Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How are you able to reconcile practicing the Catholic faith after yesterday's release of more sexual abuse by priests? I ask out of genuine curiosity.

I am not Catholic. But I view this like I view systemic racism in our country. I want to remain American, but I fight like hell to end racism.

I think it's completely normal to want to stay Catholic. But I hope all Catholics are fighting like hell to end this type of widespread abuse.

But a key difference is that as an American - I have the right to vote our politicians or protest to my government to make changes.

What is the recourse for Catholics? We can’t vote our church leadership.

The Vatican is still silent on this report. Cardinal Wuerl performed Mass yesterday and said "Catholics need to help victims and he asked for Mary's intervention for those whose confidence is shaken because of the 'terrible plague' of abuse."

Here is the article:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6065267/Archbishop-Washington-faulted-grand-jury-report-handling-abusive-priests-gives-Mass.html

Anonymous wrote:This news is absolutely heartbreaking - on a number of levels. My heart breaks for the victims of sexual abuse who were shamed into silence and will live with these wounds forever. My heart also breaks for the clergy who dedicated their lives to God and helping others for the right reasons and their life's work is now forever tarnished. I grew up in a very Catholic family, attended Catholic schooling and was an altar server. I think of the priests who delivered my elderly and dying family members communion in their homes and offered comfort at every turn, those who organized disaster relief efforts and did other truly wonderful things. And that's not to say that other churches aren't doing these things as well, but witnessing them first hand all your life tends to make a lasting impression. I am disgusted by the abuse and recognize how easy it would be to manipulate the young when a priest is so highly revered.

The only way forward is for the Catholic Church to develop a corrective action plan that has a clear system for victims to report abuse and triggered actions that result. Hire a third party entity to take the victim reports and investigate! There needs to be sunlight and assurances of safety and I just don't think the Catholic Church should be handling these issues internally any longer.

The third party entity is called the police since pedophilia is a crime. The Church obstructed police investigations and helped to hide/move suspects so that pedophile priests could escape prosecution. The fact that the Church hierarchy even thought they could handle these matters "internally" instead of turning it over to the police shows that as an organization, the Church genuinely believes it's above the law. If the Church wants to show that it's capable of change, they should probably start there- full transparency and cooperation with the local authorities.

Anonymous wrote:How are you able to reconcile practicing the Catholic faith after yesterday's release of more sexual abuse by priests? I ask out of genuine curiosity.

I am not Catholic. But I view this like I view systemic racism in our country. I want to remain American, but I fight like hell to end racism.

I think it's completely normal to want to stay Catholic. But I hope all Catholics are fighting like hell to end this type of widespread abuse.

This news is absolutely heartbreaking - on a number of levels. My heart breaks for the victims of sexual abuse who were shamed into silence and will live with these wounds forever. My heart also breaks for the clergy who dedicated their lives to God and helping others for the right reasons and their life's work is now forever tarnished. I grew up in a very Catholic family, attended Catholic schooling and was an altar server. I think of the priests who delivered my elderly and dying family members communion in their homes and offered comfort at every turn, those who organized disaster relief efforts and did other truly wonderful things. And that's not to say that other churches aren't doing these things as well, but witnessing them first hand all your life tends to make a lasting impression. I am disgusted by the abuse and recognize how easy it would be to manipulate the young when a priest is so highly revered.

The only way forward is for the Catholic Church to develop a corrective action plan that has a clear system for victims to report abuse and triggered actions that result. Hire a third party entity to take the victim reports and investigate! There needs to be sunlight and assurances of safety and I just don't think the Catholic Church should be handling these issues internally any longer.

I don’t reconcile because I never believed that my route to God or my faith in general, needed a middle man. Twelve years of catholic school didn’t change my mind. I chose what I believe based on being self aware from a young age. There’s some strange sh*t in all religions. I’m probably a combo of different faiths. I taught RC religious instruction and did it in a progressive/modern way to keep very young kids engaged. DS was baptized and received the sacrament of communion. I ditched confirmation because if/when he wants to make that decision, he should do it based on his beliefs. So to answer OPs question, we don’t currently attend mass nor have we fled from our beliefs. As a family, we’re open to everything. I share with DS my beliefs that there must be a higher power or energy or light or God that is ALL good. Humans can’t possibly be the be all, end all. We believe that some form of alien existence (for lack of a better term) is very possible. We believe in science and evolution. We know the scriptures and also know that they were written and translated by man. Symbolism is the root of all religion. We hope that we will be eternal in some form and love each other wherever that may be. I guess I just wanted my son to learn that faith in something greater is ok, that good will prevail and that we will love each other eternally. I don’t want him to be frightened for the future. Pure souls are filled with kindness and compassion for others. We treat all living things with honor. We don’t condone the acts of sexual predators, murderers or other crimes against humanity, animals or any living thing. We care for the hungry, the sick and poor (literally). This is all mixed in with the humanity of imperfection, disagreements, irreverence and downright crude humor in our home.

This was cathartic, thanks if you read it! I’m going to save this to send to my DS say at later time. Wishing you all faith and hope!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I leave the US racism will stop?

If I leave the Catholic Church pedophilia will stop?

Yeah, but we're working on racism. The church is actively covering up pedophilia

Who is working on racism? Trump? Congress?

No - not Trump and not congress -- but presidents and congresses of the past, and there are laws and programs -- much more needs to be done, obviously, but the US is better than than the RC

A lot is being done in the Church as in other organizations like MCPS. When the work of cleaning house first begins, there are always a lot of shocking revelations. It means that the roaches are being exposed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I leave the US racism will stop?

