Does German Catholic Sex Abuse Scandal Go Up To The Pope?
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A widening child sexual abuse inquiry in Europe has landed at the doorstep of Pope Benedict XVI, as a senior church official acknowledged Friday that a German archdiocese made ‘serious mistakes’ in handling an abuse case while the pope served as its archbishop.
RelatedTimes Topics: Roman Catholic Church | Pope Benedict XVI
The archdiocese said that a priest accused of molesting boys was given therapy in 1980 and later allowed to resume pastoral duties, before committing further abuses and being prosecuted. Pope Benedict, who at the time headed the archdiocese of Munich and Freising, approved the priest’s transfer for therapy. A subordinate took full responsibility for allowing the priest to later resume pastoral work, the archdiocese said in a statement.
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Duhhh.
Sieg Heil, Herr Ratzinger.
How can anyone remain a Catholic at this point?
Yes. And?
Well, JR , that is probably the stupidest thing I have ever heard anyone say in my entire life … The previous STIHEH was also typed here, and you have topped it.
You expect Catholics to burn their membership cards, cancel their subscriptions, what?
“It’s not that liberals don’t know anything; it’s that so much of what they know is wrong.”
Ronald Reagan
As an ex-catholic myself I can honestly say it was the single best decision I have ever made in my entire life.
Tho I can hardly believe that’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever heard anyone say, what with being within earshot of your own brain and everything
Does German Catholic Sex Abuse Scandal Go Up To The Pope?
Yes. Next question.
Fixed, Frank-n-Furter.
To paraphrase Electric Light Orchestra:
The cath’lic church is goin’ away
Fading like the Beatles on “Hey Jude”
Do you really fucking expect anyone here to take that senile old shithead seriously?
I guess I was mistaken , Mr Brown … Calling me Frank-n-Furter is the stupidest thing I have ever heard — since I was eight years old, anyway.
Are you guys fucking serious ? You have jobs and families and friends and stuff?
Or are you really teenagers screwing around in your rooms when your parents leave you alone ?
Un-fucking-believable .
Correct me if I’m wrong, but ’round these parts, isn’t the reigning king of immature nicknames on your side of the aisle?
Yet another log to toss on the iokiyar fire…
Maybe one of the rules they might want to start with is : It’s not nice to rape children.
Of course, a little support from the so – called moderate Catholics would be helpful, but they’re too busy complaining every time there’s a child-molesting priest portrayed on the NSOPW.
How can anyone remain a Catholic at this point?
Um, they’re too lazy to rape their kids themselves?
You expect Catholics to burn their membership cards, cancel their subscriptions, what?
You really think there’s no way to tell when a church has been abandoned by its followers? How astoundingly moronic. On the level of “trees cause pollution”– Ronald Reagan.
Whatever my grandfather did to get the family excommunicated a hundred years ago…
Thanks.
Hey Oliver, why was
DennisDonna banned?Was Donna banned? I thought Dennis just started posting under his original monicker again.
Frank DiSalle: You expect Catholics to burn their membership cards, cancel their subscriptions, what?
While you, clearly, believe they should do nothing.
Shame.
Whiner.
Actually, the catholic church has successfully diverted its members’ attention toward abortion and gay marriage. Therefore, the sex scandals aren’t on those members’ radar.
However, if Herr Ratzinger goes down (heh), they might finally get a rude awakening.
Trees cause pollution.
Catsup is a vegetable.
Slashing taxes on the wealthy will make everyone prosperous.
Eliminating regulations will make business more responsible.
The check is in the mail.
The part is on order.
I promise not to ejaculate into your mouth.
Bullshit ad infinitum…
I am a Catholic, and remain a Catholic. There are many progressive Catholics who are not traditionalists or untramontane Catholics. There is an organization called “THE PROGRESSIVE CATHOLIC VOICE,” a grassroots organization that pushes for dialog, exchange of ideas and change from the consert within the Catholic community. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, and the late Senator Ted Kennedy come to mind as examples of Progressive Catholics. In response to Toaster’s question, many have posed the same question, and an answer which I agree with was posted in the “PROGRESSIVE CATHOLIC VOICE,…WHY WE STAY.” I must agree with writer Koleen Kochivan-Baker, that we realize that our “spiritual path” is a challenge to our enculturated egos. “Jesus fought his own traditions on just those lines by challenging those assumptions behind those rules of the Pharisaic Judaism”, as stated by Kochivan-Baker. We progressive Catholics, are fully aware of who benifits from the gay bashing, denying birth control to overpopulated communities worldwide, and clerical sexual abuse, and know as Catholics we must fight against this exploitation. We progressives Catholics understand that we must STAND AGAINST THE EVILS IN OUR CHURCH.
