More than 1,000 Children Allegedly Molested in PA by the Catholic Church

[Hambo]

I’m certainly not going to lift a finger to save you when the next group of Romans comes to feed you to the lions.

Bring it.

[Sensei]

Sensei, you are just getting old and grumpy...

[TheNewbie]

Here is where I’ve been and where I’m at with this mess.

I was baptized a Methodist and attended church most Sundays as a kid. In high school, I was sent to Benedictine, a Catholic JROTC school owned and run by the Order of St. Benedict monks in Richmond, as a last ditch effort to keep me out of juvenile detention. It worked and I’m pretty successful by most measures thanks to the discipline begun by the school and refined by 17 years of military and LE experience.

Since that time, I have moved far away from organized religion over the past 20 years. Despite being married to a Greek Orthodox, I now consider myself agnostic for probably the past 10 years. Despite this, I have historically had strong sympathies for the Roman Catholic Church. Although I did not accept many of their teachings (birth control, Papal Infallibility, etc), I felt a common cause in their stance on abortion (a scientific issue for me) and holding the line on a moral code of behavior that I saw as beneficial for society.

However, my sympathies toward the Catholic Church took a big hit during the Boston abuse scandal. Despite this, I still felt that its net influence on humanity was positive despite my personal misgivings with Christian faith and the embarrassment caused by that scandal. The next big hit came with the ascension of Pope Frances. At first, he seemed to be a breath of fresh air with respect to his humility. Then, I started to get whiffs of Peronism followed by stronger oders of more radical socialism coming from the Vatican. So, about 3 years ago I started to wonder if the good really outweighs the bad with the Church. It was a hard time for me as other institutions in my life began to crumble (Army, FBI, GOP, house of medicine’s role in the opiate crisis, etc.), and I desperately wanted to hold onto some remnant of what made me who I am today.

Well, I’ve had enough. I have no confidence in the clergy or laity to recognize much less fix this systemic problem. While I’m not going to hunt you, I’m certainly not going to lift a finger to save you when the next group of Romans comes to feed you to the lions. Trust me - they will surely come eventually. Basically - you’re done and I look forward to your growing irrelevance in the world.

So do you want to see the end of all Christianity or just Catholicism?

Do you prefer a secular world?


Those of who don't like organized religion, are agnostic , or are atheist , should read Dennis Pragers book. It's called the Rational Bible and the first volume is a commentary on Exodus. He's a Jew, so it's not even a Christian based book.

@JAD...

I'm Catholic too, but I don't agree with everything the Church teaches. That said, if the Church continues to move leftward, not call out the evil and vile lowlife perverts who corrupt good religion, and worry about non existential issues, we will all be in trouble. The Church and Christianity are not perfect, but they largely made the free world. If it becomes like the secular world, I.e. It embraces human nature, then there is no reason to listen to it.

[Trukinjp13]

Organized religion is a process created by men, not a higher power and used as a means to control other men. It sounds like you've become a slave to the process. Staunch Catholics consistently rely on the church to police itself, something it has shown itself time and time again unwilling and unable to do. The church will never change as long as people like you refuse to put integrity over bells and whistles.

And conveniently it has changed through time. I have zero interest in any organized churches. I believe in God. I try to do right by my family. If he decides that was not enough, I am content with that. But as far as I am concerned MAN is corrupt. MAN wrote the bibles, MAN scripted each religion to however he wanted his people to follow. Every part of the world has a different religion or god.

These sick fucks should get their dicks cut off as far as I am concerned. Child molestation is at the top my list for bad things you can do. I heard it mentioned that it is not as bad as other religions. Well here is the thing, yes they have more dead bodies on their hands. But the Catholic church is bank rolled by the followers and them poor kids that are abused will now live a lifetime of horror. They were in a place that was supposed to be safe. Not a shit hole country. This has gone on for too long and sickens me to my core. Burn that shit down and rebuild if you think its worthy. But it needs a serious purge. Stop giving these assholes money. Stop going to church. Cripple the cash flow that keeps them powerful.

[RoyGBiv]

I have zero interest in any organized churches. I believe in God. I try to do right by my family. If he decides that was not enough, I am content with that.

One of my favorite quotes.....

“Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.” ? Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

[Sensei]

So do you want to see the end of all Christianity or just Catholicism?

Do you prefer a secular world?


Those of who don't like organized religion, are agnostic , or are atheist , should read Dennis Pragers book. It's called the Rational Bible and the first volume is a commentary on Exodus. He's a Jew, so it's not even a Christian based book.

@JAD...

I'm Catholic too, but I don't agree with everything the Church teaches. That said, if the Church continues to move leftward, not call out the evil and vile lowlife perverts who corrupt good religion, and worry about non existential issues, we will all be in trouble. The Church and Christianity are not perfect, but they largely made the free world. If it becomes like the secular world, I.e. It embraces human nature, then there is no reason to listen to it.

Hmm, yeah. That ship has sailed homie. You need not worry about it becoming like the secular world - it’s already far worse than that. What happened in those PA churches would be way off limits even in a San Francisco bath house. Keep in mind the church’s top leadership was downplaying the severity of the crisis as recently as 2 weeks ago:

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/wa...xual-abuse-cri

I know a lot of people are rationalizing, “I’m not responsible for this; I didn’t abuse anyone.” Well, they tolerate leaders who work to undermine exposing this problem. Their dollars are being used to pay the church’s legal bills and buy silence through financing corruption like this:

In at least one case, Wuerl required a victim to sign a “confidentiality agreement” barring him from discussing his abuse with any third party as part of a settlement. That is a coverup. In addition, the grand jury also wrote that under his leadership the diocese failed to report allegations of abuse to law enforcement, advocated for a convicted predator at sentencing, and then provided a $11,542.68 lump-sum payment to the disgraced priest after his release from prison.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...=.d99cf141297c

So, I foresee a continued downward spiral of catholicism into irrelevance (declining attendance and tithing); other demoninations of Christianity may struggle but are in a much better position to weather the secular storm. That is because most people prefer that their institutions of morality are....well, actually moral. The catholic church is not. It’s a corrupt organization that exists for the physical and financial pleasures of those it puts in authority. It is that way because it’s parishioners allow it.

