The Latest Catholic Church Scandal

[Rommie]

Exploded in Pennsylvania this week with a grand jury report that named 100 priests from the Pittsburgh area alone for abuse spanning decades. So on a whim I looked up the names and if any of them were at the local Catholic church, St. Scholastica, where my mom dragged us to on Christmas and Easter (we were really not at all religious in my family, never even went to Sunday school and anything, but she'd make us go then and I knew various classmates/neighbors who went there regularly).

So yeah, one of them was stationed there 1991-1994 when I was a kid. And not just garden variety abuse (if there is such a thing), this guy was running a porn ring while a Catholic priest. What the fuck?!

I mean, I guess if they moved around a lot, it's more unusual if something like this never happened in a particular church. But geez, I read this stuff and think how I'm really pretty ok w not being religious.

[SciFiFisher]

Sadly, it's as if some sort of disease has infected the Catholic Church. The disease goes back a long time apparently.

[Cyborg Girl]

Ugh, all the sympathies, Rommie. Even near misses with CSA are horrifying.

And yeah - this is why, even now that I'm vaguely religious, I have trouble dealing with the organized/institutional kind. Religious authority is a form of secular power, plagued by all the problems of secular institutions, and often with less accountability.

[geonuc]

One of the things that annoys me (besides the obvious) is law enforcement's tendencies to let the church police itself. Not only no, but fuck no. If you are accused of a felony - you go before a criminal court for adjudication. The fucking catholic church can do what it wants but the priest goes before a jury regardless.

[Cyborg Girl]

https://www.irishcentral.com/opinion/ni ... hild-abuse

According to Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, a boy named George, “was forced to stand on a bed in a rectory, strip naked and pose as Christ on the cross for the priests. They took photos of their victim, adding them to a collection of child pornography which they produced and shared on church grounds.”

And these sick fucks dare to call people like me diabolical. They dare to talk of exorcism and satanic forces, while abusing actual children in actual sick rituals.

They deserve the very Hell they preach of. May their Church collapse, their doctrines be forgotten, and their ranks end up in prison cells down to the last awful one of them.

[Cyborg Girl]

https://dailytheology.org/2018/08/17/st ... ed-states/

The catastrophic scale and historical magnitude of the abuse makes clear that this is not a case of “a few bad apples” but rather a radical systemic injustice manifested at every level of the Church. Systemic sin cannot be ended through individual goodwill. Its wounds are not healed through statements, internal investigations, or public relations campaigns but rather through collective accountability, transparency, and truth-telling. We are responsible for the house we live in, even if we did not build it ourselves. This is why we call on the U.S. Bishops to offer their resignations collectively, in recognition of the systemic nature of this evil.

[SciFi Chick]

Sadly, it's as if some sort of disease has infected the Catholic Church. The disease goes back a long time apparently.

Back to the founding of the church would be my guess. Let's not forget that orgies among priests and nuns were perfectly okay even as late as the 18th and 19th centuries.

I tend to hold the Catholic Church responsible for the warping of the Marquis de Sade.

[geonuc]

I'm not opposed to priests and nuns having orgies. In fact, maybe if they had continued that tradition, fewer children would have been abused by the clergy.

[SciFi Chick]

I'm not opposed to priests and nuns having orgies. In fact, maybe if they had continued that tradition, fewer children would have been abused by the clergy.

I'd love to think more sexual freedom would have that effect, but when you consider the amount of pedophilia out in Hollywood, I'm going to have to go with, "WTF is wrong with people?" in general. Also, I agree with you 100% on the notion that this should be dealt with by the courts not the freakin' clergy themselves.

[Cyborg Girl]

@geonuc

I'm not opposed to priests and nuns having orgies. In fact, maybe if they had continued that tradition, fewer children would have been abused by the clergy.

I doubt this. Authority and lack of accountability create havens for child abusers pretty much regardless of how much sex the adults are having.

