Should we Catholics be angry at the Pope for ignoring the sex abusers of 200 deaf boys as in this report?
The Pope's New Outrage by Barbie Latza Nadeau As more emerges about the pope's role in a sex-abuse cover-up involving more than 200 deaf boys, the Vatican is in crisis mode. Barbie Latza Nadeau talks to victims who still can't get heard. The seedy Vatican pedophilia scandal that has rocked Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland for the last few weeks has just taken an even more lurid turn. Allegations that a Wisconsin priest sexually abused as many as 200 deaf children over the course of 24 years are compounded by the fact that his superiors all but ignored the travesty. And worse still, a paper trail between the Wisconsin diocese and the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith shows that the current pope was well aware of the cover up. The priest, Lawrence C. Murphy, who was head of the St. John’s School for the Deaf in St. Francis Wisconsin, even wrote directly to the man who now leads the Catholic church, appealing for leniency. The letter, published on The New York Times website, is addressed to “His Eminence Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger,†now Pope Benedict XVI. In the letter, Father Murphy pleads for leniency based on the fact that the church’s statue of limitations had run out. “I simply want to live out the time that I have left in the dignity of my priesthood,†he wrote to the man who is now Pope. “I ask your kind assistance in this matter.†The Wisconsin victims described how Murphy abused them in his car, in the confessional, and even at Father Murphy’s mother’s private home. • Big Fat Story: The Vatican Fires Back The Vatican did order that Murphy be tried in a secret Vatican tribunal, but after the elderly priest appealed to Ratzinger, the investigation was mysteriously dropped. Murphy was never defrocked, and died in 1998 with a full Catholic funeral and full Vatican honors as a priest. “I wish I knew what this pope was thinking,†Barbara Blaine, head of Survivor’s Network for those Abused by Priests, told The Daily Beast in Rome on Thursday. She and other survivors of abuse held a small protest outside the walls of Vatican City, passing out copies of photos of predator priests and letters from victims, pleading for help from the Vatican. “What did he think this lack of action would accomplish? These were at-risk kids. They were deaf kids who had been taken from their homes to be cared for by the church. It was outrageous.†Blaine and her group, which includes an abuse survivor from a different Wisconsin parish, were forcibly removed from near Vatican City by Roman police after about 20 minutes for protesting without a permit. Blaine says they were taken in squad cars to a local police station where they were detained for nearly three hours. The police confiscated the posters and letters they were handing out and let them go. Protests were held in Chicago, Milwaukee and other US cities, as well. The group will hold similar events in Munich over the weekend. “I’m still hopeful that this pope will do the right thing,†Blaine says. She and other survivors would like the church to lift the veil of secrecy and turn over criminal child investigations to the local authorities the moment they are reported, rather than treating accusations as an internal church affair. “Criminal investigations should not be the business of the Catholic church.â€
Gender Studies - 7 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
I would condemn any priest who has a fetish for deaf boys. That is just taking things too far.
2 :
SATAN IS IN THE VATICAN http://www.aolnews.com/weird-news/article/satan-is-in-the-vatican-says-catholic-exorcist-gabriele-amorth/19392201
3 :
Yes. The Catholic Church has taken it upon themselves to guard these priests that have abused children. They said that they'll have to answer to God, which is true, but I believe that they also have to answer to the society in which they live. I don't care if a priest lives in the Vatican, the US, Ireland, or Burundi. He HAS to be held accountable to the public. Shame on my Church for covering up such scandals! They were covering for each other as if they were the mafia, rather than an organization of God. That being said, the apology is a great start. Now, only for a policy that calls these abuses to light as they happen, and I think that is about all the Church can do.
4 :
Everyone should be angry. It's despicable.
5 :
the blame should be placed on each individual priest and they must face the consequences according to man's law when they die they face those same consequences under GOD'S law........now after studying some history the only reason that priest are NOT ALLOWED to marry is that there was a HUGE problem with their son's being successors to higher seats in the clergy......as for the molestation of boys i believe that many gay men have had a huge problem with their sexuality and becoming a priest may have been their way to hide the truth but as can be seen in many cases it has failed
6 :
It was only a matter of time before it went "all the way to the top", as they say. I am very disappointed but have not lost Faith in the Church nor the office of the papacy. Controversies in the Church are nothing new, and the clergy sex scandals are the controvery for this age. What you have to remember is that there has never been a time when the Church was without it's sinners, but neither has there ever been a time when the Church was without it's saints. As far as Pope Benedict XVI himself is concerned, let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
7 :
If I were Catholic, I would've left the church long ago because of their cover-ups of pedophilic priests. If I found out something like that was going on at my church, I would walk out the door and never come back. I feels so sorry for all of those poor kids who were victiims.
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