Priests?

Tombstone · Post by **Tombstone** » Wed Feb 02, 2005 11:39 am

lilafran wrote: I am in no way discounting that there are many good priests , but there are so many evil ones. As a child, I went to Catholic school and had a wonderful monseignor, but the nuns were mean as hell. Sexual abuse is running rampant in the church, and it's not only priests, but nuns, also. During the 60's, many young men and women who were unsure of their sexuality turned to the only acceptable out---the seminary or the convent. What is your opinion on why there is so much deviant behavior among the clergy?

Lila

I went to Catholic Schools for 12 years. Started in 1968 - through 1980. During the late sixties and mid-70's - our nuns wore the strict black and white habits. Some were kind of mean. Most were wonderful. I wouldn't trade my experiences for anything! I guess I was one of the lucky ones who attended good schools.

I would say, however, that the sexual abuse is so much in the spotlight now - and there is so much focus on it - that I don't think the abuses are anywhere near what was going on in the past. I would bet that the incidents of abuse are no more than what you would find in another large institution.

You ask about the deviant behavior? I think the answer lies in the Church's insistence that the clergy remain celibate and single. I think it goes against the very nature of man.

lady cop · Post by **lady cop** » Wed Feb 02, 2005 11:42 am

i think the Church became a haven for those who knew they were deviant and felt they would be protected by the Church, and they were right. they were protected throughout history.

Tombstone · Post by **Tombstone** » Wed Feb 02, 2005 11:51 am

That's a pretty sad thought, isn't it?

Tombstone · Post by **Tombstone** » Wed Feb 02, 2005 12:15 pm

lilafran wrote: Yes....the protectors are very much to blame. There is a priest in my area who has molested probably 30- 40 kids (now adults) who have come forward... this does not reflect the actual number because so many are ashamed to come forward

. This man was transferred from parish to parish to victimize more children until finally, a few short years ago, he was jailed. It angers me that the Bishops allowed this to happen.

Lila
Agreed. This is / was horrible. I still haven't heard the justification on why these guys weren't booted out.

BabyRider · Post by **BabyRider** » Wed Feb 02, 2005 2:02 pm

Tombstone wrote: I still haven't heard the justification on why these guys weren't booted out.
What would be the justification? Is there any "reason" you could be given that would clear things up in your mind? There sure isn't for me. I think you nailed it earlier, Tombstone, when you mentioned the church's insistence that the clergy remain celibate. They are willing to let these animals loose on the children, and then lie for them and protect them, but they can't get married and have sex like anyone else. The cover-ups have been going on so long, it's anyone's guess how long one of these maggots gets away with this. And I'd bet my house that there's WAY more of them than we know about. It's one of those things that makes me so mad I just sit there, shaking my head, wishing we lived in the old West where killing a pervert got you, at the most, 30 days in jail. :yh_angry

capt_buzzard · Post by **capt_buzzard** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 7:18 pm

There are many good priests in all walks of life. But, and I say the good priests protected the Evil ones too.

lady cop · Post by **lady cop** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 7:21 pm

capt_buzzard wrote: There are many good priests in all walks of life. But, and I say the good priests protected the Evil ones too.
well if they are priests they are not in all walks of life, they are in the catholic clergy. and any "good" priests that protected evil ones are, by definition, not "good". if you enable evil, then you are evil as well.

Post by **kensloft** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 9:49 pm

lady cop wrote: i think the Church became a haven for those who knew they were deviant and felt they would be protected by the Church, and they were right. they were protected throughout history.

WhenI went to Catholic schools I was taught by nuns in the elementary phase and they did a good job as far as I was concerned. But I was a boy and not a girl. I didn't see that girls could like girls. I did not believe that girls would like girls because the nuns didn't say tht it was so.

Priests in the second phase, that of high school. While in attendance at the school I saw that there were those that just didn't look priestly, if you get my drift, and they were more than the solitary, aloof figure. Right away I put away any pretensions of going to the seminary. They knew who they wanted to go to God with and made sure that they got the requisite needs to enable them to get there.

Enough of that got me into the Christian Brothers. There I found the same only more pronounced and operating between the Church and its laymen (pun intended).

Of course, Canada and the US began to realize that there was something amiss in the institutions when orpans, juvenile delinquents and abducted Indian children were found to be made into the sexual play toys of these saintly people. It is inconsistent with the doctrine of the Catholic Church but it is a fact that this behaviour was not looked at until after the fact. After the fact meant many broken lives of which there were many deaths by suicide ensued.

I'm sure that if records were kept throughout the millennia there would be an intolerable amount of pedophiles within the Church that took the Lord's Words concerning children to heart and out of context with glee. What better place to hide in the forest than disguising one's self as a tree.

I do agree with tombstone that they are far from being an inordinate number but there are far too many than there should be. Cleaning house shouldn't hurt the trust that most Catholics have for their clergy.