E.g.

https://bust.com/feminism/195040-summer ... oblem.html

There's serious sexual abuse issues at summer camps where counselors hooking up is not just normal but expected. If anything the pressure on women, lack of boundaries for men, and general sexist crap seems to cover the asses of the worst offenders.

Also there's this thing I notice where US culture likes to act like men become pedos, rapists, murderers etc if they don't get enough sex. Not openly saying that, but implying it. I like to call this meme out whenever possibly, because

a) it's garbage
b) it's horribly insulting to men, women, and everyone else;
c) it caused me a lot of depression, fear, and stress before I transitioned, in part because my dad leaned on it to give me grief about my lack of girlfriends
d) I now see incels and other such scum using it to excuse their gratuitous nastiness

So yeah, sorry, I think I smell BS.

[Rommie]

CG, I interpreted geonuc's comments as more on the lines of if you have adults in the Catholic Church able to have sex, you're far less likely to attract pedophiles who are trying to get out of their urges and feel like it should be covered up (because all sex is shameful, let alone pedophilia). And I will agree there is something to this argument, but won't put words in geonuc's mouth and let him clarify what he meant.

I mean, we certainly don't think that teachers shouldn't be allowed to have normal, consenting adult relationships just because they work with children (a more apt analogy IMO than summer camp, where everyone's around everyone else 24/7, to what it's like to go to church a few times a week). That would be fucking weird, firstly, and secondly probably attract people you don't really want to attract to the job because very few normal people would want it.

[Cyborg Girl]

@Rommie

Gotcha. Re the second paragraph, note I did not say that letting priests have sex would *hurt* or was bad, only that it would IMO not help as much as people think. But you may be right, IDK.

"Men become pedos if they don't get enough sex" is an argument I've really seen though, and one that a lot of people IME have accepted uncritically as long as it's not stated too directly. So I'm always on the lookout for it. Perhaps too much so.

[geonuc]

CG, I interpreted geonuc's comments as more on the lines of if you have adults in the Catholic Church able to have sex, you're far less likely to attract pedophiles who are trying to get out of their urges and feel like it should be covered up (because all sex is shameful, let alone pedophilia). And I will agree there is something to this argument, but won't put words in geonuc's mouth and let him clarify what he meant.

Yes, that's what I meant.

[Cyborg Girl]

Ack. Sorry for misunderstanding @geonuc.

[SciFi Chick]

"Men become pedos if they don't get enough sex" is an argument I've really seen though, and one that a lot of people IME have accepted uncritically as long as it's not stated too directly. So I'm always on the lookout for it. Perhaps too much so.

God. People really are stupid.

[SciFi Chick]

This article is 30,000 words long. I haven't had time to finish reading it, much less verify it. The first three paragraphs were so horrifying that I have to wait until I move off this boat to read it, because I already have some puking issues, and this definitely set off my anxiety/gag reflex. I truly hate it when horror is real.

[Rommie]

This article is 30,000 words long. I haven't had time to finish reading it, much less verify it. The first three paragraphs were so horrifying that I have to wait until I move off this boat to read it, because I already have some puking issues, and this definitely set off my anxiety/gag reflex. I truly hate it when horror is real.

Damn. I was mentally prepping myself when I saw the first pics that it would be another terrible story from Ireland. Then I saw it was... Vermont. For some reason that really depressed me.

[Cyborg Girl]

OMFG. I can't even finish reading that.

[SciFi Chick]

OMFG. I can't even finish reading that.

I know. It's like reading details about the Holocaust.

[Thumper]

Looks like I chose wisely.

[Cyborg Girl]

There are way too many adults in this world who should not be allowed anywhere near children, let alone appointed as caretakers.

Fuck child abusers.

[Cyborg Girl]

OMG. What a disgusting specimen of a clergyman.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressiv ... as-a-crime

[SciFi Chick]

Aside from the fact that the idea of not knowing it's illegal for an adult to have sex with a child is patently absurd in this country - ignorance of the law is not defensible so fuck him.