[JTQ]

I'm a 60 year old life-long Catholic. This is bad stuff, and I'm embarrassed that this has happened in my religion, and the Church does need to fix this. However, for the non-Catholics, or non-praticing Catholics that may get the idea that this is happening in every Catholic Church, school, or organization run by the Catholic Church, I'll give some anecdotal perspective.

I come from a fairly big family, with five kids, and just on my father's side of the family, I have 32 cousins. We're all Catholics. I spent 12 years in Catholic schools where I had priests and nuns as teachers. I was an altar boy in the 1960's and 1970's. I played Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) sports, went to CYO summer camps, I coached CYO youth sports. My father's uncle was a priest, my aunt was a nun, I have a cousin that is a priest, another cousin that was a nun, two of my sisters are nuns. I've been a member of Catholic parishes in Cleveland (Ohio), central California, Guam, northern Maine, southeastern Virginia, northern Virginia, and northwest Florida. In all those years, in all those places, with all the contact I've had with priests, nuns, teachers, coaches, and counselors working for the Catholic Church, I know nobody that has been abused by anybody related to the Catholic Church. I can't say I've never met anybody that has been abused, as I've met a lot of people over 60 years, and I'll admit it's probably not casual conversation talk. It's a big problem, but it's not everywhere.

I'm not leaving the Catholic Church, and I still believe, in spite of these bad things, the Catholic Church is a net good rather than a net bad.

Since we're on a gun forum, for comparison sake, my recently passed away mother was anti-gun. The only gun owner she knew was me. All she knew about guns and gun owners, other than me, she got from the news. As far as she knew, every gun owner (other than me) was out shooting up the town committing crimes every day. There was nothing good about guns, and she couldn't understand why anybody would want to own a gun if they weren't a criminal. There are a lot of bad gun owners doing bad things with guns all the time, you can see it in the news every day, but I still think gun ownership is a net positive, and gun owners as a group, in general, are good people.

[the Schwartz]

I'm a 60 year old life-long Catholic. This is bad stuff, and I'm embarrassed that this has happened in my religion, and the Church does need to fix this. However, for the non-Catholics, or non-praticing Catholics that may get the idea that this is happening in every Catholic Church, school, or organization run by the Catholic Church, I'll give some anecdotal perspective.

I come from a fairly big family, with five kids, and just on my father's side of the family, I have 32 cousins. We're all Catholics. I spent 12 years in Catholic schools where I had priests and nuns as teachers. I was an altar boy in the 1960's and 1970's. I played Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) sports, went to CYO summer camps, I coached CYO youth sports. My father's uncle was a priest, my aunt was a nun, I have a cousin that is a priest, another cousin that was a nun, two of my sisters are nuns. I've been a member of Catholic parishes in Cleveland (Ohio), central California, Guam, northern Maine, southeastern Virginia, northern Virginia, and northwest Florida. In all those years, in all those places, with all the contact I've had with priests, nuns, teachers, coaches, and counselors working for the Catholic Church, I know nobody that has been abused by anybody related to the Catholic Church. I can't say I've never met anybody that has been abused, as I've met a lot of people over 60 years, and I'll admit it's probably not casual conversation talk. It's a big problem, but it's not everywhere.

I'm not leaving the Catholic Church, and I still believe, in spite of these bad things, the Catholic Church is a net good rather than a net bad.

Since we're on a gun forum, for comparison sake, my recently passed away mother was anti-gun. The only gun owner she knew was me. All she knew about guns and gun owners, other than me, she got from the news. As far as she knew, every gun owner (other than me) was out shooting up the town committing crimes every day. There was nothing good about guns, and she couldn't understand why anybody would want to own a gun if they weren't a criminal. There are a lot of bad gun owners doing bad things with guns all the time, you can see it in the news every day, but I still think gun ownership is a net positive, and gun owners as a group, in general, are good people.

After reading the whole thread, I think that you are correct. A significant portion of my life was also effected (in a very positive way) by the Catholic church and I assume (at my own risk, I suppose) for that experience that a solid majority of people are generally good. Even though I've witnessed more than enough of ''man's inhumanity to other men'', I do try to set that aside in keeping with that belief. Evil has always been present amongst man, even before the advent of what I like to refer to as ''the 'instant' news cycle'' which seems to remind us almost by the minute of evil's presence. These days that task grows evermore difficult, what with the seemingly immediate dissemination of information, to become overwhelmed by the evil and horrors that have always occurred, but like like you, I believe that a Faith in God (not necessarily restricted to, or dependent upon, any one denomination) and the moral framework set forth by the Bible is a 'net good'. At least, this is what I am faithfully teaching my son, 10, and my daughter, 8. Treat others well, help out as best you can, being afraid is not a 'failure' but rather a sign of intelligence, and try to remember that the other person that you are speaking with also 'feels' just as much as you do.

May God smile on all of us here at the Pistol-Forum.

[Trukinjp13]

One of my favorite quotes.....

That is amazing thank you!

[RoyGBiv]

In all those years, in all those places, with all the contact I've had with priests, nuns, teachers, coaches, and counselors working for the Catholic Church, I know nobody that has been abused by anybody related to the Catholic Church..

Of course if any one of those people had been abused, they'd have run straight to you to tell you about it.