Some of the progressive websites that might add insight into why we remain are: http://www.cta-usa.org /http://www.dignityusa.org/http://futurechurch.org/http://www.paxchristiusa.org/
You forgot “Mission Accomplished!”
Well at least you admit it.
First step to getting help is admitting it, y’know….
Best of luck, Connie.
Good to see you back, Dennis. Please don’t feel like you need to hide behind a different screen name ever again. You’ll always be Dennis to us.
Sean D., please check out my response to Toaster earlier. I have provided some links to inform you of the Progressive Catholic Movements among Catholics. In the same manner that we as Americans will not tolerate the traditionalist, conservative, racist, bigoted, hijacking of American patriotism, and the flag, we progressive Catholics will not allow the traditionalist, conservative, racist, sexist, dark side of the Catholic Church to hijack the Catholic Church.
I only wish that some of the Republican posters on this blog would take a page from the Progressive Catholic movement that condemns the deviance of the church, and condemn their own racist, sexist, and classism that is being exhibited from the right, not condone and excuse their bad behavior and bring back some integrity to their party.
I understand how difficult it is not to paint everyone one with the same brush, as I struggle to teach my son, and some of his young friends that it’s not “WHITE PEOPLE” when my son and his friends asks “why do White people hate African Americans?” I have to help him to resist painting all White people with the same immoral brush and point out that, it’s a political mindset of some people who happen to be white, or how groups of people can be manipulated by lack of education and “mob mentality.”
Thank you Wilbur.
There are more of us than one may think. The priest of my Church here in OHIO of all places, lives with a nun, has adopted three children all of whom were abandoned HIV/Positive children. The oldest, an African American girl, graduates from high school this year and is off to Oberlin University, one African American boy six years old, and a three year old European American girl. Because the nun and the priest are not African Americans, there is a call for the African Americans in the community to “big sister,” and “big brother,” to support and help navigate these children as they grow into adulthood. The church has opened a food co-op to help defray the cost of the high price of food, and household items in the community. The Cleveland area has a large Muslim community, both from Middle Eastern and African countries. The Catholic community of which I am a part, partners with their community and holds joint seminars and advocates for social issues as one community, not as “christian and muslim,”. Unfortunately, these things do not get much media attention. In fact, as a former NY’er I was shocked to find such progressive Catholics in the Midwest. My biased halfheartedly believed that I might find some crosses burning on my door with the warnings I was given from my well intentioned New York friends before I left the “Big Apple.”
I do understand all of the posts though, and in some small way I hope to set the record straight, NO PUN INTENDED…..:)
Or are you really teenagers screwing around in your rooms when your parents leave you alone ?
Didn’t get the chance to do so when you were younger, Frank DiSalle, or are you still dreaming of such freedom?
Anyhoo, I’ll not contribute to the cavalcade of name-calling, and just remind you of what the founder of Christianity said about the subject:
True. But I was specifically going for Reagan’s bullshit.
Me too! As Donna,/Dennis, or whom ever, her/his/the posts were particulary vicious, nastier than usual, bordering on psychotic ranting and rambling. I thought that Donna was about to go “Postal” (no offense to the postal workers of America). So, I echo Wilbur……..
Geez, if this thing blows up further, will there be actual pressure on the Pope to, um, resign his position?
Maybe they should think outside the box a bit, and nominate a new, non-Euro pope. I have no false hope they’ll nominate anyone from the “progressive wing” of the RCC any time in the next 2-3 popes, but perhaps by the end of the 21st century the Church doctrine will finally catch up with the late 20th. It may take Islam a century longer than that…
Being Pope means never having to say you’re sorry.
