friday night thoughts.

[gfrancie]

I have been having conversations with other Catholic friends and family members about...everything. In particular the Pope's comments about the media's coverage as just playing on petty rumors.

Petty rumors.

What an insulting thing to say. I think a number of Catholics would be inclined to say, "OH REALLY?"
I think of the priest from my home town parish (that I have talked about a bit) who engaged in inappropriate behavior with teenaged girls. I think of my sister inlaw's Father who suffered horrifying abuse at the hands of priests in Ireland and I also think of someone who worked at my CYO summer camp when I was growing up. He was a counselor about the time I started going to summer camp and later on he was a director there and at the summer camp I went to as a teenager. An incredibly sweet guy and a few years ago he spoke publicly about the fact that he had been molested by a priest at summer camp. (the one I went to as a kid) It was a really awful situation. The priest was a charismatic figure and well known for a lot of good work. The priest had a lot of demons and later on the director came forward about what had happened to him. (about the time he became a camp counselor) There was a financial settlement with the diocese. What I always found interesting is that the director went to work in the place where the molestation had happened. He is a guy who really had his faith thrown for a loop and the whole experience had a profound effect on his life. He went from being an out-going kid to being filled with a lot of hate and depression. Years later he spoke with the priest and forgave him but was really upset when he learned how many other kids had been abused. The director obviously loved his job and provided a safe and wonderful experience for kids. When more public allegations came out the priest asked to be de-frocked but he never faced any criminal charges for molesting kids. I found out recently that this priest molested another well-known counselor and (someone my brother recalled fondly from his days at Summer camp.) Again this counselor obviously was able to take something from this situation so that others didn't experience the same thing.

Pope Nazi-pants the Dickith indeed...

Comments

[la-sherazade.livejournal.com]

Did you hear the bit about the "fixer" for the Church on This American Life? This poor monk who was sent to patch things up when priests molested people--it caused him to eventually lose his faith, at least his faith in the church, and now he helps the victims as a layperson.
I was saying to Larry that one thing I think people don't get is that molestation by a priest is not only horrible because of the religious factor (i.e. the fact that they are supposed to provide a model of righteous behavior), but really the truly terrible thing is that priests play a role akin to that of a therapist for their parishioners. So, say someone is molesting you, and you want to turn to someone for help/to talk about it--you can't turn to your molester! People need to get over the religious aspect, IMHO, and realize that it's not about bashing the Church, it should be about making sure that all care-givers in our society (doctors, therapists, teachers, priests) are held responsible for how they treat their patients/parishioners. These are people who are supposed to protect and guide us, that is the true betrayal.

I know the Catholic church is getting a lot of flack right now, and certainly there are things to be criticized within the institution itself, but I just want to say that people should realize this is no way reflects upon the average Catholic. (What people don't talk about enough--except for Dan Savage--is how often Protestant youth ministers and ministers also molest kids/young girls. It's not a problem limited to the CC!!!) Anyway, what I am trying to say in a clumsy way is that I think people need to be supportive of Catholics, who are weathering this storm despite being perfectly innocent, and stop blaming them or associating them with the deeds of a few (?) members of the clergy. I feel like it's probably a hard time to be a Catholic, and that just shouldn't be so.

[oxymoron67.livejournal.com]

The fixer on This American Life. Fascinating. I understand how he walked away from the Church, because I'm considering doing the same.

But the reality is, these priests did these things over and over again, and frequently parents/adults saw things and didn't see OR on occasions when victims came forward, their fellow parishoners bullied them into silence.

The reality is that all Catholics *DO* share some of the guilt here. We participated in a culture of silence and unquestionable obedience to an authority that chose cover up over honesty.

In Catholic faith, this is called a sin of omission: knowing that there is a correct thing to do then choosing not to do it.