"priest says it so it must be right, and you believe that" or something to that affect... That's the reason faith is so dangerous. Nothing should EVER be above questioning or criticism.
Benedict XVI defrocked some 400 priests during his tenure , he also bemoaned the filth of the church during the 9th station of the stations of the cross . I have read that Ratzinger had his hands tied at times by JPII secretary and also the Secretary of State Angelo Sodano. I live in Boston Ma. where our own Cardinal Law had to resign because of the abuses that had built up . It is a shame that things like this were allowed .
I think it is important to point out that there is statistically a higher percentage of child abuse and child rape in schools and in the home than in the Catholic church. It is unfair to demonise a religion because of a few miscreants (less than 0.1 percent of the clergy). Children are far more likely to be molested by a teacher in school than they are by the local priest. I am not a Catholic, by the way; I just think it is important to be fair.
there used to be something called 'an age of innocence'. we trusted people in authority ie. doctors, dentists, nurses and priests etc. but we have been betrayed by the very people we trusted most. and now we have to distrust these people and, for many people find this difficult.. as you say we must be on our guard at all times.
Nobody in any position of power can be trusted. Especially as an agent of one of the largest criminal organizations in the world. The way it treated the people in Ireland shows they care for money the most. Solution is remove the sources of money from the Vatican Corporation.
@Efrasios To say that the culprits are merely "a small number of priests" ignores the fact that the coverups of these incidents were carried out in an institutional manner as official policy by the church hierarchy. The scandal isn't just the pedophiles but the institutional cover up Every priest or follower of the church certainly isn't to blame (indeed to blame the followers would be absurd as they're the ones victimized) the church itself however, as an organisation, is.
@Efrasios they don't "say they are priests".... they ARE priests! the catholic church is highly organized, and priests study to become priests... they don't just turn up at a church and start reading sermons...
As a Catholic Christian, I for one am very disturbed 😦 and sicken by the Catholic priests who sexually attacked children. Even the priests themselves who live under a local archdiocese, the local bishops wouldn’t do anything to stop it. Now thank goodness I didn’t sexually attacked by a Catholic priest but I do feel sorry for the victims. And I was a altar server and never once did I hear about a Catholic priest sexually abusing a child. I have a friend who happens to be a Seminarian student who’s in the process of becoming a Catholic priest. I hope & pray that in the future, he’ll become a successful Catholic priest and not a sexual abuser towards children. Will I leave the Catholic faith? No. No matter what happens, I’ll remain faithful. Even Pope Francis himself is disturbed by the sexual abuse scandals and he’s hoping that it’ll end soon and never happen again.
why are these men not being hauled through the courts? if found guilty they take their punishment. you commit the crime, you do the time. that's what would happen to all us mortals. anyone covering up for these vile men should also be investigated. the vatican has to understand it is not above the law. the longer this goes on the more this church is damaged. the catholic church does so much good in the world but a few old men are ruining it's reputation.
@jeebersjumpincryst yes, there's about 1.2 billion muslims and about .9 billion protestants. That's just what i remember, tho. 20 seconds on google should yield better results.
@losarman "where the fuck do they get one million followers from" are you talking about catholics? because there's one billion of them, not one million.
there is no reason that the vatican has a right to tell someone who is preist that he cannot leave if he wants to! that is soully irresposible and an extreme form of control...this is the huge problem with religion! you cannot force people into believing things they dont believe...that itself is a form of rape! an individual must come to a belief with an open mind and open heart! this is why any form of law is backwards!
where the fuck do they get one million followers from. i am a rc but am also an atheist, cudnt be bothered to go thru the palava of signing out of that society
My stomach turns hearing these stories of abuse. I really don’t trust any holy man. They have all been tainted by the abusive priests and it’s a lot of them around the world. These evil men have no clue what is gods word.