You’ve become an obsessed psychotic, Wilbur. You’re going down the same dirt road as fafaroo, News Reference, Indeed, Jaim and CS Strowbridge.
You fooled me. I thought you were one of the decent ones.
Who here is shocked?
If you want to get a conservative opinion from a liturgical Christian about the hierarchical arrogance of the Roman Catholic Church, ask pretty much any one of 300 million Orthodox Christians worldwide. Ask them how Rome facilitated the sacking of Constantinople in one century and let the Turkish invaders mow it over in another. Ask them how Rome, going back to the time of Charlemagne, arrogated to itself the title of “THE Christian Church”, of which all others were mere local subordinate divisions – a doctrine that still holds to this day. For a good discussion of this matter, I recommend this podcast as a brief introduction.
No one should be shocked that someone who gave most of his adult life to preserving the institutions of Papal might and doctrinal ruthlessness – a literal Inquisitor for his decades – would be willing to cover up crimes and return criminal two-legged assets of the Holy Church in his old backyard in Munich. That said, it’s one thing not to be shocked, but another to convict. Show me the evidence; there’s more than one a**-kissing holy politico in that institution and I am not convinced that Ratzinger is actually the proper Defendant here.
That’s right, Dennis, check your underwear drawer. I’ve left something there for you.
That’s great Connie. I’ve never been able to accommodate myself to any organized religion but all of them — even, no, especially Catholicism — can be a powerful force for good when people take their religious teachings seriously.
When they use it for warmongering, oppression, exclusion, judgmentalism and exploitation, well, then we have a problem, but it’s with the people, not the religion.
Leaving the Catholic Church was one of the healthiest things I’ve done in my life. I’m grateful for the good of the experience, such as it was, but my children can get that without the rest.
At this point, if I still considered myself a practicing Catholic, and was pressed to answer why, I really don’t know how I could justify it.
If you weren’t such a dishonest and disingenuous douchebag, Wilbur, you’d email Oliver and ask him if I had posted as Donna and you’d have the scoop of the year for this place- something fafaroo spends countless hours pining for. But your are one and so you don’t ask him, you just post something silly and sit back and smirk when naive people like Connie believe you.
Kinda pathetic. par for the course, though. I just thought you were better than that. Maybe I’m the naive one.
…something fafaroo spends countless hours pining for.
I think you’re missing the point, Dennis. No big surprise there.
When people accuse you of posting under another name, I think they may be implying that your particular style of comment is about as robotic and monotonous as they come. It doesn’t really matter that you’re not Donna or someone else.
You all sound the exactly the same.
You’re a sad little bitch Dennis/Donna. I pity you.
Peace be with you Donnis, er, I mean Tennis, er Dennis. I’m just yanking your chain a little bit.
No you don’t, Jaim. You’re jealous of me and for some strange reason you’re obsessed with me. It’s killing you to ignore me so you can act like the good commenter and then plead with Oliver to ban me.
You’ve been good for a few weeks now; don’t blow it. Be strong.
Me too, Wilbur. Just don’t want you ending up a degenerate like Jaim. You can see what happens when you let your obsessions get the best of you. Peace be with you, too. I used to belong to the same church as Chuch Noll when I lived in the Burgh and one time I got to give him the sign of peace. Was pretty cool. Our priest used to always say good luck to him at the end of mass when he was in attendance.
You’re jealous of me …”
You’re too much, Dennis.
That’s good – it sounded for a minute like you actually had feelings and were no longer the soulless little robotroll we all know and love.
Ramon Hernandez once pretended he was going to toss a ball to me in the stands at 3 rivers, but he was just toying with me. That’s the only thing I have to compete with your Chuck Noll peace sign.
God Dennis, with a capital “G”. I’m not naive, pleeze!!
You know my Darling, I’ve told you time and time again that you hold a special place in my heart. I was joking about you and Donna being one and the same. I actually thought that Donna was Farris, because he’s more mean spirited than you and there wasn’t an ounce of “woman vibe” in (her) post. Deep inside my love, (and I mean way deep, down deep, funky deep), I think you are actually a sweetheart, and fighting tooth and nail to hold onto your outdated values.
