Path: utzoo!attcan!telly!evan
From: evan@telly.on.ca (Evan Leibovitch)
Newsgroups: can.general
Subject: Re: Scene at a Roman Catholic cathedral near you a few years ago.
Message-ID: <619057392.19843@telly.on.ca>
Date: 14 Aug 89 00:23:10 GMT
References: <3984@looking.on.ca> <1479@apss.apss.ab.ca>
Organization: Telly Online, Brampton, Ontario
Lines: 94

In article <1479@apss.apss.ab.ca> jhp@apss.ab.ca (Herb Presley, Emergency Planning Officer) writes:
>In article <3984@looking.on.ca>, brad@looking.on.ca (Brad Templeton) writes:

>> Bishop Murphy:  Shocking about Father Jones, isn't it?

>I was waiting for someone to comment in a sarcastic way on one of the greatest 
>human tragedies of our time. Brad, you didn't disappoint me.  Your comments are
>shallow, uncaring and show a callous disregard for the feelings of both 
>pedophile and victim.

And I was waiting for someone to come to the Church's defence, feeble
defence that it is...

>Your implied assumption that somehow the church is responsible for a priest's
>behavior simply perpetrates the myth which fuels pedophilic bahavior.

Church leaders are granted special standing in their community, in some
cases wielding more power than politicians. And unlike any politician,
they also are respected because of their ethical judgement.

The Church has decreed that its priests are indeed morally superior to
the common man, and are capable of such self control that they are
expected to maintain the unnatural state of forced celibacy for the rest
of their chuch careers.

>The fact is neither the community, the family, the church, the school, the law,
>has yet figured out how to deal with this problem.

I was under the impression that there is still a kind of statutory rape
law, that it is illegal to have sex with someone younger than N years
regardless of the circumstances or consent. Certainly pornography
featuring minors is treated with more contempt than that of adults only.

>Why should the Roman Catholic Church be singled out?

1) Because the Roman Catholic Church is the only Western religion which
unnaturally forces celibacy upon its leaders;

2) Because the Roman Catholic Church, more than other religions,
believes that sexual union is only for the purpose of procreation, and
still believes homosexuality (sodomy) to be a sin against God;

3) Because the Roman Catholic Church, more than any other religion,
loves to instruct the world on such proper sexual conduct;

>Brad, this is not only a crime, it is also a SOCIAL PROBLEM.

In this situation, it is even more than that. It is a matter of
corruption. Not financial, but moral corruption of leaders who are given
special responsibility, such as running schools, because of
their perceived moral judgement.

>It is also a VALUE PROBLEM that
>arises from our incapacity to discipline (O, O, a bad word!) ouselves in our
>endless searching for sensual gratification and our insistence that children,
>from the time time they are conceived in a mother's womb, are disposable pieces
>of property, to be aborted at will and to use to satisfy our own needs whenever
>we, in society, see fit.

Oh, brother. Please give more detail about the connection between the
abortion issue and these priests' actions, or their church's subsequent
conduct regarding them.

These men have *betrayed* the church's disciplince regarding 'sensual
gratification', in four different ways:

a) They had sex. Period. (Vow of celibacy, remember?)
b) They had homosexual sex.
c) They had homosexual sex with minors.
d) They had homosexual sex with minors without consent.

If so many of the leaders can crack, how are laypeople expected to
follow the discipline, or even believe it useful? If anything, the
church's lack of response to this issue may *hurt* its moral credibility
in the future when dealing with unrelated issues like abortion.

The media loves this for the same reason it loves the Pete Rose gambling
scandal, the tribulations of Jim Bakker, or the current revolving door
of politics in Japan. Popular heroes and leaders are given special moral
status (and sometimes paid handsomely) because of what they represent.
People love to watch the fall of those who don't live up to the
expectations - especially those whose position exists *because* of
their morals.

Pete Rose also has a sickness, which and has (in the minds of some)
tarnished the reputation of his entire sport. That hasn't kept the Johnny
Carsons of the world from getting lots of monologue mileage out of it.

These priests have embarassed their church and humiliated their
communities. They deserve whatever they get - maybe more.
-- 
  Evan Leibovitch, SA, Telly Online, located in beautiful Brampton, Ontario
evan@telly.on.ca / uunet!attcan!telly!evan / Director & editor, /usr/group/cdn
          Canadian Football League: 8 teams, two with the same name.