No where in the Bible indicates God = Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, says you should call any man a father. Jesus Christ Himself said you have only one Father, Who is in heaven. The Roman Catholic church requires its members to call these men Father. Neither did God ever say you have to remain single/unmarried in order to serve Him. In fact, it is the opposite. God wants man to be married and be committed to his family. Neither did the Bible says you should celebrate Christmas or Easter because no where in the Bible say Jesus ever celebrated them. Nor did Jesus ever held Mass on a regular basis. In fact, all of the things the Catholic church do are pagan practices started by Constantine of Rome of the early Roman Catholic. What Jesus did celebrate are the Sabbath = a day of rest from work and be with God (which is from sundown of Friday to sundown of Saturday which counts as the last day of the week, according to His creation in Genesis). There are 7 Holy Convocations (God's appointed seasons). 1. Passover = Held on the 14th day of the first month at twilight (sundown) which is the month called Aviv ie Nisan of the Jewish calender. This is the meal our Lord God Jesus Christ, Son of Most High God; held the famous Last Supper with His twelve disciples in the upper room. It is a meal which includes 4 cups of wine which all has very significant spiritual meanings behind them. As well as the lamb which must be eaten with no over night leftovers, nor must any of it's bone be broken! Along with other items for the meal. None of the Communion we take in today's church really take the Passover the way Jesus held with His disciples. 2. Unleavened Bread = Starts on 15th day of Aviv ie Nisan. Feast of Unleavened to the Lord : eat unleavened bread (made of barley) for 7 days. Do no work and seek the Lord God Almighty. Jesus was resurrected during Unleavened Bread, on First Fruits. 3. Day of First Fruits. 4. Shavuot/Feast of Harvest (new grain of wheat) = Leviticus 23:15-22. Spiritually relates to His sending the immersion, saturation, of the Holy Spirit on the First Fruits of Savuot. (Pentecoast) 5. Rosh Hashanah/Yom Teruah/Day of Memorial (blowing of horns) = is a call to repentance for believers. 6. Yom Kippur/Day of Atonement. Held the day after Day of Memorial (blowing of horns) = This is a solemn call to repent. We need to vow each year to be better the coming year than we were this past year. Lev. 23:26-32. 7. Sukkot/Feast of Tabernacles = Celebrates the fall harvest. Lev. 23:33-43. Jesus held these 7 Holy Convocations in the Bible. However, seldom do you see any church all over the world really held these with their congregations who are called the Body of Christ or His Bride. Yet the first 3 Holy Convocations relates to His First Coming and the last 3 relates to His Second Coming and His Millenium reign on earth. But unfortunately very seldom, if any, Christians talk about this. And then, the nation of Israel celebrate these Holy Convocations but majority of them did not know it's relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. This is all the enemy's deception for too long. I don't blame anyone for failing to know any of this because I have been a christian attending church (not Roman Catholic but a none denominational) for many years. And I have only discovered this a few years ago after being fed up with listening to too many repeats of similar New Testament sermons about (material) blessings, how to serve God (inside the building) rather than telling unbelievers outside of church (building) about His salvation to mankind. And I started to ask God there must be more because I began to feel a deep lacking in my spiritual life. So I started reading the Bible myself. The more I read the more I found that the English Bible (many different types) has many mistranslations in them. So I managed to get a Bible which was translated from Hebrew (for the Old Testament) and Septuegent (for the New Testament). I now realised I had been relying totally on the church, the pastor etc to feed me (spiritually); when in fact I should have been reading the Bible back to back myself if I wanted to know about God or any thing about Him. This is the only way any one can learn about Him, is to read His Word recorded in the Bible. Not by someone else's word or interpretation. But read it yourself and if anything I don't understand of what is written, I ask Him/Holy Spirit to reveal to me. And soon enough the truth always shows up. Bible says Jesus is our only mediator for us to our Father in heaven. Bible did not say we should ask a man to be a mediator for you for speak to God, which is what Roman Catholic church does. I pray those really seeks to know Him must learn the truth. By reading a proper translated Bible and have a personal relationship with God for His Second Coming is coming at a lightening speed. Everything written in the Bible must come to pass. According to His Word, we are living the last generation before the tribulation when the world must be so chaotic and horrific (as recorded in Revelation) that "no man can survive had not God shortened these days".
