PopeInTheWoods

I don't think law enforcement would be involved at all if priests were having consensual sex with other adults. The Church might "condemn" them because priests are supposed to be celibate. Sorry but you asked for it there. Now to the real question...
I'm not an expert, but I can offer some educated guesses as to why an adult authority figure having sex with a child could be considered harmful to the child. For starters, such activity could cause physical pain and injury to the child, especially if he/she has not yet reached physical sexual maturity. Secondly, the intense nature of sexual activity could cause mental or emotional stress and harm to a child who is most likely not educated on or prepared for such situations. Society has "age of consent" laws because statistically those people "of age" are more likely to be able to deal with sex responsibly and not harm themselves or be exploited. Obviously these laws aren't foolproof (some 14-year-olds may be better able to drink, vote, have sex, or drive more responsibly than some 40-year-olds), but they're the alternative we have to requiring all citizens submit all of their decisions on such matters to court approval. Also, there's the question of whether sex with an authority figure is truly consensual, regardless of the "subordinate's" age. Many organizations (companies, the military, etc.) have rules against such relations between those in authority and their charges.

IvanK, I'm pretty sure you didn't disagree with this last point before, but I'm putting it out there again in case anyone else does disagree. The RCC hierarchy can choose to defrock and/or excommunicate pedophile priests or not. I don't care, and neither should the government. But priests who molested children, and other priests who knew about those crimes but didn't report them and enabled the molesters to commit further crimes, should be prosecuted. They should also be held responsible civilly for the physical, mental, and financial health of their victims.

Andy

brighid

I don’t think we have statistics on how many of these men “confessed” to their crimes within the confines of the Church Confessional. IF, some of these men came forward PRIOR to being reported as abusers by parishioners THEN one could invoke the confidentiality issue between a priest and his confessor. However, if the criminal activity is brought to light prior to a priest confessing such actions to a fellow priest or a superior, as it seems has happened in a majority (if not all) of the cases then there should be no fiduciary responsibility between the authority figure and the offending priest.

The reality is that the Church DID have policies in regards to pedophilic priests. I am not aware of any treatment policies it has for priests who engage in consensual sex with adults. Therefore, it full well knew that the actions of these priests were wrong. These incidents of serial molestation and Church cover up are pervasive. They aren’t contained to isolated sections of the US, or other countries but the exist within the entire Church.

The Church could easily have protected the confidentiality of the offending priests AND properly addressed the rights of the victims. Had the Church felt any responsibility to the victims and their families they would have instituted different and more efficient policies to handle these men. The civil suits and hush money have cost the Church hundreds of millions of dollars. How many multimillion payouts did the Church need before it realized that this was a PROBLEM?

Should Catholic priests be allowed to engage in healthy and consensual sexual relationships with men/women? Absolutely! They should be allowed to marry and have normal relationships like any other human being and choosing celibacy ONLY if they want to. The Church should also been as responsible to the civil and criminal authorities it shares a community with, without exception while still maintaining the integrity of the fiduciary relationships it has with it’s parishioners and the community at large. It should enact policies that immediately address an accusation of molestation, institute forgiveness for the priest, but forgiveness does not absolve on of the responsibility one has for the crimes committed against others. The Church should hold it’s priests to a higher standard and should institute tougher penalties, not these coddling techniques because it obviously does not see child molestation as a serious sin OR a crime!

There are individual dioceses and parishes that are cooperating with authorities and they should be commended, even if it’s can be seen as too little, too late for the victims. But the Vatican and its highest ranking Bishops and Cardinals have made it clear that they aren’t interested in real solutions. They aren’t interested in critical self-examination or change to prevent this in the future. They will pay lip service to this until the media attention dies down, children will continue to be molested but perhaps the victims will have a little more courage and speak up sooner because society is on their side.

Can there be a SECULAR alternative to a CHURCH problem? There cannot be. Secular society already has checks, balances and penalties in place for the members of its society that commit such crimes. That system isn’t perfect, but it sure is a HELL of a lot better than anything the Church has had in place, or presently has in place to protect its children.
So, leave the innocent priests out of this but the CHURCH as a whole cannot be removed from the equation. It is the power structure that has established the universal rules for which individual parishes are to handle such priests. The Church is the legal center for the individual parishes and it, along with the accomplices and criminally negligent Cardinals, Bishops and child molesting priests ARE the ONLY ones responsible for the current state of the Church and those who have been victimized by it’s power, secrecy, immorality and unwillingness to be held accountable for its actions and that of its representatives.

No amount of side stepping, no amount of obfuscating, and no amount of pussy footing around the subject changes reality and that is this is a CHURCH problem and because the Church holds itself above the law this problem has become a nightmare for THOUSANDS of victims and their families. We must also include the laity in those casualties as their “faith” and trust in the institution lead by the Holy Spirit, appointed by its God, possessed of all truth, light and righteousness has perpetrated such unspeakable crimes knowingly and without concern for anything other than it’s reputation and strength.

Perhaps, within all the muck there are salvageable parts to the Church and despite my dislike for the Church I find Catholicism to be more palatable then many of its Protestant counterparts. This problem clearly demarcates the absolute necessity for teaching critical thought and reasoning skills to ALL children and abandoning “faith”. Men claiming to be the Vicars of Christ on Earth abused these children. These men and their Church used their power to cover up their crimes and freely harm generations of young men and women, with out remorse, with total prejudice and unfettered arrogance. Nothing can absolve these men of their negligence, malice and complete disregard for morality, law and “souls” of their children. They should be punished to the fullest extent of the law and the Church should be brought to its knees, begging the forgiveness of its flock, humbly submitting to change and willingly giving these perpetrators over to the proper authorities to pay for their crimes while forgiving them, without condoning their actions or further committing more crimes against children and the integrity and intelligence of all people.

Fucking immoral bastards preying on young children, using their willing accomplices to hide and victimize further all the while claiming God is with them while they rape young girls and boys. There are few things sicker than this? Would we be approaching this so gingerly if the Church had created policies to hide serial killers? Doubtfully! These priests may not have killed the bodies of some of their victims but they have destroyed their lives and their “souls” for their sick and perverse needs.


Brighid