Attack on Catholic Church

I do not really closely follow the whole thing. But I do follow it. I'll try to give some links on the accusations as well as the Church responses (not officially from the Vatican but from some other Catholic writers or credible clergy). I am not claiming that i know everything. I am confused myself, blame it on the media that overwhelms me. so my response requests for clarification from some others.

Well, first of all, it is an old and ongoing story. Sexual abuse by clergy reports state that the abuse happened since decades ago. To follow all the complete saga.. wiki can be a good place to start http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_sex_abuse_cases . well, I dont read all, it's too long. Here is the summary, http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-47432520100404

IT is receiving much media attention recently because of some cases that can potentially (and is being) used to attack Pope Benedict XVI personally. Quoting Archbisop Timothy Dolan of New York "tidal wave of headlines about abuse of minors by some few priests, this time in Ireland, Germany, and a re-run of an old story from Wisconsin." (from http://www.zenit.org/article-28796?l=english also featured in this weekend's Catholic News). In Catholic News I read today, Archbishop Dolan also highlights the positive contribution of Pope Benedict XVI to the handling of such cases. (read read read! actually I feel reading this article is more recommended than reading my next few paragraphs)

About the cases in Ireland, I do not know if there is any recent cases reported, what i know is that Pope Benedict recently (on March 2010) apologized for Irish's clergy sexual abuse. I did not really follow this one.

The reports from Germany is used by the media to attack Pope Benedict, because the abuse happened in the Munich - Freising archdiocese, when the Pope, then Archbishop of Munich, was the leader. The accusation made against the Pope is that the convicted priest (who conducted the sexual abuse) was not prosecuted but was trasfered from one diocese to another, assuming the knowledge of Archbishop Ratzinger. To this accusation, former Vicar General of munich archdiocese defends Pope Benedict , u can read in this article http://www.zenit.org/article-28635?l=english

The old story from Wisconsin is about Father Murphy's case who was alleged conducting sexual abuse to ~ 200 deaf boys many decades ago (for arnd 20 years or so). The accusation made was about something similar, that Father Murphy was not laicized until his death.. and again Pope Benedict is accused of consenting to the decision of not defrocking Father Murphy. The story is recently getting wide attention after New York Times wrote an article about it. I read the response to the article made by a Catholic Blogger (who is also a journalist). I found his writing is helping me to separate facts and fictions in the NYTimes articles. Here is the article http://catholicism.about.com/b/2010/03/29/the-pope-and-fr-murphy-fact-fi... .

Well, my personal opinion on this, the sexual abuse by clergy is indeed a reality, a very sad one. The Church (from the mouth of so many bishops) states that even though the number is not as much as what is being reported by the media, but it is still too large to be ignored (I paraphrase it, i need citations, but I'm sleepy now, so sorry). Whether or not the accusation against Pope Benedict true or not, the fact that some of the cases are covered up by some (other) Church authorities is a reality.

No doubts, this is a cross to the Church. Not only to Pope Benedict, or the Bishops or the Clergy, but to us. Firstly, most (if not all) of the victims are also our brothers and sisters. Secondly, the offenders are also our brothers. I also feel the same with you that I am held accountable to explain to other Christians/ Non Christians, if they demand explanation. I guess if I have to give explanation, I will admit that such reality happen in our Church. However we have to also clarify that some of the accusations made against us, the Church, as well as the Pope are unjust, bias and unfair.

More important than this apologetic stuffs, for me, is how this will affect us on the Church and our leaders. I hope this will not shake our faith in the Church or doubting the leadership of our Papa on earth. The Church will remain holy and unblemish even though the members sin.

I asked myself about how is my reaction towards my brothers who have fallen.  I realized, I lack that compassion that Jesus and the saints have.. I was angry and was a bit disgusted with them. I remember few weeks ago someone shared St Philip Neri's saying on compassion towards the fallen in chastity matters during teaching meeting (VALENT, CHRISTINE give me that quote).  And just today I heard a Father's Moundy Thursday homily from EWTN about Priesthood. He says that many ppl complains to him that these priests are no good, those priests have affairs, that particular priests are corrupted. He replied to these complainers, "how much time do you spend a day in praying for them?" Well, my answer to that question... almost none.

Priests are humans, subjected to temptations. Phillip told us during teaching meeting that the priests are the ultimate target of the Devil, coz they are the leaders of the CHurch. If no one or few ppl only pray for them... chance for them to give in to temptations are greater.

So, let's pray more and more for the whole Church, for the pope and the priests.

Quote from Archbishop Dolan that receives 20 seconds of applause (including from me)

“The Eucharist is the Sunday meal of the spiritual family we call the Church. At Sunday dinner we share both joys and sorrows. The father of our family, 'il papa,' needs our love, support, and prayers.”

Viva La Papa!

hello~ =) just a short sharing about this topic =).. actually I don't follow this topic very closely, i just know what is going on.. but recently this topic keeps coming up for me too, esp with people around all talking about it so it was quite disturbing and saddening.. but i felt that this article

http://www.catholic.com/li brary/A_Crisis_of_Saints.asp

really helped me to understand how to deal with it. I looked at the other articles that maggy posted and I found them helpful too (thanks maggy :D)

Basically (this is what i got from the article), even in the 12 apostles, the ones that journeyed with Jesus, dined and spoke with him, one of them turned on Jesus. But the Catholic Church would not have survived if we had just focused on the betrayal of that one man. Instead, why not put the focus on the other 11 who had kept the faith? It does not make sense to judge a faith by someone who has not kept it, right?

In addition, even though Judas betrayed Jesus, "God foresaw this evil and used it to accomplish the ultimate good: the redemption of the world." (from the article) So we can have hope even in dark times, because even though Man is imperfect, and often falls away from God, our loving Creator is all-powerful and perfect, and everything is in the palm of His hand. He is in control of it all, and He can work even through our many imperfections.

About the response to the scandals, i quote the same website:

"This scandal is a scaffold on which some will try to hang their justification for not practicing the faith. That is why personal holiness is so important. Such people need to find in all of us a reason for faith, a reason for hope, a reason for responding with love to the love of the Lord. The beatitudes in Christ's Sermon on the Mount are a recipe for holiness. We all need to live them more."

"It's a tough time to be a priest today. It's a tough time to be a Catholic today. But it's also a great time to be a priest and a great time to be a Catholic. Jesus says, "Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven" (Matt. 5:11-12).But while we all might have to suffer such insults and even slander on account of Christ, we should indeed rejoice. It's a great time to be a Christian, because this is a time in which God really needs us to show his true face. In bygone days in America, the Church was respected. Priests were respected. The Church had a reputation for holiness and goodness. Not so at the moment."

So it's even more important now that we cling on to our Rock and practice our faith all the more! Our actions will testify much louder than any words we can say. :) :) and i also agree with maggy in that we really need to pray for these people, and also pray for our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI too. It's not that we're any better than any of these people who say such things about the Church, we are weak like all of them, it's just that we've found our light in Christ, so let's pray together for them that God will open their eyes and mind, and that they too will experience the love of God in their lives =)

there's a lot more information in the rest of the article.. i tot it was quite a good read. :) hope it helps.