On the child abuse scandal in the Catholic church

[ajva]

It's well known that the current Pope sent out a letter to all Catholic bishops worldwide in 2001 demanding papal silence on reported cases of child abuse as part of the aim that all cases could be handled by the Vatican, and only by the Vatican - sorting out the problem 'in-house', as it were

Comments

[ergotia]

Very interesting post.Just two points to make on an initial reading:

- for God to forgive sin it is necessary that you genuinely repent, rather than "feeling a bit bad" or feeling worried that you are going to Hell because of your sin. Only God can know whether repentance is genuine, so it is not that comfortable or reassuring a doctrine

- I am sure some men become priests solely to abuse children, but perhaps many of the abusers had a vocation but were driven mad by celibacy

More generally, yes, I think you are right about the "impossible position". My heart does not bleed for him though.

[valkyriekaren]

Also, the Church seems to be putting all of the focus on the spiritual needs and pastoral duties of the priest (that he should repent, and that he should be allowed to continue working for the good of the Church as a whole), and very little on protecting children from harm. That seems incredibly backwards - I know you're supposed to love the sinner and hate the sin, but I hadn't realised you were supposed to ignore the victim too.

[ajva]

Also small point, I've no idea where I've picked this up from so it's probably not actually a requirement, but I've always thought (was taught?) that in order to show genuine repentance, you had to also try to do something to make reparation.

But this is not necessary in basic Christian doctrine. You don't have to make reparation for your sins because they've already been paid for on your behalf; you just have to *feel* genuinely repentant and ask for forgiveness, and it's for God to look into your heart and decide whether you're repentant enough or not. By your own admission, you don't know where your belief that reparation is necessary comes from - and that's because it's a socially useful add-on (or, seen another way, naturally evolved empathetic human behaviour, which would be there whether there were any religion or not) rather than basic Christian doctrine.

[emmy_mallow]

Hmm. But what about excommunication? A custom retained by the catholic church intended to be the ultimate punishment. So, surely there are some things that man can do that cannot be forgiven.

Wikipedia keeps a list and on that list are crimes such as 'consecrating four bishops without the papal mandate' and 'allowing an abortion alleged medically necessary to save the life of a pregnant woman suffering from pulmonary hypertension.'

So, why not excommunicate those found guilty of serially abusing children? Why not? You don't have to turn over the records to the police so you retain the secrecy BUT you publically condemn those who have committed such awful crimes with the ultimate sanction and thus show that you take it seriously.

Unless of course the Catholic church does not consider the sexual abuse of children to be on the same scale as falsely consecrating bishops. Which is out of step with the modern world.

Or the problem is so widespread that the excommunication policy would see the catholic church utterly devastated.

[emmy_mallow]

Yes. I know. I read it too. BUT don't you think it would have been a better plan to excommunicate them rather than the vatican shuffling their feet and saying they'll deal with it?

[jhg]

I'm sure you're right. I'm equally sure that Catholic doctrine is wrong.