I am truly perplexed by the media’s distortion of the child molestation scandal surrounding our nation’s Catholic priests. Certainly I will concede there are bad priest, some of whom are child molestors, some maybe even worse, but to imply celibacy has something to do with this problem is absurd. I could accept that arguement if there were no child molestors found in society outside of the Church, but there is a continuing threat to our children from others including their fathers, grandfathers, teachers, coaches, and the list goes on an on. This is a dispicable, dastardly crime, but it has nothing to do with how much sex you have; it has to do with the actions of a very sick mind. I think it is important to remember we can trust priests and religious. Just because some individual priests are guilty of unspeakable crimes does not mean we should condemn an entire group of people or their religion. Child molestors can be found hiding under the guise of many different religions, yet the media is on a war path against the Catholic Church and her priests. Surely, things could have been handled differently, and they probably should have been, but to call out an entire Church for the actions of a few of members and or leaders is nothing short of a witch hunt.<\/p>\n
I feel for all the people ripped apart by this horrible crime and certainly cry with them for justice, but there are good people with integrity who have given their lives in the service of others that need to be remebered as well. We must never forget them. I wish the best for the man who has decided to sue the Vatican as well as the Pope for his justice, but I have to wonder, would he feel any better if his suit against the Church as an institution succeeds? Will it make his pain go away? I know he needs closure by facing the man, in this case also the priest, who violated him, but that is where his justice can be truly found. The Church is not his enemy; his pain and that priest who caused his pain are the enemy.<\/p>\n
I had the most remarkable opportunity this past Holy Thursday. My congregation was addressed by a young woman who had the courage to stand before all of us and speak of her horror and just how dark and alone she felt after being molested by her parish priest. She found her peace in the strength of her family, by facing her tormentor, and eventually (after much deliberation) by turning back to her faith. She is greatful to have come out the other side of this life altering experience with her faith intact. It was a long and painful journey, but she is one of the greatest inspirations of my life. What remarkable courage. I know not everyone will be able to make that same journey, and I wish all the victims strength, peace, hope, and happiness. We owe it to them to fight the true enemy and protect all our children from their pain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I am truly perplexed by the media’s distortion of the child molestation scandal surrounding our nation’s Catholic priests. Certainly I will concede there are bad priest, some of whom are child molestors, some maybe even worse, but to imply celibacy has something to do with this problem is absurd. I could accept that arguement if […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/randthought.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/randthought.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/randthought.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/randthought.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/randthought.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/randthought.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/randthought.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/randthought.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/randthought.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}