Sorry if I hurt your feelings. I was caught up in the moment of levity. After all you’ve flung a great deal of mud around too. So, sit back and don’t get so pissed. I still love you, even if at times I think you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. Kisses Sweetie, kisses……
Geez, Connie, I’m taken aback. Not many people have ever been nice to me on a liberal blog before. I don’t quite know what to say. Next time I’m in Cleveland I’ll have to attend your church.
Unlike you, fafaroo, with Jaim it’s not about my intellect.
Actually, my post was a rephrasing of this comment by Frank. It seems that either Frank forgot what he wrote a couple of days ago, or he realized what I was doing and decided that the best course of action was to ignore it and hope it goes away.
What?
Does the Pope think that a bare Catholic in the woods is the shit?
For those of you who are not solely interested in taking pot shots at the Church, but are interested in some information about what the Church IS doing, you may find this interview interesting.
The Daily Kos/San Francisco Values contingent of OW.com waxes funny.
The Daily Kos/San Francisco Values contingent of OW.com waxes funny.
I’m flattered that you are compelled to point out that I subscribe to 21st Century thought and political views, but who are you attempting to contrast me with?
Please note, Connie, that I was not painting with a broad brush. I was singling out Frank individually, responding specifically to his utter unwillingness to acknowledge any wrongdoing ever by the Catholic Church and his basic (but by now taken for granted) hypocrisy.
That was an interesting interview, Frank. Thanks for the link.
It goes along way to confirm that the catholic church is an cryptic, byzantine, anachronistic institution totally that seems more interested in covering its own ass than cleaning up its own house.
but who are you attempting to contrast me with?
Daily Kooks and nutcases who sit out on street corners with bullhorns yelling and screaming, Repack. That’s who I’m comparing you to… the kind of guy who would think that little joke of yours was even slightly amusing. It would go over well on Daily Kos and in your neighborhood, not sure where else.
For those of you who are not solely interested in taking pot shots at the Church, but are interested in some information about what the Church IS doing, you may find this interview interesting.
Wow, the guy comers right5 out and admits that the Church covered up these crimes, but he says don’t judge us by our 2000 year history. Bope and Change are here. Where have I heard that before?
How does the admission that such crimes took place and were covered up by “overzealous” (zeal for what?) bishops put the church in any sort of positive light?
[Who are you comparing me to?]
Daily Kooks and nutcases who sit out on street corners with bullhorns yelling and screaming, Repack. That’s who I’m comparing you to…
Contrasting.
The word you are searching for re: me v. the kooks [Teabaggers] on the corners with the bullhorns espousing 19th Century political thought is “contrasting.”
Since I am an actual patriot, do not attempt to compare me to your fellow anarchist teabag kooks and nutcases.
Natch.
Hope and Change are here. Where have I heard that before?
Lemme think… From the current President? Is he lying, too ?
Makes you wonder if everyone wants to preserve the status quo? I guess that’s why America is mostly conservative.
BTW, the Catholic Church continues to grow each year. Apparently some people believe that the Church is better than a “cryptic, byzantine, anachronistic institution ” ( I guess all those old Churchy terms threw you off, eh? ).
You nailed it. Frank.
You want to know a better description of child sexual abuse than “delicta graviora”?
Felony.
The church seems far more interested in playing out its own irrelevant, internal parlor games than actually cleaning house.
The guy all but admits that of 3,000 cases of child and adolescent sexual abuse, the church only fired 10 percent of accused priests under its own initiative. In the overwhelming majority of cases, 60 percent of the priests got off with “Go sit in the corner and pray about it.”
So yes Frank, the church is a “cryptic, byzantine, anachronistic institution.”
As for the reason why more people keep joining it, I will refer you to P.T. Barnum.
Does the Roman Catholic Church actually grow, or does it merely fail to remove those who have left the church? Under canon law, a Catholic is someone who has been baptized or confirmed as a Catholic but has not formally forsaken the Church. Most atheists in Ireland, South America, Poland, etc. – a group that IS growing – would be counted in this number; most atheists don’t bother to send in “de-enroll me” cards to their denomination/religion of birth.
I am prepared to believe that Catholic faith in the former Soviet Union is growing, but so is Orthodox Christianity in specific countries there.