Sunday, April 04, 2010

Catholic Church should clean house

I was born into a French Canadian Catholic family and by age 6 I'd chosen to not be a Catholic because I really didn't like how hypocritical Catholic adults could be. I mean the bible tells us to do onto others as we would like others to do onto us. However I saw more of a "Do as I say and not as I do". I also saw too much 'sinning' done on a regular basis, and it was all good so long as you confess to your sins and atone for them. Then start all over again the next week.

Obviously not everyone in the Catholic church is a serial sinning hypocrite, but there were enough who were to turn me off the Catholic religion by age 6. I'm just as turned off now by the statements made by the Vatican in regards to 'gossip' about sexual abuse by priests.

Just because everything was done hush hush and no one talked about it back then does not make it any less bad. Anyone who was sexual abused, raped or molested, whether as a child or an adult, knows that it leaves PERMANENT SCARS and some unfortunately identify with their abuser and perpetuate the circle by abusing others around them. Trying to tell someone who was abused or molested that it never happened keeps the deep seating guilt and shame alive and spoils their lives. Haven't they suffered enough? Can't those who abused at least take responsibility for their actions?

What the Vatican and Catholic church SHOULD be doing is cleaning house. ANY PRIEST who has been accused of molesting children should be retired from being a priest. If this had been done years ago as they were found AND NOT RELOCATED TO other places so they could continue to ruin lives, they wouldn't be trying so hard right now to pretend it never happened. Also trying to sweep what happened under the carpet is asinine. The people who were abused need an apology and not be told "This is vicious gossip". Usually when there is smoke there is fire. Denial isn't just a river in Egypt. Benedict should step down for his cover ups of abuse in the past

And what about the residential schools in Canada for Native Americans, who were taken as children from their family and beaten/molested/abused into becoming little white people clones. Beaten for talking their language or being native? The reason we have so many problems on our reservations have more to do with the CHRISTIAN priests abusing Native people then any other intervention the white men did.

Personally I think Jesus would be horrified with all that has transpired and wouldn't want to be associated at all with the Catholic church. How can a priest who has abused little boys think he can be a SPIRITUAL LEADERS for others? I would think one should show by example ....

As for my current beliefs, it's summed up in one phrase "And it harm none, do what thou wilt". Meaning that the first rule is to not HARM anyone or anything, including pets & other animals, the environment, mother earth and of course ourselves. Jesus would have no problem with my beliefs, even if I'm not a "Christian".

1 comment:

  1. the comment that bothered me even more than anything else is how the pop's preacher likened the recent backlash against the church to anti-Semitism...

    i know that the context of the word means anti-Jewish and it evokes memories of the WII Holocaust, and it offends me as a human being that the victimizer (the church) would dare to identify itself as the victim (the Jews of the holocaust where victims) when it is the church that committed heinous acts against poor helpless children... if anyone is to be likened to the victims of anti Semitism it would be the children who fell victim to the churches "sins"....

    Having said that... I would like to add that as an Arab, I am of the same Semitic race as the Jewish people... and as an Armenian, I know full well the sorrow that comes from remembering an event like the Armenian genocide... as a Lebanese who has witnessed civil war and war, I am more than just aware of the scars that the innocent bare at the hands of a corrupt person in a position of power. (Be it a politician or an armed bullying foot soldier)… I feel angry that the catholic church thinks it can falsely victimize itself an get away with it… the scars that they have inflicted… they are the kind of scars that effect a human being forever.. it never goes away...

    the church needs to clean house as you said... but the catholic church is not the only one that needs to do this... the spot light right now is on the catholic church.. but other churches and other religions have also committed similar acts of terror against their following.. from non catholic priests to Muslim imams... some religious leaders preach hate and allow their ranks to be filed with un-"holy" men who perpetrate similar crimes and worse.... they ruin people's lives... and they get away with it.

    this has to end.

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