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Primate of Ireland embroiled in child abuse scandal

Jordan St. Francis

Jordan St. Francis

Well-Known Member
Unbelievable. Daily, we see how much further the corruption of the hierarchy runs. Maybe this will signify, eventually, some changes in Church structure.

Benedict wants to help promote a renewal of Catholic culture, and I support him in that. But, as we start to see the dark underbelly of the Catholic culture that has fallen into disrepair in this century, it is becoming clear a radical new vision is necessary.

A culture where respect for the holiness of the Church as Christ's own Body translates into oaths of silence by abused children shows that once again, as has happened many times in the history of the Church, the Gospel of Christ is being eclipsed by worldly elements. Christ teaches us that we need the heart of children to enter into His Kingdom, and so corrupting the hearts of children is surely one of the worst sins of all.

May God raise up more poor saints of Christ to set Church leaders aright and be their moral guides.
 
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berrychrisc

berrychrisc

Devotee of the Immaculata
.lava said:
hi friend :) who is that? excuse my lack of knowledge but i would really like to know who he is and why you say world needs him

.
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St Francis of Assisi founded the Franciscan order of monks and lived in 13th century Italy. He preached a return to Jesus' basic teachings of love and forgiveness, and he tried to emulate Jesus in every facet of his life. He turned many people back to the Catholic faith at a time when people were disheartened over the corruption and worldliness that was rampant in the hierarchy of the church. He was a very simple, sincere man who loved God and his simple, sincere faith inspired many people, and still does today.
 
sandandfoam

sandandfoam

Veteran Member
Autodidact said:
How much evil does a single institution have to perpetrate before it is seen a fundamentally evil?
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Again I'm not RC, but I don't think the Church will ever be seen as evil in this country because for so so long the Catholic Church and Irishness have been entwined to the point of one being indistinguihable from the other.
 
Herr Heinrich

Herr Heinrich

Student of Mythology
That is terrible stuff. I am glad I am not a Catholic anymore. It still makes me sad to see this happening to the Church. Many people do indeed depend on it. I hope this forces their eyes open and helps positive change occur.
 
monta

monta

.
The much awaited pastoral letter is apparently going to be issued by the pope tomorrow, it will be interesting to see what he has to say.
 
kai

kai

ragamuffin
what we need is people in positions of responsibility to stop trying to bypass the legal system.
 
monta

monta

.
Letter to the Catholics of Ireland, 19 March 2010, Benedict XVI

Utter bull ****, I would dearly love to see the letter he was going to send before the German scandal broke.

This seems like nothing more than a weasley attempt to squirm out from beneath any potential financial onus, all through the letter he refres to the mistakes of the Church in Ireland like it is a seperate entity from the Church in Rome, when it has been proven time and again that those in the Papal office was complicit in covering up these events. If a priest or bishop reports to the police and not their higher up in the chain of command they are faced with excommunication.

That he then goes on to try and make a connection between the abuse and Ireland being secular, when these incidents were happening for decades, is pathetic.

Dear Brothers and Sisters of the Church in Ireland, it is with great concern that I write to you as Pastor of the universal Church. Like yourselves, I have been deeply disturbed by the information which has come to light regarding the abuse of children and vulnerable young people by members of the Church in Ireland, particularly by priests and religious. I can only share in the dismay and the sense of betrayal that so many of you have experienced on learning of these sinful and criminal acts and the way Church authorities in Ireland dealt with them
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Church in your country has had to confront new and serious challenges to the faith arising from the rapid transformation and secularization of Irish society. Fast-paced social change has occurred, often adversely affecting people’s traditional adherence to Catholic teaching and values. All too often, the sacramental and devotional practices that sustain faith and enable it to grow, such as frequent confession, daily prayer and annual retreats, were neglected. Significant too was the tendency during this period, also on the part of priests and religious, to adopt ways of thinking and assessing secular realities without sufficient reference to the Gospel. The programme of renewal proposed by the Second Vatican Council was sometimes misinterpreted and indeed, in the light of the profound social changes that were taking place, it was far from easy to know how best to implement it. In particular, there was a well-intentioned but misguided tendency to avoid penal approaches to canonically irregular situations. It is in this overall context that we must try to understand the disturbing problem of child sexual abuse, which has contributed in no small measure to the weakening of faith and the loss of respect for the Church and her teachings.
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Herr Heinrich

Herr Heinrich

Student of Mythology
I have to say I am pretty disgusted by his letter. The Vatican is taking no responsibility for this at all. Of course it is all the Church of Ireland's fault. Of course it has nothing to do with the structure and rules of the Catholic Church in general. Ridiculous. They need to do something soon or I can see another schism occurring in the Church in the near future.
 
monta

monta

.
Xiao_Shu said:
I have to say I am pretty disgusted by his letter. The Vatican is taking no responsibility for this at all. Of course it is all the Church of Ireland's fault. Of course it has nothing to do with the structure and rules of the Catholic Church in general. Ridiculous. They need to do something soon or I can see another schism occurring in the Church in the near future.
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If a priest reported a sex abuse case to the local authorities (police), rather than their own diocesen leader, they faced excomunication!

I bet he wishes he could blame it on the Church of Ireland :biglaugh:

Church of Ireland - A province of the Anglican Communion
 
Autodidact

Autodidact

Intentionally Blank
monta said:
Letter to the Catholics of Ireland, 19 March 2010, Benedict XVI

Utter bull ****, I would dearly love to see the letter he was going to send before the German scandal broke.

This seems like nothing more than a weasley attempt to squirm out from beneath any potential financial onus, all through the letter he refres to the mistakes of the Church in Ireland like it is a seperate entity from the Church in Rome, when it has been proven time and again that those in the Papal office was complicit in covering up these events. If a priest or bishop reports to the police and not their higher up in the chain of command they are faced with excommunication.

That he then goes on to try and make a connection between the abuse and Ireland being secular, when these incidents were happening for decades, is pathetic.
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I love how the problem is secularization. I guess he's right in a way. If it weren't for secularization, they never would have been caught. And that's how he would prefer it.
 
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