure of the church, but you put it much better than I did.

[JokersWild24]

New York Times had an article that referenced the priest abuse problem at 4% of priests from the 1950's to 1992. Best estimates in the at large population ranged from 10% up. I doubt if it's 10% in the general population but statistically speaking, the priests were not more likely to abuse so celibacy is probably not an issue in the problem.

 

If I'm not mistaken, there are a certain set of jobs that tend to attract pedophiles because they offer the opportunities to regularly be in contact with children.

 

Some of those include: clergy, teachers, coaches, etc. Obviously, this isn't to say that anyone in those professions is likely to be a child molester, just that child molesters are drawn to those occupations psychologically.