If I leave the Catholic Church pedophilia will stop?

Yeah, but we're working on racism. The church is actively covering up pedophilia

Can I use Trump and his cabinet as an example of the US working on racism?

At what point is only group of people only represented by the leadership?

Most Catholics I know are committed to protecting children. Just as most use some form of artificial birth control and believe in marriage equality.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I leave the US racism will stop?

If I leave the Catholic Church pedophilia will stop?

Yeah, but we're working on racism. The church is actively covering up pedophilia

Who is working on racism? Trump? Congress?

No - not Trump and not congress -- but presidents and congresses of the past, and there are laws and programs -- much more needs to be done, obviously, but the US is better than than the RC

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I leave the US racism will stop?

If I leave the Catholic Church pedophilia will stop?

Yeah, but we're working on racism. The church is actively covering up pedophilia

Who is working on racism? Trump? Congress?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I left the Catholic Church 10 years ago in fairly large part because of this issue.

I drifted away from the Catholic church decades ago, unrelated to any scandal. I'm so glad I didn't have to deal with all that. I'm not religious but still love the familiar Catholic liturgy. I used to go occasionally to a high Latin mass and throw a few dollars in the basket.

From now on, if I go, I won't give any money. If the church dies out, I'll pay to go to concerts of the numerous beautiful Catholic masses composed by some of the world's greatest composers.

I adore a good portion of the religious works written by these greatest composers, and I absolutely loathe the church.

You may not be able to afford too many of those concerts when your taxes go up to fill the gap in social services left by the demise of the extensive social services provided by the Church in the US:
Cradle to grave medical care
food banks
Clothing closets
Emergency utility payments
Burial funds
orphanages, foster care, and adoption
nursing homes and adult day care
outpatient mental health services

These services are offered to all and often the majority of recipients are non-Catholics.

Outside the US, the Church provides an even greater percentage of services in developing countries. If it dies, so will millions of disabled and discarded people.

Efforts should be made to force massive reform, not kill the only lifeline many people around the world have.

I give to secular orgs that I know do good frontline work in my community. No organization affiliated with the Catholic Church will ever see a penny of my money because I'm not paying for the legal defense of abusers or the lives of contemplation. Beyond that I can't stand to see the big mostly empty buildings in my community owned by the Church. They should liquidate their real estate holdings and give the money away to the needy as penance. I say this as someone whose family was victimized by the Church for generations, and the bags of free groceries they were given along the way didn't make up for the abuse.

In what way?

My grandfather was abused by a priest. My grandfather abused my grandmother, and even after he beat her within an inch of her life, the priest told her to go back to him or end up in hell. My mother and aunts and uncles grew up in a violent, sexually inappropriate home.

PP, I am very sorry for your family's abuse and victimization. I am also appalled by the PPP to which you responded, basically asking you "to prove it."

Anonymous wrote:If I leave the US racism will stop?

If I leave the Catholic Church pedophilia will stop?

Yeah, but we're working on racism. The church is actively covering up pedophilia

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has there been any response from the Vatican yet?

Crickets...crickets....crickets....as usual. No comment from Vatican.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/pope-francis-silent-about-pennsylvania-catholic-church-child-abuse-by-priests?source=articles&via=rss&yptr=yahoo

Just silence. Why can’t the press secretary at least say they will be coming out with a response? On the other hand the US conference of Bishops is in DC and they haven’t said anything either...what a morally corrupt institution.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I left the Catholic Church 10 years ago in fairly large part because of this issue.

I drifted away from the Catholic church decades ago, unrelated to any scandal. I'm so glad I didn't have to deal with all that. I'm not religious but still love the familiar Catholic liturgy. I used to go occasionally to a high Latin mass and throw a few dollars in the basket.

From now on, if I go, I won't give any money. If the church dies out, I'll pay to go to concerts of the numerous beautiful Catholic masses composed by some of the world's greatest composers.

I adore a good portion of the religious works written by these greatest composers, and I absolutely loathe the church.

You may not be able to afford too many of those concerts when your taxes go up to fill the gap in social services left by the demise of the extensive social services provided by the Church in the US:
Cradle to grave medical care
food banks
Clothing closets
Emergency utility payments
Burial funds
orphanages, foster care, and adoption
nursing homes and adult day care
outpatient mental health services

These services are offered to all and often the majority of recipients are non-Catholics.

Outside the US, the Church provides an even greater percentage of services in developing countries. If it dies, so will millions of disabled and discarded people.

Efforts should be made to force massive reform, not kill the only lifeline many people around the world have.

I give to secular orgs that I know do good frontline work in my community. No organization affiliated with the Catholic Church will ever see a penny of my money because I'm not paying for the legal defense of abusers or the lives of contemplation. Beyond that I can't stand to see the big mostly empty buildings in my community owned by the Church. They should liquidate their real estate holdings and give the money away to the needy as penance. I say this as someone whose family was victimized by the Church for generations, and the bags of free groceries they were given along the way didn't make up for the abuse.

In what way?

My grandfather was abused by a priest. My grandfather abused my grandmother, and even after he beat her within an inch of her life, the priest told her to go back to him or end up in hell. My mother and aunts and uncles grew up in a violent, sexually inappropriate home.

Anonymous wrote:For me, it's cultural. The Church is part of my ethnic culture. I couldn't become Protestant or Orthodox because I don't feel a cultural affinity. That sounds bad, but deep down to me becoming Protestant feels like selling out especially WASP sects like Episcopalianism. As for Orthodoxy, that feels cultural as well.

It sounds more like brainwashing