1985 Ratzinger letter resisted defrocking abusive priests

[Lunar]

Imagine if ACORN had done 1/100th as much.

[Lunar]

The defense is that at the time, it was thought in some circles that pedophiles would respond positively to therapy. For some reason, the idea of calling the prosecutors for what appears to be a crime is just not on certain theological radar screens. I mean, after all, a jail cell might be inimical to the therapeutic regimen.

Has there ever been a politician in modern America who has basically be responsible for a worse scandal?  Like, you would have to physically murder someone to commit a crime worse than letting a priest who openly admitted to tying up and raping two boys continue hanging out with kids in your organization, right?  

Or the hundreds of other raped boys?    

I'd accuse the Pope of being tone-deaf, but that would be insensitive considering the circumstances.  

At what point is the church going to take responsibility?

[Lunar]

That depends entirely on the definition of 'scandal'.

Use any definition.



http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/religion/Priest_sued_over_sexual_abuse.html?showFullArticle=y

2008 event

A Catholic priest from a rural parish west of San Antonio is accused in a lawsuit filed Thursday of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy at gunpoint and during private catechism sessions two years ago.
The suit, which names outgoing Archbishop José Gomez as a defendant and claims he sought to conceal the matter, comes three days after the Vatican named Gomez as the next archbishop in Los Angeles.

[Lunar]

To be fair, we should keep in mind that several of the reported incidents are likely made up and/or distorted. When a scandal gets this big you always have people jumping on the bandwagon, so to speak. That isn't to say that there has not been a large number of abuses (there clearly has been) and that it is a big scandal for the Church and all that.

But in situations like these there is always a tendency to take every new report as gospel (if you will pardon the pun) and that might lead you wrong.

Well, there seems to be systemic child rape, or at the very least, an intentional, fully-aware, systemic cover-up of child-rape..  Where is the church taking responsibility and corrective action?   And is there a moral responsibility, perhaps even a legal one, considering the scope of what Ratzinger did in the latest scandal?  The individual incidents aren't as important as the bigger picture.

I'm concerned.

[Lunar]

Remember that there are two separate but intertwining problems:

1) Child rape

2) The systemic covering up of child rape...other branches of church may not have the bureaucratic secrecy and whatnot that the Catholic Church has when it comes to this issue, and thus are far more immune to child rape scandals as known child rapists are not tolerated and passively allowed to continue.