I woke up this morning to the headline about Cardinal McCarrick's defrocking and I am just at a loss. I haven't been Catholic for years and my ability to justify anything and everything is a little rusty so I gotta ask; are Catholics satisfied with these "punishments" the pope is doling out? I mean, if I was a pedophile I would be so relieved I just received a 10 Hail Mary slap on the wrist for 50+ years of committing sexual abuse, so are Catholics happy with the actions being taken? And if not, will they start REALLY pushing for actual legal action to be taken?
I'm usually not this snarky when asking a serious question but this is so beyond disgustingly mishandled I can't contain it anymore.
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Of course justice has not been rendered. Those guilty of sexually assaulting children have not received any true punishment ( jail time ) and one of the main conspirators has been allowed to just walk away.
Instead of actually honestly addressing this very serious issue, by firing this bishop the church is absolving themselves of any guilt. Of course, without the church and it's support, those horrible acts would never have been allowed to escape justice for so long.
McCarrick took a bullet for the pope, even if he did not want it to happen. Even if he is not he only guilty party.
If the church gets it's way, in a hundred years their spin doctors will project the optics that they discovered a horrible sin, and dealt with it, yea for jesus and us.
The church was backed into a corner, they had to create some escape.
We know that is not true, and we must never allow anything but the raw truth to be told about this horrible tragedy that has not ended.
Now that McCarrick has been stripped of the protection of the church, I hope some DA finds more charges so that McCarrick spends the rest of his days in a prison.
"Now that McCarrick has been stripped of the protection of the church, I hope some DA finds more charges so that McCarrick spends the rest of his days in a prison."
It's a shame they can't do the same for those that have protected him and all the other paedophiles within the church.
https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2018/12/12/cardinal-pell-top-advis...
Cardinal Pell looks like he's heading for jail anyway. I remember him on a debate panel with the late Christopher Hitchens, and he made the same claim that objective morality is only possible with the existence of a deity we have seen other apologists use here, unbelievable really.
@Sheldon
Guess I should not be surprised that McCarrick of whom is very likely to get convicted of child molestation + worse would preach that morality was objective. Must of been awful convenient to that asshole.
Next time some apologist shows up here bringing out the very tired objective morality argument, I am going to mention McCarrick.
In my opinion, and even though it would not happen, I think the entirety of the Catholic Church in the United States should just be deported to the Bikini Atoll and let them do there whatsoever they can. Hopefully, they would just die out. However, that would still leave the parishioners here. But maybe they would get idea...
rmfr
Their behavior here in Australia/New Zealand has been just as bad. There's been rampant sex abuse for decades, and dirty priests and brothers have been moved around in both countries to avoid scandals.
During an official inquiry in Australia, Cardinal Pell, the most senior Catholic cleric in Australia, commented that he hadn't been aware of abuse because he had more important things to think about. Now he's been convicted of his own sex crimes, and his addled supporters are complaining that he didn't get a fair trial because of public prejudice. It seems the public doesn't like dirty old men in black dresses who rape children. There's a surprise.
Veronica Olvera,
"...so are Catholics happy with the actions being taken? And if not, will they start REALLY pushing for actual legal action to be taken?"
If Catholics were upset they would boycott the Catholic churches and stop attending services. Since most haven't they approve of the pedophile priests' actions.
As it says in 1 Corinthians 5:11-13 (CEV) = 11 I was talking about your own people who are immoral or greedy or worship idols or curse others or get drunk or cheat. Don’t even eat with them! 12 Why should I judge outsiders? Aren’t we supposed to judge only church members? 13 God judges everyone else. The Scriptures say, “Chase away any of your own people who are evil.”
The way that organization has handled this makes a very loud and obvious statement about how they view the value of life.
I have always said, you have to be religious to bypass your innate morality, and act immoral.
The Catholics have no right to.punish anyone. Child abuse is a civil crime. Their only role should be to assist secular authorities prosecuting child rapists.
Glad to see you back, Chimp!
I am a Christian, but don’t think for a second I would protect any clergy found to be molesting children. These ‘men’ should be dealt with to the full extent of the law.
I have my own personal views of the Catholic Church, and disagree with a lot of what they preach. I have always felt like they didn’t handle this issue well, and they continue to prove me correct. The Catholic Church has been wrapped up in these cases for decades, and always sweeping it under the rug. Disgusting how they handle it.
Thank you, HumbleThinker.
The sad thing is I have seen this in my church as well. There was a scandal a few years back where it was found out that the abbots of the monks were molesting them for years, including a very close friend of ours. The monks are taught “complete obedience” and then taken advantage of by sick abbots. Once the news broke, the church “split”. Most of the followers (my family included) recognized this as “unchristian” and stopped following those abbots. Some, however, stayed out of loyalty.
This is another reason why so many sects are born. It is true, that one has advantage over another, it is easy to do the wrong thing. This is true regardless of religion or not.
I couldn't care if they were the popes closest colleague or the most atheist free thinking of our times... child abuse is child abuse and should be dealt with appropriately by the law.
No less than life imprisonment.